HEADTEACHER Summer 1 UPDATE The only magazine for all UK primary school headteachers 10 May 2011 www.headteacher-update.com


HEADLINES Features


The coalition government plans to


develop a new approach to helping vulnerable families. Headeacher Update looks into their pledge.


more important for well- rounded children. Elizabeth Hudson, from charity BTCV, discusses their work and looks at how your school could get involved.


14


Heads go it alone as LA support dries up


These are turbulent times. Many primary schools are suddenly finding that the local authority services and support networks they have relied upon are disappearing. Headteacher Update talks to a group of primaries who might have found the answer – do it for yourself


W


hat happens when your Local Authority Advisor and your


School Improvement Partner have left the building? You pick up the phone for local authority (LA) advice and the number’s unobtainable? Primary heads are a talented group but with the swift disappearance of many LA services they could be left feeling abandoned. At Christmas, in Blackpool,


the lights went on for a group of 30 primary headteachers. The LA support was dwindling, they needed to do something quickly


and it became obvious that the best resource they had was each other. “Blackpool is a relatively new


authority but we’d appreciated the services it had provided. As they were able to offer less and less we started to look towards one another to fill the gaps. We’d always had a good network of primary heads locally so the foundations were already there,” explains Mark Gray, headteacher at Waterloo Primary School. “It didn’t take much imagination to take our collaboration one step further.”


Latham Jenkins And so the Blackpool Primary


Partnership was formed. Based around an informal committee of chair and secretary they began to explore the opportunities for collaborative working. “We have plenty of local expertise but this is a challenging authority to teach and lead in. It’s about matching need with what schools have to offer.” The first stages of developing


the partnership have centred around continuing professional development and school


Continued on page 2


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published on teaching assistants in recent years. Researchers from the DISS project put forward their case into the impact teaching assistants have.


18


from groups wanting to offer bilingual free schools. Maria Anguita looks at these possible projects.


23 26


Many headteachers are still weighing up


their options when it comes to academy status. Mark Lucas answers some of the key questions.


30


Janette Mountford- Lees describes her


school’s introduction of flexi- schooling and how this has impacted on pupils.


Regulars: 2–4 News 6–8 Products/resources


38-39 Books 40 Diary of a head


Several applications have been made


There have been several reports


Outdoor play is regarded as more and


Photo: educationphotos.co.uk


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