A Cumbria Alliance of System Leaders Position Statement on the Education Excellence Everywhere White Paper

The Cumbria Alliance of System Leaders (CASL) was created as the Cumbrian response to developing a self-improving education system which was embedded in the 2011 Education Act. Over the last five years CASL has continued its development and is now leading the way to ensure school effectiveness in Cumbria is achieved. This is recognised and endorsed by the Director of Children’s Services and CumbriaCounty Council.

The Education White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere (March 2016), shows that there are many common threads between the direction of educational development put forward by the government and the journey which CASL is taking. At inception CASL was created so that it could interpret and respond to future education policy in a way which preserved the best of what Cumbria has, so that its schools and settings continued to provide the best possible outcomes for all its learners. Our partners within CASL share this vision and purpose and therefore it is essential, that as leaders within our now established system, we avoid any temptation to rush into action. We have the structures and the time to get this right for children and our communities that we serve.

What are the benefits of a Cumbria System?

CASL will:

  • Ensure that we focus on Cumbrian solutions for Cumbria’s families, children and young people.
  • Ensure that rich relationships exist and are sustained between all partners working for the best possible outcomes and opportunities for and with families, children and young people.
  • Enable resources to be combined beyond one school, one Cluster or one multi academy trust (MAT) to provide timely support in challenging situations.
  • Give a strong voice to families, children and young people and act on their feedback.
  • Embrace local solution to structured responses to seriously underperforming schools

CASL is our fully inclusive system for every school, academy, college or other educational setting in Cumbria.

We need to take time to reflect on the White Paper and work together to move forward. Our response needs to be positive and considered.

The Benefits of CASL going forward

  • We can remain outward facing and we will be able to access wider support and expertise when we need it.
  • We will build the capacity to broker, commission and fund partnership working at the point of need. As a result, risks will be identified and addressed before they become reality.
  • We can call on strengthened collaborative support when preparing for and when dealing with external challenge from Ofsted and the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC).
  • We will have access to a coherent, strategic approach to the achievement of agreed Cumbria priorities such as improving outcomes for disadvantaged children, succession planning, emotional wellbeing and mental health.
  • We will build and develop a strong alliance for governing bodies to receive high quality and timely training, guidance and support.
  • We will have a high quality and coordinated professional development programme for all those engaged at all stages of school leadership, curriculum development, assessment and learning.
  • We will have robust Quality Assurance and moderation through access to high quality improvement professionals within our system, including the expertise we currently have in the highly regarded Learning Improvement Service Team. (LIS)
  • Through LASL’s, we will have the consistency of approach and communication in relation to County needs, balanced with the flexibility to work collaboratively on area priorities.
  • We will bring together multi-agency groups where required to improve outcomes for families in Cumbria
  • We will be able to contribute to and have access to latest action research and best practice, nationally and internationally.
  • We will have the structures and the cross phase relationships necessary to ensure that we can design and deliver an inclusive and relevant curriculum for Cumbria’s learners and Cumbria’s economy.
  • We will have opportunities to put something back into the system, to make a difference and to have an impact on Cumbria beyond the school, the cluster or the MAT we may directly belong too.

The CASL Structure

The CASL Board is made up of a representation of the key partners who sit within our educational settings in Cumbria; secondary sector, primary sector, post-16 sector, Local Authority, CASH, PHA, University of Cumbria, Church of England Diocese, Catholic Diocese, Governance, Teaching Schools, MATs and the Headteacher Board representative for the RSC.

Through the CASL and LASL structures, we continue to work with you all to achieve a Cumbrian organisational solution for Cumbrian schools and their children. CASL is providing the strategic leadership needed to develop the best self-improving education system that it can for the future.

The strategic aims of CASL (sitting firmly at the heart of all decision making)

  • To enable school leaders to lead improvement in their own school and in partnership with each other.
  • To establish Local Alliances of System Leaders who can identify need, broker support and monitor the impact of partnership working.
  • To develop trust and confidence in the system so that the sharing of good practice across and between alliances becomes the norm.
  • To undertake a systematic analysis and assessment of the learning needs of schools and localities.
  • To develop leadership potential and succession planning at all levels from Initial Teacher Education to system leadership and associated professional development.

Whilst the White Paper may cause some uncertainty, through your collaboration with CASL and LASL you are already on the journey towards the self-improving system which it puts forward. In Cumbria we are extremely well placed to continue to move forward together and CASL remains committed to further developing the strong partnership which already exists with all stakeholders and which will further develop our self-improving education system that will ensure Educational Excellence Everywhere.

The White Paper should not divert us from what we have already set up in Cumbria. Our system was built around the clusters which already existed but since that time new clusters or groupings of schools have grown. We have MATs, we have Teaching School Alliances and in future we will no doubt have other groupings or clusters of schools. CASL embraces all groupings of schools, academies, colleges and other settings.

The next developmental stage for CASL is to ensure that we know and can be confident in the outcomes we are achieving with our learners. This was the driving ambition in creating the Accountability Framework, Getting Better Together.

The framework is still in development following the excellent feedback, suggestions and questions raised at the LASL Spring Conferences. When it is further developed over this next term, and will be trialled by the Early Adopter clusters who have volunteered to do this over 2016/17,together we will have developed a framework which enables us to review the quality and maturity of the self-improving education system we have in Cumbria. It will enable us to know our schools well, to know where intervention or support is needed and we will be able to quickly deploy any support needed from within the cluster or from beyond as the situation calls for. The LASLs will be crucial in monitoring the health and effectiveness of the schools, within the clusters in their area, and in reporting this to the CASL Board.

The CASL strategic school improvement priorities for 2015/16 are:

  • Maths
  • English
  • Pupil Premium & Disadvantaged
  • Post-16

The planning process for 2016/17 will take place this term.

CASL Structure – the next 18 months

Below details the proposed structure, as discussed and agreed at the CASL Board Meeting in March 2016:

CASL Board Membership

  • CASL Chair(term of office until August 2017)
  • CASL Vice Chair(s) (primary sector)(to be appointed June 2016)
  • Director of Children’s Services, Cumbria County Council
  • Local Authority x 2 place
  • LASL North x 2 places (1 primary, 1 secondary – term of office August 2017)
  • LASL South x 2 places (1 primary, 1 secondary– term of office August 2017)
  • LASL West x 2 places (1 primary, 1 secondary– term of office August 2017)
  • CASH x 2 places (CASH Chair and Vice Chair)
  • PHA x 2 places (PHA Chair and Vice Chair)

Along with one representative from each of following:

  • University of Cumbria
  • Church of England Diocese
  • Catholic Diocese
  • Governance
  • FE representative
  • Teaching Schools Co-Ordinator
  • MATs representative
  • Headteacher Board representative for the RSC (Associate Member)

Local Authority

  • LA/CASL Senior Manager – Learning Improvement (Dale Hill)
  • Senior Adviser – LA/CASL x3 – North, South and West (x2 new appointments for Sept 16)
  • GAs x 6 (2 in each area)
  • Governor Support Team
  • Early Years Team
  • Business Support Team
  • Virtual School Team

LASL Membership

  • LASL North x 14 members
  • LASL South x 22 members
  • LASL West x 14 members

Cluster Communication Leads

  • LASL North x 11
  • LASL South x 8
  • LASL West x 11

Teaching Schools

  • x 9

The Future

We are all CASL - our governors, staff, parents and pupils. Together we can communicate what CASL and the LASLs are continuing to develop. Confidently we can convey that in Cumbria a self-improving education system is in place and is`moving forward for the benefit of all Cumbria children, in all schools, academies, colleges or other settings.

We are ahead of the game, in terms of the recent Education White Paper. There has never been a more important time for us to embrace message:

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” (African Proverb)

We do hope that as manyHeadteachers and Chair of Governors will be able to attend the CASL Conference on Tuesday, 14 June 2016, where we can continue our journey together in the interests of all children, and young people in Cumbria. Details of how to secure your place are attached.

Lorrayne Hughes, Chair of CASL

Liz Moffatt, Strategic Development Officer

Steve Wilkinson, Vicki Hepburn-Fish & Chris Wilkins – LASL Chairs

Dale Hill, Senior Manager – Learning Improvement