BESA CORNER
This month, in our ongoing feature highlighting the work of members of the UK education suppliers’ trade body BESA, we hear from PSHE resource provider CHAMELEON PDE; and specialist education PR consultant PHIL SMITH discusses the importance of reputation to schools.
Are you ready for mandatory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE)?
From September 2020 all English schools are expected to teach Relationships, Sex and Health Education as part of PSHE (Personal, Social, Health Education). Schools have long had a duty to
provide PSHE, but it has historically been a “hit and miss” affair with students (and Ofsted) consistently reporting that in some schools PSHE was “not good enough” (Ofsted, 2009). This isn’t about apportioning the blame to schools, after all PSHE isn’t a
subject like Maths or Chemistry. It’s a subject full of intricacies, social commentary and an ever-changing landscape as society changes. Marry this with over-burdened teachers and timetables, lack of training, and a fear of opening up a can of worms in lessons, it’s easy to imagine why PSHE has been left untouched in some schools for years. However, the time to revisit PSHE is now. Ofsted in partnership with the
Independent Schools Inspectorate are in the process of conducting a thematic review into allegations of misogyny, sexual harassment and sexual abuse in secondary schools. This follows over 15,000 anonymous reports by students to the “Everyone’s invited” website after the murder of Sarah Everard. Many of these student voices claim peer on peer abuse is at the heart of the issue, and both victims and alleged perpetrators hadn’t understood the serious of incidents because their PSHE had been woefully inadequate.
Scotland has had compulsory PSHE since 2010, so can we learn anything from Scottish schools? Kirkwall Grammar, one of the biggest secondary schools in Orkney with 820 students on roll, had been running an effective Personal Development Education programme for many years. However, students and staff felt it was time for an overhaul with a need to provide an extensive package of cutting edge, modern teaching materials. The school invested in Chameleon PDE resources as these materials best captured pupils' interest and offered meaningful, relevant and diverse learning to prepare them for life both on and off the islands. The resources are also continually updated to ensure relevance and accurate information. The school used Chameleon PDE’s ‘How Are You?’ pupil survey which is
an integrated data service included with the teaching resources. Given that pupils undertook this survey whilst in lockdown, the school was delighted by the high response. Kirkwall Grammar now have pupil voice very much at the centre of their planning – they have listened to what is going well, and know they can celebrate the very many healthy choices their young people are making, as well as tackle the areas where they have identified gaps in provision. They have a strong data set on student behaviours, attitudes, and perceptions, and can justify why some PSHE topics are higher profile in their teaching programme, choosing appropriate materials from the Chameleon PDE resource library to build a bespoke programme. English schools would do well to look at this example. It’s already evident
that PSHE will have a higher profile going forward, and in both the DfE guidance for RSHE, and the Ofsted/ISI frameworks, pupil voice is expected to be the main driver for any PSHE programme. This makes sense – why spend valuable curriculum time teaching yet another out-dated lesson about smoking when less than 5% of your students smoke? Additionally, there may be themes in PSHE that your students need such as the vital work around sexual assault, abuse and misogyny. Kirkwall Grammar recognised their programme needed updating – how about yours?
Chameleon PDE offers an ‘all-in-one’ package of PSHE support UK wide. Visit
www.chameleonpde.com for further details.
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www.education-today.co.uk
Reputation: is this ‘top of mind’ for your school?
In my 18 years working in the education sector I have witnessed a growing rise in the professionalisation of approaches to public relations, or PR for shorthand, within schools, be they standalone or part of multi-academy trusts. Trust CEOs, Headteachers and senior leaders are increasingly being
empowered to consider the importance of reputation, which in my world we define as the result of what you do, what you say, and what others say about you. Over the years, I have been asked to develop PR strategies, marketing
strategies, communications strategies – even ‘marcomms’ strategies – but what we are ultimately talking about is reputation. And, within that, what we want to say, who we want to say it to, and what we want people to think, feel and do as a result. The ‘how’ we do that can be wide and varied: media, social media
profiles, websites, newsletters, events, awards, even ‘lobbying’ where appropriate, but all this should link back to clear organisational objectives for doing so. As an example, I work with Cambridge Primary Education Trust
(CPET), which commissioned a review of its existing approach to communications as it sought to build its reputation. It identified an organisational need for a proactive and co-ordinated approach to communications to project its reputation externally and internally, and a proactive issues management planning and reactive crisis management service to protect its reputation. The rationale for increasing the visibility and profile of the Trust is that
a MAT whose mission and ways of working are known, respected and admired is proven to impact on proactive approaches from schools, influencers and other external providers wishing to partner with it, as well as on staff morale, retention and recruitment. I work with the Trust’s CEO, Lesley Birch, the five Heads and senior
leaders on a programme to build the reputation of CPET as an effective MAT for primary schools, projecting its mission and benefits/impact to stakeholder communities internally and externally, locally and regionally, and in the wider education sector. Importantly we agreed that developing a small number of Trust communications channels really well (as opposed to lots of things) would fit with the ethos/culture of CPET in that the primary focus is the quality of teaching. Our objectives are to reinforce how CPET is ‘living and breathing’ its
over-arching vision, approach and offer; evidence the Trust’s statement around proven record of accelerated academic school improvement, bespoke provision in response to the educational and social context of the setting, successful collaboration with schools and agencies, well thought-out training, career and promotion opportunities for staff, and experienced and successful school leadership, and the benefits and impact of all this on schools, teachers, professional/ administrative staff, pupils and communities. In the past 12 months we have delivered local, regional and national
media coverage including ongoing communications around Covid-19, the opening of a new school, the designation of a Teaching School Hub, expertise around learning spaces, SEND and welfare, and related media training for senior leaders; developed a series of school ‘impact’ case studies drawing on the ‘voice’ of the Chairs of the Trust’s School Advisory Boards; and arranged a number of education sector conference-speaking opportunities. As well as CPET, I have been privileged to support over 80 education
organisations, and my current work with NASBTT, IMP Software and Scholastic Education is also built on these core principles of reputation.
Phil Smith is a specialist education PR consultant for multi- academy trusts, schools, universities and businesses supporting these sectors
www.philsmithcommunications.co.uk
July/August 2021
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