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Secondary Update | Summer 2018 1 www.hants.gov.uk
AUTUMN 2020
Secondary Update
Contents
Editorial 2
Are we doing justice to history though our
history curriculum? 3
Reviewing the science curriculum 6
Religious education update 8
Secondary data update 10
Ofsted update 11
CPD opportunities 14
Art work by pupils at The Vyne Community School
2 Secondary Update | Autumn 2020
Editorial
Welcome to the Autumn Term edition of the Secondary
Update. The Summer Term was like no other and it
was so heartening to be in contact with you all as the madness unfolded. Headteachers were under great pressure as the frequent updates came out thick and fast. I know I struggled at times to keep up with the paperwork as central government reacted to the changing landscape. We cannot thank you enough for the professional way schools reacted. This was particularly important for some of the most vulnerable pupils and you all showed amazing resilience in putting suitable arrangements in place. The weekly registers also helped us to support our colleagues in Social Care in having a good handle on which pupils were in school during that time. School leaders also came up with many creative ways to ensure that pupils who needed free school meals continued to have access. All of this has been immensely important in keeping open communication channels with the families of vulnerable children. Having spoken to headteachers, I think that many parents were so grateful for the support given by teachers for the remote learning and indeed for the pastoral care throughout. Many of you will have received some lovely emails and letters of thanks from parents who valued the good communication put in place.
There are of course some very positive spin-offs arising from these challenging times. Leaders are still working through what can be retained in terms of improved communication in some cases and maybe a wider range of staff feeling empowered by the valuable contact with parents. Certainly, parents have had much greater access to the detail of the curriculum and the way different teachers have delivered the curriculum. Equally, the growth in knowledge and expertise around the use of technology to provide remote learning has been exponential.
Video conferencing among colleagues through the different platforms became the norm in some cases and leaders are now looking for ways to continue to use this to support work-life balance for staff. Teachers have become adept at exploring different ways of delivering learning including the provision of some live lessons online in some cases. Leaders are continuing to experiment and take time to reflect on the lessons learned as we now move from what began as emergency provision into something which will be quickly available and closely tied into the current school curriculum. This will be essential where the virus forces either individual pupils or group bubbles to continue education off-site for a period of time. Teachers also feel much more confident now to be able to continue working from home should they have to self-isolate but are still well enough to work. Leaders are all working to find the right match of synchronous and asynchronous modes of teaching to fit their individual context.
None of us underestimates the continuing challenges facing schools. The grading debacle played out over the summer and some last-minute changes again demanded nifty footwork by school leaders. As the Government and Public Health learn more, we will all continue to face the uncomfortable position of not really knowing what might happen next. What is sure is that you will all continue to rise to the challenge and put the needs of children first in doing the best you can. Heartfelt thanks to you all and your amazing staff. We will continue to support you to enable Hampshire secondary schools to continue the excellent work you do day to day.
Finally, we are looking to expand the Secondary School Improvement Team in HIAS. If you are interested please see the advert in this link: https://careers.newjob.org.uk/HCC/job/Home-based-General-InspectorAdviser-Secondary-Phase-HCC35873-HAM/618458801/.
Beverley Murtagh
Secondary Inspector/Adviser Hampshire Inspection and Advisory Service (HIAS)
E-mail: [email protected]
Secondary Update | Autumn 2020 3
Are we doing justice to history though our history curriculum?
Are we teaching an ethical curriculum in our schools?
There have been increasing calls for government ministers and school leaders in the UK to look again at the school curriculum in order to decolonise it. These renewed calls have come from organisations such as Rhodes Must Fall, founded in 2015 by Oxford University students, and the Black Lives Matter Movement, which has gained momentum and widespread public support after the appalling and horrific killing of George Floyd by police in the US.
Moreover, secondary school students themselves have demanded change in the form of school petitions and campaigns organised by groups of young people such as The Black Curriculum, founded in 2019, which is campaigning for Black history to become a mandatory aspect of the curriculum. The Windrush Review recommended that colonial and migration history be taught in schools and there is currently a government petition, Teach Britain's colonial past as part of the UK's compulsory curriculum
1 which has received over
260,000 signatures to date.
The National Education Union has added their support to the cause, echoing the views of many in education with their June 2020 press release stating:
“We must improve the curriculum so that students learn about how Britain was founded
on global histories. Students should learn about
the achievements and roles of Black Britons in every field of human endeavour ... the
campaigns by Black workers for equal treatment
and the stand against injustice ... we must lead the way in breaking down the barriers caused by racism.”
2
How representative is your history curriculum?
What we choose to teach in our history curriculum and whose history we represent is a considerable ethical and moral
responsibility, putting senior leaders and history leaders in a position of power. The historical narratives or stories we tell in schools will ultimately help to influence our nation’s collective memory and impact notions of identity. London sixth form students in a recent Bitesize article explained that if you cannot see your past reflected in the curriculum, you may not feel you have a place in society: “My parents had taught me stuff about my own heritage, so when I saw it being actively absent
in the classroom, it made me feel like I was absent in history itself.”
3
In his 2020 Schools History Project Conference speech, Ofsted history lead, Tim Jenner,
Source: This image, by unknown author, is licensed under: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.
Source: This image, by unknown author, is licensed under: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/.
4 Secondary Update | Autumn 2020
emphasised the KS3 History National Curriculum requirement:
“for schools to think about the way the past and its people are represented” and to “explore the complex interrelationships between Britain and the rest of the world”. Ofsted inspectors, he said, “will consider the stories that are told and it is naïve to deny the real resonance of the kinds of stories we tell for the present”.
The history teaching community has long since been careful to avoid a reductive view of history that presents a Whig interpretation of the past, the kind of history described by Justice2History as the “inexorable unfolding of the triumphant progressive forces of Protestantism, parliamentary democracy and monarchy across the centuries and assumes the positive influence of British ideals and actions around the world … in Britain’s rise to greatness”, but many history teachers recognise that more can be done to avoid an overly Eurocentric, Christo-centric curriculum with its origins linking back to a colonial past. We have a responsibility to ensure our curriculum has integrity by being up to date, our historical knowledge is up to date and students have access to the latest historical scholarship. Hampshire history teachers have a long history of working with HIAS and with the academic history world to create a diverse history curriculum and make available history lesson resources. However, in light of recent events and publications such as The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan and Miranda Kofman’s Black
Tudors, history teachers up and down the country have been re-evaluating their curriculum choices to see how they could teach broader, more global, interconnected and diverse historical narratives that give a more inclusive, truthful account of history.
This can be quite complex so, in addition to being available to advise and support departments in developing their curriculum, I have organised a series of continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities to support history teachers in their endeavours and enable them to see inspirational practice. The Autumn edition of History Matters, our History curriculum update, will showcase the
ground-breaking work of the HIAS History Steering group of leading history teachers that have been reshaping their history curriculum and building new lesson sequences to address some of this missing history. I also highly recommend that your history team book onto the History Networks beginning in November this year as they are focussed on teaching the historical narrative with exciting guest speakers Nick Dennis, an expert on teaching Black History and decolonising the curriculum, and Richard Harris, an expert on teaching inclusive histories. Tim Jenner, the new Ofsted subject lead, and Alex Ford, an influential history curriculum theorist and practitioner, will also be speaking at our History Leadership Conference in June 2020 so it is not to be missed. Finally, the History Challenge group will support a smaller group of history teachers in developing strategies and resources for their departments by introducing some of the latest historical scholarship and tackling historical interpretations in their schemes of work. All these events are likely to be virtual this year, making them even more accessible and affordable.
Consider the following questions based on the advice of the Historical Association (HA)
4 to help
you think carefully how diverse your history curriculum is currently and where improvements are needed:
1 Is it broad and balanced, taking account of historical diversity? Does it make all students in your history lessons feel like they belong – do you teach their history and histories beyond their own ancestry? Is Britain taught as being at the centre of the world or part of a global network?
2 Does it explain that non-white people have always been present in our history and enquire into historic and local immigration to explain why there are Black, Asian and Muslims in this country?
3 Does your curriculum start in the right place and show images to show that non-white people have not always been the victims of white oppression, for example teaching the wealthy, scholarly African
Secondary Update | Autumn 2020 5
Islamic Empire of Mali in the Middle Ages or Black Roman military garrison in Cumbria rather than starting with slavery? Does your curriculum show that Black lives matter by looking at the positive contribution Black lives have made to our history?
4 Does your history curriculum teach the experience and contribution of women who made up at least 50% of people in the past? Will students have learned that there have always been less visible minority groups, such as LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities?
• Does your curriculum tackle diverse history
in a tokenistic way relying on events like
Black History Month, the slavery topic and
an occasional lesson like a lesson on
Walter Tull or is looking at the experiences
of a diverse range of people in societies
woven into the fabric of the curriculum?
Creating a representative curriculum across all subjects
And it is not just the history curriculum that could be more representative. Does your English curriculum, for example, include the works of black and ethnic minority people such as 13th Century Persian Islamic poet Rumi or contemporary Nayyirah Waheed? Does the maths curriculum explain the Indian, Arabic and Greek origins of the quantum mathematics used today including mathematicians such as Al-Khwarzmi and Aryabhata or more recent maths geniuses like Katherine Johnson and British Nobel prize winner Professor Kathleen Adebola Okikiolu? Does the science curriculum include the work of the many black and ethnic minority pioneers such as Lewis H Latimer, George Washington Carver, Otis Boykin and inspirational role models like British space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE? Where do students see positive contributions of black and ethnic minority people across all subjects so that they can understand that people from all over the world and multicultural Britain have contributed to the sum of human
knowledge and achievement? How well are the causes and consequences of racism tackled head on in each subject?
None of this is easy and requires research, planning and careful thinking about pedagogy so that students feel involved in the learning process and not preached at. My hope is that schools will take up this challenge and work together with the support of HIAS to create a school curriculum that students deserve, one that is truly representative of the multicultural country and interconnected world that they live in.
Sarah Herrity
Teaching and Learning Adviser, Secondary
History
Email: [email protected]
References
1. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions?state=open&q=curriculum.
2. https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/black-lives-matter (10.6.20).
3. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z7g66v4.
4. https://www.history.org.uk/primary/resource/9620/how-diverse-is-your-history-curriculum.
6 Secondary Update | Autumn 2020
Reviewing the science
curriculum – please
not another re-write!
Over the next term we will be sharing comprehensive guidance on how to approach developing the curriculum at Key Stage 3 (KS3). Below is a short description of how curriculum review can be challenging for science departments and a few pointers as to the pitfalls to be avoided.
In my 30 year career as a science teacher and adviser there has rarely been a time when schools have not been undergoing some form of curriculum review or implementing a new one. This is a reality of our education system and, depending on how it is approached, can be a good thing or a bad thing. It may be obvious, but for it to be good, teachers must do things differently as a result of the review, and for them to consistently do things differently they need to think differently. So for a curriculum change to bring about an improvement in learning it has to focus on how teachers think about their subject and how to teach it.
Since the introduction of the most recent National Curriculum almost all science departments have revamped their science curriculums, some three or four times. For some this has been a rewarding experience for both
teachers and students but for others it has had less impact and led mainly to an increase in teacher workload. The question is: why does
curriculum review have such varied results in science? It comes down to the extent to which the review helps and encourages teachers to think differently.
The curriculum usually takes form through schemes of work, and changes to the curriculum are usually expressed through changes to these schemes of work. In my experience the variation in curriculum review impact can be largely explained by what teachers value in the schemes of work they follow. What teachers value tends to be what they focus on, and it
goes without saying that if too great a value is placed on less important things, a lot of time and energy will be expended with little impact. What is perhaps more dangerous is it can lead to a reluctance to engage in such work in the future.
To help unpick what needs to be focussed on I have summarised very simply what a science scheme of work is likely to contain:
1 Intent: a clear and commonly held view of what pupils should get from studying the curriculum.
2 Content: precise description of what every
pupil must understand and remember, broken down into sensible topics in an order that supports progression.
3 Performance indicators: a clear description of what pupils should be able to do with this knowledge.
4 Teaching strategies: suggested activities and resources that support the above.
(There are obviously other things that support effective teaching that need to be considered, including how learning will be assessed within lessons and over time and what recording and scaffolding best supports learning, but these may or may not be integrated within the scheme of work.)
The first pitfall is to assume that the first two components are fully defined by the National Curriculum and awarding bodies. Successful schools spend a great deal of time defining what the experience as well as the outcomes for students should be and these are rooted firmly on what being scientific means. What a department wants to achieve from teaching science should be lived in every lesson by every teacher and pupil. For example, if we aim for pupils to use scientific ideas to explain new and unknown phenomena how often does this happen? Is some content taught without opportunities for pupils to apply this knowledge? What is intended has to drive everything else, including the content taught.
Whilst schools will be strongly guided by the National Curriculum and awarding bodies in what is taught, responsibility must be taken for fully defining the content of their science
Secondary Update | Autumn 2020 7
curriculum. There are three things with regard to content schools need to take great care with:
Precision: Particularly in KS3, content is defined so vaguely it can lead to significant problems with consistency across a department and sometimes within lessons. When knowledge is defined imprecisely it is taught imprecisely and pupils leave with an even vaguer understanding, which they then struggle to apply effectively.
Knowledge gaps: A careful look at the prescribed content often reveals gaps that if left will leave students without the knowledge to be able to explain important things or engage so effectively with new learning. Only through serious departmental study and discussion can these gaps be identified and understood by all teachers.
Powerful knowledge: Some knowledge is more powerful than others. In science, powerful knowledge is that which has the most predictive power, it can be used to predict and explain more things. For example, understanding that all particles move (and move faster when hotter) and attract each other allows us to predict states of matter, state changes and all sorts of chemical reactions, whereas understanding that iodine is used to test for starch has value but by no means as much. Schemes of learning should reflect the relative power of knowledge.
Only once a department is confident and enthusiastic about its Intent and it has precisely defined the right content to achieve this do parts three (performance indicators) and four (teaching strategies) start to make sense. Needless to say teaching strategies need to be designed carefully to help students remember the precise knowledge and apply it in the way defined by the Intent.
Perhaps the single biggest mistake when undergoing curriculum review is to immediately focus on the resourcing of the curriculum. This invariably consumes a great deal of teacher time in re-organising and re-writing lesson plans and resources for themselves and other teachers to follow. Unless the new resources result in better teaching based upon the intent and content then not only will nothing better be
achieved but valuable teacher time and energy will be consumed. If this is the instinct of subject leaders or teachers, they will probably need support and challenge to focus more on intent and content. In my experience most teachers thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to think deeply about their subject, but for some this will prove challenging. It requires a good understanding of what science is and how it is practiced, and it can also expose our own misconceptions and challenge our values about what teaching is for.
If a science department seems to be caught in a cycle of scheme re-writes with little impact, the most important support is likely to be in helping the leaders frame and structure discussions around intent and content.
Richard Aplin
County Science Inspector/Adviser
Email: [email protected]
8 Secondary Update | Autumn 2020
Religious education in Hampshire schools
Religious education is the only area of the statutory school curriculum that is determined locally. The Locally Agreed Syllabus is what must be used in local authority (LA) secondary schools to devise your RE curriculum and is available for all other schools in the area to use. Legally, we are required to review and revise our syllabus every five years. The latest review process has begun, and a revised syllabus that will be known as Living Difference IV will be ready for teaching in our schools from the autumn of 2021. Much training and support materials will be offered over the coming year.
All secondary teachers will have the opportunity to be involved in the review through network meetings and other events. Indeed, it is possible your head of department has already had an opportunity to contribute their reflections and to make suggestions. Consultations are underway regarding the things that will be adjusted from the current syllabus Living Difference III.
Hampshire SACRE Youth Voice for RE was already consulted at its meeting in February 2020. Youth Voice meets once each term in the Winchester Hampshire County Council offices. Teachers from six Hampshire schools each bring four to six Year 8 or Year 9 students - making a
group of over 30 young people. I am hugely grateful to headteachers of all the schools involved. This participation of young people over the years, and now in the review process, ensures teaching of RE will continue to be relevant and engaging for young people in our schools.
The purpose of RE
The purpose of RE, as articulated in Living Difference III, will remain the same in Living
Difference IV. Living Difference III seeks to introduce children and young people to what a religious way of looking at and existing in the world may offer in leading one’s life, individually and collectively.
What is really important for teachers to consider is how and why they choose particular subject matter to introduce the young people to in RE lessons. This relates to what we consider to be religion in the first place. The Living Difference approach, recognised as an outstanding approach to RE, considers the question - what it means to lead one’s life with a religious outlook - is one that can be answered in a number of different ways. For some to live a religious life means to subscribe to certain propositional beliefs (religion as truth). For others the idea that to live a religious life means to follow certain practices, whereas for others living a religious life is characterised by a particular way of being in and with the world: with a particular kind of awareness of and faith in the world and in other human beings.
Religious education in Hampshire is very practical in what it seeks to achieve. We always
Hampshire SACRE Youth Voice members discussing findings of the final report of the Commission on RE so as to consider how this can be incorporated (or not) into Living Difference IV.
Secondary Update | Autumn 2020 9
want to make sure that our religious education lessons play an educative part in the lives of children. We will know this by observing the way young people change and grow in the way they are able to speak, think and act with regard to many matters in the world.
The syllabus has a clear process for teaching religious education as well as clear guidance on how we expect teachers to put together the curriculum. All this ensures that religious education in our schools is consistent with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, particularly Articles 12, 13, 14 and 30, and supports the work of rights respecting education (RRE).
Case study: to care for the earth. What future do we as teachers choose for our children?
So what might a unit of study look like for secondary RE – for example as taught across a term in KS3? An outline for an enquiry with word care was published in the Secondary RE Curriculum Update early in 2019. This is now also available on the Hampshire RE Moodle Open resources area.
This enquiry links with a wider HIAS climate change project taking place with religious education and art. This project aims to make an educational response to the concern that many young people in Hampshire, and across the world, have about the climate crisis. In particular
the Sixth Mass Extinction we and the young people in our classes are all currently facing, in addition to the climate crisis and pandemic (see for example: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2253673-extinction-the-facts-an-attenborough-guide-to-natures-destruction/).
Minnie Moore has alerted us to the Youth Climate conference that took place virtually in April 2020 and her work with Student Voice is closely linked here.
In these and other ways religious education is a significant part of the broad balanced curriculum you are offering to your young people. How we care for the earth and how we care for the next generation perhaps are leading questions underpinning everything we are doing in school.
Patricia Hannam
County Inspector/Adviser RE, history and philosophy
Email: [email protected]
10 Secondary Update | Autumn 2020
Year 11 2020 and GCSE achievements
Over the course of the summer term, members of the HIAS secondary team had almost weekly contact with headteachers across the county. In addition to responding to the changing guidance and overseeing vulnerable pupils, one of the major tasks was to submit Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs) and we reflected upon this in the last issue of Secondary Update. It was not known to us at that point that these submitted CAGs would form the basis of grades awarded, with uplift of a grade if the statistical method denoted to be the case. With high levels of discussion and professional concern in the week leading up to results week, the use of the statistical model was suggesting pupils would not be awarded grades reflective of their likely outcomes in many cases and ultimately would potentially affect the progression pathways of these students.
“Across all subjects and all centres, 96.4% of
final calculated grades are the same as, or
within one grade of the CAG submitted. A small percentage were adjusted by two grades or
more, in some cases because it appeared that
the centre’s CAGs were very much higher than the historical results in the centre.” (Ofqual 13 August
1).
The announcement on 20 August by Ofqual to publish GCSE results based on students being awarded their centre assessment grade or calculated grade, whichever is higher, was therefore met with relief. Albeit this potentially presented a different challenge to schools, in that a student may wish to challenge if their CAG was lower than they expected it to be. Most schools quickly decided if and how they would share CAGs with students following the guidance provided and though even going into results download day there were still many questions over what would be received, all staff rallied to ensure readiness for pupils receiving results. With envelopes ready late Wednesday afternoon, with just hours before results day and expecting pupils, we were tested once again by the late announcement that BTEC Level 1 and 2
qualifications would be regraded and therefore should not be issued.
Thursday 20 August 2020 was a results day therefore like no other. The focus by all was on pupils, both in receiving and celebrating their awarded grades and enabling their destinations to be secured and sharing a much needed rite of passage, in a year where there has been much loss for them. And this is exactly what was achieved. Gargantuan efforts by staff in order to get pupils to this point where they have completed their secondary 11 - 16 education. A moment to pause and reflect on the differences and challenges posed to these individuals, with the hope that they are now prepared for their next steps and further success.
Speaking to over twenty headteachers, the HIAS secondary team shared in the vastly positive experiences for pupils. Many restated the importance of the rigour and professionalism in the processes undertaken in finalising CAGs, including the moderation and downgrading internally in some cases. There were some spurious outcomes, for example pupils receiving grade 6 when they were entered for foundation tier with a limit of grade 5 and CAG within this limit. That withstanding, thankfully results for pupils were overwhelmingly positive and there were many examples of superb achievements from across the county.
The collaboration between schools and post 16 provision, and 11 - 18 schools with intakes from other schools, was pivotal in providing direction and smooth transition for these pupils at a very difficult time. The cohesive approach by many districts meant that media were respectful of the need to focus on individual student success rather than school performance:
“He got the academic results of course, but he made sure we saw the bigger picture” The Wise Teacher, from Letters Home, F Keane, Penguin Books.
The reflections of aspects that led to pupils getting to this point and leaving us is always a key point in the year. This year will be remembered for its significance. As I sign off, schools have now resumed, and we know the wonderment of pupils being present again in
Secondary Update | Autumn 2020 11
greater numbers within school has been appreciated. Schooling continues. We are ready for this Year 11 cohort to complete their final year with us and know, whatever challenges may present, we will overcome them.
Please remember to book onto the Performance and Progress Group (PAPG) via the Learning Zone (SO: 36223) with virtual sessions this year on 17 November 2020 and 25 March 2021.
Tania Harding
Education Adviser and Data Performance
(Secondary)
Email: [email protected]
Reference
1. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/
government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/909035/6656-2_-
_Executive_summary.pdf.
What Ofsted are doing this term and latest news
As we know from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector (HMCI), the normal schedule of Ofsted inspections is on hold until January 2021. However, an operational note was published on 2 September outlining the arrangements for the interim visits which will be taking place this term. The purpose of these visits is to reassure the public and inform government about how schools are managing the return to full education for all pupils. We have a couple of secondary schools in Hampshire that have had pilot visits very early this term and generally they were positive about the professional discussions which took place. We have included some questions below from the feedback which the secondary headteachers have provided.
New guidance issued by Ofsted in September https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspecting-teaching-of-the-protected-characteristics-in-schools/inspecting-teaching-of-the-protected-characteristics-in-schools confirmed that inspectors will look at how ready schools are to meet the Department for Education’s (DfE) statutory guidance on Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) when full inspections resume in January. However, although inspectors will comment on schools’ readiness to comply with the guidance in their reports from January, school compliance “will not impact inspection judgements until the start of the summer term 2021”.
Teaching relationships education is compulsory in all schools from this year, with sex education also compulsory in secondary schools. However, due to the coronavirus outbreak, the DfE has given schools “flexibility over how they discharge their duty within the first year of compulsory teaching”.
Schools have been told they should be preparing to deliver the new curriculum as soon as possible and begin teaching the new content by at least the start of the summer term 2021,
12 Secondary Update | Autumn 2020
but “should still be able to show how they will
cover the whole curriculum in the future”.
Ofsted has published new guidance in September on inspecting the teaching of protected characteristics, particularly in relation to sexual orientation and gender reassignment. The guidance points out that, separate to the requirement to teach RSE, inspectors will gather evidence on how schools promote equality “and
pupils’ understanding of the protected characteristics”, which will be used to inform their judgement on personal development. From January, inspectors will comment in reports if they find that primary and secondary schools do not teach about LGBT relationships and don’t yet have “adequate plans” in place to meet the DfE’s statutory guidance.
From the start of summer term, a secondary school should be teaching about LGBT relationships, and this will be considered when inspectors are making the Leadership and Management judgement. Ofsted Inspectors will not “specifically explore the school’s readiness
to comply with theDfE’s statutory guidance” during interim visits this term. However, schools can choose to discuss it with inspectors, who “may comment on this in the letter published after the visit”. Ofsted guidance also reminds us that schools “are at liberty to teach the tenets of any faith on the protected characteristics”, but “must also explain the legal rights LGBT people
have under UK law, and that this and LGBT people must be respected”.
Ofsted/HMI visits: COVID-19 September 2020
Example lines of questioning
Context setting
1. What work did leadership undertake during
the period from March to September to ensure:
• ongoing engagement from students?
• effective monitoring of students’ well-
being?
• that effective plans were in place for a
safe return to school?
• that re-opening plans were effectively
communicated to the school
community?
2. What are the school’s main priorities for
2020/2021?
3. How has COVID-19 affected students’:
• well-being (including mental health)?
• attitudes to learning?
• achievement?
4. How many staff does the school currently
have?
5. How many staff have not returned to work
due to COVID-19?
6. How has COVID-19 affected staff:
• recruitment?
• training?
• well-being?
7. How has the experience of COVID-19
impacted the school community?
Secondary Update | Autumn 2020 13
Safeguarding
1. Has the Single Central Register been kept
fully updated with any staff changes?
2. Have any changes to safeguarding policies/
procedures been made as a result of COVID-
19?
3. Have any specific actions been taken as a
result of these amendments?
4. How has school effectively monitored and
addressed any issues regarding the well-being
of vulnerable students?
5. Has any additional support been sought to
support vulnerable students during this period?
6. Has any additional support been sought for
students who are not considered vulnerable?
7. What have been the barriers faced during
this period and how have these been
overcome?
8. Has the school made any use of available
catch-up funding to support vulnerable
students?
Attendance
1. What is the school’s current attendance level
and how does this compare to:
• the same period last year?
• attendance levels in March?
2. What have you found to be the barriers
preventing students attending school?
3. How have you addressed these barriers?
4. Has the school seen any positive influence
on attendance?
5. Is the school using the additional support
available (local authority, external agencies
etc) to support school attendance?
6. How many students have been removed
from roll during the period from March to
September?
7. Of these students, how many have been
removed to Electively Home Educate (EHE)?
8. What level of challenge has taken place with
the parents/carers of these students?
9. Is the school considering making use of
available catch-up funding to support
attendance?
Behaviour
1. What has been the general behaviour of the
students upon returning to school?
2. What have been the greatest challenges and
how have these been overcome?
3. What have been the greatest positives?
4. How have these positives been used to
influence further decision making around
behaviour?
5. Have any changes to behaviour policies/
procedures been made as a result of COVID-
19?
6. How have these changes been implemented
and what has been the impact?
7. How many exclusions (internal and external)
have been issued since the September re-
opening?
8. How does this compare to:
• the same period last year?
• exclusion levels in March?
9. What measures are in place to support
students who are nervous about returning to
school?
10. Are there any students whose behaviour
has become a concern (who were not
previously on your radar)?
11. How are you responding to these students?
12. Is the school considering making use of
available catch-up funding to support
behaviour?
14 Secondary Update | Autumn 2020
Curriculum
1. What planning was undertaken to identify
gaps in learning prior to students returning to
school?
2. How will these gaps in learning be
addressed?
3. Are students currently following a full
curriculum?
4. If not, what is the plan to return to a full
curriculum as soon as possible?
5. What additional support is in place for
children unable to currently access the full
curriculum (due to behaviour or other
reasons)?
6. How is the school supporting its Special
Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
students to fully access the curriculum?
7. How will learning continue to be delivered
should we return to remote learning?
8. Who is responsible for monitoring the remote
learning offer?
9. What aspects of this offer are being
monitored and how is the quality assessed?
10. What barriers to remote learning do
students face and how are these being
mitigated?
11. Are any pupils currently accessing remote
learning?
12. Does this match the learning in school?
13. Is the school considering making use of
available catch-up funding to support learning?
Thanks to secondary headteachers for sharing
their experiences.
Courses coming up in the Autumn Term
HIAS is offering a full programme of Autumn courses that are available to book via the Learning Zone. All our Autumn Term training will now be delivered virtually, and a number of courses are available to book as after-school sessions. We are continuing to monitor government guidance and to work closely with venues so that we can resume centre-based training as soon as it is safe to do so.
To help make it clearer, our courses are now identified on the Learning Zone as follows:
• webinar: where sessions are now all virtual
• blended: where the course is now a
mixture of virtual and face to face training
(where further sessions are later in the year
and we may be able to resume venue-
based training)
• no categorisation: where sessions are
currently still planned as a venue-based
delivery.
Please visit the COVID-19 and Autumn Term training page where you will find updated information and links to the course pages on the subject Moodle sites: hias-moodle.mylearningapp.com/course/view.php?id=107.
Secondary Update | Autumn 2020 15
© Hampshire County Council, 2020.
Well-being for Education Return
A Department for Education and Department of Health and Social Care initiative. Each local authority will train and support schools to respond to the well-being and mental health needs of pupils and staff in the context of COVID-19.
Each state-funded school should nominate one member of staff to receive the training and cascade it further within their setting. In
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the virtual training will be delivered to eight groups. The training will be delivered over two sessions and participants will need to attend both sessions. Each session will run from 15.30 – 17.00.
Please refer to school communication SC018133 for booking details. Sessions start week commencing 12 October 2020.
Performance and Progress Group (PAPG) – 2020/21
The Secondary Performance and Progress Group is a network meeting that meets twice a year for a comprehensive update and discussion on matters of mutual interest to secondary school headteachers and senior leaders, particularly concerning improving outcomes, performance data and the curriculum.
A standing feature of this group will be to share crucial updates including changes to national policy, DfE performance indicators and Ofsted frameworks. Regular discussion around how schools are setting targets and measuring progress will feature, and the improvement in outcomes for all pupils will be a theme that runs through all discussions. Meeting will be led by HIAS data and curriculum leads and will also draw upon HIAS teaching and learning and subject expertise.
Next session: 17 November 2020.
SENCo – Managing People 2020-2021
As a middle leader, the key role of SENCo in building capacity, supporting and challenging staff is pivotal in order to meet the needs of all children and young people.
This programme will provide those new to the leadership role, or those wanting to develop their skills, with the opportunity to develop interpersonal and communication skills and knowledge in order to manage people in their school more effectively.
Delegates will learn:
• to develop leadership skills
• to understand the skills needed to
communicate effectively
• to gain an understanding of our own
impact on others
• to develop skills to effectively communicate
and manage colleagues.
Next session: 9 November 2020.
Editor:
Beverley Murtagh
Secondary Inspector/Adviser
E-mail: [email protected]
