Building strong relationships within a multi-academy trust
How can a multi-academy trust (MAT) engage its schools during times of change? Leora Cruddas, CEO of the Confederation of School Trusts, shares some top tips from trust leaders… Working together in a trust provides schools with the benefits of mutual support and collaboration – but it can also mean changes in a school’s way of working. So how can trusts build strong links with schools and get them on board with their overarching vision? 1. Communicate, communicate, communicate Good communication is fundamental to engaging schools in your trust’s direction of travel. While many trusts share major developments in MAT policy with their schools, the everyday news can make all the difference in your communications. Daniel Moore, finance director at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Multi-Academy Trust says, “We now have fortnightly head teacher briefings, news bulletins and promote all our good news and success stories.” 2. Tap in to your local knowledge hubs Never underestimate the importance of local level knowledge to your trust. School business managers have a wealth of experience, and each school has its own strengths, skills and values to share with its central trust team. As Sarah Appleby, finance director of the River Learning Trust explains, “We blend the local knowledge that the school has, which is invaluable, with the technical and accounting knowledge of the central school business partner.” 3. Promote the wellbeing of school staff Staff wellbeing is key to building strong, sustainable relationships with schools. By centralising some systems and processes, a trust can have a positive impact on school staff by freeing them from back-office tasks to spend more time on their core roles. “If we can save them 10 minutes in the day – every day – by centralising a process so they no longer have to do it, that means they have got a slightly better work/life balance.” says Sarah Appleby. 4. Share your trust’s vision Make sure your schools see the big picture for the trust. Schools will be more positive about changes to their processes if they have a clear view of the trust’s goals and achievements. Daniel Moore recommends showing schools the impact of trust-wide initiatives. “Whenever something works, like when we make a saving through pooling our purchasing, we make sure everyone knows about it.” By building relationships and forming stronger bonds with schools, a trust can work more effectively towards improving outcomes for its pupils. The views in this article are explored in greater depth in a PS Financials white paper, Checks and Balance which is available for download at www.psfinancials.com/checksandbalance/
Open University secures £50M investment in social learning platform FutureLearn
Open University secures £50M investment in social learning platform FutureLearn SEEK Group investment takes FutureLearn from start-up to a £100m value company in just six years SEEK Group (ASX: SEK) will invest £50m to become a joint, 50% owner of The Open University’s FutureLearn social learning platform, it was announced today in a deal thought to be the largest ever private-sector EdTech investment in Europe. The Open University launched FutureLearn, which is based in London, in December 2012 with a dozen UK university partners to test opportunities offered by digital learning and massive open online courses (known as MOOCs). Rapid growth means that FutureLearn now has over nine million learners. The platform offers short online courses right through to postgraduate diplomas and certificates and fully online degrees, all designed around social learning. FutureLearn partners with over a quarter of the world’s top universities, as well as organisations such as Accenture, the British Council, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Raspberry Pi and Health Education England (NHS). Welcoming the announcement, The Open University’s Vice Chancellor Mary Kellett said: “Our new partnership is a fantastic opportunity to change more lives around the globe through flexible lifelong learning. The Open University is rightly known for pioneering new approaches to education and for our academic excellence. Today’s announcement shows this is as true today as when we started fifty years ago. It represents one of the most exciting educational prospects in modern times. “Our partnership with SEEK and the investment in FutureLearn will take our unique mission to make education open for all into new parts of the world. Education improves lives, communities and economies and is a truly global product, with no tariffs on ideas.” The new partnership with SEEK will have contractual arrangements in place to protect the University’s academic independence, teaching methods and curriculum. The SEEK Group is a market leader in the creation and management of online education and employment businesses. SEEK are well-established across Australia, New Zealand, China, South East Asia, Brazil and Mexico. Commenting on the investment, SEEK Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Bassat said: “This investment follows the same logic applied to IDP and Online Education Services ‘OES’ in that we like to invest in disruptive business models that provide world class student education outcomes. “Technology is increasing the accessibility of quality education and can help millions of people up-skill and re-skill to adapt to rapidly changing labour markets. We see FutureLearn as a key enabler for education at scale. “FutureLearn’s reputation is strong and it has attracted leading education providers onto its platform. We are excited to come on as a partner with The Open University.” FutureLearn is involved in UK government-backed initiatives to address skills gaps including The Institute of Coding and the National Centre for Computing Education. It currently has six university partners offering full, online degrees on the platform, and has most recently launched Unlimited, a new business model allowing learners access to most courses for a one-off annual payment. Commenting on the investment FutureLearn CEO Simon Nelson said: “The Open University’s vision and investment, the hard work of our staff and support of our partners, has seen FutureLearn grow rapidly in the past six years. The investment announced today will enable us to unlock FutureLearn’s true potential and extend our global reach and impact. “This investment allows us to focus on developing more great courses and qualifications that both learners and employers will value. This includes building a portfolio of micro-credentials and broadening our range of flexible, fully online degrees and being able to enhance support for our growing number of international partners to empower them to build credible digital strategies, and in doing so, transform access to education.” FutureLearn has been advised by IBIS Capital, a specialist investment and corporate finance advisory group focused on the global media, education and health sectors, and Kemp Little, a leading technology focused law firm. The Open University was advised by Farrer & Co, the London-based independent law firm. SEEK Group was advised by O’Melveny & Myers, an international law firm.
New grading framework to be launched to independent schools
The Institute of Groundsmanship (IOG) has announced plans to launch its new Pitch Grading Framework to independent schools. This will allow a new way for schools to showcase quality sports turf facilities and recognise the skills and expertise of its grounds teams while adding a new dimension to attract potential students and their parents. A nationwide pilot scheme is planned with a selection of independent schools set to take part. The involvement of these schools will help inform the Pitch Grading Framework from a schools’ perspective before the scheme is rolled out. The concept has been supported by all National Governing Bodies of sport and aims to boost industry standards for grounds facilities, improve the knowledge within the sector and set benchmarks for playing surfaces. The framework will not only highlight the level of an individual playing surface quality but also the appropriate training and education, and the recommended levels of qualifications, needed by the ground’s management team who maintain it. Natural turf sports pitches standards will be graded from levels 0 to 5, with 5 being ‘elite’ status. Within this Framework, grounds teams are advised to have a certain level of qualifications to obtain certification for each grade. Each level is complemented by a training and qualification recommendation framework that features specific and accurately blended learning, delivered both online and in the traditional format. Geoff Webb, CEO of the IOG, commented: “The Pitch Grading Framework delivers a much-needed requirement in the industry. It creates a standard for facilities to be compared against, which will be of huge benefit to schools when attracting new students and providing the students with sports pitches to excel on. In a similar style to OFSTED, schools will be able to promote their rating and highlight the standards of its sports and green-space facilities, as well as the knowledge and expertise among its team.” The IOG Pitch Grading Framework will help to progress standards and provides an outline for how schools can take their facilities to the next level. To aid this, the IOG offer Site Audits and Training Needs Analysis services, as well as a vast array of online and on-site training courses and qualifications to support the professional development of grounds staff. To take advantage of significant training and service discounts, schools must be member of IOG. Independent school membership costs just £300 per year, which provides access to benefits for the entire grounds management team. This gives access to leading experts; resources; the latest industry science and knowledge; as well as discounted fees on training and qualifications – to enable schools to create thriving sports turf surfaces that benefit their students and in turn help to promote and showcase the schools’ facilities. For further information please visit www.iog.org. or call 01908 312 511.
Hertfordshire School Programme Asks “Healthy Only Please!”
Registered Health Coach, Joanna Shurety from Shurety Coaching is collaborating with the team at ELSA to help bolster their “Healthy Only Please!” campaign and share her expertise on how to live a healthier lifestyle. Created to teach secondary school aged children how to understand, embrace and implement a healthy lifestyle, the Healthy Only Please! campaign covers everything from mental and physical health and the positive effect it can have. The campaign feeds into the government’s ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ initiative and helps schools to add a wellbeing aspect to the curriculum without needing to pull staff away from their timetable and specialist subject. Speaking of her role at ELSA, Joanna said; “Working with secondary school aged children has been so rewarding as you can see how much fun they’re having. Our sessions are often very interactive and you can see their confidence build as they engage with the content and each other. Students explore what it is to view food in a healthy way and understand what food does for them, in a positive and supportive environment. Sharing the message about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle to this age group has been a completely new experience for me, but one that I wouldn’t change for the world. There are so many conflicting opinions when it comes to nutrition and so much information out there that can be really overwhelming, so it’s no surprise that parents can struggle with what to teach their children. By working with schools we can help take that burden away from the parents and empower the children to make better choices,” added Joanna. The Healthy Only Please! campaign focusses on all areas of self including: Mental health Physical health Social care Choice Self-esteem Self-expression Self-care The key message is to focus on the things that be can be added into your life to make it better. It’s about making informed decisions and moving towards a more balanced way of living. The Healthy Only Please! campaign launched in January at Marriotts school in Stevenage, Hertfordshire and was a roaring success. Here’s what the Assistant Head Teacher had to say: “Jane and her team from ELSA delivered a ‘Healthy Only Please!’ day to 240 year 7 students, focusing on the 5 Ways to Wellbeing: Connecting, Being Active, Taking Notice, Keep Learning and Giving. This was delivered through a serious of workshops that involved the students in a number of different activities, including a work out with trainers from Nuffield Health, a Health Coach explaining healthy relationships with food and an activity requiring students to consider their current attitude and relationship with their phone, social media, television and gaming. The students thoroughly enjoyed the day, and were fully engaged throughout. The messages in this programme are an integral part of any school curriculum and helps us keep a focus on mental health and well-being, which is very important to us. We thank all of those involved for delivering such a thought-provoking, informative but also fun day for our young people.” The campaign is currently being rolled out across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and will soon launch in Essex and East London too. To find out more about the campaign and how it can be introduced into your school please visit www.elsa.education.
Open University partners with online learning provider SEEK Group in £50m deal
A £50million deal thought to be the largest ever private-sector EdTech investment in Europe will see the Open University partner with international online learning provider SEEK Group. SEEK Group (ASX: SEK) will make the investment to become a joint, 50% owner of The Open University’s FutureLearn social learning platform, it was announced today. The Open University launched FutureLearn, which is based in London, in December 2012 with a dozen UK university partners to test opportunities offered by digital learning and massive open online courses (known as MOOCs). Rapid growth means that FutureLearn now has over nine million learners. The platform offers short online courses right through to postgraduate diplomas and certificates and fully online degrees, all designed around social learning. FutureLearn partners with over a quarter of the world’s top universities, as well as organisations such as Accenture, the British Council, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Raspberry Pi and Health Education England (NHS). Welcoming the announcement, The Open University’s Vice Chancellor Mary Kellett said: “Our new partnership is a fantastic opportunity to change more lives around the globe through flexible lifelong learning. The Open University is rightly known for pioneering new approaches to education and for our academic excellence. Today’s announcement shows this is as true today as when we started fifty years ago. It represents one of the most exciting educational prospects in modern times. “Our partnership with SEEK and the investment in FutureLearn will take our unique mission to make education open for all into new parts of the world. Education improves lives, communities and economies and is a truly global product, with no tariffs on ideas.” The new partnership with SEEK will have contractual arrangements in place to protect the University’s academic independence, teaching methods and curriculum. The SEEK Group is a market leader in the creation and management of online education and employment businesses. SEEK are well-established across Australia, New Zealand, China, South East Asia, Brazil and Mexico. Commenting on the investment, SEEK Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Bassat said: “This investment follows the same logic applied to IDP and Online Education Services ‘OES’ in that we like to invest in disruptive business models that provide world class student education outcomes. “Technology is increasing the accessibility of quality education and can help millions of people up-skill and re-skill to adapt to rapidly changing labour markets. We see FutureLearn as a key enabler for education at scale. “FutureLearn’s reputation is strong and it has attracted leading education providers onto its platform. We are excited to come on as a partner with The Open University.” FutureLearn is involved in UK government-backed initiatives to address skills gaps including The Institute of Coding and the National Centre for Computing Education. It currently has six university partners offering full, online degrees on the platform, and has most recently launched Unlimited, a new business model allowing learners access to most courses for a one-off annual payment. Commenting on the investment FutureLearn CEO Simon Nelson said: “The Open University’s vision and investment, the hard work of our staff and support of our partners, has seen FutureLearn grow rapidly in the past six years. The investment announced today will enable us to unlock FutureLearn’s true potential and extend our global reach and impact. “This investment allows us to focus on developing more great courses and qualifications that both learners and employers will value. This includes building a portfolio of micro-credentials and broadening our range of flexible, fully online degrees and being able to enhance support for our growing number of international partners to empower them to build credible digital strategies, and in doing so, transform access to education.” FutureLearn has been advised by IBIS Capital, a specialist investment and corporate finance advisory group focused on the global media, education and health sectors, and Kemp Little, a leading technology-focused law firm. The Open University was advised by Farrer & Co, the London-based independent law firm. SEEK Group was advised by O’Melveny & Myers, an international law firm.
Grant of £30k to encourage more men into Early Years roles
The government has announced a £300,000 grant to encourage more men to take up careers in Early Years setting. The news was announced this week by Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who highlighted the fact that only 3% of EYFS staff in England are men. Mr Zahawi added: “Every child needs a role-model to guide them – whether that’s a parent, a close family member or friend, or someone at nursery or preschool that makes a difference in their life. The early years staff who support children in the first few years of their education equip them with important skills before they reach the classroom, getting them on track to succeed as they get older. “Just as parenting is a shared responsibility, so is kickstarting a child’s love of learning. I want more men to play a positive role in educating and caring for our next generation. That’s why we’re supporting the Fatherhood Institute to encourage men from all walks of life into early years careers, to give children the best start in life and be a part of this important and rewarding sector.” June O’Sullivan MBE, CEO of London Early Years Foundation, welcomed the news and the opportunity to address the stereotyping of teaching roles, saying: “Studies show that children see little difference between the care provided by male teachers and that provided by their female counterparts and therefore it’s critical that we widen the talent pool if we are to staff the Early Years sector with high-quality male nursery teachers and assistants. “Whilst the nature of modern work is changing, the perception that nursery teaching is not for men persists and the experiences of men in Early Years demonstrate how pervasive negative stereotypes remain. It’s imperative that we create a culture change and shift attitudes for the better and for the sake of our children.”
Fewer than half of UK schools believe they are GDPR compliant
New research findings released today by RM Education and Trend Micro shows fewer than half of UK schools and colleges (48%) believe that they are fully GDPR compliant. Plus, there remains confusion over staff responsibility in terms of GDPR compliance. Last year 156 education professionals were surveyed about how practices and systems have changed since the arrival of GDPR in May 2018 and their ongoing concerns about the legislation. Key findings from the research include: ·Half of schools believe that they are in breach of the regulations – 52% of schools surveyed did not think they are GDPR compliant. In addition, 14% of schools still do not have a strategy in place to become GDPR compliant. ·Fines would have severe impact – Almost four-fifths of schools and colleges (79%) stated they would be significantly affected by any fine for not complying with GDPR. 65% said a data breach would significantly impact their reputation. ·Staff are considered the biggest risk – ‘Accidental loss by staff’ is considered the biggest data threat (75%) followed by cyber criminals (19%). Respondents were from schools and colleges across the UK and included IT Managers, Data Protection Officers (DPOs) and other school leaders. Just 48% of respondents stated that they believed their school/college to be fully GDPR compliant. In terms of reasons for lack of compliance 23% stated legacy systems as a challenge, 46% stated security awareness and 31% stated lack of financial investment. However, the research suggests that schools and colleges are taking GDPR seriously and significant steps have been taken to work towards trying to ensure compliance. Of those surveyed 97% of schools and colleges had updated their policies, 89% had increased staff training, 85% hired a DPO and 83% carried out a data audit (including third-party systems). Furthermore, 38% of those surveyed had increased their IT spend as part of becoming GDPR compliant. When surveyed about the possibility of a data breach 77% of respondents stated they were confident that their school/college was as secure as it could be against a data breach. However, just over two third of schools (71%) surveyed had a formal data breach response plan in place. In terms of what respondents considered to be the biggest threats to their data 19% stated cyber criminals and 75% said accidental loss by staff. Steve Forbes, Principal Product Manager at RM Education comments: “From our work with thousands of schools across the UK we know that untangling the intricacies of GDPR has been a great concern for education providers. One surprising finding is that 91% of schools and colleges surveyed stated that they knew where all their data resides. Schools and colleges process large quantities of data on their pupils, staff and suppliers, and it’s likely that data is in more places than perhaps thought. We will continue to support schools to help them identify these data sources and implement the right cyber defences to protect data both inside and beyond the school’s gates.” Forbes continues, “The survey has uncovered some interesting findings, and highlights the challenges that schools are facing today. There is some confusion in terms of roles and responsibilities in schools when it comes to GDPR. 60% of those surveyed said final responsibility for GDPR sits with the Principal/ Head Teacher, 42% said the responsibility also sits with the DPO and 31% said responsibility also lies with the head of IT. GDPR compliance does not sit with one role alone; and the responsibility for compliance is shared. A DPO is tasked with monitoring GDPR compliance and other data protection laws and policies, awareness-raising, training, and audits. However, as in all other organisations, responsibility for compliance within a school must be a shared responsibility and this relies on a whole school approach”. Download the full report at rm.com/GDPR-in-schools
National Training Provider partners with Collaborative Vocational Learning Hub
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BMI Icopal hot melt provides great result for sports area
BMI provides great result for sports area, pupils at a South East London school can now enjoy sport at height thanks to the timely completion of a rooftop ‘ multi-use games and sports area ’ or MUGA. Flat roof specialist Byford Roofing tackled the job knowing that the installation was complex and demanding but also that the schedule was tight. Byford chose BMI Icopal’s Parabit Holt Melt Duo that it applied to the concrete deck of the roof. Over that went a layer of inverted insulation and paving slabs ready to receive the MUGA pitch finish. “I chose Parabit because it’s a system we know well, we’re comfortable laying it and therefore it gave us confidence in achieving the target programme completion date. Not only is it suitable for a zero falls roof, it is also very robust,” explained Andrew Byford, Director at Byford Roofing. He added: “Because of the limited storage space on site, we needed to get the hot melt laid as fast as we could so that we could use the roof area for storage of the other roofing materials. That meant it also had to be tough enough to cope with movement of people and materials around it.” From an installation perspective, the most challenging aspect for Byford Roofing was ensuring that it provided a totally flat surface for the application of the sports surfacing. This meant accuracy in installing the insulation layer and the paving slab ballast. “It had to be completely level to ensure the MUGA could be laid to the correct tolerances,” said Byford. To ensure the contractor met that requirement, Byford chose a paving support system that offered minimal build up with the most support. “After that it was all about making precise cuts, taking time to get it right and achieve that level finish,” he continued. “We increased our labour on site to include the highest skilled operatives to make sure we did that.” Most of the 800m2 roof area was applied in an initial period of two-to-three weeks. Beyond that, Byford made return visits to site to work with the sequencing of other works by the main contractor. One of the later tasks was waterproofing with BMI Icopal Elastoflex around the fence posts that had been installed into the waterproofed parapet wall around the roof’s perimeter. Given the demanding nature of the contract, Byford was pleased with the result. “I was happy with the spec we put forward,” he said. “It has worked well and it enabled us to complete the project on time and within budget. Working with materials that we trust such as BMI Icopal Parabit Hot Melt Duo, helped us achieve a really satisfying outcome.” For more stories like the rooftop sports area click here