March 2011

The know zone

  • Setting parameters
    Goggles to play conkers, candy floss caution and banning flip-flops are some of the myths attributed to health and safety. In the end, says Richard Bird, there’s no danger in acting responsibly and thoughtfully. More
  • Hotline
    The ASCL hotline is a completely confidential service available to answer members’ questions on issues that arise in school/college. More
  • Pressing numbers
    Sam Ellis unveils a new spreadsheet to help leaders calculate their affordable pupil-teacher ratio. More
  • Lead vocals
    Quotes from Albert Einstein, Marry Browne, Anton Chekhov, Winston Churchill and Alan Autry More
  • A richer mix
    Whole Education brings together almost 30 charities and other bodies whose joint goal is to offer students a broader, deeper learning experience. More
  • Adding value
    Most of us look forward to spring and putting our clocks forward. Unfortunately our biological clocks take a little longer to reset. More
  • Smart choice
    Allison Crompton is headteacher of Middleton Technology School, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, which was singled out by Ofsted as one of 12 outstanding schools which excel against the odds. She was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honours List 2011. More
  • Sticking with CPD?
    With renewed emphasis on sharing good practice around the system – and with budget cuts to make – leaders share their thoughts on how they are ensuring value for money in CPD. More
  • Leaders' surgery
    The antidote to common leadership conundrums... More
  • The challenges ahead
    With the appearance of a Curriculum Review and Education Bill already in 2011, ASCL Council had a packed agenda in February. Not surprisingly, pensions, funding and the English Bac were high on the agenda. More
  • The gap years...
    Steps by the government to dismantle Connexions, abolish the EMA and allow universities to raise tuition fees threaten to lock the middle classes out of university, says Brian Lightman. And it undermines the coalition’s aim to improve social mobility. More
  • Busman's holiday...
    It requires team-working, careful monitoring, effective skills development and strong leadership. So how would Ofsted assess a joint family holiday asks Catherine Szabo. More
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Leaders' surgery

The antidote to common leadership conundrums...

Game over for sport funding?

Q We are part of a thriving and successful School Sport Partnership, whose funding I know was scheduled to be axed in the cuts last autumn. Before Christmas we were relieved to read that the programme had been saved, but now hear that the funding has only been extended until August 2011. Is this the true picture and are there other funding sources we can access to ensure we can keep our school sports coordinator (SSC)?

A ASCL, along with the Youth Sport Trust and others, lobbied vociferously to save the SSC programme. It is true that the DfE agreed to continue to fund it in full until August 2011, in order to give hubs and schools time to make necessary adjustments.

The DfE has also agreed to continue to fund one day per week of school sports coordinator time which will come into school budgets directly. Local areas will then have to coordinate and decide how best to continue with the programme. In one local authority, for instance, schools are attempting to drive this through the local School Sports Partnership, a charitable organisation which has been established for some time.

However, many SSC hubs will now face the challenge of attempting to set up a similar organisation at short notice and to persuade headteacher colleagues to fund the one day for the coordinator rather than diverting the money into other areas of the budget.

The Youth Sport Trust is pulling together information about the various models being set up in order to share good practice. For further details visit www.youthsporttrust.org

Advice on child protection implications

Q As the person responsible for child protection, I am trying to gauge the implications for our school regarding changes to the vetting and barring scheme and Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks that I understand are coming. Can you help?

A The whole area of child protection has been up in the air since last June when the incoming vetting procedures were put on hold, but things are becoming clearer with the publication in February of the second report from the Munro Review of child protection, the review of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) and the Protection of Freedoms Bill.

The specific changes you refer to are set out in the ISA review recommendations and necessary changes to the law appear in the Protection of Freedoms Bill. The proposals are to merge the CRB and ISA to form a streamlined new body which will provide “a proportionate barring and criminal records checking service”.

About 4.5 million people who work “closely and regularly” with children or vulnerable adults will be checked, about 9 million less than would have been under the previous scheme. Teachers will continue to be vetted but those who do occasional, supervised volunteer work would not.

The bill is still in the early stages of its journey through Parliament and, assuming it passes through unscathed, should become law in early 2012, with changes put into effect sometime after. Until then, the existing responsibilities of employers and the ISA will remain.

ASCL will put out more detailed guidance and advice once the government has provided a clearer picture of what this will mean in practice

Leaders surgery

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