Blue Sky, which is based at The Lodge at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, part of the Romero Catholic Academy, welcomed more than 20 education professionals to one of its first in-person sessions as part of a bid to help teachers in the region maximise their potential.

The session saw a mixture of teachers, teaching assistants and leaders hear about the new opportunities and take part in a seminar focussed on improving pupil engagement and progress in Maths lessons.

Will Allen, Director of Blue Sky, has collaborated with strategic and professional partners to harness talent across primary, secondary and special schools in the region ahead of the launch.

The programme aims to ensure the best possible teaching standards for the benefit of children and young people in the city by providing school-to-school support in target areas.

He said: “This is an exciting new chapter for Blue Sky as we expand our training and development opportunities to teachers across Coventry, Warwickshire and the West Midlands, and ultimately have a real impact on the learning experience of children across the region.

“The level of expertise we have across the Romero Catholic Academy is tremendous, and while we continue to make this accessible to our own staff members, our expansion means that we will also offer these opportunities to other schools as part of a bespoke support package, whether that’s for certain subjects, leadership skills, or for SEND learning.

“Our new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme will be one of our flagship provisions following our expansion, but we will also look to extend invites to events, seminars and workshops throughout the school year, while having the capability to visit schools to deliver training in house.

“We’d love to hear from other schools and fellow education professionals about their personal development plans, and look forward to rolling out our new and improved provision in the next academic year.”

Blue Sky is delivering CPD to schools across the city throughout the academic year, including courses on Catholic Leadership, Senior Leadership Development, Subject Leadership, Teacher Development and a wide range of additional training and workshops.

For more information visit blueskytsa.org.

A recent inspection judged the school to have made sufficient progress in relation to the recommendations following the most recent core inspection. As a result, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales has removed Ysgol Bro Sannan from the list of schools that are in need of significant improvement.

The inspection report highlighted efforts made by the school and Caerphilly County Borough Council in developing a robust leadership structure, which has helped Ysgol Bro Sannan make good progress against nearly all of its priorities following the core inspection. A reorganisation of the staff structure has also helped ensure the school is making best use of its teachers’ and assistants’ expertise.

Richard Edmunds, Director for Education and Corporate Services at Caerphilly Council, said “This report is excellent news and demonstrates the efforts by everyone involved. It’s reassuring to see that the report recognises the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic and, despite these, teaching staff have still shown great progress in supporting pupils to improve their numeracy and literary skills, as well as their independent learning skills.

We understand that there are still aspects of the school’s work which could be developed and are committed to supporting them to improve even further.”

Chief Education Officer for Caerphilly, Keri Cole, added “I am delighted to celebrate the progress made at Ysgol Bro Sannan. Under the leadership of the headteacher and Governing Body, the school has worked tirelessly to secure rapid improvement, which has had a very positive impact on learners and their families.”

The competition is open to all schools in England and Wales. To enter schools need to fill in a simple entry form on the A&S Landscape website. Schools will then need to collect votes, with the school with the highest number of votes winning the competition.

The decision to relaunch the competition was a no-brainer for the team at A&S Landscape after the unprecedented interest in the previous contest, which saw a total of 48,000 votes cast. Competition Coordinator at A&S Landscape, Lucy Grime, shared why the decision was made to give away another canopy: “After the hardships and challenges faced by many schools throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, we were all too aware that many were struggling to make improvements to their facilities due to a lack of budget and manpower. We knew that giving away a canopy would to help spread some positivity and make a difference to the winning school.”

Schools have until the 15th July 2022 to enter the competition, with the winner being announced shortly after.

The flagship transformations include the likes of new modular furniture, book shelving and each library has benefitted from 400 new books, e-readers and audio books.

Beyond the reading space transformations, teachers at the schools will receive bespoke training to further their ability to create a culture of reading for pleasure and support that will enable them to maximise the reading spaces as hubs for imagination and creativity.

Families and carers of children at the schools will receive guidance and advice on how to support their children with reading outside the classroom, as well as invitations to special community and school literacy events including author readings.

Mel Bowman, Deputy Headteacher at Hazelbury Primary School, commented: “We’re thrilled to have the support of Chase to not only encourage a love of reading among the children at Hazelbury, but also equip parents and guardians with how they can support their children at home. Our new library provides a special space for the children to let their imaginations run wild and leave a lasting legacy that will have a real impact on their lives for years to come.”

Deborah Keay, Chief Marketing Officer of Chase in the UK, continued: “It’s fantastic to see our school library transformations taking shape and for children in the Enfield schools to now be actively using them. These three schools are part of our wider mission to transform 150 libraries across the UK to support children’s literacy across the nation. Developing early stage reading skills and discovering a passion for reading can shape a child’s life, unlocking their potential, and helping improve their future prospects.”

Director of School Programmes at the National Literacy Trust, Fiona Evans, added: “When children are able to enjoy reading for pleasure and access books they want to read, this has a positive impact on their wellbeing, their academic performance and their chances of doing well in life. This is why we are delighted to be working with Chase to deliver exciting reading spaces, resources and training to primary schools across the UK, and helping to inspire a life-long love of reading.”

The Chase Rewarding Futures school library programme, which launched in December 2021, is transforming 150 primary school libraries across the UK, 22 of which are in Enfield. Chase’s initial £1m commitment to children’s literacy will improve access to books and reading materials, reaching around 35,000 children in underserved communities across seven key areas: Dundee, Doncaster, Newport, Suffolk, London, Nottingham, and Birmingham.

Door Group, a unit of ASSA ABLOY Opening Solutions UK & Ireland, is stressing

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires schools to undertake risk assessments to identify the general fire precautions needed to safeguard the safety of occupants in case of fire, including their safe means of escape.

Despite this, recent research[1] showed that schools have been hit by 2,300 fires in the last five years, destroying 47 primary and secondary school buildings alone.

Fire doors are one of the most important safety features in a building, and regular product specifications or dedicated fire door inspections are essential to fully ensure health and safety measures are met.

Education buildings can present highly specific requirements for fire doorsets, with particularly varied legislation and building regulations surrounding fire doors in schools.

These doors are subject to extremely high levels of traffic, and subsequently a higher level of misuse and abuse, which can then lead to functional problems resulting in non-compliance.

Brian Sofley, Managing Director of ASSA ABLOY Door Group, explains: “Whilst statutory inspections are being completed for the entire building, the necessary attention to fire door compliance is being overlooked.

“Our team of BRE qualified engineers have found a large percentage of fire doors to be non-compliant when completing a dedicated fire door inspection in schools over the past 3-4 years. For example, in one school, 163 of the 164 fire doors we inspected were not fire compliant.”

The economic and social impact of school fires on staff, pupils, and the local community can be significant, causing financial hardship, emotional trauma, and a delay in learning.

A study[2] found that 17 per cent of schools who had experienced a fire said that it had led to a drop in staff morale, six per cent to a drop in morale amongst pupils and seven per cent said that their fire had led to negative publicity about their school.

Door Group is committed to raising the standard of fire door safety in schools, providing a fully comprehensive inspection which can be carried out every three, four, six or 12 months to suit specific requirements.

Following inspections, Door Group then offer detailed reports containing advice and recommendations on necessary improvements, with the knowledge that identifying any potential issues that could impact safety and product performance can be lifesaving.

If any issues do occur, a tailored repair proposal is issued to include anything from replacement doors to a regular maintenance program. Door Group inspectors are BRE-certified and will ensure that all fire doors inspected meet all necessary standards and regulations.

Brian adds: “An education building should be a safe and secure place for students and staff, to work and learn. Door Group is committed to making schools, colleges and universities across the UK fire protected.

“With regular and thorough inspections, we can ensure the compliance and performance of fire doorsets in an effort to improve overall fire safety in the educational environment, while minimising the risk that learning could be negatively impacted by a fire.”

For more information on ASSA ABLOY Door Group, please visit https://bit.ly/3hVybbC.

[1] https://www.zurich.co.uk/media-centre/more-than-1100-classrooms-gutted-by-school-blazes

[2] National Foundation for Educational Research – The impact of school fires: A study of the wider economic and social impacts on schools and the local community

Newly refurbished, the science labs allow for easy cleaning between lessons and space for social distancing, adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. Part of the refurbishment work included brand-new benches with wipe-clean laminate surface and a new layout of the lab, enabling greater flexibility to complete group work and giving students the chance to section off into their own bubbles.

Bessie Owen, Head of School, Witchford Village College, said: “Despite the unusual circumstances that 2020 has brought to education, we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to ensure that our students are met with the best possible experience as they continue to integrate into the ‘new normal’ of school life. These refurbishments reflect our new way of teaching and operating and I’m extremely proud of how our site team pulled together to make this possible”.

As well as the project being developed with the school’s safety guidelines in mind, everything has been refurbished to ensure the highest quality learning experience for the students. This has included: new natural daylight LED lighting, which has been built into the ceilings to ensure better lighting conditions for students to focus, new blinds which will allow effective blackout for practical work on topics such as the properties of light, measuring the rate of photosynthesis or flame tests, and new state of the art 86-inch interactive screens to allow all students to proactively follow the lesson and also interact with the boards themselves.

Owen continued: “The science labs have not been refurbished or modernised since the school was built, so it’s been fantastic to see the students making the most out of our new facilities this term. At Witchford Village College we are committed to providing a learning environment in which all of our students have the ability to realise their potential. These new labs will do just that”.

These changes come at an exciting time for Witchford Village College, as the community continues to grow and evolve from its connection to Eastern Learning Alliance. Eastern Learning Alliance is a purposeful family of schools, each with its own distinct identity. Each school within the Trust offers academic rigour, excellent extra-curricular opportunities and values the arts and performing arts. Eastern Learning Alliance and its schools are proudly international and internationally minded, serving a diverse community with a broad, specialist and inclusive provision.

The Board of Governors decided to replace the ageing CCTV system with a solution that would provide high-quality, recordable footage day and night. As the school is based in a residential area it was also important that invisible, non-intrusive infra-red lighting was used rather than flood lights that could disturb neighbours.

Based over two sites on opposite sides of a private road, there was added complexity of installing an integrated CCTV system that served both sites. Delta Security used catenary cables that run across the road to ensure the CCTV system was fully functional throughout the entire site.

Vanessa Browne, School Business Manager, Rushmore Primary School, says with a large, disparate site it was important that the system provided full coverage:

“We wanted a system that would give us total visibility and instant play-back of footage across all entrances and exits, as well as some internal areas.

“Three suppliers provided quotes and Delta Security was chosen because the owner, Dave Mundy, demonstrated an excellent understanding of our needs, ensuring we could achieve what we wanted without spending more budget than necessary,” she explains. “He even informed us that we could apply to claim back 50% of security costs from the local authority, which we did and were successful – a useful benefit to Delta being a local supplier!”

Dave Mundy, Managing Director, Delta Security, says education is an important sector for the business: “Having a good understanding of the requirements of the sector is why we continue to be successful in helping to secure schools. We ensure all our engineers are enhanced DBS checked, which provides the same assurances as teachers get for added convenience and safety.”

Vanessa adds that engineers were professional, friendly and provided a good demonstration of how to use the terminal: “The system is very easy to use, excellent value for money, and the service we received was ten out of ten.”

“10% of children play in the natural environment compared to 40% of adults when they were young”
England Marketing (2009) Report to the Natural England on childhood and nature: a survey on changing relationships with nature across generations.

This is a big shift in how children play and what they experience in their childhood years. The question is how does this impact on their health, personal development and learning?

Health is impacted negatively by not getting enough exercise, leading to increasing rates of obesity in children and adolescents. Children are not playing outside as much as they used to, limiting their exposure to sunlight and thus the generation of vitamin D which helps to fight infection and keeps skin healthy. Sunlight also helps to regulate the production of melatonin which regulates sleep. Electronic devices emit harmful blue light, which can cause headaches and eye strain. Blue light in the evenings can even limit the production of melatonin, which in turn can make going to sleep very difficult for some children.

So what is the answer to this slippery slope that we find ourselves on… More time outside!

With such a lot of time spent at school there is a real opportunity to take these important learnings and increase the options for children to learn and play in the outdoors. Ofsted are in agreement that more time outdoors is of benefit to pupils …

“When planned and implemented well, learning outside the classroom contributed significantly to raising standards and improving pupils’ personal, social and emotional development”
Ofsted (2008) Learning outside the classroom. How far should you go?

Despite this, a survey has shown that although “97% of teachers believed that schools needed to use their outside spaces effectively to enhance their pupils’ development, 82% did not agree that their own school was making as much use as it can of this valuable resource”
Learning Through Landscapes (2010) Research showing the benefits of outdoor play

So what can be done?

There are a lot of organisations who promote outdoor activities, such as Learning Outside the Classroom, The Outward Bound Trust and The Woodland Trust. Many of these offer ideas for outdoor learning as well as courses for teachers and school resources to download.

In the UK, the weather can often be a barrier to taking children outdoors for regular lessons and it may be that the addition of a school canopy or shade sail, may be just the thing to make sure that your school is not depending on the British weather to get the children in the fresh air.

Imagine a school campus with a custom built outdoor sheltered learning space, which is ready to use every day of the year! What a fabulous way to make sure that your children make the most of the natural world and all the benefits this can bring.

These can take the shape of Umbrella style shelters, Tepees, Shade Sails or steel and polycarbonate school canopies. For a larger sheltered area, a covered MUGA would provide space for all year-round sports and learning activities outdoors. Perhaps a bespoke school canopy would be something to consider, these can be designed specific to the school and made to measure. Whatever the requirement, there will be a school canopy solution to help bring the benefits of outdoor learning to as many children as possible.

“Outdoor learning can benefit pupils of all ages and be successful in a variety of settings… [it] enriches the curriculum and can improve educational attainment”
Education and Skills Select Committee.

For more information about A&S Landscape’s shade sails and other canopy solutions please click here.

In the letter, national secretary Philippa Childs welcomes the government’s announcement of £50m a year for local authorities to continue to monitor and commission school improvement for low-performing maintained schools, and the new £140m strategic school improvement fund for academies and maintained schools.

Childs said: “Prospect is the largest union for school improvement professionals, so our members are keen for us to meet the DfE to flesh out more detail on its strategic proposals and how the new funding will be allocated.

“Members also want us to highlight the crucial role they play and encourage a discussion of key principles around mentoring and advising schools to produce successful outcomes for pupils across the whole ability range.”

She pointed out that while many of Prospect’s members in school improvement are still employed by local authorities, others operate as private consultants or work for private companies that sell their services to schools.

“However, in all cases, their independence from the schools they support is important to ensure objectivity.”

With the letter, Childs has enclosed Prospect’s standards for educational development and improvement professionals. This document identifies six key standards that recognise the responsibility of professionals working in children’s services for child development.

Childs added: “Our members have invaluable experience working with both maintained schools and academies and we believe the standards could help to ensure the new funding delivers the government’s ambitions.”

Prospect is also keen to engage with the National Schools Commissioner about his strategy to drive up standards in schools.

More than a third of primary school teachers (35%) agree. This is despite the fact that schools are now recording more information about the children they teach than ever before.

The results suggest that primary schools’ communication with parents needs to evolve, something some heads are actively addressing.

Jayne Mullane, headteacher at Mersey Vale Primary School in Stockport, remarks: “We need to listen to parents to find out what information they want to receive. In my school, parents gave us feedback on our reports and we changed them as a result. They now include information about how much effort a child makes in class as well as details of academic performance.”

The Capita SIMS survey found that knowing whether their child is happy and confident in class tops the list of information parents want to know from teachers, suggesting that mums and dads do not just want academic results on their reports.

And although three-quarters of parents (74%) stated that it was very important to have information on happiness and confidence, less than half (46%) reported actually receiving it from their child’s primary school.

Teachers too felt information on a child’s happiness was crucial, with 75% stating it was very important for parents to have this information.

Phil Neal, a director at Capita SIMS, comments: “The vast majority of parents believe teachers are doing a great job, but the research does indicate that information about how a child is doing in school needs updating.

“By asking parents what they want, schools can actually stop collecting unnecessary data and just focus on the information that really helps teachers in class and gives parents a more rounded picture of their child’s progress.

The survey also revealed that most teachers (85%) agreed that technology has a positive impact on their workload when it comes to monitoring pupil progress.

Phil Neal continues: “By making better use of the management information systems and pupil tracking software that they already have in primary schools, teachers can track a richer set of information about pupils without impacting on workload.

“Teachers could just as easily record and report on whether a child helped a friend in class or is working hard on a particular project – details that are often just as important to parents as assessment results.”

A guide for schools entitled ‘Could do better: is it time to change the school report?’ is available and can be downloaded from www.capita-sims.co.uk/evolution. It contains tips for schools on improving reporting and a list of questions parents should ask schools about pupil progress.