16 June 2023 weekly update

Dear Colleagues,

We have previously written to all schools about the use of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in school buildings. As more has been learnt about the performance of RAAC, the government has expanded their inquiry into this material to include the whole public estate rather than just schools as was initially planned.

Following a school roof collapse in 2018, both the LA and DfE have inspected schools. Where RAAC or similar construction has been found a management plan has been put place, which may have included strengthening works, inspection and monitoring.

This week the DfE unexpectedly confirmed to KCC that that they have adopted new guidelines from the national Institute of Structural Engineers and are implementing revised evaluation criteria to schools across the country. This has resulted in the temporary closure of a small number of schools in Kent where RAAC has been positively identified to enable further works to take place to make them compliant with the new standards. A big thank you to the staff teams in these schools, as well as those of you who have generously offered use of premises, for your work with officers to minimise the disruption to the education of the children and young people affected. I also want to take this opportunity to particularly acknowledge the work of the Area Education Officers and Infrastructure colleagues who are working literally round the clock to manage the situation.

Community, Voluntary Controlled and Foundation schools which do not have RAAC or similar in place, you will have previously received a letter confirming this and we suggest you make reference to the letter when responding if there are queries and concerns.

For schools which have RAAC or similar and that need support to provide reassurance to parents, then please contact your AEO who will assist with the communication, taking account of your particular circumstances.

Those of you awaiting a survey, this will be because through the KCC or DfE risk assessment, your school has been identified as being at lower risk than others. We are now allocating resource to complete surveys in all schools within a shortened timescale, as are the DfE, and you will be contacted in the near future about this.

KCC is working closely with the DfE and we will be sending out regular correspondence about this matter to schools, as well as responding to MPs and media enquiries.

It was fantastic to see so many of you on Tuesday at Making it work for All: Moving from Implementation to Impact, which disseminated the work achieved through the groundbreaking EEFective Kent project. This unique four-year partnership between KCC and the Education Endowment Foundation enabled more than half the schools in Kent to apply evidence based practice to address school-specific issues. The programme included an opening address by Cabinet Member Rory Love (who rearranged his diary and stayed for the whole day) and key note presentations from Jonathan Sharples, Professorial Research Fellow at the EEF  and Hannah Heron, Specialist for Learning Behaviours at the EEF, as well as a serving school leader.

There were also eight workshops sharing school-based work and thank you to colleagues from Minster-in- Sheppey, Newington, Kings Farm, Fulston Manor, Kingsnorth, Stour Academy Trust, Snodland, Queen Elizabeth’s and Ellington schools for their excellent contributions.

In my role I am of course briefed about development work, but to have the opportunity to fully appreciate the scope and quality of the work that has been going on through this project was really inspiring. I have talked with you at various times about the need for change in our approach to school improvement, in response to government policy and funding changes but also because we know that an effective and sustainable education sector is underpinned by collaborative working. This event really felt like a tipping point in that journey. The powerful fusing of national expertise (EEF, Science Oxford, Durrington Research School), with local expertise (Kingsnorth Associate Research School, LLSE, TEP, KAH, KCC, a wider group of schools) has resulted in work we can all be truly proud of and that will help with the recruitment and retention of staff. Part of the legacy of EEFective Kent is the establishment of KEEHub which shares evidence based teaching and leadership and was launched on the day. I strongly encourage you to both use and contribute to this wonderful resource which showcases the excellent work going on across Kent schools.

I also want to thank Michelle Stanley, Lead Education Adviser at KCC, who led the project, and PA Wendy Dunmill for an outstanding job organising the conference, as well as Rachel Baker, Sian Dellaway, Max Edwards and Brian Pottinger for supporting on the day. There will be many more people involved that I don’t know about, a big thank you to you all for contributing to a great event. And for those of you who are interested, the addendum to my story about the First / 2.1 cusp - it’s a First, we found out yesterday 😊, but apparently, it's not that big a deal.

This week we’re sharing guidance to help schools decide who they want to supply their Management Information Systems (MIS) and Financial Accounting Systems (FAS) from April 2024. Up until now, maintained schools have been provided with SIMS and FMS through a Local Authority (LA) contract. Schools have paid for this through de-delegation, as agreed by the Schools Funding Forum. This has been a long-established arrangement. However, the LA contract ends on 31 March 2024, and ESS (the supplier of SIMS) are moving away from LA contracts to direct contracts with schools. Going forward schools will hold their own contracts with MIS and FAS suppliers.

We are not recommending one system over another. There is no ‘right answer’ as it will depend on the needs and size of your school, and your own preferences. Instead, we are presenting information on licences and support, and routes to market for SIMS, Arbor and Bromcom, and arranging demonstrations with suppliers, to enable you to make the decision that’s right for your school. Please read the guidance document and FAQs (PDF, 3.3 MB), share with relevant staff in your school, and book on a supplier demonstration.

I am very much looking forward to seeing you at the forthcoming Headteacher Briefing events - there is still time to sign up if you haven’t yet

• Tonbridge and Malling - Monday 19 June, 1pm to 4pm - The Hop Farm
• Dartford - Thursday 22 June, 9am to 12 noon - Birchwood Park Golf Club
• Folkestone and Hythe - Friday 23 June, 9am to 12noon - Hythe Imperial Hotel
• Canterbury - Thursday 29 June, 1pm to 4pm - The University of Kent.

To reserve your place please use the booking form

The Headteacher Briefing agenda (PDF, 172.9 KB)is now available and you will see we have included a short session just for secondary colleagues with Wendy Murray of MI who is going to talk with you about our aspiration to reinstate the annual collection and analysis of data.

No Headteacher briefing would be complete without some SEND input. We are keeping that brief, with a focus on a new phase transfer timeline and process. I thank you for your patience while we make improvements to the system which are yet to translate into any tangible difference for you and families, but I hope you are encouraged by the first SEN Quality Assurance bulletin aimed primarily at our own staff which introduces the QA team and provides some explanation of the new regime that is being rolled out.

We have planned in an extended break to encourage networking and are providing some better than usual refreshments as a big thank you to you for all your hard work over the year. The final session is focused on sharing good practice in collaborative working, celebrating work going on in schools.

And finally, whilst post-covid in some ways we have returned to business as usual we are still seeing the longer term effects of the pandemic in schools and the community. However, there was also some good practice that emerged which we are keen to learn from. Included in this week’s bulletin is a survey which I hope you will complete which will help us build a picture.

Have a great weekend!

Christine McInnes
Director of Education