Transforming our structure– Lisa Christensen Director, Children’s Services

This section focuses on some of the national agenda influencing our current planning – a very quick tour

Education and Children’s Bill Schools will have freedom to deliver excellent education in the way they see fit, including iGCSEs A slimmer curriculum giving more space for teachers to decide how to teach OFSTED (and other accountability frameworks) will be reformed to ensure headteachers are properly accountable for core educational goals of attainment and closing the gap between rich and poor Introduce Year 6 reading test to identify problems early and to check learning Give teachers and headteachers the powers to improve behaviour and tackle bullying

Government expects standards to rise By giving more freedom to headteachers and teachers Ensuring money follows pupils Introduce a “pupil premium” so that more money follows the poorest pupils Through the creation of more academies - with a weaker school under their wing !

OFSTED No OFSTED for outstanding schools “Danger indicators” and teacher and parental request will trigger inspection Danger indicators might be achievement, teacher absence and turnover, fixed-term exclusion and truancy Looking closely at the way CVA is calculated Fresh commitment to league tables to judge school performance

Academies Bill Allow maintained schools to apply to become academies – secondary, primary and special Remove the requirements to consult LA, thus simplifying and accelerating the process Require the consent of any existing (mainly church) foundations No expansion of selection Funding agreement to last 7 years

Unknowns Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Impact on our current academy plans Primary Capital Programme Ability to re-organise schools Funding decisions

In this section I want to give an overview of where we are with the current reorganisation of the County Council and Children’s Services-

Operations and Integrated Services – Lesley Whitney No longer 5 areas Operations and Integrated Services – Lesley Whitney King’s Lynn and West Norfolk/Breckland North Norfolk/Broadland/Great Yarmouth Norwich/South Norfolk Will lead the operational delivery of excellent services to children and young people

County-wide strategies for Strategy and Commissioning Safeguarding and Additional Needs – Tom Savory County-wide strategies for Safeguarding Corporate parenting and additional needs Leadership and coordination for health and well-being of children and young people

In this section I want to focus in on parts of the Universal Services for Early Years, Schools and Colleges especially where we are trying to refocus on services to governance -

Governance and Leadership

We are developing a new governance focused team - drawn from across several parts of the previous Children’s Services. to focus on supporting Governors in all our schools and colleges as well as management boards of EY settings so that they can better fulfil their roles. Research shows that we need to improve the quality of leadership, engage parents better and provide more effective support for governors who should carry out the front line support and interventions in our schools and settings.

The governance team is being developed because - Our analysis of school improvement has shown that governors have not felt well supported in carrying this out and our services have been too thin. So we need to provide a much better, integrated approach to improving governance create a one-stop shop for governors making sure that all aspects of the Governors’ Guide to the Law are effectively covered through high quality advice, training and consultancy for governors and governing bodies. establish an interface between governors and the County Council’s shared services which will provide expert advice and support in HR, finance, legal, ICT etc. lead the development of effective governance at institution and cluster levels

The team will also - develop a full leadership programme for schools and settings implement the parenting strategy implement the strategy for extended services through schools and settings

What happens next? Consultation 7 – 25 June 2010 (p5) Transitional arrangements 28 June – 31 August 2010 Some services will be “lift and shift” – subsequent in-depth review by next April New structure implemented 1 September 2010

In this section I just want us to remember that it is the child that is at the centre of all our thinking and to remind us all that we are committed to a collaborative system of schools not creating competitive autonomous institutions -

The golden triangle – getting standards of achievement right – for all attainment Schools becoming Children’s Services - extended schools Developing effective clusters of schools Including all achievement accountability

Finally in this section I want to remind us about the importance of creating effective parent engagement -

Engaging Parents in Raising Achievement research (EPRA) Parental involvement is very important but it is parent engagement that is a powerful lever for raising student achievement in schools. Where parents and teachers work together to improve learning, the gains in achievement are significant

EPRA research Parents have the greatest influence on the achievement of pupils through supporting their learning in the home rather than supporting activities in the school. It is their support of learning within the home environment that makes the maximum difference to achievement