Cross Agendas
27 October 2008
14-19 REFORMS
For your information: To be aware
Please find below the link to a short briefing on the role of the TDA in the 14-19 reforms (One PowerPoint presentation is an edited version). Stephen Hopkins originally commissioned colleagues to produce in support of a meeting he attended, please feel free to edit and use as you see appropriate
MESSAGE FROM GERARD DOYLE: DATA SUB PROGRAMME (DSP) DCSF
For your information: To be aware
Please find below the link to an attachment of the October 2008 edition of the DSP Bulletin. The Bulletin is published monthly in order to bring schools, local authorities (LAs) and other partners up to date on key data-related developments and events in the Data Sub Programme. It is issued to:
•all our contacts in CCs/LAs concerned with data and information management and school workforce information;
•the organisations which have signed the Protocol on Data Sharing and Rationalisation (see http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/ims/newsinfo/protocol/ •the companies which develop/supply school/LA MIS;
•Finance Directors of Academies; and
•members of the Workforce Agreement Management Group (WAMG)
Pages 11-13 include information on upcoming events.
Email mailto:ims.mailbox@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk if you require any further information.
TDA SUPPORT STAFF TELEPHONE EMAIL ENQUIRY SERVICE PREVIOUSLY OPERATED THROUGH Skills4schools
Action: To be aware
You may be aware that the TDA had a contract with Unison to run the Skills4Schools website and a telephone and email enquiry service, aimed at all support staff working in schools. Over the last two years, the TDA has significantly improved its own resources and information regarding support staff training and development, and for that reason, we have decided not to renew this contract.
In line with these resource improvements, the TDA has taken on the support staff telephone and email enquiry service previously operated through Skills4schools. This service is now being managed by TPUK under our existing contract with them to handle enquiries on how to become a teacher. This will give the TDA a more streamlined approach – bringing together support for the whole school workforce in one service. In addition, we are upgrading the support staff pages of our website to ensure we are fully meeting the needs of our audience. Skills4schools email enquiries will be redirected to a new support staff email enquiry address (supportstaff@mailbox.tda.gov.uk) and the telephone enquiry number (0845 600 2944) will stay the same.
Unison is continuing to run the Skills4Schools website, which can be found at www.skills4schools.org.uk. Unison and the TDA will continue to work together in a range of ways to make sure support staff can make well informed decisions about their career development.
BRYON IMPLEMENTATION – THE UK COUNCIL FOR INTERNET SAFETY
Action: For Information
The DCSF has issued a press release on the establishment of the UK Council for Internet Safety - http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0215
This was one of the recommendations of the Byron Review. The Executive Board of the Council will be chaired by Ed Balls and Jacquie Smith. The current membership of the Council includes Becta and CEOP. The membership does not include the TDA or the other education agencies such as NCSL, QCA, GTC and Ofsted.
LATEST OFSTED SURVEY – LEARNING OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
Action: For information
The link below is to the attached report, (also found in Word format at the link: Learning Outside the Classroom ) reveals that pupils' participation and achievement can benefit significantly from getting involved with activities outside the classroom.
THE NEXT LSP SURVEY
Action: For information
This is a build on the last LSP survey and is designed to support the understanding of LSP effectiveness. As you are all aware this year there is a TDA KPI for LSPs and therefore getting active participation from the LA representatives should be encouraged to get the best possible results from the survey. The survey has been extended this year to take account of half term.
•WAMG have now signed off the three extra questions and development by the TDA web team is well underway – it is an online survey as last time.
•The survey will be going live on Friday 17th October and will be running until Sunday 9th November
•The mechanism to get people to take part is via an URL distributed by email – this allows us to control who responds
•As last time, we will provide this URL via email to RAs to distribute to LA staff involved in LSPs; Social Partners will distribute the URL via their own channels to their members who are part of LSPs
•The URL will be emailed out following the survey that went live on 17th October – and it is important to get this cascaded to LSP members as soon as possible
•We are offering support to Social Partners to help them get as good a response as possible.
8 October 2008
LEADING LITERACY SCHOOLS PROGRAMME - GUIDANCE
For your information: To be aware
Please see the attached note from National Strategies. The work is underway but as it may affect LAs and will definitely involve schools, we thought you might like to see a copy.
NCSL REGIONAL LEADERS’ CONTACT DETAILS
For your information: To be aware
Please find attached a regional contact list for NCSL.
LOCAL SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP: WHAT GOOD LOOKS LIKE
For your information: PowerPoint presentation for use as required
As part of our Key Messages document circulated last week, we included the one page document Local Social Partnerships – What Good Looks Like – September 2008. This document provides a yardstick for Local Authorities to understand the effectiveness of their Local Social Partnership in supporting the deliverables and so may be useful in discussions with them. Please see the attached PowerPoint version, which was produced in response to a requirement for a landscape format which could be used as a presentation.
15 September 2008
THE KEY: STAKEHOLDER ADVISORY GROUP NEWSLETTER
Action: For information
The Key is a pilot service which provides information and guidance on staff and school development to the senior leadership teams of schools in England. Please find attached the most recent e-newsletter.
JOINT MEETING OF EXTENDED SERVICES AND WORKFORCE – 22 SEPTEMBER
Action: To reply to Nikki Widdicombe by Wednesday 17 September if you would like to attend this event
As you are aware there is a Joint Meeting next Monday 22 September for Extended Services and Workforce. The meeting will take place in the ELC Centre in Cambridge from 10.00-15.00. The agenda is attached. The aim of the joint days is to understand how working together we can best deliver the desired outcomes for children while also building in valuable time to ensure that there is significant scope and opportunity for ES and WF colleagues to tackle and develop solutions to their own specific issues.
If you would like to attend please contact Nikki Widdicombe (nikki.widdicombe@tda.gov.uk) by Wednesday 17 September.
12 August 2008
National Challenge Schools
Action: To explore the extent to which the TDA offer is reflected in LA plans for National Challenge schools
Last month the Secretary of State wrote to DCSs, and LA lead members about LAs role in the National Challenge which aims to ensure at least 30% of pupils in every secondary school achieve five or more good GCSEs, including English and mathematics. All LAs were asked to submit their plans for supporting the National Challenge schools in their areas to the DCSF by the end of July and, once agreed, the intention is that plans would be published in the autumn.
Please see the following link for details of this and other related correspondence and the National Challenge toolkit: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/nationalchallenge/downloads.shtml