14 October 2022 weekly update

Dear Colleagues,

This week has passed like a whirlwind!

Firstly, just an alert about the forthcoming KCC Headteacher Briefings. In order to make them more accessible, we are using different venues this year with an aspiration to run one briefing in each of the districts over the year. The information is outlined below:

• RESCHEDULING - East - Wednesday 2 November, 1pm to 4pm - Howfield Manor Hotel
• East - Tuesday 8 November - TBC
• North - Wednesday 9 November, 1pm to 4pm - The Darenth Country Club
• West - Wednesday 23 November, 1pm to 4pm - The Orchards Events Venue
• South - Monday 28 November, 9am to 12pm - Dover Marina Hotel

To reserve your place, please email CYPESupportTeam@kent.gov.uk confirming your name, school and the session you are able to join.

I’m pleased to share I visited five settings to find out more about the great work which is going on and the particular challenges education leaders are grappling with in Kent.

I was delighted to spend Monday at three of the four sites that comprise Goldwyn Special School where Kerry Greene is Principal, following a year working with the LA as part of the SEND directorate. Supporting pupil’s social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) is a growing concern across many schools. It was really helpful to have some dedicated time finding out more about this complex category of need through discussions with Kerry, the Chair of Governors Kate Wilson, Charlotte Lewis at Goldwyn Folkestone and John Bumpus at Goldwyn Plus. Thank you too to the students who took the time to talk to us about what they are doing. Following a ‘deep dive’ into the data within the LA we will be working with the SEMH special schools and those of you in mainstream schools already developing new approaches to draft guidance for all schools over this year.

Thursday was spent in the Romney Marsh area with Lee Round, who has returned to his role as Area Schools Organisation Officer in the South area as David Adams completes his work leading Reconnect, returning to his Area Education Officer role. Staying on the theme of SEMH, I was really pleased to meet with Amanda King who established the Specialist Post-16 Institution (SPI) at Romney Resource Centre to support young people who are struggling to maintain their engagement in education, training and/or employment. The limited employment opportunities and poor transport links in the area are added challenges for families, some of whom have insecure housing requiring an annual exodus from their caravan park homes. The centre uses a trauma informed approach to working with both young people and also adults in the community.

We visited The Marsh Academy, part of The Skinner’s Family of Schools, where Principal Shaun Simmons discussed the implementation of the school’s mission to meet the needs of all children in the local community. A tour of the school included a stop in the SRP, where I was delighted to see only two students, with the rest attending mainstream lessons. The school’s mission extends to opening facilities for community use, which includes their own cinema, the Cinemarsh, a really impressive development providing a low cost, beautiful venue for families.

Then onto St Nicholas Primary, part of the Aquila Trust, where we met with Headteacher Chris Dale, Annie Wiles CEO of the Aquila Academy Trust and Hilary Andrews the Business Manager, to talk about the improvement journey of the school. It was lovely to see the children at play and have the opportunity to talk to some year 6 pupils about their aspirations for secondary school. The school was one of the first to become NurtureUK accredited, through their link with the Virtual School Kent and are doing some fascinating work on nurture and inclusion.

The final visit of the day was to Greatstone Primary School to meet with Matt Rawlings, Executive Headteacher of Greatstone and Repton Schools and Jaclyn Kay, Head of Greatstone School. The discussion was wide ranging and included school improvement, pupil place planning and the uncertainty created by the delay in progress of the school’s bill. It was great to see that the school has taken such a focus on values and putting them into action.

A huge thank you to all involved for their time and for giving me a greater insight into the education sector in Kent. These visits are always a pleasure and a source of inspiration, seeing the commitment and passion of education communities is really important to me, particularly during tricky times.

I’m ending the week at another inspirational event - the Virtual School Kent’s annual conference, but more about that next week.

Finally, I want to take the opportunity to highlight the work of Kent PACT (Parents and Children Together), a forum for parents and carers of children and young people who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). PACT are keen to extend their membership and we have included a letter for parents and carers (PDF, 152.1 KB) which we’d ask that you distribute to your community. PACT representatives are also very happy to visit your school to meet parents and carers, so do get in touch with PACT is this is of interest.

Best wishes

Christine McInnes
Director of Education