Education White Paper and SEND Review discussed at HTF
Head teachers met in the Civic Offices for Head Teacher Forum for the first time in two years on 30th March 2022. The main focus of the meeting was to begin to understand the implications of the Education White Paper and the SEND Review, both of which had been published just days before the event. There was also feedback from the Inclusion survey, which schools had been asked to respond to in December 2021, a progress update on the peer-on-peer quality assurance review of SEND resource provisions in Bexley and an update on the successes and challenges for Education Services in Bexley.
After a summary of the key points of the Education White Paper and the SEND Review, head teachers took part in a SWOT analysis and raised a number of points for discussion. When identifying strengths, they welcomed the focus on staff development, specifically the wider remit of NPQs. They also commented positively on the raised profile of Early Years within the white paper. On discussing targets for pupil outcomes, head teachers recognised that these are aspirational, however they see meeting these targets as a major challenge if a broad curriculum offer is to be maintained. The focus on a fully academised system was discussed at length. Colleagues discussed the implications for maintained schools, single academy trust and smaller MATs.
The successes for Education Services have included strong connectivity and communication throughout the pandemic supporting the ambitions of each child, 95% of EHC plans being delivered within the 20-week statutory timeframe, strong school place planning giving good sufficiency of places in-borough, a higher proportion of children attending good or better schools and the proportion of our young people who are NEET remaining one of the lowest in London.
The challenges identified in Bexley ranged from how to use a declining budget effectively to support all children in terms of high standards for all, delivering appropriate education for the fast-growing number of children with EHC plans, reducing our exclusion rates, which are among the highest in London, and how to recruit and retain staff in our schools.
Claire Clark and Kate Ellis, Head Teacher and Principal of Barrington Primary School and HAAF Crayford Temple Grove Academy respectively, updated head teachers on the peer-on-peer strengths-based quality assurance reviews or resource provisions, which will be rolled out to all schools from autumn 2022. They shared that to date most resource provisions have returned their responses to a questionnaire and a trial peer review pilot has been established, which will be used to evaluate the peer review model and associated processes so that a refined peer review model can be shared with all schools before the end of the summer term. Their schools are part of the pilot and they have been working with the SEND team through the SEND sub-group of the Strategic Education Partnership.
The peer reviews aim to be collaborative, with the focus agreed in advance and time spent understanding the journey to date and the vision going forward. They said that this will be a time to share good practice and make links with another school for future support and collaboration. The whole process aims to be non-judgemental and the final document will include feedback from all parties.
