Enthusiasm, commitment and an interest in education are the most important qualities. You don't need to have a child at the school.
Many schools would particularly welcome new governors who have transferable skills developed at work, or who have a particularly good understanding of the community served by the school.
What do school governors do?
The governing body of a school is responsible for ensuring that it is run to promote pupil achievement. Its duties include:
• setting strategic direction, policies and objectives
• approving the school budget
• reviewing progress against the school's budget and objectives
• appointing, challenging and supporting the head teacher
The governing body is made up of:
• parent governors (elected by parents)
• staff representatives (elected by school staff)
• local authority governors (appointed by the local authority)
• community governors (members of the local community appointed by the governing body)
• for some schools, people appointed by the relevant religious body or foundation
• up to two sponsor governors, or four if the school is a secondary school (appointed by the governing body)
What would be involved?
Governing bodies make their decisions based on the advice of committees that deal with specific issues like the school's curriculum, premises or finances. If you become a governor, you will probably be asked to serve on a committee where you have an interest or can make a contribution.
The amount of time involved for each governor varies between schools. However, in a typical month in a typical school you can expect to spend at least six to eight hours on your duties. Being a governor is a serious commitment, but it can be rewarding.
Senior management team
The SMT is usually made up of the head teacher & deputy head - but then depending on the size of the school, the team can be bigger and more varied. Often you'll find Assistant head teachers or senior teachers with particular responsibilities - like leading one of the key stages or something like assessment across the school.
The Special Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) might be a member, and increasingly the school business manager (SBM) is also a member.
Their role is to set the strategic direction of the school and then manage this, lead any changes and generally make sure that the school is doing the best it can for the children that attend.
The SMT’s function includes the management and evaluation of the following areas:
1. Ethos
• Climate of the School
• Links with Parents
• Pastoral Care
2. Learning and Teaching
• Planning for the Curriculum
• Learning
• Teaching
• The Teachers’ Assessment of the Pupils’ Work
• Implementation of the Curriculum
• Attainment
• Assessment, Recording and Reporting
• Implementation of The Code of Practice for SEN provision
3. Management
• The Effectiveness of Teachers with Specific Responsibilities
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Action to Improve Learning
• Staff Development
• Staff Deployment
• Links with Other Schools and Agencies
• Accommodation
• Resources
Other statutory roles e.g. SENCO
The SEN Co-ordinator (SENCO), in collaboration with the head teacher and governing body plays a key role in determining the strategic development of the SEN policy and provision in the school in order to raise the achievement of children with SEN.
The SENCO takes day-to-day responsibility for the provision made for individual children with SEN, working closely with staff, parents and carers, and other agencies.
The SENCO also provides related professional guidance to colleagues with the aim of securing high quality teaching for children with SEN.
In mainstream schools the key responsibilities of the SENCO may include:
• Overseeing the day-to-day operation of the school’s SEN policy.
• Liaising with and advising fellow teachers.
• Managing the SEN team of teachers (if employed) and learning support assistants/teaching assistants.
• Co-ordinating provision for pupils with special educational needs.
• Overseeing the records on all pupils with special educational needs.
• Liaising with parents of pupils with special educational needs.
• Contributing to the in-service training of staff.
Liaising with external agencies including the LEA’s support and educational psychology services, the Connexions PA (secondary schools), health and social services and voluntary bodies.
Teachers
Primary school teaching is the single most important profession in the world. Teachers pass on knowledge and values to children, prepare them for further education and for working life and are main contributors to good education.
Teachers are one of the main pillars of a sound and progressive society. They bear the weight and responsibility of teaching, and, apart from parents, are the main source of knowledge and values for children.
Support staff roles
Support staffs are employed in a variety of functions in support of teachers and pupils and what they do varies between schools.
Support staff may provide administrative support, technical support (e.g. science or ICT technicians), or be involved in pastoral care, site management, midday supervision and so on. Ultimately it is a matter for individual schools how support staffs are deployed.
School support staff could for example; be employed in any one of the following roles:
Teaching Assistants / Learning Support Workers
Teaching Assistants work throughout the UK in primary, secondary or special schools, either in a general role or they may have responsibilities for a particular child (with a statement or additional educational needs). A key role of the Teaching Assistant is to help raise educational standards in the classroom, by providing support for the pupils, the teacher and the school.
Teaching Assistants' classroom responsibilities can range from performing routine tasks, such as getting things ready for lessons, putting up displays around the school, administrative tasks (photocopying, collecting dinner money etc.), to sometimes working with individual children.
The demand for good teachings assistants is increasing all the time, as a result of the governments
‘Remodelling of the School Workforce’ agenda. There are currently around 150,000 teaching assistants in the UK.
Schools will often decide what qualifications and experience they require when appointing a teaching assistant, although many schools do prefer either older candidates or those with previous child-care experience.
Cover Supervisors
The job title of ‘Cover Supervisor’ is very new in UK schools and it has come about as a result of the governments ‘Remodelling of the School Workforce’ agenda.
‘Cover Supervisor’, is the job title given to non-teaching staffs that have been chosen by the head teacher of a school to look after a whole class of children. However, it is also possible for other non-teaching staff, such as Higher Level Teaching Assistants to look after whole classes too.
Cover supervisors are usually deemed suitable if they have the necessary training and skills to fulfil the task of whole class supervision. The head teacher of the school will normally be the person who decides if, in their professional judgement that an individual is suitable to be a cover supervisor.
Typically, a cover supervisor will work during school hours and in addition to supervising the class, they will also oversee the completion of set work and manage the behaviour of pupils.
ICT technicians
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) technicians play an increasingly important role in schools, as teaching and learning become more and more heavily dependent on new technology.
ICT technicians work by themselves and as part of teams, depending on the size of the school and its ICT requirements.
Their day-to-day work usually involves:
• Maintaining the school's network
• Installing new software and upgrading existing applications
• Providing technical support for teachers and pupils
• Maintaining and developing the school's website and intranet
• Maintaining hardware peripherals (e.g. scanners, printers, external drives)
• Ordering consumables (e.g. printer cartridges, CD-Rs, cabling).
School Office & Secretaries
An administrative assistant/administrator is responsible for providing administrative support for an office or department.
Day-to-day tasks could include:
• welcoming visitors to the school and dealing with their enquiries
• answering the telephone or a small switchboard
• administration relating to pupil attendance
• collecting monies, i.e. dinner, school outing etc.
Secretaries provide a range of high level administrative support to the school. A school secretary would normally have working contact with head teachers and teachers, parents, governors and visitors to the school.
Secretaries are often responsible for sending key educational data about the school to the Department for Education (DfE).
Although they may differ from school to school day-to-day tasks could include:
• producing memos, letters, invoices and other documents on a computer
• answering the telephone, meeting visitors and dealing with the post
• looking after the office diary
• arranging meetings, seminars or conferences, and maintaining filing systems and office supplies.
• Entering and managing data
• Supporting the head teacher in a range of high level administrative tasks
Caretakers and cleaners
Caretakers are responsible for the care and upkeep of buildings and their grounds, including schools, offices, leisure centres.
Although a lot of time may be spent working alone caretakers come into contact with a variety of people including tenants, children, teachers, contractors working on the site and the police. They may also supervise other staff such as assistant caretakers, cleaners and gardeners.
All caretakers carry out some general tasks but their exact role depends on the size and type of building they are looking after.
Maintenance
• Caretakers are responsible for making sure a building is in proper working order. This involves:
• carrying out minor repairs such as mending broken windows, changing light bulbs and unblocking drains
• turning heating and lighting on and off at appropriate times
• making sure the premises are clean and that rubbish is collected and taken away, and any graffiti is cleaned up
• maintaining the grounds and removing litter.
If there is a major fault, the caretaker will call in specialist help, such as a plumber or electrician. They will also arrange for other contractors such as builders to come on site when necessary.
Lunchtime Supervisors (Dinner Ladies)
Midday supervisors, sometimes called lunchtime supervisors or lunchtime assistants, look after the welfare of school pupils during lunchtimes.
They have a range of duties and responsibilities, varying according to the type of school, which typically include:
• effective supervising pupils in the dining hall and other parts of the school
• helping pupils with a variety of tasks, such as cutting up their food and changing clothes
• cleaning up spillages and sickness
• helping to clear away food and stack tables and chairs after pupils have left the dining hall
• ensuring pupils keep out of areas that are out of bounds, and don't leave the school premises
• dealing with misbehaviour and reporting any problems they are unable to resolve to the duty teacher or head teacher
• tending to pupils who are sick or injured, ensuring they receive appropriate medical attention, and reporting any serious accidents
• being aware of responsibilities under child protection legislation, and reporting concerns to a senior supervisor or the head teacher
• assisting with play activities if required.
School cooks
Duties and Responsibilities: School cooks provide nutritious, balanced and value-for-money meals to children every lunchtime in term time.
They usually work from 8.30 or 9am to 1.30 or 2pm, beginning by checking they have all the ingredients they'll need for the menu they've planned and allocating different tasks to their kitchen assistants.
Specific responsibilities include:
• Cooking of school meals.
• Kitchen cleaning and cleaning of equipment used by Cook/Assistant Cook during the day.
• Service of meal and washing up after meal.
• Maintenance of good standard of hygiene in kitchen.
• Help any member of kitchen staff as required.
• Help with special functions which take place in the school connected with the Education Catering Service or the school and with games refreshments in secondary schools.
Explain the roles of external professionals who may work with a school.
There are a large range of professionals who work with the school on a regular basis they will come in and work with the head and other staff when needed. There are many children in schools today with learning, physical and behavioural difficulties.
The educational psychologists provide advice and support for schools/parents of children with special educational needs they will work closely with the special educational needs co-ordinator. Spending time with any individual child and trying to establish the reasons for their learning or behaviour problems. Once they have established the reasons they will then present their findings to both school and parents.
The speech and language therapist will work with children who have difficulties with understanding, expressing themselves and using communication to socialize appropriately. But they will also work with children who have difficulty with eating, drinking and swallowing. The speech and language therapist works in close partnership with the child, their family, school and any other healthcare professionals. Together they share the Child’s needs but it will be speech and language therapist who will decide how the child can be helped to reach their full communication potential.
Specialist teachers are teachers who have training in a specific area and the role of a specialist is very important, as it is to ensure that children receive the best level of education. They provide direction and practical support for teachers and schools leaders around their specialist area. Their role often finds them working closely with under achieving pupils this is to help them to rise their performance.
The educational welfare officer works with schools, pupils and families to resolve any issues. Their responsibilities would include meeting with the school, pupils and parents to identify problems and possible solutions. They may also make home/school visits to provide any on-going support for those who need it. Making referrals to other agencies is part of their role as is writing up case notes, sending letter to parents and preparing any court reports.
Educational welfare officers are also involved in regulating child employment, advising on child protection issues and preparing reports on pupils with special educational needs.
Schools improvement partners’ role is to provide expert support to schools in their drive to raise standards and improve the education of all pupils. The school improvement partner who is someone with current or recent headship experience will act as the conduit between government, the local authority and the school. Helping to set targets and identifying needs they will also advise the governor’s on the performance of the head teacher.
The physiotherapist is concerned with the gross motor skills and mobility of children. They are often involved with children who have dyspraxia, are blind or have any muscular conditions. As part of the multidisciplinary team the physiotherapist will write up a report as part of the statutory assessment that will then be used to draw up the child’s statement of special educational needs. In schools the physiotherapist will advise the teacher and teaching assistant on the kind of activities that will be helpful eg. exercise routines and games.
As another member of the multidisciplinary team the occupational therapist receives referrals from medical staff, physiotherapist and schools. Occupational therapist may be called in for children with learning, physical difficulties and behavioural problems. They will visit the children at school to undertake a complete assessment. They would then give advice on equipment and teaching strategies.
In close partnership all these outside agencies work together for the wellbeing of all school children.
Explain how the ethos, mission, aims and values of a school may be reflected in working practices.
The Ethos of the school should be recognisable when entering the school setting as it is part and parcel of the environment of the school and the daily practice of the staff and pupils there. I am aware that all adults that work and are part of the setting at Little Sutton Primary School have an important responsibility in modelling standards of behaviour, both in their dealings with children who attend the school and amongst colleagues, as their own example has a momentous influence on the children. Good associations and strong collaborations between adults will encourage the good behaviour in children. All adults within the school should aim to create an optimistic and positive environment that holds high but reasonable expectations of every child who attends the school, emphasise the significance of being respected as an individual within the school.
Encourage, through example, truthfulness and politeness while encouraging children to have relationships based on fairness, kindness and understanding of the needs of the other children within the school.
Evaluate methods of communicating a school ethos, mission, aims and values.
The ethos and mission of a school is often referred to as the same thing, however, they are both very different. The mission of a school is based upon what the school intends to achieve in a more physical and academicals way as set out by the head teacher. This is often seen as a motto and slogan as you enter a school.
The Ethos of a school is more related to the beliefs and feelings of a school. The Ethos of the school should be recognisable when entering the school environment as it is part of the nature and daily practice of the staff and pupils who work there. The ethos is set out for the whole school to be aware of and is reinforced through daily activities. It enforces that children’s safety is paramount and with the purpose of children are at the centre of everything.
The aims of the school are set out by the head teacher in partnership with the parents, staff and the community which should provide all members of the school community with a safe and respected environment which is paramount in obtaining a successful learning environment. The aims for the children at Little Sutton Primary School are to increase each pupils understanding of the world around them and to provide each pupil with the appropriate balance of both challenge and support in the learning, to provide for the spiritual, moral, intellectual and physical development of the pupils regardless of their disability, gender, race or ethnic background.
Summarise the law and codes of practice affecting work in schools.
The main rules laws of practice affecting work in schools are:
The UN Convention on the Rights of a Child 1989 – in 1989 the world leaders decided children needed a special convention just for them to give them special care and protection that adults do not need. All children up to the age of 18 have the rights in the convention. Some groups of children e.g. those living away from home or disabled children have additional rights to make sure they are treated fairly and their needs are met.
Every child in the UK is entitled to 40 specific rights, included in these are:
* the right to life, survival and development
* to have their views respected
* to have a name and nationality
* freedom of expression, to live in a family environment or alternative care and have contact with parents wherever possible
* to have health care and social security
* to have an education, be able to take part in leisure, culture and arts
Special protection for refugee children, children in the juvenile justice system, deprived children and children suffering sexual, economic or other forms of exploitation.
These rights apply to all children with no exceptions.
The Education Act 2002 – is an act to make provision about education, training and childcare. The act implements the legal requirements and commitments set out in the white paper Schools: Achieving success. It is intended to raise standards, promote innovation in schools and reform education law. It covers everything from schools being able to innovate and raise standards, schools joining together and forming companies, setting a flexible governance framework that allows greater discretion at local levels, allowing schools to be used as a resource within the community, separating out the budget making it clearer how funding is divided up and setting a minimum schools budget and also additional methods of funding available, providing frameworks for admission, exclusion and attendance, sets the school curriculum distinguishing between the key stages, enables schools to be more flexible with their staffing, develop partnerships with other agencies and give effective support within the classroom and it also sets out the statutory duty schools have with regards to the protection and involvement of children. Further measures are introduced to ensure weak and failing schools are turned around as quickly as possible.
Children’s Act 2004 and 2006 – reforms the law relating to children making provisions about the services provided to and for children in need by local authorities and other persons providing a wider strategy for improving children’s lives, targeting those with additional needs. It makes provision about advisory and support services relating to family proceedings, to make provision about fostering, child minding and day care, adoption review panels, the defence of reasonable punishment, the making of grants as respects children and families, child safety orders, the publication of material relating to children involved in certain legal proceedings and disclosure of information relating to children.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 – if the establishment you work in is part of the public sector, the Freedom of Information Act means you must produce a publication scheme outlining the information that is routinely made available to the public e.g. minutes of meetings, annual reports or financial information. It also means official information must be disclosed when people ask for it (unless there is a good legal reason not to). Schools must produce a school profile and school prospectus containing the latest Ofsted report and current performance levels.
The Human Rights Act 1998 – its aim is to give further effect in the UK to the rights contained in the European Convention of Human Rights. The act applies to all public bodies within the UK, including the central government, local authorities and bodies exercising public functions. The act provides that it is unlawful for a public authority to act in a way that contravenes the Convention Rights. The Human Rights Act affects all other laws – it says that every UK law must respect your convention Rights, public authorities cannot ignore your rights and that they can be taken to a UK court or tribunal if they do. All UK courts and tribunals must take convention rights into account in all their rulings and not just in cases brought under the Human Rights Act.
Special Educational Needs, codes of practise (SEN) 2001-it includes the rights and duties introduced by the SEN and Disability Act 2001. Local Education Authorities, schools, early education settings, health and social services must all have regard to the Code of Practice. It sets out a model of intervention, early education settings action and early years action plus and in school settings a school action and school action plus. The code puts emphasis on working with parents, pupil participation and working in partnerships with other agencies. It includes a stronger right for children with Special Education Needs to be educated in a mainstream school, a requirement that Local Educational Authorities provide services offering advice and information and means of resolving disputes, a new duty on schools and relevant Early Years providers to keep parents informed when they are making special educational provisions for their child, and the right for schools and relevant educational providers to request a statutory assessment of a child.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995/2005 – under the act it is unlawful for a school or other education provider to treat a disabled pupil unfavourably. They should not either directly or indirectly discriminate against the child arising from a disability. For example a pupil cannot be refused admission simply because they are disabled; a pupil can’t not be stopped from doing something because it takes them to long to do it. Pupils should not be harassed because of their disability, a teacher cannot shout a disabled pupil if the disability means they are unable to concentrate. The school must provide reasonable adjustments to ensure the pupil is not discriminated against.
Data Protection Act 1998 - protects personal data in the UK. It gives people the fundamental rights and freedoms to their right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data. Personal data must be obtained fairly and lawfully, data should only be used for the specific purpose it was collected. The data must be kept accurate and up to date and shall not be kept for longer than necessary. Schools must keep formal pupil records that are updated once a year, under the data protection act all pupils are entitled to have their educational records disclosed to them. There is certain information that is exempt from disclosure, information that could cause serious harm to the pupil or someone else or that would put them at risk, but this information may be passed to another educational establishment. Disclosure is permissible if the record does not allow identification of the third party.
Every Child Matters Agenda 2004 - its main aims are for every child, whatever their background or circumstances, to have the support they need to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and achieve an economic well-being. It requires multi-agency partnerships working together to achieve to be aware of the contribution by each other’s’ service and to deliver their work with children accordingly.
In my role I support the child to help them achieve to the best of their ability. I have to respect the rights of every child with whom I work and not discriminate against any child because of their nationality, disability etc. I must ensure they are as inclusive as possible and respect their privacy, but also work closely with teachers, support staff within the school and sometimes if required any outside agencies involved to ensure the child has as much support as possible where needed.
Explain how legislation affects how schools work.
Legislation affects how schools work, as they are required to comply fully with all legal requirements set out in the regulations. As a result of many legislations school have to include these regulations in their school policies. Some of the legislations form their own policies whilst others are contained within policies. This legislation can affect how you work with children although this can happen indirectly. Risk assessments are a big undertaking by schools & have to be carried out on a lot of the school activities done in the daily school environment especially school trips, or practical science & PE to name but a few.
Laws & codes of practice affecting work in schools change regularly & the school will be able to seek advice & guidance when needed from governing bodies. Health & safety & the management of health & safety of employees & others who are affected by any work activity have to be some of the most important legislations the schools have to follow, as protection of those in within the school is key. Legislation is also put into place in schools to help promote equality & eliminate discrimination whilst protecting personal data & the physical protection of those in the school environment whether it is staff, parents, visitors or pupils.
10. Explain the roles of regulatory bodies relevant to the education sector which exist to monitor and enforce the legislative framework, including:
General bodies such as Health and Safety Executive
They provide guidance & monitor the legislative framework for all organisations including education (schools). All schools are required to comply with the Health & Safety at Work Act (1974). There are a number of things that they are required to do & the employer is responsible for them.
• Complete & hold appropriate paperwork (accident reporting), which can be requested for inspection under the H&S Act.
• Have a school health & safety policy & ensure all staff are aware of it.
• Carry out risk assessments & ensure that appropriate measures are put in place where increased risk or new situations arise (school trips).
School specific regulatory bodies such as OFSTED
Ofsted was introduced to regulate & inspect the provision of childcare & education of children & young adults whilst providing reports on their findings. Ofsted is intended to raise standards in British schools through regular inspections. They also regulate child-minders, adoption & fostering agencies, pupil referral units, further education, and initial teacher training & learning in prison. Ofsted report directly to Parliament & all information including school inspections can be obtained through their website & are available for all to access.
Teachers in England are required to be members of the GTC (general teaching council). They are the professional body for teaching in England. They have a regulatory role of the teaching profession & ensure that their code of conduct & practice is being followed by all teachers. Their overall purpose is to work in the public interest to help improve standards of teaching & learning.
Independent Schools Council (represents independent schools in UK) – They inspect & regulate independent schools & provide information regarding those schools. The Independent Schools Council (ISC) is the umbrella body serving the associations which represent 1,234 independent schools and educate more than 500,000 children in the UK, Ireland and overseas. The great majority of children in UK independent schools are in ISC schools and there is an increasing number in our overseas schools. ISC therefore speaks for the sector as a whole. ISC is strictly independent of all political parties and acts in the interests of all children.
The Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) is an organisation responsible for the inspection of independent schools in England which are affiliated to the Independent Schools Council (ISC). The ISI website contains reports on inspections the ISI has undertaken since 2000.The Inspectorate is a separate company, owned by the Independent Schools Council and has its work monitored by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). It is empowered to carry out inspections through an agreement with Ofsted and the Department for Education and Skills. Ofsted inspects independent schools, which are not members of the ISC. Ofsted is also responsible for all boarding school welfare inspections.
11 Explain why schools have policies and procedures.
All schools, as a legal requirement need clear, concise policies and procedures. This is to ensure that governors, staff, children and parents involved in the school are able to work to the same comprehensible set of rules and guidelines. Policies are intended to provide a framework that ensures consistent principles are applied to practice across a school. Every policy and procedure should and will outline its aims, purpose and the responsibilities staff will have.
Policies can also provide prospective employees, governors and parents of prospective pupils with valuable information. For example, a prospective parent might wish to see a school’s homework policy or behaviours policy before deciding whether to apply for their child to attend the school. Similarly, a prospective employee may wish to see the school’s performance management policy before deciding whether to accept a position at the school. Closer to home, prospective governors should be made aware of any policies relating specifically to governors. These might include a governors’ induction policy, a governors’ allowance scheme or a governors’ training policy.
Policies should also enable school staff, governors, parents, LEA officers and Ofsted inspectors to see at a glance what principles they can expect to see applied at your school.
As a student within the setting of a school, I must adhere to these policies and familiarise myself on where these policies can be found within the school surroundings. In particular I must know my responsibilities regarding the safeguarding policy, the health and safety policy and the behaviour management policy
12. Summarise the policies and procedures schools may have relating to:
Staff:
Pay policy, performance management policy, grievance policy.
Policies for staff are put in place to protect the staff’s welfare and their rights within a school setting and to support staff in their management of situations they may be involved in. Every policy should outline its aims, purpose and responsibilities the staff will have.
Examples of policies staff may have relating to:
Anti bullying policy: will outline what a particular school will do to prevent and tackle bullying. How the school will discuss, monitor and deal with bullying. All parents/carers should receive this policy when their child enrols at the school.
Whistle blowing policy: will provide avenues for staff to raise genuine concerns about other members of staff and will allow a member of staff to take the matter further if they dissatisfied with the governing body or local authorities response. The policy will also assure staff of the steps that will be taken to protect themselves from reprisals in whistle blowing real worries.
Pupil welfare:
Safeguarding Policy, health and safety, behaviour, anti-bullying
Pupil welfare will include the Discipline policy, which will show that the school will encourage positive behaviour which will enhance opportunities for children to learn and develop, and establish acceptable patterns of behaviour that will encourage a sense of responsibility towards others.
Child protection policy: will consist of key elements in protecting children and young people, these elements being:
To ensure that the appropriate steps will be taken in checking the suitability of staff and volunteers who work with children and young people in a school environment.
Raise awareness of child protection issues and providing children with the skills and knowledge they require to keep themselves safe.
Develop and apply procedures to identify and report cases, or suspected cases of abuse.
Support victims of abuse in accordance with their arranged child protection plan.
Establish safe surroundings in which children and young people can learn and develop to the best of their ability.
Teaching and learning:
Early year’s policy, planning and assessment, Curriculum Policies (English, Maths)
Teaching and learning: will include curriculum policies, an early years policy, special educational needs policy, planning and assessment policy and marking policy. The aims and missions of these policies are to provide safe, stimulating learning environments for pupils and teachers. These policies are put in place to ensure that all children have an equal opportunity to the school’s curriculum so that learning is differentiated to fit each child’s individual learning needs and capabilities.
Equality, diversity and inclusion:
Gifted and talented, equal opportunities policy, Special educational needs inclusion policy.
Equality, diversity and inclusion: the following policies are set in place to ensure that all children, regardless of their background, abilities or disabilities, race or religious beliefs have equal access to the school and its curriculum and to be treated equally in every aspect of school life.
The Equality Impact Assessment involves assessing the genuine effects of policies on people in reverence of their disability, racial equality or gender. It helps the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to make certain that the needs of people are taken into consideration when developing and implementing policies or making changes to a current policy.
The Gifted and Talented policy outlines the way that the school identifies what ‘gift and talented’ means and also identifies the procedures and measures that are used in supporting a child or young person who is gifted and talented.
Parental engagement:
Homework, attendance policy, Home/school contract
Parental engagement: parents and families play a fundamental role in helping children achieve their full potential in education by supporting them in their learning and developing within their own homes. By working together with the child’s school parents can create a learning environment to help reinforce lessons that are learned at school.
Homework policies contribute towards building responsibilities and self-discipline in a student. Homework should provide a student with the opportunity to apply the information they have learned in class, complete unfinished class assignments and develop independence within the individual.
Home School Agreement: can raise standards and contribute to school success by providing structure for partnerships between home and schools on issues such as; pupils progress, information on what pupils will be taught and any concerns that may affect the pupils ability to learn. Parents are able to support and help their child’s learning at home with more success and confidence.
13. Evaluate how school policies and procedures may be developed and communicated.
Schools need to ensure not only that the policies are in place, but also that they are revised and updated in a regular basis. It is likely that each policy will be dated and also have a date for its revision. There are a large number of ‘model’ policies available through local education authorities as well as through the internet to assist schools in drawing them up, as this can be a time-consuming process. Depending on the policy, the schools senior management team or person responsible for a curriculum area may draft up a policy and then have it checked by other staff during a staff meeting. It will then need to be agreed or ratified by the governing body before it takes effect.
14. Summarise the roles and responsibilities of national and local government for education policy and practice.
The National Government are responsible for devising policies and ensuring they are implemented. The UK government is split into two departments which deal with education in England. The first is the Department of Education their responsibility is to work with children up to the age of 19 with any issue they may have from child protection to education. They aim to improve the opportunities and experiences available to children and their practitioners by focusing on the Offering more support for the poorest and most vulnerable children to ensure they all receive the same level of education and opportunities as their peers regardless of background with greater quality provisions in place to meet these requirements. The second department which makes up the education (National) government is the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) they are responsible for further and higher education and concentrate on establishing world-class higher education system to provide the UK with the high level skills needed for economic success. They are responsible for creating a high quality further education sector that aims to teach workers the skills demanded in a modern day life.
The central government is also responsible for the school/education budget; they determine which local authorities should receive the funding and the amounts.
The Local Government are responsible for many areas of the education system in their own region from Strategic Management which involves planning for the education service as a whole, the administration of committees dealing with education and considering how the budget should be distributed to gain full potential from it.
They are also responsible for investigations which the authority carries out on employees or potential employees of the authority or governing bodies of schools. They Advise schools on the conditions of service for non-teaching staff and on the grading of such staff. Specific Grant-related expenditure.
Special Educational Needs are the responsibility of the LEA it is their job to ensure all children have access to the relevant help equipment needed to reach their full potential ideally in main stream education or a placement elsewhere if this isn’t possible. They aim to arrange these extra requirements with minimum fuss and time encouraging all organisations involved work together to achieve this.
School Improvements are the main responsibility of the actual school however it is also the responsibility of the LEA to offer support to help achieve these goals and benchmark which are set out.
Access and school transport is also predominantly the responsibility of the LEA as they need to ensure all children have access to a place within a learning environment, from transport, coordination admissions, deciding on closures and alternatives placements for this pupil. They will also provide help, support and placements at referral units where necessary for children who for varies reasons are unable to attend mainstream schools. Part of their responsibility (mainly Children’s Services Department is ensuring the funds are received and distributed accordingly.
Overall the LEA are accountable to both their electorates and to the Secretary of State, their success is monitored using the following information, Ofsted reports, Measuring the schools performances against the targets set and information regarding their financial performance for these reason it is crucial that all LEA adhere to and ensure the schools in their region adhere the policies and procedures in place.
15. Explain the role of schools in national policies relating to children, young people and families.
As part of the national government incentive to help provide backing and encouragement to practitioners in schools two new funding programmes were introduced by the department for children, schools and families now called ‘The Department for Education’.
These two programmes; Every Child A Talker (ECAT) and Social and Emotional Aspects of Development (SEAD). These were launched to increase the skills of early year’s specialists and were a part of the government’s wider pledge to the education workforce department.
These packages were designed to address to need for children in school to experience a language rich setting through staff in ensuring that they work successfully with both parents and families.
Through SEAD, staff in schools would gain knowledge and understanding to help engage parents more effectively in order for them to be better prepared to support their child’s social and emotional needs. It was the abuse and ultimate death of Victoria Climbie in 2000 which prompted changes in children’s services. The every child matters paper set out a national agenda and plan with the aim of providing more services that were accessible for the needs of children, young people and families which stated that schools and other child care providers must demonstrate ways that they could work towards each of the outcomes.
The 5 key aims and intentions were; Fiona Mather.
Be healthy: Schools needed to play a leading part in health education towards children and young people which included questioning contents of school meals, as well as enabling children to enjoy a good physical and mental health by being part of a healthy lifestyle.
Stay safe: A survey among 11~16 year olds in mainstream schools claimed that ‘46% had been a victim of some form of bullying’ (www.education.gov.uk/publications). In order to break these statistics it is vital that pupils feel that they are being protected in schools, in order for schools to do this they must continue to make behaviour management and anti-bullying a significant issue.
Enjoy and achieve: In order for student to get the most out of life and develop the necessary skills for adulthood children and young people must enjoy their lives and achieve their potential. In order for school to assist with this they must make improvements in failings across different ethnic groups and unauthorised absences that are unacceptable.
Contribute: Children and young people need to be involved in their community rather than involve themselves in anti-social behaviour. Schools can teach children the ethics of social responsibility and a feeling of ‘belonging’ by providing a link to a pupils own community and how they can become part of it.
Achieve a good standard of living: Children and young people of parents who are unemployed or existing on low incomes must be encouraged to aspire to a better career and lifestyle for themselves. Schools can develop strategies to enable all students to reach their full potential.
16. Explain the roles of other organisations working with children and young people, and how these may impact on the work in schools.
Charity organisations- I wrote about a local lottery funded art group that came into school once a week to work with child and their parents.
There are an extensive range of organisations that will work with children and young people. All these organisations will delegate with each other as a team and share their knowledge and experiences to achieve the best interest of children and young people, by doing this they will develop links for pupil support for.
Social services will work with schools if certain information comes to light about pupils or if they need to gather information for court reasons.
Children’s services are based on the framework Every Child Matters outcomes. These are basically based in different areas of professionals including.
Education.
Health.
Early years.
Child care.
Social services.
Youth services.
These will work with secondary schools, but will be more involved with the training and provision of young people from the age of 14 and beyond.
National health services work closely with schools, routine in school screening or one to one i.e. speech therapist. Promote healthy eating/exercise. Fit for life initiative.
There are many different services which will work with and within the school setting; these may be employed by the national health services and the primary care trust. This will include.
Speech therapists.
Occupational therapists.
Physiotherapists.
The Children’s Legal Centre
The Children’s Legal Centre is an independent national charity concerned with law and policy affecting children and young people. It is committed to promoting children’s rights in the UK and worldwide. The Children’s Legal Centre works to ensure that children’s interests are represented at every level of the legal process and in the production of legislation.
Part of their work is the Migrant Children’s Project. This aims to ensure that refugee, asylum seeking and migrant children are able to obtain the services and assistance to which they are legally entitled. CLC provides detailed advice on their rights and entitlements and on the impact of immigration law on services to children.
Family Fund
The Family Fund is a registered charity covering the UK and is funded by the governments of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
They are the largest independent grant-giving organisation helping low-income families for a severely disabled child. They support families by providing grants that relate to the needs of their disabled child or young person. In 2009 – 10, the Fund distributed £32.8 million to over 55,000 families.
They give grants for things that make life easier and more enjoyable for the disabled child, young person and their family, such as washing machines, driving lessons, computers and holidays.
National Association of Toy and Leisure Libraries
The National Association of Toy and Leisure Libraries (NATLL) was founded in 1972 and is the national body for toy and leisure libraries in the UK. They use the campaign title “Play Matters”.
They aim to create and support high quality play opportunities throughout the UK by providing advice and support, training, toy appraisal and information and ideas.
They believe that:
· Every child has the right to play
· Play is crucially important because it is the first step in children’s education
· Toy libraries provide vital opportunities for play to every child
· Toy libraries play an active role in pre-school education and child development
· Toy libraries support families and develop parenting skills
Bibliography
Teaching Assistant Handbook Level 2 – Teena Kamen
Teaching Assistant Handbook Level 3 – Teena Kamen
Little Sutton School Policies
Guardian Newspaper