27.6.22 Message from the Director of Education
All Schools
THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN SENT TO ALL SCHOOLS. PLEASE FORWARD ONTO YOUR CHAIR OF GOVERNORS.
Dear Headteacher/Principal,
I hope you are well and will be able to enjoy the last 4 weeks of the what has been an extremely eventful year from all the COVID issues, restrictions to white and green papers and of course the war in Ukraine and its continuing impact.
i) July 1st Headteachers Briefing 10am to 11:30am - Ian Davis, Chief Executive will be in attendance to give an update on Enfield wide issues but also to listen to any broader school/educational issues that can be brought up at a London or national level. Gill Bal from the Teaching Hub will give an update on NPQs and applications for these as well as other training information. Other agenda items will include the Children’s Portal, information on the MMR and Polio vaccines (due to low take up in the borough) the new ECASS website, information on music provision and funding. Diana Osagie will provide a short briefing on CPD from the National College of Education. There will be brief items on outreach support from special schools to mainstream schools for next year, an Ofsted inspections update and also information about the variety of consultations in process at the moment.
ii) Delivering Better Value (High Needs Budget) - Due to the high level of overspends nationally from the high needs budget (HNB) on SEND, the DfE are engaging in two programmes. The Safety Valve programme was introduced to support local authorities with very high overspends (not Enfield) whilst the Delivering Better Value programme (DBV) has been introduced for the next 55 local authorities with overspends. Enfield is part of the second tranche of the DBV and work on this will start in the autumn with a financial adviser and a SEND adviser from the DfE. As the process is worked through, it may well affect funding and services provided to schools which is why I am informing you of this. Further updates to come.
iii) Government Consultations - quite a number of these are taking place at the moment and these are significant. These include Ofsted introducing a new Local Area Inspection Framework for SEND which will be due to start next Spring (https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/a-new-approach-to-area-send-inspections/a-new-approach-to-area-send-inspections-consultation-document ) which will involve schools. Ofsted are introducing a new 3 judgement approach which includes a pass or good judgement, a “fail” judgement and a middle “inconsistent” outcomes judgement.
There are also consultations on the Green paper on SEND (https://consult.education.gov.uk/send-review-division/send-review-2022/#:~:text=The%20government%20has%20published%20a,on%20the%20green%20paper's%20proposals. ) which finishes on 22nd July which will impact on the future of SEND strategy. This includes proposals for a national EHCP form and a national banding system for the range of different SEND needs. It is also suggesting mandatory mediation and also a published list of providers for parents to select from.
The consultation on schools that have a double RI has concluded and we are awaiting the outcome of that consultation.
iv) Pupil Attendance Duties – As you are aware, the DfE have proposed considerable changes to the way that pupil absence is managed and they have published their response to the consultation process (see link below)
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1073554/School_attendance_consultation_government_response.pdf . It is proposed that non-statutory guidance will be issued in the autumn and statutory guidance no earlier than September 2023.
v) School admissions and place planning group - As agreed with schools, 11 cluster group meetings have been held to look at local area issues in terms of pupil numbers and also to consider ways for schools to share resources. Declining rolls are having a differential impact with some schools not currently affected. Other schools though have been reducing their PANs and having to carefully consider how to manage their school budgets. If you need advice on PAN reduction, please contact Jo Fear as there is a process to go through which takes some time.
vi) Pursuit of Excellent event 5th July - thank you to all who are supporting the event at Enfield County Girls School. Currently there are 53 headteachers attending although some schools are yet to reply – please can you respond to Cheryl Headon or myself if you intending to attend and haven’t as yet replied. The Enfield Inclusion Charter will be formally launched at this event.
vii) Key stage 4 & 5 and transfer data collection - All secondary headteachers will have recently received communications from the School and Early Years Improvement team setting out the details of this year’s A level and GCSE results day collection. We request all schools return the required information by midday 18th August for A levels and midday 25th August for GCSE. This will not only give the LA an early view of the results, but will also enable the LA the share an early indication of the results with our schools.
We would also like to thank all primary schools for participating in the early collection of data to support the transition of pupils to secondary school, all but 2 schools fully participated in the process, secondary schools have fed back that receiving this early information has been really helpful
viii) School and Early Years Inspection Outcomes - Ofsted continues to inspect around the borough with outcomes continuing to be mostly good or better. Enfield’s school inspection outcomes are well above the national average and are now above the Outer London national average. For Early Years providers, 99% of providers are either good or better.
ix) Marc Rowland & Disadvantaged pupils work – 4th phase? – Over 30 Enfield schools have now worked with Marc looking at how schools can work most effectively to raise the achievement of disadvantaged pupils. Marc has considerable expertise working on this with the DfE on its pupil premium strategy, with the EEF and also schools around the country. If you would like to work with March next year, please could you let me know as soon as possible.
x) Ukrainian/Afghani/Hong Kong pupils – families are continuing to come into the borough from these three nationality groups albeit slowly mainly due to the lack of available accommodation. The change to the governments approach to unaccompanied minors may well see more Ukrainian young people coming into the borough. We will continue to feedback information as we receive it from the government and the DfE did indicate some funding would be available soon for schools with Ukrainian pupils.
I very much hope that all the school assessments and exams have gone well in school after several years of considerable disruption as you know. But these are busy times and also interesting times in terms of school funding and the impact of inflation and fuel prices. These issues are raised consistently with the DfE at fortnightly meetings and also at wider London forums.
I have two pieces though of really excellent news. Congratulation to Arthur Barzey Headteacher of Heron Hall School who has been named as TES headteacher of the year which is great news for Arthur and his school. Also the NEXUS project has won a national “Achieving Better Outcomes” at the Municipal Journal local government awards on Friday - this is a tribute to Mervin Cato’s team but also to the partnership work with schools (that is schools’ work) and local community groups.
Best wishes for the rest of the term and I look forward to seeing you on Friday.
Peter Nathan
Peter Nathan
Director of Education
People Department
Enfield Council
Direct line: 020 83795492
Mob: 07813995030