Dear colleagues

As we near the end of term, I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish you all the very best for the festive season. I hope that you all have some kind of break and for those celebrating, enjoy yourselves after what has been a very busy period.

This is now nearing the end of my first full term here in the city. I must say I have loved this term, loved the city and appreciated all of the great work I have seen, which against a backdrop of some challenges, is wonderful to see. I have been made to feel really welcome by those I have met and enjoyed some constructive, (sometimes challenging) conservations, which have been inspiring.

I’m very lucky with my job in the sense that I can visit schools more than most, work with leaders across all parts of the system and hopefully contribute towards some positive change. It’s been lovely to meet so many committed Headteachers, teachers, TAs, and children when I have been out and about. It’s been good to engage with MAT CEOs and College Principals from across the city, all committed to making things better for children, young people, and families.

This term has not been without its challenges though, some of which are well-rehearsed for schools. Whether this be building conditions, Oracle, resources, or sufficiency (among many) I’m confident that together we will continue to tackle these and move forward, if we seek to do this together, finding the collaborative advantage.

I believe strongly that it shouldn’t matter what our lanyard says, or what the badge is on the front of our school. We are all public servants, here for the same reason. We are here to educate and inspire, seeking to make things better for children, young people, and families in our city.

By way of update, there are a few things that are in development which will hopefully help you soon or be an opportunity to which you can contribute.

School Improvement

We have made some progress with the development of school improvement within BCC. We have appointed ten full-time School Improvement Advisors who will be starting with us in January 2025. They are a group of highly experienced colleagues covering all aspects of educational phases. Some of the advisors have already joined us in Birmingham, along with Headteachers who part of the school improvement strategy group has been, discussing what approaches will offer the most support and impact as we move forward.

In addition to this, we will be seeking to offer opportunities to around 20 Headteachers in the city, who might be interested in delivering some school improvement via some school-to-school support, perhaps up to five days over an agreed period.

We have discussed the context in which the shifting picture of school improvement sits. We have the merging RISE teams from the Department for Education, the innovative West Midlands Education Exchange, Birmingham City Council and a traded offer from Birmingham Education Partnership. We are seeking to ensure that the blended menu of school improvement is accessible and impactful.

This is a shift in progress and opportunity. I’m excited to see how this offer develops in the new year and beyond.

Education Board

The first Birmingham Education Board met in recent weeks. It was much anticipated and included colleagues from early years, Primary, Secondary, MAT CEOs, College Principals, DfE and the LA. It was a productive discussion as we sought to establish the direction of travel. We discussed data sharing, how we could identify and meet needs, communication with the system, the importance of developing a collective vision for the city (with everyone, not just this board) and how we all need to be able to put organisational and individual ego aside to ensure we get the best possible deal for communities.

At the Primary Heads meeting, Sally Leese, a fabulous outgoing Headteacher from Castle Vale told me my version of what happened at the Board sounded boring! She went on to explain how the meeting had inspired her and others and gave her hope for what might come next. Be more Sally!

We were joined by Anton Florek, who has done work nationally and internationally on the development of self-improving school-led systems. Anton talked through the emerging Government policy and his ‘reading of the runes’, then showed the board some examples of practice in other areas in terms of the development of a collaborative vision and what kind of impact that can have longer term. He was quick to emphasise this is a not a prescription and whatever emerges from the city, would be distinctly and uniquely, Brum.

There will be a series of events, conversations, and workshops for those of you who are interested to able to contribute to this work. Any time that you could offer to this will only help the city, longer term and would be very much appreciated.

Culture by design – ‘You’re only as kind as you treat people’

As I have found many of you to be already, I too am a huge advocate of the power and importance of relationships. Professional, socially responsible relationships do not happen by accident or chance. They must be prioritised at all levels of any service, team, organisation or system. Whoever we are and whatever we do, everything we do sits within the context of a relationship.

In addition to the work on vision, in the new year there will be a list of dates and opportunities available for the forthcoming year for sessions with Mark Finnis from L30 Systems. Mark literally wrote the book on ‘Restorative Practice’ and will be exploring with us the concept of culture by design and relational approaches to system change.

Home - L30 Relational Systems

These sessions are of course free of charge.

Youth Review

The Youth Review is now ending and a new model for youth work will be commenced in the new year. This has been a complex process, and this kind of change can be challenging, particularly for those colleagues who are immediately impacted. The new model will be available for people to see and will include several centres from which there will remain directly delivered youth work. We will continue to have a significant youth work offer and important recognition of youth work as a profession. It has been heartening to receive so many expressions of interest from colleagues seeking to work in partnership and expand opportunities for young people across the city.

We will see a revised and continued delivery of careers in the city. This is such a crucial service, and we are very lucky to have the team of experienced and professionally qualified careers advisors we have. This term they have begun to develop further a traded offer, which has seen significant interest. We need to ensure that things are on a solid footing for any future growth and that we look after colleagues as best we can, not over-stretching. I see this as an important area of future growth and am excited to see how we can work together to achieve this in the coming years.

More to follow.

Attendance, Exclusions and Part-time timetables

A taskforce is being established to examine the issues of attendance, exclusions, and part-time tables across the city. This is to seek to understand the reasons behind these challenges, to understand lived experience and to develop practice solutions that can be shared. There has been one session thus far and another will be held at the University of Birmingham on January 7. We have heard from Ofsted, Centre for Social Justice, ISOS Research Partnership, and the Department for Education so far, in addition to input from colleagues in Birmingham.

This is not about catching anybody out, it’s more about catching everybody in. The more that we can genuinely understand lived experience and how connected (or not) our systems are, the more opportunity we must get in the right support and challenge at the right time to enable children and families to thrive.

Among other resources available, the Department for Education have produced this Toolkit for schools: communicating with families to support attendance

School and Academies Show

It was lovely to speak at the School and Academies Show recently with educationalists from across the country. I was part of a panel discussing ‘Approaches to building capacity for change and improvement’, facilitated by Dr Robin Bevan, with Hayden Abbott (CEO of Kenilworth MAT), Sahreen Siddiqui (Executive Headteacher and Lead Ofsted Inspector) and Shabs Ahmed (Headteacher). It was useful to hear from colleagues about their own experiences of leading change and improvement work, exploring the building of all that is good and implementing things that we know to work. All centred around the focus on the child, family and wellbeing.

Sue Harrison also spoke at the show too, discussing approaches to safeguarding in Education. Jodh Dhesi, CEO of King Edward VI Foundation was there speaking on stage with Adrew Warren, Regional Director from the DfE – so we were well represented as a city at the show.

Post 16 Executive

It has been really stimulating this term meeting with colleagues as part of the Post 16 Executive, Chaired by Pat Carvalho (Principal and CEO of Birmingham Metropolitan College). We have been exploring among other things this term how as a collective we can ensure connection and support for young people moving through to Post 16 earning and learning opportunities, how Government initiatives are playing out in the city and also exploring how at a district level, things like transition and apprenticeships might work, or be improved.

This is a real learner-centred board, and I am confident that they will continue to be innovative and explore opportunities to collaborate to make a difference in 2025.

Attendance Teams

After much negotiation and development, we are about to go out to recruitment for several staff to help support the approach to attendance, exclusions, and alternative provision in the city. This will be a further investment which will enhance the support available for children and young people and be a useful connection for schools as we develop this important area of work.

These posts (around 20 of them) should be out before Christmas, if not it will be early in the new year.

Finally..

I wish you all the very best for the festive season and hope that all can spend some time with loved ones, enjoying a well-deserved break.

I just wanted to end with a thank you to everyone for making me feel so welcome in the city. I appreciate that having only been here since the beginning of term, I have not met everyone yet. For those I have, despite some of the challenges and issues we have before us and which some of our communities face, been welcoming, straight-forward and authentic. All these ingredients appeal to me greatly, as a Yorkshireman and now aspiring, adopted Brummie.

Steve

Steve Kay - Director of Schools and Employability