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Busy making a difference
3rd March 2023
Well what a term it is turning out to be! I can distinctly remember starting January with a renewed energy and my usual warm feeling that the spring term was always my favourite in education. For a very long time now, I have considered the spring term the ‘working term’ and by that, I mean that I often feel it is the term with least distractions. Pupils are settled into school, Christmas is out of the way, and we can crack on in schools with teaching and learning with fewer interuptions before the relentless summer term which is packed full of exams, sports days, trips, visits, parent meetings, reports etc. How wrong I was this year! Three of our schools within the trust have had an Ofsted visit this term, creating much diversion for all involved.
Working in the central team allows me the privilege of visiting all of the trust schools and seeing exactly how hard staff are working at the ‘chalk face’. This week I have visited a number of schools and while busy worrying about my own workload, I was grounded by the work that school staff were doing on a daily basis. Despite it being a national strike day, schools were still a buzz with children, as you endeavoured to meet their needs. Children happily came to speak with me dressed as a plethora of different characters to celebrate World Book Day, I was even mildly amused to see a teacher dressed as a T-Rex delivering a hockey lesson. This reminded me why we do what we do, these are the days that children remember for a long time to come.
Whilst visiting schools to talk about the infamous financial situation and planning for next year, a common theme has come across in all of your schools and that is around the SEND provision and funding in our schools. Yesterday, the government announced its SEND and Alternative Provision improvement plan, a link to which can be found in the heads section further down in the bulletin. We will have to see how this plays out on the ground, which I suspect is going to take some time. In the meantime, please know that Governors and Trustees are very aware of the challenges you all face and are giving the issue much time and consideration and are fighting your corner hard. Please do get in touch with any hard data you have where you feel the lack of support or funding is negatively impacting your school and the education you provide.
Keep doing what you are doing, it is making a difference!
Kathryn Krynicki, Director of Education, Learning Partners
Well what a term it is turning out to be! I can distinctly remember starting January with a renewed energy and my usual warm feeling that the spring term was always my favourite in education. For a very long time now, I have considered the spring term the ‘working term’ and by that, I mean that I often feel it is the term with least distractions. Pupils are settled into school, Christmas is out of the way, and we can crack on in schools with teaching and learning with fewer interuptions before the relentless summer term which is packed full of exams, sports days, trips, visits, parent meetings, reports etc. How wrong I was this year! Three of our schools within the trust have had an Ofsted visit this term, creating much diversion for all involved.
Working in the central team allows me the privilege of visiting all of the trust schools and seeing exactly how hard staff are working at the ‘chalk face’. This week I have visited a number of schools and while busy worrying about my own workload, I was grounded by the work that school staff were doing on a daily basis. Despite it being a national strike day, schools were still a buzz with children, as you endeavoured to meet their needs. Children happily came to speak with me dressed as a plethora of different characters to celebrate World Book Day, I was even mildly amused to see a teacher dressed as a T-Rex delivering a hockey lesson. This reminded me why we do what we do, these are the days that children remember for a long time to come.
Whilst visiting schools to talk about the infamous financial situation and planning for next year, a common theme has come across in all of your schools and that is around the SEND provision and funding in our schools. Yesterday, the government announced its SEND and Alternative Provision improvement plan, a link to which can be found in the heads section further down in the bulletin. We will have to see how this plays out on the ground, which I suspect is going to take some time. In the meantime, please know that Governors and Trustees are very aware of the challenges you all face and are giving the issue much time and consideration and are fighting your corner hard. Please do get in touch with any hard data you have where you feel the lack of support or funding is negatively impacting your school and the education you provide.
Keep doing what you are doing, it is making a difference!
Kathryn Krynicki, Director of Education, Learning Partners
