17 January 2020 weekly update

Dear Colleagues

EEFective Kent Project

The Spring Term is key for all our students, but particularly those facing SATs and GCSEs. This is the term when we expect our students’ progress to surge forward and where knowledge and skills need to be consolidated. To ensure this, you are likely to be working with particular groups and wanting to ensure maximum progress is made by all students. The challenge is knowing how best to support them, and how to fund any additional support you think is needed.

Our partnership with the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) aims to support you with this by developing an evidence-based approach to the work taking place in schools so that when we are identifying gaps or issues, we are using the best possible approaches to address them. Equally important, this project offers you money to help fund the support.

Our partnership with the EEF is built on ensuring that you have access to the best possible information about what works. Their stated mission for schools is ‘to ensure high-quality evidence - both generating it and supporting its effective use’ according to Sir Peter Lampl, current Chairman of the EEF. He goes on to say ‘Generating evidence is an undoubtedly valuable contribution. However, it is not enough. We need to make sure teachers and other practitioners are able to act on this evidence, and that it benefits particularly the most disadvantaged children and young people.’

In order to achieve this, you will have heard about our EEFective Kent Project and the funding put forward by both the EEF and KCC to support schools to access this.

The first round of this three-year project really kicks off next week. Many of you have booked to attend the roadshows taking place on 22 January where all the providers of the evidence-based approaches will be speaking. There are a few spaces left. Please email EEFectiveKentProject@kent.gov.uk for details.

Also, from Monday, you can apply for the match funding to participate in one of the projects outlined in the prospectus. The deadline for your application is Friday 31 January. If you have missed any of this, there is an EEFective Kent Project page with all the information and contact details if you have any questions.

Matt Dunkley CBE
Corporate Director
Children, Young People and Education