SecEd The ONLY weekly voice for secondary education Inside this issue


ICT in education – the key issues


ICT and the Future of Education


A consensus report from SecEd’s latest education symposium SecEd dell1.indd 6 20/12/2010 10:32


Published within your edition of SecEd this week is our latest ICT and the Future of Education supplement, which is a report from the second ICT symposium hosted by SecEd and Dell in November. We focus on budgets, outcomes, and learning platforms. The supplement is also available as a digital edition and PDF download from our website at www.sec-ed.co.uk


BETT 2011: The final countdown


The BETT 2011 Show finally kicks off next week. As such, we take one final look at what this year's show has in store for the thousands of teachers and school leaders who will be attending Pages 10, 11 and 12


SecEd digital


and Twitter Thousands of teachers are reading SecEddigital, a virtual edition of SecEd, which is emailed out every week. You can sign up for free by emailing editor@sec-ed.co.uk. SecEd news and features are now also available on Twitter. You can follow us at www. twitter.com/SecEd_Education


Our schools’ PAs – the dedication and passion of these unsung heroes


by David Taylor


The transformational impact that one headteacher’s PA has had in their school has earned them the title of SecEd’s Headteachers’ PA of the Year 2010. Pamela Zborowski from


Tarporley High School and Sixth Form College in Cheshire becomes the fifth PA to win this prestigious annual award. Pamela joined the school


in 2005, and in her nomination headteacher Sarah Lee described the impact she has had in that short time with staff, students, parents and the community. She told us: “Pamela has utterly


transformed the PA role and has become part of the lifeblood of the school. She has achieved this largely through the warmth and infectiousness of her personality, but also through her dedication and professionalism.” Last year, hundreds of


headteachers submitted nomina- tions for the 2010 awards, which are being supported by UNISON, and a rigorous judging process took place over six weeks to decide the winners. Today we can for the first


time announce the class of 2010 with Pamela leading the way after receiving our Gold Award. Our Silver Award this year goes to Janet Butterworth who works as


Heroes: (from left) The 2010 SecEd Headteacher's PA of the Year Gold winner Pamela Zborowski, Silver winner Janet Butterworth, and Bronze winner Elaine Clayton


PA to Tracey Healy at the Links Education Support Centre, a pupil referral unit (PRU) in St Albans. Janet is the first winning PA to work in a PRU in the award’s history. Ms Healy said: “The workplace


is extremely stressful and manag- ing the staff to cope with this level of stress is a delicate and important role. Janet is exceptional in her rap- port with staff, her ability to listen, be supportive and act as my eyes and ears so I never miss a staff member’s needs.” We travel to Dorset to meet our Bronze Award winner for


2010. Elaine Clayton has worked at Royal Manor Arts College in Portland since 1990, serving three headteachers in that time. Current head Paul Green


described the high respect that all colleagues, students and par- ents have for Elaine, particularly praising her counselling skills and her work as lead trainer for year 9 students who become mediators for their younger peers in the school. Pete Henshaw, editor of SecEd


and chairman of the judging panel, said that the standard among the


nominations was once again incred- ibly high. He continued: “In the past five


years, we have received getting on for 1,000 nominations for this pre- sitigous award. Every year the deci- sion has been so difficult – and this time around was no different. “This is why we always try


to recognise as many finalists as possible – and why we term all of our finalists as winners of the title of PA of the Year. The excellence of Pamela, Janet and Elaine, and of all our finalists is testament to the skills, talent, dedication and


Issue 269 • January 6 2011 Price £1.00 www.sec-ed.com


passion that defines the PAs who work in schools across the UK. Congratulations to all our winners.” Our finalists this year have


also been praised by Christina McAnea, head of education and chidren’s services at award spon- sors UNISON. She said: “Schools increasingly


rely on an effective team of staff to make them successful and welcom- ing places of learning where all tal- ents are recognised. PAs often have a pivotal role in schools particularly as the link between teaching and management and the wide range of professional and support staff. “Reading the letters of recom-


mendation for the finalists, it is clear that the job of a PA in a school is wide and varied, ranging from managing staff to looking after animals and being responsible for budgets as well as the welfare and wellbeing of students. One thing is clear – this is certainly not a dull or mundane job! Many congratula- tions to all the finalists.” The awards this year recognise


14 further PAs from across the UK with seven highly commended win- ners and seven finalist certificates being awarded. Following today’s announce-


ment, certificates will be sent to all our finalists with special presenta- tions taking place at the schools of the top three winners. We shall also be profiling the


top three PAs and the seven high- ly commended winners and their schools over the coming months in SecEd. For full details of the 2010 award winners, see pages 2 and 3.


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