Regional Schools Commissioner Update – Key Priorities and the ‘School Led System’ Jonathan Lewis Deputy Director (Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire/Peterborough) / School Intervention and Improvement Regional School Commissioner’s office – East of England and North East London Jonathan.lewis@education.gov.uk Jonathan.lewis@education.gov.uk

View on Academisation… “I do want to see all schools, over time, become academies. But I think our focus has to be on the schools that are struggling and not doing well enough for our children at the moment. Our hope and expectation is that all schools will want to steadily take advantage of the benefits that academies can bring. But our focus will be on those schools where we feel that standards need to be raised and they need to do a better job on delivering attainment and progress for children” Justine Greening, Secretary of State for Education Statement to ESC September 2016

NSC Collective Vision for a Changing Educational World More good school places in the system for all children Doing even better with a smaller resource The role that education plays in the social mobility agenda Recognition that a more diverse system means a new relationship with Maintained schools, Academies, FS, UTC, Studio Schools, Diocesan Schools, small rural schools, independent schools, Universities and selective schools Developing the school led system – every school a giver and receiver of support Shift from conversion to conversion + Improvement

East of England and North East London – Delivering the ‘Miracle in the East’ – 2017 School Improvement Focus Providing support and challenge to Teaching Schools and commissioning school improvement Support developing new Teaching Schools in 'cold spots' in the region Develop programmes to support key challenge areas - phonics, disadvantaged groups, KS2 assessment Developing a robust process for commissioning of school improvement in partnership with TSA including accountability measures Supporting Recruitment and Retention of the highest quality teachers across the region. Engage with Academy Trusts, Local Authorities and the wider department to develop an innovative strategy to improve recruitment and retention in the most challenging parts of the region. Ensure a high quality CPD offer is available through teaching schools and strategic partners to all schools in the region for improving all teaching to at least good. Promoting improved outcomes in Maths across all phases Support the implementation of the Maths Mastery programme and ensure those schools where outcomes are historically low are proritised. Hold a conference on improving Maths in conjunction with teaching schools and Ofsted Continue to target schools which are underperforming and implement rapid improvement Use our powers of intervention rapidly and appropriately to bring around whole school improvement and target areas of underpeformance spatially. Continue to undertake Education Advisor visits at schools which are not yet considered to be good. Ensure robust plans are in place for rapid improvement in Coasting Schools Focus on outcomes at KS5 and transtion Provide support and challenge to the Area Based Review across the Region to ensure effective learning pathways are developed. Target all schools which are underperforming at KS5, isssuing warning notices where performance is unacceptably low.

Emerging Priorities for 17/18 System leadership capacity – teaching schools, NLE’s and SLE’s. Financial efficiency leading to educational efficiency Capacity in the system to support the needs of all learners Improving governance and leadership in Academies SATS to MATS and support for small schools. Focus on Disadvantage – SEND, PP, LAC, Young Carers Opportunity Areas – East Cambs & Fenland, Norwich, Ipswich Place based improvement / System led school improvement Kings Lynn, Peterborough, Basildon, coastal, rural Norfolk and Suffolk

The Challenge of Disadvantage East of England & NE London working with the South West on a pilot programme for improving those 20% lowest performing schools through engagement with the EEF and schools who have been most successful in closing the disadvantage gap.

12 Opportunity Areas Based on the Social Mobility Commission’s social mobility index and DfE’s education data, areas were identified as facing challenges to social mobility. Factors limiting social mobility Early years provision Home learning environment and parenting Quality of schools Education outcomes Advice and Experiences Post-16 and Higher Education Progression in work This ranks 324 local authority districts based on a range of indices across the life-cycle, grouped under four headings: early years, school, youth and adulthood. Regional spread – we wanted to include districts in the north (with a particular focus here because of the Northern Powerhouse), midlands and south Type of area – we wanted a spread of coastal, urban and rural areas Local support – we wanted to start with areas we know have the capacity and willingness to participate, as the quickest way to get this off the ground, based on discussions we held as part of our previous cold spots work.

Aims of the Strategic School Improvement Fund The £140 million Strategic School Improvement Fund is a grant to support primary, secondary, middle, all-through, alternative provision and special academies and maintained schools, and pupil referral units. It is intended to further build a school-led system, and aims to target resources at the schools most in need to improve school performance and pupil attainment; to help them use their resources most effectively, and to deliver more good school places. The fund will support a broad range of school improvement activities. The fund will support medium- to long-term sustainable activities across groups of schools with a preference towards school-led provision, that is, support provided by schools, for schools. To avoid duplication, we encourage teaching schools to make their Teaching Schools Council regional lead aware of their intention to submit an application(s). Similarly, we encourage multi-academy trusts to make their regional schools commissioner aware of their intention to apply. The fund will be reviewed at local level (through sub-regional improvement boards) with priorities set for improvement and all bids considered against these priorities.

What sort of support interventions do we want to encourage? We want to encourage applications which improve outcomes for all children, be it through improving teaching and learning, leadership, governance, or by more specific interventions such as those that: Increase teachers’ capacity to enable them to focus on their teaching and undertake effective, evidence-based professional development. Specifically focus on raising the attainment of pupils with SEND. In particular, applications which focus on identifying SEND and putting in place effective interventions. Have a clear impact on the efficiency of schools to support improved financial health and improved pupil outcomes. Specifically improve the performance of a school in relation to its disadvantaged pupils. Include targeted interventions to improve governance. Interventions can be for any length of time and can cross academic years; however, they must be completed by 31 March 2019. 8 week turn around from submission of bid to initial payment. In the event of an emergency, we will consider applications to the fund to support an individual school - bespoke support, typically at a whole or near whole school level, for an individual school.

Sub-regional Groups - EENEL

What will the Sub-regional Group do? The Sub Regional Improvement Boards (SRIBs) will have four main responsibilities in relation to the Fund: Identify local improvement priorities and needs using data and local intelligence Agree what packages of support to address these improvement priorities and who will lead the development /submission of applications for funding on their behalf (TSC will play a pivotal role in engaging TS to develop and delivery of support packages and submit applications for funding). Review, against a defined set of assessment criteria and using their local knowledge, all applications in support of schools in their sub- region, and provide recommendations to DfE on priorities for funding. These recommendations will inform decisions on which applications will receive funding. Monitor delivery progress of successful applications and take action where interventions are off-track to achieve their desired outcomes. National Terms of Reference, including a decision-making framework, for the boards is now available on www.gov.uk.

Membership of the Sub-Regional Improvement Boards The members of the SRIB with responsibility for the development and prioritisation of bids are – Teaching School Council Representative(s) Local Authority (Director of Children’s Services or their delegated representative) (one for each LA unless agreed otherwise within any sub- region locality by all relevant LAs) Representative of all relevant Diocesan Board of Education (or equivalent for the faith) in the area (one for each denomination unless agreed otherwise for a locality) Regional Schools Commissioner and representatives (to represent DfE and MAT’s) The DfE regional delivery division (Education Standards) representatives The Board may invite other individuals or organisations to attend meetings to add local intelligence and oversight.

Expert Investment Board Sub-Regional Improvement Board Data Emergency Fund schools Link to MAT’s Brokerage Hub – Teaching Schools Bids LA Diocese Teaching Schools MATS

Suffolk SRIB Priorities

Funding Opportunities – key dates Round 3 of the SSIF likely to open in new year. Teaching schools and NLE applications round now open and will close on the 7th December. Aspiring teaching school fund - launched on Monday 6 November. The fund will support teachings schools to work with high performing schools in cold spots (potential to become teaching schools within 2 years) and develop and action plan to help them close their development gaps. MAT Development and Improvement Fund (MDIF). This is a national fund of £53m for 2017-18 aimed at supporting trusts to build their capacity in order to deliver school improvement especially in priority areas. Funding will be prioritised to trusts who are focused on raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and sponsors that are planning to take on and improve underperforming schools. Open to all schools but there must be an academy order in place by the end of the financial year. Closes 26th November.

Conclusion The Secretary of State has a clear focus on place based improvement which addresses the challenges of social mobility. We are now in the school led school improvement system – we need your help to make it work including more teaching schools and leaders to work across schools. Schools need to work together to share expertise and ensure all schools are at least good. Suffolk schools have all the attributes of a truly outstanding education system that is resilient, efficient and can change in line with children's needs – our challenge is how we share that best practice!