leadership report to local governing body€¦ · leadership report to local governing body (lgb)...

Leadership Report to Local Governing Body

Summer Term 2018 4.00pm Tuesday 26th June 2018

Leadership Report to Local Governing Body (LGB)

P a g e | 1 Spring Term 2018

1. LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT – Accountable Lead: Anne Redmond As this will be our last meeting of this school year, we have tried to summarise developments over the last 12 months and the impact of these on the quality of provision and outcomes for all. With such an emphasis on further developing the school’s engaging learning offer through a more focussed approach that meets each child’s learning needs, we are confident that we have moved beyond expectations from this time last year, when we were in fact only piloting new ways of working.

All staff have fully embraced working in a different way and this is due to a number of factors. The attention given to the staff development strategy has not only involved staff in taking responsibility for finding new engaging learning approaches, but has given them a clear focus throughout the year – rather than a more scattered approach. In addition, the re-formed ‘pupil progress’ meetings as Standardised Quality Assurance discussions on a half termly basis, have ensured that staff are not only supported to understand curriculum developments but also are helped more closely to account for evidencing that personalised planning is appropriate and each child’s progress assessed and planned for effectively.

In addition, the approach to planning school improvement priorities has ensured that any silo working is diminished and that each element of the plan is underpinned by the same overarching principles. We are also confident and can evidence that when used effectively, the new systems and processes reduce staff workload. As such, the new priorities for 2018/19 will continue to ensure that we broadly work in the same way with very specific objectives in terms of enhancing provision at Kingfisher, using our reflections and learning from this school year’s developments.

One area that will be a focus for next year is improving the professional practice of support staff through a more formal appraisal process that will help staff in recognising their achievements and supporting them to perform their roles as effectively as they can. With our current Professional Development meeting system, support staff set themselves a target with the support of a member of SLT, but this is then not specifically followed up or supported during the year. These meetings will no longer take place. Instead, to enhance professional practice and ensure that all staff feel valued, we are introducing Appraisal for all support staff in the Autumn term, ensuring a culture of high aspiration for self and the children.

We will be developing the system this term to ensure a constructive process linked to individual development needs. We will create a framework to ensure that all employees: ~ have an annual appraisal meeting ~ receive recognition for their achievements ~ receive feedback on a regular basis which aims to improve and develop their performance ~ know what is expected of them from the beginning of their employment ~ know what is required of them in order to do their job effectively ~ identify with their line manager their learning and development needs ~ plan their career development, where possible. TA Appraisers will be teachers who are familiar with roles and day to day activities and other Appraisers will be line managers. This is a really exciting and positive step forward - something we have been hoping to develop for a number of years.

Plans for the new hydro pool project are proceeding. Progress has been slower than hoped, but the project will run alongside the specialist 2 year old nursery place provision build. As such, planning permission for this element is being sought as an amendment to the pool planning permission. The build will now not begin until the new school year, but we are confident that we will be able to manage this successfully in terms of ensuring the children are safe, happy and learning. Realistically the earliest we will probably see completion will be at least 18 months.

In summary this has been an extremely positive year at Kingfisher with great steps forward in terms of improving the quality of teaching and learning across the school and thus the engagement of the children, reflected in their outcomes. Underpinning this are really impactful developments in terms of Personal Development, Behaviour & Welfare through the work of the Pastoral Support Team. This again ensures that the holistic needs of every child are considered and addressed – thus ensuring education across all barriers, whatever they may be, is accomplished in the very best possible way.


P a g e | 2 Summer Term 2018

Kingfisher Special School Local Governing Body (LGB) Local Governing Body - Day-to-day running of the Academy • Chair (also Trustee – Jeremy Sutcliffe) • Head of School (Sue Caine) • Two Parents (Alison Weakley and Abdul Malik) • One Member of Staff (Vikki Boyd) • Three Co-opted (Linda Hunt, Jacqui Wennington and Janet Wray) Leadership Accountability Framework Local Governing Body Responsibilities • Vision, Ethos and Accountability

~ Ensuring the Trust’s Vision and Ethos underpins the work of the Academy ~ Implementing policies and plans agreed by the Trust Board

• Standards ~ Scrutinising Educational Excellence, including monitoring Academy data ~ Holding Academy SLT to account for children’s learning and wellbeing ~ Setting aspirational targets for pupil performance and regularly reviewing progress ~ Oversight of the quality of Teaching & Learning with knowledge of strengths and areas for

development ~ Overseeing the distribution and effectiveness of various budget premiums (eg Pupil Premium)

Ofsted: • Overall Effectiveness: the quality & standards of education • Effectiveness of Leadership and Management • Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment (including SEND, Maths and Literacy) • Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare (including Safeguarding & LAC) • Outcomes for Pupils – quality & standards of education (based on an evaluation of the pupils’ learning and

progress relative to their starting points at particular ages and any assessment measures the school holds - not take account of their attainment compared with that of all other pupils)

• Effectiveness of the Early Years Provision – quality and standards 1. Leadership & Management AR (Governor Responsibilities in italics)

2. Educational Excellence SP/JC Jacqui Wennington/Jeremy Sutcliffe

3. Operational Management SC/MU

• Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment ~ Appraisal/Performance Management AR/SC ~ Professional Development /Pedagogy JC ~ Cognition and Learning SP ~ Assessment for Learning SP ~ Communication and Interaction SP (TU) ~ Educational Visits SP (CS) ~ Learning Environment NF

• Outcomes for Pupils ~ Pupil Progress SC (SP/JC) ~ Pupil Premium SC (CW) ~ PE & Sports Premium JC

• EYFS JC (EH)

Personal Development, Behaviour & Welfare Alison Weakley

~ Safeguarding SC ~ LAC SC ~ Health SC ~ Wellbeing (Social and Emotional) SC ~ Sensory and Physical SC (NF) ~ School Values & Vision (including

SMSC/British Values) SC ~ Admissions/Transitions SC ~ Pupil Attendance SC

Organisation (whole school) Janet Wray ~ Staff Deployment, Duties and

Responsibilities (see separate document) SC ~ Staff Wellbeing SC ~ Staff Attendance SC

Community Partnerships Linda Hunt/Abdul Malik ~ Engagement SC (LR) ~ Website NF

Operational Support Vikki Boyd ~ Facilities MU ~ Health & Safety MU ~ Infrastructure MU



Kingfisher Special School Priorities 2017/18

Leadership & Management Strategy – Accountable Lead: A Redmond School Objective: The School Community understands the vision, mission and values of the Trust and these

are reflected in the everyday life of the school Quality of Teaching, Learning & Assessment Strategy – Accountable Lead: S Pass School Objectives: Teaching – children have access to creative and engaging learning opportunities

Learning – children are motivated to learn Assessment – children’s learning is recognised, recorded meaningfully and celebrated

Personal Development, Behaviour & Welfare Strategy – Accountable Lead: S Caine School Objective: Children’s holistic needs are understood by all staff and supported through a range of

appropriate strategies Pupil Outcomes Strategy – Accountable Leads: S Caine; S Pass; J Cryer School Objective: Children are engaged in learning and make good progress related to their individual learning

profile EYFS Strategy – Accountable Lead: J Cryer School Objective: Children’s have the confidence to explore & express themselves through provision of

appropriate strategies and positive relationships and these are established in the development of their Personalised Learning Plans (PLPs)

The evaluation for 2017/18 is in the included School Improvement Plan (SIP).

Staff Development 2017/18

Development Theme:

Lead

Staff Covering

Core Staff Development

S Caine - Personal Development, Behaviour & Welfare

All (unless specified)

Personal Development: Total Communication Principles (annually); Signalong update (half termly) Behaviour: Team Teach certification (biennially); Team Teach principles (annually) Welfare: Safeguarding; Prevent (biennially) Health – admin of meds (annually); asthma update (annually) Moving & Care: Safe moving & handling (annually); empathic responses (annually); Specific staff identified to be signed off - postural management; feeding; epilepsy; oxygen

Professional Staff Development

J Cryer - Pedagogy

Relevant to Role

Understanding how Children Learn

Teaching & Learning

S Pass - Educational Excellence

Class-based Staff

Collaborative creative planning for learning; evaluating learning; moderation; curriculum development

Leadership Learning

A Redmond All (unless specified)

Working to the mission; vision & values of the Trust Developing practice through reflection, coaching, reading and action research



2. EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE – Accountable Lead: Suzanne Pass/Jenni Cryer

Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment Appraisal/Performance Management Accountable Lead: Anne Redmond / Sue Caine A total of 16 lessons were observed during the Spring/Summer Term with 4 being outstanding due to staff absences and difficulty in timetabling observations in specific subject areas. From these observations, no major issues were identified but additional support has continued to be provided by Nic Found for some teachers in implementing sensory diets within the children’s days. Please see the section on Sensory and Physical for further information about this. The new format lesson observation sheet was used for this round of observations and although it was clearer to use, it still needs further development to ensure that we can reflect on children’s specific learning and progress.

Some of the strengths that were observed across school were: • Allowing time for children to explore materials to ensure engagement • Opportunities for children to develop independence in learning • Differentiation of use of resources ensuring children were challenged at their own level • Staff aware of children’s needs – holistic and sensory and know when the children are ready for learning / or

ready to finish • Activities well matched to children’s developmental stage, meaning children were engaged in child led

learning • Child led play and staff responded to each individual child skilfully using Intensive Interaction, mirroring and

modelling • Getting Ready for Learning strategies personalised for each child and implemented by all staff • Pitch and pace of learning – high expectations from all staff, no lost learning time

During self-reflection on the observed lesson and practice over time, teachers also identify any areas that they need to further develop. Within this round of observations these included: • To use IRIS to reflect with staff on approaches being trialled in class • Embedding meaningful choice making throughout the curriculum with the support of SaLT • Personalised activities for more able children using different strategies i.e. TEACCH • Further development of communication skills in sensory food play e.g. use of symbols (as appropriate) for

choosing • Further develop recording systems to capture learning effectively

Evidence of improvement over time are also discussed in each feedback session and this round included: • Use of sensory profiles to ensure all children can access learning when they are ready for it • Learning was very apparent and children were making fantastic progress • Building in time for 1:1 / small focussed groups – evidence is more skill development ensuring learning can be

moved on • Improved pace linked to layering and meeting individual needs (outcomes different for each child) • Evidence of IRIS being used to reflect and develop practice • Group and individual work used to develop key skills and use approaches suitable to child’s learning needs

Teacher appraisal update meetings have gone ahead this term where required. Teachers are working well with their research projects and are involving their class teams so the TAs are learning alongside the teacher. Governing Body Questions / Comments



Professional Development/Pedagogy Accountable Lead: Jenni Cryer The whole school approach to staff CPD with key areas of core training, leadership development, teaching & learning and professional development has worked very effectively this year. Members of SLT have been the leads for each area and coordinated development and delivery of CPD for their area. Anecdotal feedback from staff has been extremely positive and staff have reported that it has made a positive difference to their work in class. This has been evidenced in lesson observations. This clear, strategic approach has ensured that the whole school improvement priorities identified in the SIP have been a focus for all staff, throughout the school, throughout the year. The meeting and development schedule has been updated throughout the year and shows the breadth of CPD that staff have accessed this year; ranging from understanding attachment issues, making best use of technology to developing reflective practice through action research and the use of the IRIS tool. The INSET day in May enabled staff to share developments in approaches for early English, learn more about the Numicon resources and how to use them to develop early Maths skills, understand the importance of play and further develop staff understanding and confidence with assessment (SOLAR) and the engagement scale & chart. The detailed plan for this year, in conjunction with information from CPD records will enable us to plan & cost CPD for next year more accurately.

A range of staff from across the school have worked collaboratively to design and deliver the CPD. This has been quality CPD in itself, as the staff involved have had to have a real understanding of the content in order to deliver it to someone else. The format of the CPD has been around the delivery of information sharing with opportunities to discuss how this related to one’s own practice; followed by demonstration; opportunities to practice/’play’; and time to reflect on one’s own learning, discuss with peers and plan how to implement in one’s own classroom/practice. This has been extremely effective and we would like to develop this further next year.

Using a systematic approach, Jenni Cryer is working with the admin team to develop systems to gather information about staff qualifications and experience in order to map out where everyone is on their learning journey (career pathways). This will enable us to ‘talent spot’, develop and grow our own leaders and experts, and ensure that we can tailor CPD to each individual staff member’s needs. The process has already begun with teachers and it is anticipated that this will continue into next term.

All classes (with the exception of 2 due to a long term absence and a new teacher starting at in the Summer term) have been carrying out their action research projects and a review of the process and their projects is planned for the 28th June. Jenni Cryer has been in contact with the University of Manchester regarding whether support and challenge from a HEI is a possibility and would add value to the process. The coalition of research Schools no longer exists as such, and Sue Goldrick, the Professional Lead for the Coalition of Research Schools, felt that what we are doing is amazing and that we don’t need any support but would be very interested to work with us. It may be useful to investigate whether other schools would wish to work with us on research and share the costs.

A staff development meeting on developing the use of IRIS took place on 10th May. TAs had some basic training in how to access the system and teachers were asked to review the use of IRIS for reflection, looking at what is working well and what can be further improved. Following the session, using feedback from teachers, a new system for booking IRIS has been implemented whereby staff can either book a specific session each week, or sign IRIS out as and when needed. The system will be trialled over Summer 2, and monitored to see if IRIS usage increases, decreases or stays the same.

Anne Redmond and Jenni Cryer have continued to work with the Lead Practitioners on developing their role. Following on from some feedback from the Trust’s Education Trustee, a teacher development programme has been devised to support and develop pedagogy. The programme will have two pathways – one for teachers who require support (working with a Lead Practitioner) and one for teachers who would benefit from peer support to further develop their good teaching to outstanding teaching. The Lead Practitioners are trialling the programme in Summer 2 and have a further session planned for 29th June to review it.

Collaborative planning and Assessment for Learning sessions have continued to be provided each half term to support the further development of staff creativity in delivering the new curriculum. In response to feedback from a small number of staff, the sessions have been adjusted to give class time. The majority of feedback from staff has been that the sessions have been very helpful and have enabled staff to share ideas and gain some inspiration for exciting learning sessions.



The twilight planned for 19th June 2018 is on Leadership Learning and the speaker, Paul McGee (the ‘SUMO guy’) is inspirational and offers practical strategies to deal with change, develop resilience and build better relationships.

Teaching School

Our Teaching School Manager, Mel Lewis, continues to work at Oasis Limeside 2 days a week. Oasis Limeside have expressed a desire to continue the arrangement next year, and a review meeting has therefore been planned for the 11th July. If the arrangement is judged to be continuing to be of benefit to both teaching Schools, a new SLA will be drawn up.

The new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Teaching Schools are still under review. If taken forward, we would be unable to meet the requirement for Initial Teacher Training (ITT), but would probably meet the requirement for CPD and School to School support (S2SS). We have fedback to the DfE about concerns around the new KPIs and are awaiting their response. The Teaching School Data Hub is now open, and we have until 24th September to submit our data.

Initial Teacher Training (ITT)

We have 5-6 trainees for ITT based at Mills Hill Primary for 2018-2019. There are 5 trainees for the new Primary with SEND route offered in partnership with Hawthorns School in Tameside. It is planned that 2 of the trainees will have Kingfisher as their main placement school, spending the Spring and Summer term in Kingfisher. Jenni Cryer has been asked to take on the role of SEND/Inclusion Primary Professional Lead which will entail 25+ days of work across the year. Hawthorns are looking into costings for this. This would enable us to develop the curriculum with the University of Cumbria and is an exciting opportunity.

15 Initial Teacher Training (ITT) students from the Focus Trust attended a Special School Experience Programme in the Spring term. The evaluations were very good, the only suggestion for improvement was that it was not long enough! We have provided a costed proposal for a local School-Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) but have not had confirmation yet. Our work with the Greater Manchester Learning Partnership (GMLP) to research the effectiveness of school based ITT has been completed. The SITE group have asked us to share information on this at the next meeting, with a view to replicating the process with Special Teaching Schools in the North West.

CPD

A Total Communication Enquiry Day is planned for Summer 2. Places for this are already filled. The leadership Coaching and Crucial Conversations courses continue to be well attended. Signalong courses have been rescheduled due to low uptake, this may be due in part to other courses such as Wellcomm and ELKLAN being funded in Early Years through the Opportunity Area funding and therefore ‘free’ to schools. A proposal for an introductory course for PVIs for Signalong has been sent to Claire Burton at Oldham LA.

School To School Support

We continue to work with the LA to support identified schools most in need of support and work together to devise the best way to provide this support as part of the Oldham Education Partnership. Anne Redmond (NLE) has been commissioned through the Opportunity Area to lead on School-to-School Support packages for two local primary schools. Suzanne Pass (SLE) continues working with a school in Manchester and they have recently been inspected by Ofsted and their EY provision were graded Outstanding. In April we designated 9 new SLEs for the Teaching School. 5 from Kingfisher and 4 from Mills Hill. SLE training is planned for the morning of 25th June and will be jointly facilitated by Kingfisher and Hawthorns; 10 SLEs from Oasis Innovation Teaching School will also be attending. Increasing the number of SLEs will improve our capacity for providing school to school support.

Governing Body Questions / Comments

Cognition and Learning Accountable Lead: Suzanne Pass Teaching, Learning and Assessment priorities are detailed within the SIP. In brief, the current focus continues to be around the implementation of the new curriculum model and engagement in learning, the development of staff knowledge and understanding of learning and engagement, and the further development of SOLAR to record and evidence this electronically. Staff are trained and confident in the use of SOLAR and we will continue to review, evaluate and develop this tool to meet the needs of the school population. The development of



appropriate curriculum approaches remains high priority. Although progress has been made, this is a potentially huge area. Although a clear Approaches overview is developing well, the underpinning research and guidance documents needed for each approach requires significant input in terms of research and development time. Existing subject based Teaching and Learning guides have some value, but not in their current format. Progress is being made, involving key staff in research and development of these approaches guides which then feed into the CPD programme. The long term aim is to have a clear Curriculum Approaches Map with clear and informative guidance documents underpinning each approach enabling staff to refer to and reflect on appropriate approaches and strategies for individual children. These guides will be structured to reflect the three learning Flightpaths ensuring staff have access to relevant research, guidance, information and support.


Assessment for Learning Accountable Lead: Suzanne Pass This is again detailed more fully within the SIP and links closely with Cognition and Learning (above) in the implementation of the SOLAR assessment package. SQAs have been effective in providing opportunities for professional dialogue and the early identification of any potential issues. Recording of targeted and incidental learning has captured children’s progress over time and the flexibility of the SOLAR package has been key in its use. Although we are not using the progress analysis tools and therefore analysis of progress is a manual process, we are confident that this is a more meaningful approach to pupil progress. Review of this process will determine our future approach. Following analysis of this year’s data, new targets will be set in the Summer term ready for receiving teachers for the next academic year as this will ensure more continuity of progress. Governing Body Questions / Comments

Communication and Interaction Accountable Lead: Suzanne Pass (Terri Unsworth) We continue to investigate and provide CPD opportunities for the Communication Assistant role to further develop her already wide ranging skills, for example she has recently attended Intensive Interaction training for children with Autism, and is already implementing interventions as a result of this. Iris was used to film a child using Intensive Interaction which was then shared with the class team in order to develop staff awareness and skills. This has also been shared with parents to help them better communicate with their child at home. Support has also been offered to individuals through joint working with the Principal Lead Practitioner in developing strategies and approaches with children and staff as part of teaching and learning support packages. Other key, ongoing developments include further developing communication access and strategies over the lunchtime period and being involved in the process of implementing new Communication guidelines as children reach their targets. We are hosting a Total Communication Enquiry Day in July for mainstream colleagues to come into Kingfisher to find out more about strategies and approaches which could better support children in these settings. The intention is to then extend this as part of our Teaching School offer in the Autumn term. Governing Body Questions / Comments

Learning Environment Accountable Lead: Nic Found We have added in a section of Community Play wooden panels into the Parrots’ class so they have a defined area for movement within the space. This seems to be working well and the children are accessing the space much more effectively with the children having a clearer space for movement. We will continue to monitor the space. The Woodpeckers have had their new texture kitchen installed this month and we are currently looking at condensing the texture kitchen in the Penguins outside area to make it more manageable and a better use of space. As the children’s needs change and the complexity of autism of some of the children becomes more significant, we are having to continue to adapt and develop the learning environments. Next academic year we have a significant number of classes changing environments around school so there will be a need to re-develop some of these spaces. A plan will be created to prioritise need.




Educational Visits Spring Term Accountable Lead: Suzanne Pass (Carol Shaw)

Red Team Classes Venue Learning Focus

Ducks Foxdenton Park, Chadderton

• To link with topic (Trees, Leaves and Bees) we will look at how the plants and trees are changing as spring arrives

Yellow Team VI Pupil Foxdenton Park • To walk as independently as is safely possible from school to Foxdenton Park

• To explore the park environment • To choose equipment to play on

Blue Team Ospreys Lidl, Chadderton • To broaden life experiences

• To be able to practise skills previously learnt during our Maths lessons • To develop our social skills

Doves Lidl, Chadderton • To experience shopping and using money • To purchase items for morning snacks • To practice road safety and behaviour outside school

Doves Subway, Oldham • To learn and experience sandwich making for school project 'Doveways' • To practice independence skills using money to purchase food, using public

transport • To practice road safety and behaviour outside school

Kestrels & Toucans

Extreme Air, Oldham

• Signs of seasonal changes • As part of our new topic 'Trees, Leaves & Bees' the children will have the

opportunity to explore natural environments • Links to PE and Science

Skylarks Donkey Sanctuary, Manchester

• To broaden life experiences • To learn how to look after and care for animals • To support with the groundwork associated with donkeys

Visitors into School Live Music Now • Experience live music

• Interact with the instruments and musicians Manchester United Foundation Girls Football Day

• Encourage girls into playing football • Giving the children chance to meet the mascot Red Devil

Blue the Dog • Understand the needs and requirements about looking after a dog • Learning to read the dog – i.e. wagging tail – happy so safe, snarling – not happy

so not safe Governing Body Questions / Comments

Languages/Culture Days Accountable Lead: Suzanne Pass (Helen Godfrey) During the Spring Term we focussed on South America and classes grouped together to plan collaboratively for an engaging and creative day. Classes planned lots of carnival activities as well as exploring food, music and stories from South America. Good work was shared during the Friday assembly. This was successful and providing activities in house means that we are able to provide a wider selection of external visitors during the summer term as we have an increased budget.




Outcomes for Pupils Pupil Progress Accountable Lead: Sue Caine (Suzanne Pass/Jenni Cryer) See School Improvement Plan (SIP)

The Summer term will be a key time in terms of reviewing our assessment and reporting processes given the significant changes this year. However, individual pupil progress has been good, with all staff expressing their confidence in the new assessment systems and curriculum approaches. The effectiveness of the new target setting process will become apparent as part of this review and will be adapted and developed as appropriate. SQAs will continue through the Summer term and will link to transition meetings where staff share information in detail about individual children. Detailed reporting of progress data to Governors will take place in the Autumn term.


Pupil Premium Accountable Lead: Sue Caine (Charlotte Williams) The previous academic year’s report has been analysed for impact of interventions that have took place by looking at individual intervention records across the school and discussions with intervention leads, FSLOs and the Educational Visits Lead amongst others. As the impact is quite specific for individual children, a general summary has been provided for each area of expenditure and how this has impacted on progress, along with separate appendices to provide further evidence. We have improved the current intervention sheets so that it is easier for teachers to record intervention and impact for each pupil in their class and view their class as a whole. These were introduced to Teachers through SQA meetings and will be monitored on a regular basis so that the current year’s Pupil Premium report can be updated and impact analysed on a more regular basis. Both reports for the 2016-17 academic year and the current report for 2017-18 are complete and have been uploaded to the School website.


PE & Sports Premium Accountable Lead: Jenni Cryer See report on website (http://www.kingfisher.oldham.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PE-and-Sports-Premium-Funding-2017-2018.pdf).

The termly report from Michael Brewster, the Manchester United Foundation Hub Officer based at Kingfisher is included as Agenda Item 9.


EYFS EYFS Accountable Lead: Jenni Cryer (Emma Hamnett) See School Improvement Plan (SIP)


http://www.kingfisher.oldham.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PE-and-Sports-Premium-Funding-2017-2018.pdf

http://www.kingfisher.oldham.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/PE-and-Sports-Premium-Funding-2017-2018.pdf



3. OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT – Accountable Lead: Sue Caine/Michael Unsworth

Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare Safeguarding Accountable Lead: Sue Caine CPOMS continues to be used effectively across school. Staff have been accessing this in a timely manner which means that incidents and concerns are reported almost immediately. The office has begun to use the system to log any contact with parents. If this is effective then we will look at using is for class staff in the new academic year, replacing the parent/carer folder in each classroom. Staff accidents continue to be recorded on paper as it has not been possible to manage this on the CPOMS system.

Child in Need Meetings and Conferences have continued to take up a lot of time for Sue Caine, Jenni Cryer and Suzanne Pass. It is important that a trained safeguarding member of staff attends these meetings to support school staff and to have an overview of each individual child. However, the time they are taking has impacted on other school priorities so in September 2018, Lynne Rogers will be the Pastoral lead on Safeguarding and will be in attendance at the majority of these meetings. Some children are higher profile and their meetings will continue to be attended by a member of SLT. Lynne has had a range of safeguarding training and has a very good knowledge of the children and families at Kingfisher. She will work under the direct supervision of the Head of School and will feedback any issues or updates on a weekly basis. Sue Caine will then be able to share this information at the weekly meetings with the Assistant Heads. Paperwork will continue to be held and reviewed by Sue Caine.

The Annual Safeguarding Audit has been completed by Sue Caine and has been returned to the Local Authority Safeguarding Lead, David Devane. There were no concerns highlighted.


LAC (Looked After Children) Accountable Lead: Sue Caine We currently have a total of 5 LAC in school – 3 from Oldham, 1 from Manchester and 1 from Bolton. The numbers from Oldham have increased by 1 this term as we have a child in Y6 who is currently receiving a large amount of respite from Gemini House which has led to them becoming a LAC. Regular PEP meetings have now been established for all these children although there are still some issues around the additional funding which they qualify for. Sue Caine has been working with the individual LAs and social workers in order to rectify this. It continues to be a slow process.


Health Accountable Lead: Sue Caine SLT continue to meet with the different Health Care Teams in order to ensure the continuity of the joined up working that we have now established.

Sue Caine meets with the school nurses, with Charlene Biggs (Health Care Support Assistant employed by Kingfisher), on a weekly basis. Information is shared at these meetings regarding any children’s health updates, safeguarding issues and planning for staff training. This system continues to work well and sharing information regarding safeguarding concerns has been invaluable.

There are a number of trained staff first aiders for both pupils and staff. These first aiders are the first port of call when first aid is needed rather than the nursing team.

The medical complexities of some of the children continue to be a challenge with an increase in the amount of ambulances that school have needed to call over the last term. All these ambulances were needed for children who were having prolonged seizures and all were stabilised once in the care of paramedics. School nurses have supported staff during these times if they have been on site.



Julie Battle (Physio) meets regularly with Jenni Cryer to provide updates on children and any issues around staff training. Daily standing frame ‘drop-ins’ by the Physio Assistants have meant that staff feel supported and secure in standing children. The Physio Team continue to work with families to ensure that children are being managed well with their posture at home.

Suzanne Pass continues to meet regularly with Katy Latham (SaLT). There are still 4 therapists who work at Kingfisher and all children are seen once referred, within 18 weeks of referral, which is the same target as mainstream settings. SaLT are currently working on a re-access model, setting targets and rather than discharging children, will set a date for target updates which ensures the service is accessed more quickly. Cath Hayes liaises with staff to ensure re-access is working and new targets are set without needing to be discharged and re-referred. Contact with staff is often via email as staffing on site is changeable. Total Communication training will be made available to new staff in September but will also be open to other staff across school if they want to update their knowledge.


Wellbeing (Social and Emotional) Accountable Lead: Sue Caine Following on from staff training from MIND, interested staff were asked to put themselves forward to create a Wellbeing Team to look at mental wellbeing across school for both pupils and staff. This Team has now been established with staff from across school with a variety of experiences. Up to now the Team has met together twice, facilitated by Sue Caine, and sub groups have met in between these meetings to look at action planning and needs across school. The Team has been organised into 4 sub-groups –

• Curriculum, Teaching and Learning • Staff Development, Health and Wellbeing • Identifying Need and Monitoring Impact • Working with Parents, Carers and the Community

Each group has been able to look at what good practice may look like using guidance from ‘Supporting Young Minds through Tough Times’ (Oldham’s Policy), as well as looking at the individual complex needs of the children at Kingfisher. The Team continue to work together to develop these four areas so that there will be a graduated response of support in place for staff to refer to if they have concerns around the mental wellbeing of a child. Incorporated into this will be staff training and a wellbeing strand of the PSHE curriculum.

A staff training session was recently led by a Clinical Psychologist, Sophie Croft who has already worked with some staff in school. She led a session on attachment issues which was well received by staff. Governing Body Questions / Comments

Sensory and Physical Accountable Lead: Sue Caine (Nic Found) Staff are becoming more aware of children’s sensory difficulties and are referring them for a Sensory Processing Disorder Report from Occupational Therapy (OT). More children have been issued with a report from OT and we are now finding that a majority of the children now have one or are waiting for one to be processed. Nic Found continues to liaise with OT regarding specific children and class teams are getting much more confident at meeting the child’s needs with specific OT advice. OT are now also offering telephone advice which is enabling staff to have answers to specific queries around any recommendations that have been made including the use of certain equipment. This is making the equipment more specific to need rather than trying to follow the often generic report which has been sent.

OT are thoroughly impressed with the schools implementation of sensory diets and they have begun to refer to us in their talks/training.



Nic Found has liaised and spent time with staff at putting sensory diets in place and explaining how children who seem to be displaying “behaviours” can sometimes be missed as being sensory difficulties – we are continuing to change the mind-set of the staff which is having a positive impact on the children.

Staff are beginning to see a link between a child’s communication, their sensory processing disorders and some attachment issues and if they aren’t addressed then the child will not be ready for learning.

Staff training around sensory processing difficulties and autistic spectrum disorder will be made a priority for the next academic year to ensure we continue to meet the needs of all children.

Due to the growing numbers of children with Sensory Processing Disorders school are looking into the costs of employing an OT for one day per week so that we have a specialist provision in school to embed the work that has already been started.


School Values and Vision Accountable Lead: Sue Caine

(including SMSC – Spiritual, Moral, Social & Cultural/British Values) Classes have been encouraged to develop their class vison and values and were given this opportunity to review them at the start of the new term, led by Anne Redmond. This is detailed in the School Improvement Plan evaluation.

SMSC continues to be identified within the new planning system and SMSC boards are established in each class to reflect the children’s levels of understanding in this area.

The KAT (Kingfisher Action Team) has continued to be involved in various fund raising schemes including collecting the money for Jeans Friday.


Admissions/Transitions Accountable Lead: Sue Caine Visits to New Bridge for the Year 6 leavers will be starting this half term. Teachers have felt that the children leaving this year do not need an intense transition package planning so will just have a couple of visits. New Bridge staff will visit them at Kingfisher to also meet current staff and to share information. Health Teams will do their relevant handovers with team members working across the two sites.

We have agreed to one admission this term as the child was facing possible exclusion from their mainstream school. Transition visits here went well and we are hoping the child will soon settle into Kingfisher.

The class lists for September have now been compiled – currently there are 185 children on role from September – this may rise. We have agreed for 20 new children to start in September and transition visits will start this half term, as well as Early Years parents afternoons being planned for.

One child has been taken off roll this term. The family returned to Romania – their home country – in February 2018 and have not returned. The LA has agreed to the child being taken off roll as they have been absent for so long and are taking up a much needed place at Kingfisher.




Pupil Attendance Accountable Lead: Sue Caine Pupil Attendance – Spring 2018 (3.1.18 – 29.3.18) % Attendance % Authorised % Unauthorised

Yellow Team – Emergent Learners / Learning to Learn

Robins 44.2 55.8 0.0 Wrens 57.5 42.5 0.0 Swans 77.3 22.7 0.0 Pelicans 77.4 22.6 0.0

Blue Team - Learning to Learn / Independent

Learning

Goldfinches 86.8 13.2 0.0 Skylarks 84.2 15.8 0.0 Chaffinches 84.5 15.5 0.0 Toucans 88.9 10.3 0.8 Ospreys 64.2 35.6 0.2 Doves 78.4 20.4 1.2 Canaries 91.6 7.4 0.9 Kestrels 88.1 11.9 0.0

Red Team – ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder)

Penguins 93.6 6.4 0.0 Ducks 81.5 18.5 0.0 Blue Jays 87.0 13.0 0.0 Parrots 88.4 11.6 0.0 Puffins 89.5 10.5 0.0 Peacocks 93.7 6.3 0.0 Flamingos 89.9 10.1 0.0 Woodpeckers 93.6 6.4 0.0 Starlings 90.2 9.6 0.3 Ravens 91.3 8.7 0.0

Overall

Spring 2018 82.8 17.0 0.2 Autumn 2017 85.0 14.7 0.3 Summer 2017 83.8 15.9 0.3 Spring 2017 83.2 16.5 0.3 Autumn 2016 85.1 14.8 0.1 Summer 2016 83.9 15.7 0.4

Lynne Rogers’s new role will incorporate pupil attendance. She will be supporting families to enable their children to attend school if circumstances have arisen that are hindering their childs’ attendance. Lynne will report on this in the next LGB Report. Governing Body Questions / Comments

Organisation (whole school) Staff Deployment, Duties and Responsibilities Accountable Lead: Sue Caine Please refer to the separate document for a full overview of staffing details. There is an updated version of the document in the Governor Website portal and any changes referred to in this section of the Leadership Report.

Two teachers who had requested flexible working by reducing their working days this term, have requested that it be extended for the next academic year. This has been agreed for the next twelve months which means that Carrie Ball will continue to work for 4 days a week and Carol Whitehead for 3. We have already a new supply teacher – Amy Saggerson – who has just started to cover any teacher absences and she is happy to cover Carol’s other 2 days. Vivienne Halliwell (Level 4 TA) is based with Carrie Ball all week and will cover Carrie’s 5th day.

Sajida Zaheer has settled very well at Kingfisher and has worked really hard to get to know the Swans and to offer them a range of learning experiences. We have offered Sajida her NQT year at Kingfisher which she was very pleased to accept.

In a recent recruitment drive we have also taken on an additional 4 teachers – 2 of these being NQTs. As we have created a new Yellow Team class and 2 teachers will be going on maternity leave in the new term, it was felt that we needed to cover these as soon as possible. We also needed an additional teacher in Red Team. It will mean that these 2 NQTs will work alongside the teachers before they go on their maternity leave. This is a great



opportunity for the NQTs to learn from more experienced staff and ensure the children receive a smooth provision.

We have had 3 TAs resigning this term and we allowed 2 of them to leave with immediate effect. Chelsea Beards had had a change in personal circumstances and Liam Hodkinson wanted to try a different career path. Sam Plant is wanting to further her knowledge and understanding of children with disabilities and is embarking on a full time Masters Degree in September. We have a number of TA vacancies which will be advertised soon.

In order to give time for Lynne Rogers to attend safeguarding and Child Protection meetings, an internal advert has gone out for a new temporary post of a PPM Officer. This new role would lead on PPMs, enabling Lynne to concentrate more on safeguarding issues, attendance and family support. The post is initially for 12 months.


Staff Wellbeing Accountable Lead: Sue Caine The Wellbeing Team are currently looking at how we can support staff wellbeing within school. A recent questionnaire indicated that most staff are happy within their roles and that there is support available for them when needed. However, the Team feel that we could be doing more so are looking at support across school, possibly in the shape of mental health first aiders.

We now have a new HR Advisor who we are working well with. Adele Savage is supporting the school, particularly in managing attendance and staff absences. The Trust has now adopted the LA policy for Managing Staff Attendance. This has been in place in the LA for several years but Kingfisher opted to stay with the old policy. After a recent spate of long term absences it was felt that the new policy would be easier and clearer to respond to. Adele attended a recent staff meeting to update staff on what the new policy looked like. All staff have access to the new policy via First Class.

Kingfisher Learning Trust is developing a People Strategy to ensure that staff wellbeing remains a priority across the Trust and that the Trust develops a reputation as an employer of choice.


Staff Attendance Accountable Lead: Sue Caine Spring term was a difficult period in terms of staff absences overall.

There were a large number of short/medium term teacher absences, with only one long term absence (now fully back in school) which distorted the usual pattern of absence figures – which have featured a number of longer term absences in recent period.

For support staff, the overall picture is of higher levels of absence than in a recent period, both short term and long term. There were 7 long term absences during the period, two of which are continuing during the Summer period.

Summer Term 2016

Autumn Term 2016

Spring Term 2017

Summer Term 2017

Autumn Term 2017

Spring Term 2018

Teaching Staff 91.52% 89.62% 94.18% 88.97% 86.5% 90.2% Without l-t absence

95.1% 96.6% 95.10% 97.23% 96% 91.6%

Support Staff 88.5% 91.2% 91.25% 91.18% 89.89% 85.2% Without l-t absence

93.8% 94.9% 94.53% 94.50% 92.52% 90.4%




Community Partnerships Engagement Accountable Lead: Sue Caine (Lynne Rogers) The spring term was a busy one for the Pastoral Team. The focus was on engaging families through workshops, learning opportunities and the NEST group (parents and carers subcommittee for Team Kingfisher).

The NEST group is now well established and we have a core group of families who attend. They are eager to share their fund raising ideas over coffee! The last two meetings focused on raising awareness and supporting the up and coming family fun day at the Weavers Arms Public House – this was kindly arranged by one of our parents and members – this was set to be a great day jam packed with lots of fun for all the family - with inflatables, face painting, tombola’s, stalls, raffles and much more. All our members offered their time to volunteer and support the event – this was a great opportunity for our families to get together socially. The day raised a whopping £903.65 and was a great success and the weather held! Money is still coming in from the event so watch this space for the final total raised.

In February we welcomed Lifelong Learning into school. We held an enrolment morning, which was really well attended. There was a great mix of families keen to sign up and start their learning journey. The morning gave the tutors time to talk to parents and carers and gain an insight into their expectations and what they wanted to get from the sessions. The briefing for the session was that it should be very much parent led and should be tailored around the cohort and be accessible to all regardless of skill set.

Parents were asked to complete questionnaires and write or draw a little about themselves, their families, where they lived, their likes, their strengths – they were then asked to share their stories – this was a great ice breaker and families could share their words and pictures with the group. This was a real getting to know to know you morning and parents really supported each other – this was also a really useful tool for both getting to know our learners and for the facilitators to obtain an insight into levels of academia, this gave an starting point for planning the learning sessions. It was agreed that sessions would focus on health and wellbeing, this topic would be practical and visual, looking at food, diet, exercise, for body and mind - ensuring that EAL and English speaking families could learn alongside each other with some focus being placed on early English acquisition.

The second workshop was a co-production with Sally Thornley, Play Therapist, and focused on play. The session aimed to raise awareness amongst our families on the importance of play to children’s health and wellbeing, promoting all areas of a child’s development. The workshop was a great success – feeding off what we had learned from our Lifelong Learning sessions. It was visual, practical and very hands on – our families loved making sensory bottles to take away and share with their children! This will be something we definitely build on in the future.

Personalised Planning Meetings (PPMs) are all but coming to an end with the last few remaining after half term. Parents have really embraced the format and love sharing their children’s accomplishments. Again parental engagement has been exceptional and for those parents who really aren’t able to attend, a home visit was planned – this gives us and families much more flexibility and helps us to reach all our families.

Planning has started for the next twelve months - our core message will be around health and emotional wellbeing, parental health and how by supporting this in turn supports the children’s health and wellbeing. This feeds into the work we have already started with the workshops we have offered this term. We have lots of new and exciting events planned - we will be running MIND parental workshops, healthy walks, Play sessions, Holistic therapy session, Art therapy, and continuing to work with Lifelong Learning. Our sessions will be fun, practical and hands on but will all open up dialogues to provide a safe, non-judgemental environment to share thoughts and feelings, empowering parents and carers to make informed choices of where and how to get the right support.

Art Gallery Project

Gallery Oldham contacted Nic Found to propose a linking project between Kingfisher and the gallery. An exhibition by Richard Long (artist) has come from the Tate Gallery Liverpool to Oldham and Kirsty Mairs (Educational Development Officer – Oldham Gallery) managed to secure some funding to run an artist project. This initial idea has grown into what will be an amazing opportunity for Kingfisher. Sally Thornley (Play Therapist) and Nic Found are working as consultants for the gallery to devise, resource and collate an interactive gallery session. Sally and Nic have drawn upon their experience and expertise and have based the project around Holistic Play and responding to art through play. School have been given £2,000 to resource the project which will be stored at the



gallery and loaned out to other schools/groups once the initial project has run over the Summer. Kingfisher have been given £1,500 to cover Sally and Nic’s time and also to provide funding towards taking a group of children to the gallery to explore the ideas we have created before it is open to the public. Within the project a short film will be made of the Kingfisher children exploring the wonderful natural resources Sally and Nic have resourced which will go on the gallery website and be used as a training aid for the resources. They will also provide the gallery with a project overview and ideas on how to use the resources. The plan is to take the Ospreys to Gallery Oldham in July to explore the project. We would like to see an Heuristic resource kit (natural materials) in school as this is an area of play development which we do not provide at the moment at Kingfisher. Being asked to do this piece of work is a real privilege for Kingfisher and one which will have a long lasting effect for the gallery and the people of Oldham. It is also a great opportunity to link Kingfisher with Gallery Oldham and hopefully there will be more opportunities like this in the future.


Website Accountable Lead: Nic Found The website continues to develop and systems to upload information in a timely manner are in place and are working. The curriculum area of the website is now a priority to be updated and Nic Found and Suzanne Pass will be working on this to ensure that it reflects the changes to the curriculum which have been developed this academic year.


Operational Support Facilities Accountable Lead: Michael Unsworth During the Spring Term the focus was on re-painting classrooms and bathrooms as part of the ongoing programme. Due to the works commissioned in Red Hub during Summer 2017, we are in front of the programme and this allowed Chris Reeves to also work on painting skirting boards around Blue Hub, as well as working with the Network Manager on moving some fixed ‘gas arms’ to different locations in classrooms.

Externally new signage was introduced to both reflect the school and Trust and also to aid navigation around the entrance areas of the school.

New flooring has been fitted in the Reception area incorporating the new school logo and new flooring has also been fitted in the Puffins classroom in order to replace the carpeted area.


Health and Safety Accountable Lead: Michael Unsworth A fire drill was completed on 7th June 2018 the school was safely evacuated in 2 minutes and 12 seconds.


Infrastructure Accountable Lead: Michael Unsworth As mentioned above, some gas arms were moved to different locations in their classrooms.


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