CEO Update
Great to hear from so many about your positive SATs results this week. Well done and thank you – including to those who supported moderation exercises. Hoping year end reports go well. Thanks for everything.
Lovely to join St Francis Board members, Heads, Chairs, Vice Chairs and Governors for Mass on Tuesday 5 July, at St Peter-in-Chains, Doncaster. One of our readings was from Matthew 9 32-37 (see also Luke 10:2) “The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord to send labourers to his harvest”. This reminds me to ask for your prayers as we progress various recruitments and to share an important school request.
• St Mary’s Maltby are looking to recruit a SENCO, please do see if you or someone you know, might offer help and support in the vacancy and vacancy filling.
On CMAT news, a number of additional milestones to celebrate. The St Francis schools TUPE workplace meetings and consultations continue. It has been a pleasure for Kev and I to support Heads and Chairs at Holy Family Worksop, St Joseph’s Rossington, St Joseph’s Retford, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Mary’s Maltby this week. HSPAT have theirs scheduled for 11 July. Legal work continues to progress well. Documents are with schools for review, and signature once the statutory TUPE consultations are completed and signed off. Work on ELI and budgeting continues to progress. We meet with all National and Regional Unions on 12 July to review the Trade Union Recognition Agreement.
In other news, the TCAF grant application went to DfE before the 30 June deadline. Your continued prayers are appreciated as we await national moderation on 19 July.
Ofsted
We have also been keeping Our Lady of Mount Carmel in our continued prayers this week for their Ofsted and as we await Ofsted published reports from other schools. It would be good to share insights and experience when possible. Conscious several of our schools still await the Ofsted call this term/early next.
Grant Funding
In other grant news, I was delighted to hear about successful RE grant applications for both St Joseph and St Teresa’s and Our Lady of Perpetual Help securing £1000 of new books from the Jerusalem Trust, £500 for each school having read about the opportunity in the May St Francis Bulletin update – extract below in case you missed it:
The Jerusalem Trust do work with Primary schools RE too. Do take a look:
Their website (updated 4 July) confirms more primary school grants will become available later in the Autumn Term and will be notified on their website, so please do not apply until then.
Apparently the application process is straightforward, although the ISBN numbers are required for the books you choose.
All previous CMAT Bulletins can be found on the Hallam Website MAT Development Project under News and FAQ tab. Feedback and good news stories are always appreciated.
Safeguarding Special Summer Bulletin
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I am sure you will have already seen that the DfE updated the 2022 version of KCSIE. Please see link to full document: Keeping children safe in education 2022 (publishing.service.gov.uk) The key substantive changes from the 2021 version are outlined in Annex F (Page 174-176). NSPCC provided a helpful briefing Keeping children safe in education KCSIE 2022: summary of changes | NSPCC Learning TES also did a top ten summary: KCSIE 2022-23 update: 10 changes schools need to know | Tes Magazine
I also want to share guidance on next steps for September 2022 when it comes into force, this is outlined below – gratefully acknowledging St Clare’s update from Steve Davies and suggestions from ‘The Key’. I am sure our schools, including those joining St Francis in September will have this covered.
• Train your staff on KCSIE 2022, highlighting the main changes, and induct your new colleagues
• Update your child protection/safeguarding policy (see notes below), particularly making sure that it now includes procedures for confidently sharing low-level concerns and timely document transfer/CPOMS updates
• Check your staff behaviour/relationship policy includes low-level concerns, allegations against staff and whistleblowing
• Make sure that your Relationships, Sex and Health Education RSHE programme covers the issues outlined in the revised KCSIE, with topics – appropriate to phase, such as:
o Healthy and respectful relationships o Boundaries and consent
o Stereotyping, prejudice and equality o Body confidence and self-esteem
o How to recognise an abusive relationship (including coercive and controlling behaviour)
o The concepts of, and laws relating to, sexual consent, abuse, grooming, coercion, harassment, rape, domestic abuse, so called honour-based violence such as forced marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM), and how to access support
o What constitutes sexual harassment and sexual violence and why they’re always unacceptable.
For those establishing St Francis CMAT in September, the CMAT Safeguarding Policy is one that we will need to adopt at a Trust level, but with heavy adaptation at local school level. This is because parts of the Safeguarding Policy relate to staffing HR and safe recruitment procedures, which have to be common across the Trust, but other parts e.g., contacts, will be very school specific.
Ahead of September, please do continue with review of your own policy as it is most important that you have in place something that you and your staff know and understand. Please also review your Single Central Record, to ensure it is up to date – CPOMS recording too. We can then do work early in the year to ensure that sections to do with staffing and HR are aligned across the Trust.
Work on Trust Safeguarding Model Policy with St Clare CMAT
Thanks to St Clare colleagues and Steve Davies for the model Safeguarding policy, updated following the publication of KCSIE. St Clare DSLs met 6th July 11-1 and kindly allowed me to shadow. The meeting provided an opportunity to share approaches to training and adaptation of other procedures in the light of KCSIE. We were joined at the meeting by Sai Patel (from Learn Sheffield) who has worked with a number of Diocesan and other schools) on safeguarding practice and culture providing an independent perspective on
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our work. If you or a safeguarding lead from your school would like to join a virtual policy review group for St Francis CMAT you would be most welcome. I will share the draft policy and would welcome feedback ahead of 11th July to enable me to feedback to the 12 July St Francis Board meeting for sign off.
SFSF St Francis Safeguarding Forum
Summary School Actions from this Safeguarding Bulletin
Please read and understand the DfE updated Statutory guidance 2022 version of KCSIE. Keeping children safe in education 2022 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility and is at the heart of all we do keeping children safe and ensuring best demonstrated practice. Reading the guidance is a familiar, annual requirement and often central to an inset day of training in readiness for the new school year. For Directors and governors, Heads, designated Safeguarding Leads and SENCOs, please read full, all staff please read Part 1 and Annex B.
Please seek to evidence this reading perhaps this might be e.g., holding time in your calendar to read; if reading online, take screen shots of key sections as you progress. If your school subscribes to safeguarding training e.g., National College, please ensure all complete the quiz to test understanding and print off and file the relevant certification. Alternatively secure a signed record of confirmation this has been done.
KCSIE & Safeguarding Policy – Please let Heidi know if you or a safeguarding lead from your school wishes to join a virtual group to look at a model policy before 12 July or join a new forum for safeguarding and SENCOs. We also welcome contributions if you can share any of the following:
• Good resources for safeguarding training on KCSIE?
• Practical plans you have for adapting procedures and policies to strengthen clarity round sharing and managing low level concerns?
• Any other areas that you are working on or plan to work on in response to KCSIE 2022 which may be useful to work on with other safeguarding leads?
If you would find it helpful for you and/or your Designated Safeguarding Lead DSL (if that isn’t the Head) to gather with other Safeguarding and inclusion leads as a Forum, with Heidi starting in July to share ideas, actions and policies and, if possible, agree and adopt a common approach before the end of term then, Heidi would be very happy to organise that. Please let us know if you would be interested in this as soon as possible and we will find a date with everyone.
Safeguarding Audit Model
Delighted to say that I spent a very fruitful day in Armthorpe at Our Lady of Sorrows with HSPAT Heads on 29 June, observing a team conduct a Safeguarding review lead by Natalie Kelly. I experienced a really thorough and positive process designed to review, audit and test across a number of key areas: Single Central Records, Safe recruitment practice, policies, safeguarding knowledge and understanding amongst children, staff and contractors. Loads of good practice was shared too. I am sure this model and approach has much to offer to all St Francis Schools – perhaps we can address at the next Heads’ Forum.
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