32 EVENT REVIEW
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A true T
he Education Show 2013, held at Birmingham’s NEC last month, boasted an array of exhibitors showcasing the latest in educational supplies and school resources.
But EdExec was there to find out what we could learn from the School Leaders Summit, a series of seminars and workshops at the show, aimed at senior leadership teams and those involved in decision making within schools.
LED BY LEADERS
The programme was put together with the advice of more than 70 headteachers and school business managers and reflected the biggest issues they are currently dealing with in their ever-changing role as school leaders.
Speakers covered a variety of topics, from the new Ofsted framework to the impact of academisation on the role of the SBM. Paul Lauener, chief executive of the Education Funding Agency, made a good attempt at covering (in just 20 minutes) ‘how funding reform will affect your school’.
His speech largely focused on why the existing funding system is no longer viable – demonstrated quite vividly by the 8,000 variations of the current funding formula, presented to delegates on a single, mind-boggling Powerpoint slide.
He was hopeful that the new system would put an end to over-complex formulae and “perverse incentives”, making way for more pupil-led funding, in a far simpler arrangement.
SHARING BEST PRACTICE The aptly named ‘power half hour’ saw headteachers from three outstanding midlands schools share their secrets of success. The story that stood out the most for us was told by Susan Dancer, acting headteacher at Hodge Hill Sports and Enterprise College in Birmingham. She spoke about the issues the school had faced with
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EdExec went along to this year’s instalment of the Education Show in Birmingham last month. Here’s what we found
attendance. Located in challenging social circumstances, Hodge Hill had been fighting a losing battle with absenteeism, holding the school back in terms of its overall performance with Ofsted. “Looking at data, we realised attendance was going to put a ceiling on our achievement,” explained Dancer.
To tackle the issue, students were incentivised to improve their turnout, with school trips for the class with the highest attendance levels and ‘attendance warriors’ – pupils who have not been absent for the entire year – given special privileges, including being able to jump the lunch queue. Pupil demographics also played a part in absenteeism. With 75% of students from a Muslim household, absences were high around the Islamic festival of Eid. To address this, the school has adapted its calendar by moving teachers’ training days so that they coincide with religious festivals, bringing the attendance average up considerably.
DOWN TO BUSINESS Academy models and school collaboration were also hot topics at the summit, with experts in education law and school business managers sharing their experiences and expertise on the issue. Nick Mackenzie of Browne Jacobson’s seminar, ‘Exploring multi-school solutions’ was an insightful look into the many ways that schools can work together. He sees the future to be dominated by tight-knit local groups of schools, rather than the huge academy chains many live in fear of. He believes getting together with your local schools and putting something in black and white is the best way to get the ball rolling with collaboration: “Formality is more and more
important...getting something in writing that people can commit to,” he said.
Academy models and school collaboration were hot topics
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