Core Grant and Delivery of the Big 6

Core Grant and Delivery of the Big 6

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Summer 2015

Welcome

Welcome to the fourth edition of the Derbyshire Partnership for Learning newsletter. If you have anything that you would like to share with the alliance, please get in touch and we will include it in future editions.

Our First Year

It is just over 12 months since Ladycross Infant School was designated as a Teaching School and our alliance was formed. In that time we have worked together to deliver on the ‘Big 6’ and we should congratulate ourselves on our joint achievements.

Core grant and delivery of the Big 6

No1: Initial Teacher Training

School Direct

We have appointed three School Direct trainee teachers for September 2015; all of them are currently working as Teaching Assistants in our alliance. They are Beth Davidson, Kristina Wood and Lucy Argent; we wish them well in their year ahead. We still have one place left to fill and will be recruiting right up until the summer holidays.

We will be requesting our 2016 allocation next week and are looking to fill 8 places for the 2016 intake. We will be running twilight sessions and open days under the DfE ‘Get into Teaching’ banner during the autumn term and will be asking you to promote these in your communities.

No 2: CPD/Leadership development

CPD opportunities

We are in the process of developing an exciting range of courses delivered by the alliance. Please let us know of any topics that you would like us to run and of any that you would like to deliver.

ECERS & SSTEW

We are organising 3 days of training for schools within the alliance and beyond, in conjunction with DCC. This has been subsidised by the East Midlands West Maths Hub which is based at George Spencer School. They asked to work with us to help develop an Early Years focus in the maths work they are doing. You will have received information regarding this training but if you require any further details, please contact

No 3 Succession planning/talent management

Recently Qualified Teachers Programme

Seven teachers from our alliance are nearing completion of this programme. Please encourage your participants to apply for one of the forty National Professional Qualification of Middle Leadership (NPQML) scholarships. One of the group will be invited to our alliance meeting in October to give their feedback on the programme.

The East Midlands Teaching School Alliance (EMTSA) has been successful in bidding for additional funding to run this programme again next year. We have volunteered again to be part of the steering group.

No 4: Specialist Leaders of Education (SLEs)

We designated six SLEs during the autumn recruitment round. Their profiles can be found on our website.

In addition, we welcome Karen Puszczynska, Headteacher at Egginton Primary School who has transferred to our alliance from one in Northamptonshire.

In conjunction with other Teaching Schools in Derbyshire we have launched an SLE application round. Please encourage your staff to apply for this CPD opportunity. Details and guidance can be found at www.gov.uk/specialist-leaders-of-education-a-guide-for-potential-applicants

All applications via email to by Sunday 12th July.

No 5: School to school support

We successfully bid for funding from the NCTL to support improvement in four schools. The workload has been shared with LLEs and SLEs from the Alliance. We are supporting: Cloudside Junior, The Green Infant, Heanor Langley Infant and Linton Primary.

The Green Infant School had an Ofsted visit during May 2015 and have been graded as Good. Congratulations to them and to Jo Sadler and her team who helped facilitate this success.

A further application opened and again we have bid for additional funding to support another five schools in Derbyshire.

No 6: Research & Development - Closing the Gap research

This project is in its final stages, and the six schools in the TS alliance will complete their final online tests in July. The results will feed into the national project evaluation report due in December 2015.

We have submitted a bid to become one of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Research Schools. We will hear the outcome of this at the end of the summer term.

National College / East Midlands Teaching School Alliance Projects

Teaching Schools Early Years Building Capacity Project

This project continues to gather momentum. Some of you have already successfully bid for a portion of this funding to deliver training with your local PVIs. We still have funds available; please let us know if you require a bid request form.

The EY team from Ladycross Infant School visited the Early Excellence Centre in Huddersfield and have used a portion of the funds to purchase furniture to create an Early Years Hub at Ladycross. This will showcase effective EY practice and environments within a school based setting and is due to be launched in autumn 2015 for schools and nurseries to visit who want to improve their own practice.

In September the next phase of the EY project will be to plan the development of EY materials or a toolkit which can be made available to all settings. We are looking for someone from the alliance to coordinate this activity using SLEs and the Derbyshire EY Lead Teachers. Please get in touch if you would like to lead on this.

As part of the work we do with the East Midlands Teaching School Alliance (EMTSA) an offshoot with a focus on Early Years has been formed across the East Midlands region. Whilst we attended the first meeting which was held at Harrington Nursery in Derby, of we are looking for someone from the TSA to take a lead role in this. Please let us know if you would like to be involved. The next meeting on the 17th September is at Penn Green in Northampton.

Local Leaders of Education (LLEs)

We continue to work closely with the Transform, George Spencer and Derby Teaching School Alliances in their pilot LLE designation programme.

Nine Derbyshire headteachers were successful in the recent application round. Congratulations to Angela Clarke, Alison Wain & Rebecca King from our TSA who were designated.

In addition, Susan Chapman from Hady Primary has joined our alliance and will be brokered by us.

Tackling the East Midlands Challenge Conference

Report by Angela Clarke.

Angela Clarke, Catherine Robinson and Kate Marsland attended the “Tackling the East Midlands’ Challenge” Conference at the start of June, along with 300 delegates from all nine East Midlands local authorities.

Local and National Leaders, LA, Diocese and Teaching Schools representatives from the region heard keynote speeches from Jo Raisey, Head of Partnership Assurance at John Lewis, Professer Qing Gu (University of Nottingham), Frances Craven (Director of Children’s Services for East Midlands), Jennifer Bexon-Smith (Regional Schools Commissioner) and Chris Russell (Regional Director, Ofsted).

The main theme of the day was the importance of effective partnership working as a strategy for improving outcomes for pupils in the region, in particular those from the underachieving groups identified in the recent Ofsted East Midlands regional report. These groups are; White British children from poor families (disadvantaged), children in the care system, children with English as an additional language and those children who do not yet attend a good or better school. All keynote speakers spoke of the need for schools to collaborate, to create and grow Teaching School Alliances, Academy Chains or Trusts and to develop different models of system leadership so that outcomes for the focus groups improve rapidly. Local Authority groups met individually in the afternoon to discuss ways forward, and an emerging theme was the need for schools, TSAs etc, to look outwards and to share good practice beyond geographical boundaries.

We felt the day raised more questions than giving specific answers to “the challenge”, but the repeated message of partnership and system leadership as proven methods of improvement should give Alliance members confidence that we are moving in the right direction towards a better, more effective, system for all our children and young people.

Derbyshire Partnership for Learning Initiatives:

NQTs

Mell Julian and Angela Clarke are setting up a support network through the TSA for NQTs. The purpose of this network is to build alliances throughout the cluster for them to visit a range of different schools and gain experience across phases. We hope to organise cluster NQT training sessions and deliver using our LLE/SLE’s. If you have an NQT starting in September and would like them to participate in this initiative, please contact Mell directly who will coordinate this initiative with Angela.

Network and Cluster Working

If you have other network and cluster working ideas that the TSA would work together on, please get in touch or bring your ideas to the next TSA meeting. For example; could you lead on forming a SENCO or literacy network?

Members of the Derbyshire Partnership for Learning Teaching School Alliance

Ladycross Infant School, Ashbrook Infant School, Ashbrook Junior School, Kilburn Infant School, Alfreton Nursery School, Sawley Infant School, Hasland Infant School, Springfield Junior School, Dronfield Infant School, Heage Primary School, Morley Primary School, Holmesdale Infant School, Melbourne Infants, Egginton Primary & Hasland Junior School

Our alliance continues to grow and and we now welcome Castle View Primary and Hady Primary as new members.

Strategic Partners

University of Derby, Derbyshire County Council.

Next TSA Meeting Date

Thursday 1st October at 9am, Horsley Lodge, Derbyshire. DE21 5BL

The morning will include a focus on writing a SEF and there will an opportunity for you to feedback on the triad workshops you organised.

These triads were formed at the last meeting. If you were unable to attend the meeting but would still like to join in, can you please contact the schools directly?

Triad 1 / Hasland Junior / Hady Primary / Hasland Infant / Ladycross infant
Triad 2 / Heage Primary / Castle View / Ashbrook Junior
Triad 3 / Dronfield Infant / Holmesdale Infant / Ashbrook Infant
Triad 4 / Egginton Primary / Springfield Junior

Please let us know if you would like any other items to be included at the meeting.

For further information about the Alliance contact Mary Shishefar, Business Development Manager

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