Welcome

Welcome to this week’s Heads Up - a little later than usual, so apologies for this. 

I will start with a reminder to all that we are issuing regular updates and advice on Coronavirus. Please can I stress that it is important that all schools read these. Our Chief Executive, Monica Fogarty, gave a radio interview last week in which she stressed that any confirmed cases in Warwickshire will be on the Public Health England website. Since this interview there have been three confirmed cases in Warwickshire and three in Coventry.

While planning for any outbreak of the virus is at the forefront of our thinking, the day job must go on and I was delighted that so many headteachers attended our termly conference last Thursday.

As well as updates on our own work programmes, there were some keynote speakers who made tremendous contributions. Al Kingsley, Group Managing Director of NetSupport, talked through how schools can maximise their IT budget and maximise the efficiency of going digital. Among the good advice and practice were ways that schools can save money by making sure they are not buying what they already have or could have with an upgrade. There’s a lot of money that could be pumped back into schools if we can take on board some of Al’s suggestions.

Next up was Steve Bolsover, Deputy Headteacher of Campion School, who gave a presentation on Digital Schoolhouse. Campion School is at the heart of this programme which is making links between our pupils and the computing industry. It is no accident that a part of southern Warwickshire is known as Silicon Spa, as it is home to so many gaming enterprises and provides jobs for over 2,500 people. This is why Warwickshire is working incredibly hard to create links with the digital industry and preparing the future workforce to make sure that this is sustainable.

Dr Peter Kent brought us all up to date with the progress on the Warwickshire Education Strategy and was followed by two headteachers; Katie Benson of Radford Semele C of E Primary and Tim Chambers of Bilton School who had very insightful words about the new OFSTED framework. There is some real shared learning to take from their experiences and I urge everyone to get a copy of the slides of their presentation and look at what they say.

Last up was David Didau of the Learning Spy Ltd. David is a former English teacher who is now writing on addressing the advantage gap in schools. David has some fascinating thoughts on why some pupils achieve less than others, with socio-economic factors being integral. There are almost always underlying reasons for a pupil not to achieve their full potential and it is often rooted in factors outside of their control.

That is why I feel our approach in Warwickshire is the best for the young people. We look to address all the factors in the child’s life that will influence their learning potential including the home environment. We seek to use the strengths of the parents so that they can create a home environment that will bring the child on and give a breadth of knowledge that will be a perfect launch pad for their education in school or college settings. Schools do a fabulous job but educating our young people is all of our responsibilities.

That’s all from me. Those of you who were able to attend the conference will be pleased to see me sign off in English.

With best wishes, 

Ian Budd

Assistant Director for Education Services