Portslade Partnership of Schools
Working effectively for children
SUMMER 2016
Termly Update for Headteachers on Partnership Groups/Joint working
Training
INSET
We held another successful Partnership INSET day on 14th May 2016 with around
350 staff coming together for joint training. All staff listened to the keynote speaker
Sir John Jones and then had the chance to choose two out of 17 workshops. 97% of
staff rated the keynote speaker good or excellent. 93% of staff rated the day as a
whole good or excellent. The total cost of this event was £46.85 per staff member.
Recommendations for the next INSET in 2018 include: review workshop timings;
book another high profile keynote speaker and ensure partner schools are more
involved in the selection of workshops available. This will ensure training needs are
met, all schools could suggest two workshops each.
Events
Open House at PACA
We had a really successful Open House art event at PACA on Saturday 21st May.
Eight schools took part in the By the Sea art competition and produced some
excellent work. The work was judged by Aroe (local graffiti artist) who picked one
overall winner from each school. The winners received a certificate and £10
Waterstones voucher. Aroe was really impressed by the quality of the work and
found picking a winner really difficult. PACA were also exhibiting a range art work
which was very impressive. A large number of Portslade families visited the
exhibition and the other events going on at PACA that day including: a car boot sale,
stalls, bouncy castle etc.
Many thanks to all the art coordinators for their hard work.
Vanessa Charles Termly Report for HTs Summer 2016
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Port Fest
The first Portslade Partnership music festival has now been arranged for 4th July
11.30am – 2.30pm. This is an event is based at PACA for all primary Year 5
students and special schools to take part in a number of exciting workshops
including: steel band, drumming, singing, music tech, sensory music, Boomwhackers
and body percussion. The day will culminate in a joint performance of all pupils in
the Hub.
Groups
Year group meetings 26th April
The first Partnership Year Group meetings took place at Downs Park on 26th April.
The feedback from these meetings has been positive. There is a folder for
moderated work in the Partnership Drop Box. So far I have work from Year 1, Year 2
Year 3 and Year 4.
Subject Coordinator Group Meetings 4th May
The Subject Coordinator Groups met again on 4th May.
The Literacy group discussed writing moderation focussing on the definition of ARE.
They used interim writing frameworks for KS1 & KS2 to moderate pieces of writing
from Y2 and Y6 at St Mary’s, St Peter’s and St Nicolas. At the next meeting they
plan to focus on reading and comprehension skills.
The Maths group discussed progress in calculation, Rainbow Maths, planning
formats and assessment.
The PSHE & RE groups joined together at St Mary’s as there were limited numbers.
They discussed SRE policies, Protective Behaviours, raising the profile of RE &
PHSE, recording and assessment.
BME group
The Portslade BME group have been meeting termly since June 2015. There is a
core group of schools that attend each meeting (Peter Gladwin, Benfield, St Nicolas
and St Peter's). All schools in the cluster are invited and receive the minutes. Mainly
they have been sharing ideas and good practice. Examples include:
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Ideas for engaging with parents;
Equality policy updates;
Feedback on training events;
Reviewing data for BME children;
Ideas for the Curriculum.
At the last meeting on 28th April they did a joint Equality and Anti-Bullying Learning
Walk at St Nicolas with Marek from EMAS which they all found really useful.
Early Years Group
The Early Years Group meet termly. Their last meeting was on 9th May hosted by
Stepping Stones Pre-School based at Peter Gladwin. The focus of the meeting was
on sensory play, sharing ideas and good practice. There could be scope for
developing this group and the Partnership producing a ‘Getting Ready for School’
booklet.
SENCo Group
The SENCo group last met on 23rd March. Christine Connolly (SW supervisor)
attended the meeting with two students and reviewed with staff how the placement
was progressing. SENCos also discussed SEN data, transition and the SEN code of
Vanessa Charles Termly Report for HTs Summer 2016
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practice. The next meeting is due to take place on 7th July with Karen Okefuna-Budd
from Sussex University.
School Business Managers
The Bursars last met on 2nd February 2016 this meeting was fully attended by all
schools. Dawn Doidge from Schools ICT attended the meeting to outline changes in
Schools ICT and answer questions. The group raised issues about the wave, BEEM
and general communication.
The group also reviewed the action plan for better service in HR/payroll drawn up
with Zac Dyer. All agreed there have been some improvements. The next meeting is
due to be held at Hillside on 14th June.
Meetings
Pupil Numbers Meeting 4th May
The Pupils Numbers working group had another meeting with Richard Barker, Head
of School Organisation at BHCC on 4th May. All agreed to continue with the in-year
‘cap’ currently being used to prioritise admissions for particular year groups at
specific schools. Richard Barker agreed to come to the Autumn 2016 Partnership
Heads meeting as by then he will have received the next set of data for the NHS and
will have more information on trends in primary numbers.
Other Partnership work
TRIAD work
Further to the aim of challenge between schools within the Partnership a group of
Heads met on 8th February to agree protocols for TRIAD work, based on the
Challenge Partners model. The group agreed a set of protocols with the help of Lisa
Evans (SPA) and agreed two groups to take this work forward.
St Nicolas & Benfield have worked with Rachel Simmons from West Blatchington.
The Heads began the process at St Nicolas. Raise-on-line data was sent in
advance, the last Ofsted report was reviewed and used that as the focus for the visit.
All found the process extremely useful. Two heads have now quality assured
practice at St Nicolas.
St Peter’s, St Mary’s and Peter Gladwin will initially be focussing on St Peter’s. They
have held the initial meeting and will be carrying out a joint learning walk on 4th July.
Student Social Workers
The Portslade Partnership has been working with Sussex University for the second
year running to provide a 70 day placement for their 2nd year Social Work students.
This year we have provided placements for four students. The placements are
supported by a Practice Educator (Karen Southern - funded by Sussex University)
and supervised by Christine Connolly (funded by PPS). The Partnership receives
£350 from the LA per student to fund this supervision.
The students are in place from January (February this year) to June. With the
exception of Hillside, all schools were allocated a minimum of two families, individual
children or a group.
At the last HT meeting Heads agreed to continue with this placement in 2017 subject
to improvements recommended by CC & VC. The SENCo group are due to meet
with Karen Okuefuna-Budd, Director of Practice Learning at Sussex University on 7th
July to review successes the placements and agree improvements for 2017.
Vanessa Charles Termly Report for HTs Summer 2016
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Safety Net
Safety Net have been working with Portslade to provide low level ‘Early Help’ support
to families in Portslade. They have funding to provide support to 100 families
between now and December 2016. They are currently supporting 17 families in six
Portslade schools. Initially this support was only offered to primary schools but from
the end of May they have been given permission by the Strengthening Families
Commissioner to offer the service to PACA as well.
They are also running a Separated Parenting workshop for Portslade families at
Emmaus on 24th June and 2nd July. Information has been sent round to all SENCos
please publicise this event to your families.
Fundraising
I have been working with a number of schools (St Nicolas, Peter Gladwin, Downs
Park, St Peter’s & Benfield) on re-searching funding streams and submitting funding
bids. Since April we have submitted three bids. So far two have been successful
these were both were for additional music resources at St Nicolas and Peter
Gladwin.
One Art Trip funding bid for Downs Park is still being assessed. Seven others have
been written or are in the process of being written for submission this term. If any
schools have specific needs for funding please let me know. I will continue to
research grant opportunities and send information to the relevant staff.
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