4 March 2022 weekly update

Dear Colleagues,

A message from Matt Dunkley to start this week’s bulletin:

After 39 years working in education and services for children and young people, and as a Director of Children’s Services since 2005, I shall be retiring at the end of May this year.

Having sailed past my 60^th birthday last year in the middle of a pandemic, I am looking forward to the prospect of some serious travel and the chance to focus on family, health and leisure, and generally to get out of the house a bit more than I have in the last two years.

It is a great privilege to have been Corporate Director of CYPE in Kent since 2017. I shall miss some things more than others, but most of all I will miss my colleagues in CYPE, in schools and settings and the wonderful children and young people of Kent we serve. I am proud to have been associated with your many achievements over the last five years, but never more so than in the last two years we have endured together in the pandemic. The way KCC staff, schools and settings worked together, the fantastic work you did in uniquely trying circumstances, your fortitude and focus on your children and young people have been humbling - thank you.

I am confident that the partnership between KCC and Kent schools and settings is strong. The imminent Schools White Paper will usher in a new era of that partnership that we are well positioned for, and I am sure that our elected members, Christine, her team and the new Corporate Director will continue the work in tandem with you as system leaders to make it work for all children and young people in Kent.

The search process to appoint the new Corporate Director has begun, and is scheduled to be completed before my departure at the end of May. I will keep you posted on that.

Matt Dunkley CBE | Corporate Director | Children, Young People and Education

There will be opportunities to thank Matt for his significant contribution to the Kent Children’s Services journey over the last five years before he leaves some very big shoes to fill.

The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, with over one million displaced people to date fleeing from the Russian invasion, is on everyone’s minds. Given the recent DfE guidance on political impartiality, some may be ambivalent about how to approach this matter in school. It is entirely appropriate to discuss this with pupils and the DfE has issued specific guidance.

Additional materials for use by schools are being collated by KAH, and resources from our Prevent Team are available.

The response of the public to support families has been humbling and in Kent KAH is leading on the organisation of the collections to be transported to Poland, as well as fund raising

Some of you may be interested in this free online event taking place on Monday 14 March from 5pm to 6pm which brings together four leading academics with specialist knowledge of different aspects of the crisis.

Whilst there is rightly near universal global condemnation of Russia’s invasion, this conflict is raising some additional challenging ethical issues. The treatment of Black people at the Ukrainian borders and aspects of reporting which convey the message that the victims of this conflict are perhaps more deserving of empathy and political assistance than others around the world experiencing similar crises are important issues to be mindful of when planning your school’s response and when talking with staff and families.

Onto local school news now - you will all be aware of the great work being led through the Virtual School Kent and I’m really pleased to share the news that VSK is the only virtual school nationally to be accredited as a Nurture School. Huge congratulations to headteacher Tony Doran and his team for this fantastic achievement, you can find out more in Tony’s article.

Since half term I have visited four schools. Last week Cllr Sue Chandler, Mark Walker and I met with staff at Valance Special School to find out more about the impact on pupils of changes to the ways that therapies are delivered and to meet with members of the STLS. A big thank you to Roland Gooding and his team.

On Monday I joined Michelle Stanley, KCC lead adviser for school improvement and Maria Cunningham of the Education Endowment Fund on a visit to Kingsnorth C of E Primary school. Kingsnorth is an English Hub school and was recently appointed as the Kent Associate Research School, a development which is jointly funded by KCC and the EEF. There was some very challenging opposition, so Kingsnorth did really well to be appointed and thank you to those of you that also submitted a proposal.

It was fascinating to find out more about the support offer through the English Hub as well as the exciting plans for the launch of the Associate Research School (which took place on Tuesday) and next steps. You will know that the setting up of an Associate Research School is a really significant step in our EEFective Kent schools journey to embedding evidence based practice in all we do. A big thank you to Ian Witts and his team for their time, for showing us around the school and in particular for giving us a really good understanding of their whole school approach to promoting reading and inclusive practice.

On Wednesday Cllr Shellina Prendergast and I visited Great Chart Primary School to find out more about their inclusive practice and some of the challenges they are experiencing. During the visit we saw graduated responses in action, from full integration of children with SEND into classroom teaching through to children that need additional support for part of their day in The Wyvern Special School satellite provision. We were particularly interested in the way school leaders have embedded the Core Standards into their work and the way they use their Speech and Language Therapist to upskill staff who then run language groups and support a whole school approach to language development. A big thank you to Wendy Pang, her staff team and the Head Boy and Head Girl for their time and insight.

Finally, today I am visiting Sevenoaks school which is generously hosting an event disseminating the latest evaluation of the International Baccalaureate Career-related Programme for schools. You may be aware that Kent has the highest number of secondary schools delivering this programme in the world and so KCC has been lobbying government to make the case for its continued recognition through the post 16 qualifications review. More on this next week.

Chez McInnes, last weekend my youngest was back from university and we went to St Martin’s in The Field for a concert, the first in a very long time. It was almost sold out and there was a palpable shared joy between the audience and musicians at just being there, and the performance was outstanding. The contrast with images of the bombardment of Ukraine was stark and highlighted again, as we emerge from the pandemic, how fragile the fabric of our lives can be. So, seize the day and find something lovely to do this weekend in between all the commitments.

Best wishes

Christine McInnes
Director of Education