Draft Primary Models for Barnet Partnership for School Improvement (BPSI)
The below models assume that Early Years, MFL, EMA, NQT and Healthy Schools activities
continues to be funded directly to the LA by the Government. It also assumes that the LA’s funding for
School Improvement is used for its SIP Programme, to employ Learning Network Inspectors and to
fund the Schools Causing Concern work. The Learning Network Inspector and School SIP (employed
by the LA) will be the main link between the school and the LA.
Background to the Models
The White Paper (June 2009) sets out a very different relationship between Local Authorities and
schools with regards School Improvement. The following is taken from a DCSF Document entitled
“Improvement support for schools - Local Authorities’ Role in 2010-11 and beyond” which is a
paper further clarifying the improvement support arrangements for schools proposed in the 21 st century
schools White Paper; their relationship with the Accredited Schools Group (ASG) initiative; and the
implications for LAs:
2011 and beyond: the White Paper’s proposals for new support arrangements
1.
Under the proposals published in the schools White Paper ‘your child, your schools, our
future: building a 21st century schools system’,
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/21stcenturyschoolssystem/timetableforaction/index.shtml
funding related to the National Strategies and other DCSF-funded school improvement services will,
from 2011-12, be devolved to schools; and schools will be expected to purchase support to suit their
needs. We expect schools increasingly to look for support from:
a.
other schools, sharing expertise and resources to meet many of their development needs;
b
local practitioners and experts, and support commissioned jointly with other schools;
c.
from a national “directory” of support available to schools. We are starting to put into
place a process for bringing together well-evidenced and respected school improvement
programmes and a range of providers who are quality-assured in relation to delivering
these programmes, along with a wide range of other assured providers and school
improvement products………. For those LAs which have a good track record in providing
school improvement services direct to their schools, there will be the opportunity to
promote these services through the proposed directory. Such support will need to be
offered as traded services, with schools afforded genuine freedom to choose the support
that they want from whoever best suits their needs, be it their LA, or from other
providers. Those LAs who wish to promote their services through the proposed directory
will need to demonstrate that their interventions have led to discernable improvements in
one or more of the five ECM outcomes and that these services have been valued. We will
want to consult LAs on how this might operate in a cost effective way.
2.
Local authorities (LAs) have a key role to play in ensuring that their schools have the right
support by brokering school to school support, and encouraging the best schools to share good
practice…….This is different to educational and other organisations who will be accredited to lead
formal school improvement interventions, commissioned by the LA, an example of which is provided
below:
For the most severely underperforming schools – including those where pupils attain very low results
or those which could do significantly better, it may be appropriate for the Local Authority to agree a
formal school improvement partnership – such as a federation, majority trust or Academy, led by an
organisation with the track record and capacity to drive improvement in the school, and accredited for
this purpose – an Accredited School Provider or Accredited Schools Group.
In our consultations with Barnet Primary Headteachers it was shown that there was a genuine ‘appetite’
from schools for Barnet to create a School Improvement Service as a Traded Service, out in the market
place alongside other providers. We have tried to retain all of the elements of what schools value about
the current School Improvement Service as well as looking to improve on the current support offered.
1
The following Models range from Model 1 where the Local Authority retains no central School
Improvement Team but commissions other providers to support Schools Causing Concern to Model 5
where the size of the team attempts to replicate the current situation. As the Models get bigger so,
obviously, does the cost of purchasing the Model. There is a lot of repetition in each model but the
key differences from the previous model are shown in bold print.
Model 1: Consultancy and training all delivered by external organisations and school
based staff to other schools
In this Model the Local Authority provides no School Improvement support apart from through their
SIPs. SIPs will help schools to broker school improvement support from other Barnet schools and
external organisations.
Costs:
Outreach work - Individual agreements/costings devised by schools delivering the support
Costed packages of support from external organisations
Expectations of external organisations/schools providing outreach support:
Supporting other schools:
Schools will decide on the external support they deem necessary to achieve the priorities in their school
improvement plan. A range of organisations will provide this support. The SIP and headteacher will
discuss the range of external support available during the SIP visits.
Each school seeking support from external organisations/supporting schools will have a Contract with
that school/external organisation which will indicate the range of support that the school wishes to
access. Once the support has been agreed an action plan will be drawn up by the external
organisation/school staff working with the school to ensure that the supported school staff and the
external organisation/supporting school are clear about the actions needed to ensure improvement.
All packages of external support must:
 Have clear outcomes and activities that address the school improvement priorities directly.
 Make best use of school partnerships, which the SIP may help broker.
Supporting the LA:
The LA will commission outside organisations and/or supporting schools to support schools on their
“Schools Causing Concern” list. The outside organisation/supporting school will devise bespoke
packages designed to focus support on the key issues identified through the self-evaluation moderation
process. As a minimum this will involve half a day a week of school based consultancy support.
Training
External organisations will publish available training courses. Other Barnet schools may decide to lead
training in particular areas which may be charged to attending schools.
Models 2 to 5:
The following Models retain some form of a School Improvement Support Team in the LA
(Barnet Partnership for School Improvement). Using the good practice as demonstrated in the
EiC and School Sports Partnership Models, the BPSI would have a Steering Group, details of
which are shown below:
BPSI Steering Group
The BPSI will be guided by a Steering Group which will consist of:
Barnet Head of School Improvement
Manager of BPSI
8 Headteachers (at least 2 from each Network selected by Barnet Headteachers’ Forum to ensure as
many phases and types of schools as possible are represented)
2 Governors
2
This Steering Group will meet termly to review the work undertaken by the BPSI and assist the
Manager in the strategic direction of the partnership. The Meetings will be minuted with the minutes
distributed to all schools in the partnership.
Model 2: Traded Service – 3 full time Primary Consultants. No Secondary Partnership
for School Improvement
In this Model the Local Authority provides a Primary but not a Secondary Partnership for
School Improvement. The LA SIPs will help schools to broker school improvement support from
this partnership and external organisations. The Schools Causing Concern work (1 day a week
for 3 consultants) is funded by the LA (£36,000)
Costs (including on-costs):
Manager of Service - £
(this figure would be reduced if the costs were shared with
secondary schools i.e. if there was a Secondary School Improvement Service)
Primary Consultant 1 – Literacy £
Primary Consultant 2 – Numeracy £
Primary Consultant 3 – Science/Assessment £
Admin Support - £
Commissioning Budget - £120,000
Accommodation Costs/Desk space – 2 consultant “hot desks”, 1 manager desk, 1 admin desk
£48,000
Refreshments - £35,000
Total Cost = £445,000
Cost to LA for Schools Causing Concern Support = £36,000
Expectations of Consultants:
Each consultant would spend 3 days a week (FTE) undertaking consultancy in schools. On
average, 1 of these days (two half days) would be spent in schools on LA’s “Schools Causing
Concern” list and 2 of these days would be in schools not on LAs “Schools Causing Concern” list.
1 day (FTE) a week would be leading training and 1 day a week (FTE) is reserved for
preparation and report writing time.
Buyback Cost for Core Package:
Currently of the 90 Primary and Nursery Schools, 84 buyback the Curriculum and Leadership
Training Traded Service. Assuming this would be the same in this Model the cost per school (on
average) would be:
£445,000 ÷ 84 = £5,297 per school (on average). This would be reduced by approximately £300 if
the Manager costs were shared by Secondary Schools
Service Provided in Core Package:
1. Username and password for access to the BPSI database. On this database, all schools who
purchase the Core Package, will upload Section A8.4 “Important actions for the school” from
their current SEF. SIPs will upload Section 4 from the SIP Annual Report entitled “What the
school is particularly good at.” As the prompts for the Annual Report states: “Emerging from
the discussion on the SSE, the SIP and school should agree areas of particularly strong practice.
They should also agree whether it is practice of such quality as to be worthy of further
dissemination, and if so whether or not the school is willing for it to be shared locally and/or
nationally.”
On the database, schools will be able to search for areas of school improvement to see both the
schools who also have this as an area for school improvement and schools where SIPs have
reported this as an area of strength for schools. This will be organised in tiers: firstly indicating
schools within that school’s own Network and then all other Barnet Schools. The BPSI Manager
3
will co-ordinate support for and between these schools and create clusters for training etc. The
Learning Network Inspectors in conjunction with the BPSI Manager will look at areas of need
and areas of strength within their Network in order to facilitate clusters of support. Areas where
there is a need but no schools with strengths within that Network will be discussed at Network
Meetings with Heads in order to try to identify additional schools with strengths in these areas.
The database will also include information about:
 Current ASTs in the LA, the schools they have worked with letters of
recommendation/evaluation forms completed by these schools
 Leading Teachers in the LA
 Consultants external to the Core Package with evaluations completed from schools who
have used them
2. Half a day a week of school based consultancy support for all schools on LA’s “Schools
Causing Concern” list
3. 19.5 hours a year (on average) of school based consultancy curriculum and leadership support
for all schools not on LA’s “Schools Causing Concern” list. This is not limited to the areas of
expertise of the three consultants as additional consultants will be bought-in.
4. Free attendance for school middle leaders at termly half-day:
 Literacy Subject Leader Meeting
 Numeracy Subject Leader Meeting
 Science Subject Leader Meeting
 ICT Subject Leader Meeting (full day)
 Assessment Co-ordinator Meeting
5. Free attendance for school staff at the BPSI Core Training Package Courses (approximately
110 days of training over the year). The themes of this training provided will be based on the
school improvement areas indicated on the database plus Government initiatives, information for
statutory duties etc.
Additional buyback:
1. Health and Safety Traded Service
2. Additional training courses – charged at £150 per full day
3. Half day, full day and residential conferences – charged at individual rates depending on
the programme offered and location
4. Additional school based consultancy - £450 per day
5. School Health Check/Review:
A health check of a specific subject or aspect of the school or even a whole school review.
Sometimes to look at an aspect of the school workforce or governing body. These health checks
will often be done jointly with the school but they are always based on clear objectives and
feedback. Examples could be: additional needs provision; developing the SEF; preparing for
inspection; teaching and learning review; leadership and management review. The rate would
vary depending on the type of review or health check but in general it will be £450. The school
can use some of its consultancy hours for this purpose to avoid the additional cost.
Expectations of BPSI providing support:
Supporting other schools:
Schools will decide on the external support they deem necessary to achieve the priorities in their
school improvement plan. A range of organisations will provide this support. The SIP and
headteacher will discuss the range of external support available during the SIP visits.
Each school seeking support from the BPSI will contact the BPSI Manager to agree the type of
consultancy support that the school wishes to access. Once the support has been agreed an action
plan will be drawn up by the BPSI to ensure that the supported school staff and the Service are
clear about the actions needed to ensure improvement.
All packages of external support must:
 Have clear outcomes and activities that address the school improvement priorities
directly.
 Make best use of school partnerships, which the SIP may help broker.
4
Supporting the LA:
The LA will use the BPSI to support schools on their “Schools Causing Concern” list. The BPSI
will devise bespoke packages designed to focus support on the key issues identified through the
self-evaluation moderation process. As a minimum this will involve half a day a week of school
based consultancy support.
Model 3: Traded Service – 4 full time consultants. No Secondary Partnership for School
Improvement
In this Model the Local Authority provides a Primary but not a Secondary Partnership for School
Improvement. The LA SIPs will help schools to broker school improvement support from this
partnership and external organisations. The Schools Causing Concern work (1 day a week for 4
consultants) is funded by the LA (£48,000)
Costs (inc on-costs):
Manager of Service - £
(this figure would be reduced if the costs were shared with secondary
schools i.e. if there was a Secondary School Improvement Service)
Primary Consultant 1 – Literacy £
Primary Consultant 2 – Numeracy £
Primary Consultant 3 – Science/Assessment £
Primary Consultant 4 – ICT £
Admin Support - £
Commissioning Budget - £120,000
Accommodation costs/desk space – 3 consultant “hot desks”, 1 manager desk, 1 admin desk £60,000
Refreshments - £35,000
Total Cost = £517,000
Cost to LA for Schools Causing Concern Support = £48,000
Expectations of Consultants:
Each consultant would spend 3 days a week (FTE) undertaking consultancy in schools. On average, 1
of these days (two half days) would be spent in schools on LA’s “Schools Causing Concern” list and 2
of these days would be in schools not on LAs “Schools Causing Concern” list. 1 day (FTE) a week
would be leading training and 1 day a week (FTE) is reserved for preparation and report writing time.
Buyback Cost for Core Package:
Currently of the 90 Primary and Nursery Schools, 84 buyback the Curriculum and Leadership Training
Traded Service. Assuming this would be the same in this Model the cost per school (on average) would
be:
£517,000 ÷ 84 = £6,194 per school (on average). This would be reduced by approximately £300 if
the Manager costs were shared by Secondary Schools
Service Provided in Core Package:
1. Username and password for access to the BPSI database. On this database, all schools who purchase
the Core Package, will upload Section A8.4 “Important actions for the school” from their current SEF.
SIPs will upload Section 4 from the SIP Annual Report entitled “What the school is particularly good
at.” As the prompts for the Annual Report states: “Emerging from the discussion on the SSE, the SIP
and school should agree areas of particularly strong practice. They should also agree whether it is
practice of such quality as to be worthy of further dissemination, and if so whether or not the school is
willing for it to be shared locally and/or nationally.”
On the database, schools will be able to search for areas of school improvement to see both the schools
who also have this as an area for school improvement and schools where SIPs have reported this as an
area of strength for schools. This will be organised in tiers: firstly indicating schools within that
school’s own Network and then all other Barnet Schools. The BPSI Manager will co-ordinate support
5
for and between these schools and create clusters for training etc. The Learning Network Inspectors in
conjunction with the BPSI Manager will look at areas of need and areas of strength within their
Network in order to facilitate clusters of support. Areas where there is a need but no schools with
strengths within that Network will be discussed at Network Meetings with Heads in order to try to
identify additional schools with strengths in these areas.
The database will also include information about:
 Current ASTs in the LA, the schools they have worked with letters of
recommendation/evaluation forms completed by these schools
 Leading Teachers in the LA
 Consultants external to the Core Package with evaluations completed from schools who have
used them
2. Half a day a week of school based consultancy support for all schools on LA’s “Schools Causing
Concern” list
3. 26 hours a year (on average) of school based consultancy curriculum and leadership support for all
schools not on LA’s “Schools Causing Concern” list. This is not limited to the areas of expertise of the
four consultants as additional consultants will be bought-in.
4. Free attendance for school middle leaders at termly half-day:
 Literacy Subject Leader Meeting
 Numeracy Subject Leader Meeting
 Science Subject Leader Meeting
 ICT Subject Leader Meeting (full day)
 Assessment Co-ordinator Meeting
5. Free attendance for school staff at the BPSI Core Training Package Courses (approximately 149
days of training over the year). The themes of this training provided will be based on the school
improvement areas indicated on the database plus Government initiatives, information for statutory
duties etc.
Additional buyback:
1. Health and Safety Traded Service
2. Additional training courses – charged at £150 per full day
3. Half day, full day and residential conferences – charged at individual rates depending on the
programme offered and location
4. Additional school based consultancy - £450 per day
5. School Health Check/Review:
A health check of a specific subject or aspect of the school or even a whole school review. Sometimes
to look at an aspect of the school workforce or governing body. These health checks will often be done
jointly with the school but they are always based on clear objectives and feedback. Examples could be:
additional needs provision; developing the SEF; preparing for inspection; teaching and learning review;
leadership and management review. The rate would vary depending on the type of review or health
check but in general it will be £450. The school can use some of its consultancy hours for this purpose
to avoid the additional cost.
Expectations of BPSI providing support:
Supporting other schools:
Schools will decide on the external support they deem necessary to achieve the priorities in their school
improvement plan. A range of organisations will provide this support. The SIP and headteacher will
discuss the range of external support available during the SIP visits.
Each school seeking support from the BPSI will contact the BPSI Manager to agree the type of
consultancy support that the school wishes to access. Once the support has been agreed an action plan
will be drawn up by the BPSI to ensure that the supported school staff and the Service are clear about
the actions needed to ensure improvement.
All packages of external support must:
 Have clear outcomes and activities that address the school improvement priorities directly.
 Make best use of school partnerships, which the SIP may help broker.
6
Supporting the LA:
The LA will use the BPSI to support schools on their “Schools Causing Concern” list. The BPSI will
devise bespoke packages designed to focus support on the key issues identified through the selfevaluation moderation process. As a minimum this will involve half a day a week of school based
consultancy support.
Model 4: Traded Service – 8 full time consultants (consultancy only). No Secondary
Partnership for School Improvement
In this Model the Local Authority provides a Primary but not a Secondary BPSI. The LA SIPs will help
schools to broker school improvement support from this service and external organisations. As there
are twice as many Consultants in this Model, the cost of Admin Support has been doubled but
the expectation is that consultant will “hot desk” 1 desk for every 2 consultants. The
Commissioning budget has been reduced by £20,000 as there are more “in house” consultants.
The schools purchasing the Model get the Non Schools Causing Concern Consultancy
entitlement. The Schools Causing Concern work (1 day a week for 4 consultants) is funded by the
LA (£48,000) and the Training work is not traded so is charged to schools on a course by course
basis.
Costs (inc on-costs):
Manager of Service - £
(this figure would be reduced if the costs were shared with secondary
schools i.e. if there was a Secondary School Improvement Service)
Primary Consultant 1 – Literacy £
Primary Consultant 2 – Numeracy £
Primary Consultant 3 – Science/Assessment £
Primary Consultant 4 – ICT £
Primary Consultant 5 – ICT/Literacy/Numeracy/Science/Assessment £
Primary Consultant 6 – Music/PE £
Primary Consultant 7 – AN Other (Foundation Subject £*
Primary Consultant 8 – AN Other (Foundation Subject) £*
Admin Support - £
Commissioning Budget - £100,000
Accommodation costs/desk space – 4 consultant hot desks, 2 admin, 1 manager £84,000
Refreshments - £0
Total Cost = £660,000
Cost to LA for Schools Causing Concern Support = £48,000
* These two posts could be centrally employed consultants or Middle Leaders from schools seconded
to the LA for a year. The area of expertise will be guided by the School Improvement areas identified
on the database and decided upon by the BPSI Steering Group.
Expectations of Consultants:
Each consultant would spend 3 days a week (FTE) undertaking consultancy in schools. For four of
these consultants, 1 of these days (two half days) would be spent in schools on LA’s “Schools Causing
Concern” list and 2 of these days would be in schools not on LAs “Schools Causing Concern” list. For
the other four consultants all 3 days consultancy would be in schools not on LAs “Schools
Causing Concern” list. 1 day (FTE) a week for all consultants would be leading training (which
would be charged to schools separately) and 1 day a week (FTE) is reserved for preparation and
report writing time.
Buyback Cost for Core Package:
Currently of the 90 Primary and Nursery Schools, 84 buyback the Curriculum and Leadership Training
Traded Service. Assuming this would be the same in this Model the cost per school (on average) would
be:
7
£660,000 ÷ 84 = £7,857 per school (on average). This would be reduced by approximately £300 if the
Manager costs were shared by Secondary Schools
Service Provided in Core Package:
1. Username and password for access to the BPSI database. On this database, all schools who purchase
the Core Package, will upload Section A8.4 “Important actions for the school” from their current SEF.
SIPs will upload Section 4 from the SIP Annual Report entitled “What the school is particularly good
at.” As the prompts for the Annual Report states: “Emerging from the discussion on the SSE, the SIP
and school should agree areas of particularly strong practice. They should also agree whether it is
practice of such quality as to be worthy of further dissemination, and if so whether or not the school is
willing for it to be shared locally and/or nationally.”
On the database, schools will be able to search for areas of school improvement to see both the schools
who also have this as an area for school improvement and schools where SIPs have reported this as an
area of strength for schools. This will be organised in tiers: firstly indicating schools within that
school’s own Network and then all other Barnet Schools. The BPSI Manager will co-ordinate support
for and between these schools and create clusters for training etc. The Learning Network Inspectors in
conjunction with the BPSI Manager will look at areas of need and areas of strength within their
Network in order to facilitate clusters of support. Areas where there is a need but no schools with
strengths within that Network will be discussed at Network Meetings with Heads in order to try to
identify additional schools with strengths in these areas.
The database will also include information about:
 Current ASTs in the LA, the schools they have worked with letters of
recommendation/evaluation forms completed by these schools
 Leading Teachers in the LA
 Consultants external to the Core Package with evaluations completed from schools who have
used them
2. Half a day a week of school based consultancy support for all schools on LA’s “Schools Causing
Concern” list
3. 9 days a year (on average) of school based consultancy curriculum and leadership support for all
schools not on LA’s “Schools Causing Concern” list. This is not limited to the areas of expertise of the
eight consultants as additional consultants will be bought-in.
4. Free attendance for school middle leaders at termly half-day:
 Literacy Subject Leader Meeting
 Numeracy Subject Leader Meeting
 Science Subject Leader Meeting
 ICT Subject Leader Meeting (full day)
 Assessment Co-ordinator Meeting
 Music Co-ordinator Meeting
 PE Co-ordinator Meeting
 AN Other Co-ordinator Meeting
5. Subsidised attendance for school staff at the BPSI Core Training Package Courses (approximately
312 days of training over the year). The themes of this training provided will be based on the school
improvement areas indicated on the database plus Government initiatives, information for statutory
duties etc.
Additional buyback:
1. Health and Safety Traded Service
2. Half day, full day and residential conferences – charged at individual rates depending on the
programme offered and location
3. Additional school based consultancy - £450 per day
4. School Health Check/Review:
A health check of a specific subject or aspect of the school or even a whole school review. Sometimes
to look at an aspect of the school workforce or governing body. These health checks will often be done
jointly with the school but they are always based on clear objectives and feedback. Examples could be:
additional needs provision; developing the SEF; preparing for inspection; teaching and learning review;
8
leadership and management review. The rate would vary depending on the type of review or health
check but in general it will be £450. The school can use some of its consultancy hours for this purpose
to avoid the additional cost.
Expectations of BPSI providing support:
Supporting other schools:
Schools will decide on the external support they deem necessary to achieve the priorities in their school
improvement plan. A range of organisations will provide this support. The SIP and headteacher will
discuss the range of external support available during the SIP visits.
Each school seeking support from the BPSI will contact the BPSI Manager to agree the type of
consultancy support that the school wishes to access. Once the support has been agreed an action plan
will be drawn up by the BPSI to ensure that the supported school staff and the Service are clear about
the actions needed to ensure improvement.
All packages of external support must:
 Have clear outcomes and activities that address the school improvement priorities directly.
 Make best use of school partnerships, which the SIP may help broker.
Supporting the LA:
The LA will use the BPSI to support schools on their “Schools Causing Concern” list. The BPSI will
devise bespoke packages designed to focus support on the key issues identified through the selfevaluation moderation process. As a minimum this will involve half a day a week of school based
consultancy support.
Model 5: Traded Service – 8 full time consultants. No Secondary Partnership for School
Improvement
In this Model the Local Authority provides a Primary but not a Secondary BPSI. The LA SIPs will help
schools to broker school improvement support from this service and external organisations. As there
are twice as many Consultants in this Model, the cost of Admin Support has been doubled but the
expectation is that consultant will “hot desk” 1 desk for every 2 consultants. The Commissioning
budget has been reduced by £20,000 as there are more “in house” consultants. The Schools Causing
Concern work (1 day a week for 4 consultants) is funded by the LA (£48,000)
Costs (inc on-costs):
Manager of Service - £
(this figure would be reduced if the costs were shared with secondary
schools i.e. if there was a Secondary School Improvement Service)
Primary Consultant 1 – Literacy £
Primary Consultant 2 – Numeracy £
Primary Consultant 3 – Science/Assessment £
Primary Consultant 4 – ICT £
Primary Consultant 5 – ICT/Literacy/Numeracy/Science/Assessment £
Primary Consultant 6 – Music/PE £
Primary Consultant 7 – AN Other (Foundation Subject £*
Primary Consultant 8 – AN Other (Foundation Subject) £*
Admin Support - £
Commissioning Budget - £100,000
Accommodation costs/desk space – 4 consultant hot desks, 2 admin, 1 manager £84,000
Refreshments - £35,000
Total Cost = £791,000
Cost to LA for Schools Causing Concern Support = £48,000
* These two posts could be centrally employed consultants or Middle Leaders from schools seconded to
the LA for a year. The area of expertise will be guided by the School Improvement areas identified on
the database and decided upon by the BPSI Steering Group.
9
Expectations of Consultants:
Each consultant would spend 3 days a week (FTE) undertaking consultancy in schools. For four of
these consultants, 1 of these days (two half days) would be spent in schools on LA’s “Schools Causing
Concern” list and 2 of these days would be in schools not on LAs “Schools Causing Concern” list. For
the other four consultants all 3 days consultancy would be in schools not on LAs “Schools
Causing Concern” list. 1 day (FTE) a week for all consultants would be leading training and 1 day a
week (FTE) is reserved for preparation and report writing time.
Buyback Cost for Core Package:
Currently of the 90 Primary and Nursery Schools, 84 buyback the Curriculum and Leadership Training
Traded Service. Assuming this would be the same in this Model the cost per school (on average) would
be:
£791,000 ÷ 84 = £9,416 per school (on average). This would be reduced by approximately £300 if
the Manager costs were shared by Secondary Schools
Service Provided in Core Package:
1. Username and password for access to the BPSI database. On this database, all schools who purchase
the Core Package, will upload Section A8.4 “Important actions for the school” from their current SEF.
SIPs will upload Section 4 from the SIP Annual Report entitled “What the school is particularly good
at.” As the prompts for the Annual Report states: “Emerging from the discussion on the SSE, the SIP
and school should agree areas of particularly strong practice. They should also agree whether it is
practice of such quality as to be worthy of further dissemination, and if so whether or not the school is
willing for it to be shared locally and/or nationally.”
On the database, schools will be able to search for areas of school improvement to see both the schools
who also have this as an area for school improvement and schools where SIPs have reported this as an
area of strength for schools. This will be organised in tiers: firstly indicating schools within that
school’s own Network and then all other Barnet Schools. The BPSI Manager will co-ordinate support
for and between these schools and create clusters for training etc. The Learning Network Inspectors in
conjunction with the BPSI Manager will look at areas of need and areas of strength within their
Network in order to facilitate clusters of support. Areas where there is a need but no schools with
strengths within that Network will be discussed at Network Meetings with Heads in order to try to
identify additional schools with strengths in these areas.
The database will also include information about:
 Current ASTs in the LA, the schools they have worked with letters of
recommendation/evaluation forms completed by these schools
 Leading Teachers in the LA
 Consultants external to the Core Package with evaluations completed from schools who have
used them
2. Half a day a week of school based consultancy support for all schools on LA’s “Schools Causing
Concern” list
3. 9 days a year (on average) of school based consultancy curriculum and leadership support for all
schools not on LA’s “Schools Causing Concern” list. This is not limited to the areas of expertise of the
eight consultants as additional consultants will be bought-in.
4. Free attendance for school middle leaders at termly half-day:
 Literacy Subject Leader Meeting
 Numeracy Subject Leader Meeting
 Science Subject Leader Meeting
 ICT Subject Leader Meeting (full day)
 Assessment Co-ordinator Meeting
 Music Co-ordinator Meeting
 PE Co-ordinator Meeting
 AN Other Co-ordinator Meeting
10
5. Free attendance for school staff at the BPSI Core Training Package Courses (approximately 312
days of training over the year). The themes of this training provided will be based on the school
improvement areas indicated on the database plus Government initiatives, information for statutory
duties etc.
Additional buyback:
1. Health and Safety Traded Service
2. Additional training courses – charged at £150 per full day
3. Half day, full day and residential conferences – charged at individual rates depending on the
programme offered and location
4. Additional school based consultancy - £450 per day
5. School Health Check/Review:
A health check of a specific subject or aspect of the school or even a whole school review. Sometimes
to look at an aspect of the school workforce or governing body. These health checks will often be done
jointly with the school but they are always based on clear objectives and feedback. Examples could be:
additional needs provision; developing the SEF; preparing for inspection; teaching and learning review;
leadership and management review. The rate would vary depending on the type of review or health
check but in general it will be £450. The school can use some of its consultancy hours for this purpose
to avoid the additional cost.
Expectations of BPSI providing support:
Supporting other schools:
Schools will decide on the external support they deem necessary to achieve the priorities in their school
improvement plan. A range of organisations will provide this support. The SIP and headteacher will
discuss the range of external support available during the SIP visits.
Each school seeking support from the BPSI will contact the BPSI Manager to agree the type of
consultancy support that the school wishes to access. Once the support has been agreed an action plan
will be drawn up by the BPSI to ensure that the supported school staff and the Service are clear about
the actions needed to ensure improvement.
All packages of external support must:
 Have clear outcomes and activities that address the school improvement priorities directly.
 Make best use of school partnerships, which the SIP may help broker.
Supporting the LA:
The LA will use the BPSI to support schools on their “Schools Causing Concern” list. The BPSI will
devise bespoke packages designed to focus support on the key issues identified through the selfevaluation moderation process. As a minimum this will involve half a day a week of school based
consultancy support.
11