Welcome

Welcome to this week’s Heads Up.

If you haven’t already saved the afternoon of 5 March in your diary for our spring term Headteachers’ Conference, then I would strongly encourage you to do so. We’re still in the process of finalising the programme but I am pleased to be able to share with you the main themes for the day and some exciting keynote speakers that we have lined up.  

We know that technology has a vital role to play in education, and when used to its full potential it can help to deliver more engaging learning experiences, spark creativity and make great education more accessible to everyone.  However, implementing a successful digital strategy in schools is not without its challenges. 

That’s why we’re thrilled to have secured Al Kingsley, author of ‘A guide to Creating a Digital Strategy in Education’ and Group Managing Director of NetSupport, a leading digital company that develop software solutions to support the use of technology in classrooms, alongside eSafety tech to safeguard students online.  

Al also chairs a Multi-Academy Trust, sits on the headteacher board for the Regional Schools Commissioner and is a regional Apprenticeship Ambassador for businesses across the East of England. He says “I have little time for ‘corporate marketing speak’, have no interest in gaining ‘traction’ or harvesting low hanging fruit, plain talk, say what you see is always the way to go for me.”  

Our second keynote speaker, David Didau, is responsible for writing one of the most influential education blogs in the UK, The Learning Spy, which has clocked up over a million visitors since its launch and won numerous awards. As a result of his blogging, in 2014, David was approached by Ofsted to give his views on the Inspection Handbook and ‘made a commitment to common sense and practical humanity which resulted in lesson observation grades being scrapped’.  

He has spent a lot of time in schools working with teachers to improve their approach to students’ literacy and has written four books exploring different aspects of teaching and learning through cognitive psychology. We’ll hear from David who will be sharing his thoughts on the new Ofsted Framework, as well as Warwickshire headteachers who have recently undergone an inspection.   

Our Education Strategy has now been in place for almost two years so it seems a good time for us to take stock of where we are now which is why we’re dedicating time on the agenda to looking at this. We want to know if you agree with our priorities, if you think we’ve missed anything or if we’ve not kept to our promises on delivering certain aspects of the strategy. Communication is also key so we’d like to hear your feedback on how you want to be kept updated. During the session we’ll be sharing an annual review which provides a very encouraging assessment of our successes to date but also focuses on the areas where there is still work to do.   

So, I look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible, if I don’t see you as I continue doing the rounds of Warwickshire’s schools.  Have a good weekend and half term break.

With best wishes, 

Ian Budd

Assistant Director for Education Services