ECO Friendly Design

“A Hub on the Hill”

This was the vision for the site overlooking Plymouth Sound, articulated by the then Principal Helen Mathieson when we first met in December 2011.

The school is sited in an area which falls in the lowest quartile of overall deprivation in England. The investment in Marine Academy Plymouth (MAP) is therefore an important catalyst for the regeneration of the local area, and this is a key part of the school’s vision. Historically, the St. Budeaux area of the city has not been well served by new education establishments. In response to this, the academy aims to meet the challenge of multi-generational worklessness in its local community by creating a through-age learning hub to provide a focus and a vehicle for change.

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      string(5630) "Leadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.SCHOOL FUNDING PRESSURES IN ENGLANDKeywordsSchool funding,pressures,local authority,maintainedschools,balances, cashflow, deficit,financialstrugglesSummaryThis new report by the Education Policy Institute examines the latest trends in local authoritymaintained school balances, and assesses whether all schools will be able to meet costpressures over the next two years, following recent government funding reforms.It shows that the number of state secondary schools falling into deficit in England has almost trebledin the last four years to more than a quarter.The EPI report focuses on local authority schools because the data is publicly available. It excludesacademies, which account for about 60% of secondaries and 20% of primaries in England.The research adds to growing evidence of the financial struggles faced by a significant minority ofschools. The report also found two-thirds of council schools spent more than their income in 2016-17,while 40% have had balances in decline for at least two years in a row.Key Findings: ■ The number of local authority maintained secondary schools in deficit reduced from 14.3 per centin 2010-11 to 8.8 per cent in 2013-14. Strikingly, however, over the period of four years up until2016-17, the proportion of local authority secondary schools in deficit nearly trebled, expandingto over a quarter of all such schools – or 26.1 per cent. The average local authority maintainedsecondary school deficit rose over this 7 year period, from £292,822 in 2010-11 to £374,990 in2016-17. ■ The number of local authority maintained primary schools in deficit has also risen. In 2010-11, 5.2per cent of local authority primary schools were in deficit – this reduced in the following year to3.7 per cent, before staying at a level of around 4 per cent until 2015-16. However, in 2016-17,the proportion of primary schools in deficit increased significantly, to 7.1 per cent. The averageprimary school deficit also noticeably increased, from £72,042 in 2010-11, to £107,962 in 2016-17. ■ At a regional level, the South West had the highest percentage of local authority maintainedsecondaries in deficit over this period – with 22.1 per cent of schools in deficit in 2010-11, risingconsiderably to over a third of schools (34.9 per cent) in 2016-17. The East had the lowest – with7.5 per cent of local authority maintained secondary schools in deficit in 2010-11, rising to 17.5per cent in 2016-17. ■ The North East had the highest number of local authority maintained primary schools in deficit inWeek Commencing 26th March 2018https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Schools-funding-pressures_EPI.pdfLeadership BriefingLeadership Briefing – www.teachingtimes.comReports Summaries – a weeklyservice of essential summaries,in-depth reports and criticalanalysis that’s new and relevantto education, linked to originalsource documents.2016-17 at 10.1 per cent. The East of England consistently had the lowest, with 2.6 per cent indeficit in 2010-11, rising to 3.4 per cent in 2016-17. ■ A large proportion of local authority maintained schools are now spending more than their income.Over two-thirds of local authority maintained secondary schools spent more than their income in2016-17. Significantly, such events are not just occurring for one year – we find that 40 per centof local authority maintained secondaries have had balances in decline for at least two years in arow. ■ Similar figures are found for local authority maintained primary schools – in 2016-17, over 60 percent were spending more than their income. A quarter of local authority maintained primarieshave had a falling balance for two years or more. ■ Funding allocated by the government through its new National Funding Formula for schools(NFF), fails to meet pressures on schools budgets produced by this cost alone. This is despitethe announcement of an extra £1.3 billion in funding for schools by the government in July 2017. ■ As many as 40 per cent (around 7,500 schools) are unlikely to receive enough additionalgovernment funding in 2018-19 to meet these pay pressures alone. For 2019-20, this proportionrises to nearly half of state-funded mainstream schools in England (around 9,000 schools). ■ Schools are facing a variety of cost pressures, yet this analysis shows how many schools arestruggling just from this staffing cost alone. In addition, our assumption of 1 per cent staff payincrease over the next two years is cautious – with the government having signalled that futurerises in teachers’ pay may be higher than the current 1 per cent cap over the next few years. ■ For a significant proportion of schools in England, being able to meet the cost of annual staff payincreases from a combination of government funding and their own reserves looks highly unlikely,even in the short term. ■ In response to pressures, schools have undertaken various efficiency measures to deliver costsavings, such as switching suppliers, reducing energy usage and reducing the size of leadershipteams. ■ However, education staff account for the majority of spending by schools – around two-thirds. It islikely that schools will find it difficult to achieve the scale of savings necessary without also cuttingback on staff. Many schools will face the challenge of containing budget pressures and"
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Leadership

School Funding Pressures In England

22 Mar 2018

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      string(5622) "34Vol 3.6School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comLeadingLearningGlobal educationDiogenes Laertius, Greek philosopher (AD 220) once said: “I am a citizen ofthe world”, as he looked at his life in a wider context. The concept of globalcitizenship is not a new one, but in our present time we have the ability forthis to become a reality. Christopher Columbus and co. would be glad tohear that the journey for information to travel across the world today no longer needtake weeks, days or even minutes as technology has made the world seem increasinglysmaller. This globalization has caused increased focus on interdependence,interconnectedness and cultural diversity meaning that today more than ever, theworld is a part of our everyday local lives.Young people are aware of global events, and understand that issues and eventsacross the globe affect them too. 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Leadership

Globalising education

15 Mar 2012

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Begin with the year 0 in the middle:217Analogies                                               EXTENSIONVocabulary booksAdd to your vocabulary books some of the words you have studiedin this chapter.EtymologyLook up the etymology of some of the words you have met in thischapter.Enter them in your vocabulary books.Explaining things to childrenChoose part of any subject which you know well.Try to explain it to a young child (e.g. seven or eight.)You will almost certainly find yourself using analogies.218EXTENSION                                              Chapter 24Chapter 25 – The language of ideasUsing variables and systemsIn this chapter you will learn:1. To use variables as a way of thinking2. To recognise variables in a text3. 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Normally, theweight is balanced by the upthrust.Although it may seem strange, similar ideas apply to a boat on water, toan aeroplane in the air and to a car on the ground!As an aeroplane moves through the air, the shape of its wing means thatthere is an upwards force called lift acting on it. This force just balancesthe downwards force of the aeroplane’s weight.The weight of a car is exactly balanced by an upwards force called thereaction, produced by whatever surface the car is on.Using variables and systems                         COREVariables in a textWe shall now look at a text which have have already studied and considerthe variables in it.222Agriculture in Western NorwayThe West coast of Norway consists of high steep mountains known asthe Scandinavian Highlands. The coastline is indented by narrow inletscalled “fjords”. The high plateaus, or “fjellen”, are covered in snow allthrough the year. The ground descends steeply, often directly to thewater’s edge. 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Creative Teaching & Learning

Breakthrough to Learning Book 2: Reading for Learning

23 Feb 2012

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      string(5609) "58 21 Century Schools  Volume 3:2ICTwww.teachingtimes.co.ukCan  ICT  BeSustainable?Of course it can! argues CleveSt Hill. He gives an overviewof current cutting edgedevelopments in ICT provisionin schools and suggests ways inwhich, with the right products,the carbon footprint can beminimised.59 Volume 3:2  21 Century SchoolsInformation Communication Technology (ICT)plays an increasing important role in supportinggood teaching. Every other industry has embracednew technology and education can be no exception.The current generation of students are digital nativesand have been born into our multi-media world of theInternet and mobile communications technologies.They are the architects and major users of new Web2 technologies such as MySpace and Facebook.But it is all happening at a pace that stretchesthe world of education. It was only in 1982 that thearrival of the BBC Micro computer began the era ofICT in schools.Rising demandThe issue of sustainable ICT has begun to impacton schools over the last ten years as many haveimplemented networked systems. Most of these havedeveloped heterogeneously – bit by bit – partly as aresult of the growing demand for ICT and in part dueto the very modest budget allocations.Traditionally, schools purchased desktop personalcomputers (PCs) for dedicated IT suites in order toteach ICT. ICT is now used across the curriculumand can be imbedded in all subject areas. This hasresulted in increased numbers of PCs and mobiledigital devices. This has had a knock-on effect onother areas of the system. Additional switches arerequired, as are more capable servers and a greatdeal more storage capacity to retain work producedby students and teachers.Laptops provide a logical solution. They offermobile and flexible access to ICT for students, andadults understand them. Laptops however are notstudent-proof and with a shelf life of 18-24 monthsand a unit cost of £650, the purchase of large numbersof laptops is not a sustainable solution. Althoughthe typical laptop is not the answer, the market hasresponded with a series of more cost effective anddurable solutions. One current favourite is the AsusEee PC. It has a 7” screen, weighs 0.92kg is shock-proof, has a solid state memory and a multitudeof features and software, is Linux and Windows XPcompatible, and costs around £200. It could be oneof many to come.The government’s recent drive has been for everystudent to have access to a workstation, with adirective of a PC to pupil ratio of 1:4 in secondaryschools.  A school with a population of 1200 studentsmay have up to 300 workstations at over £500 each.If a third is replaced every year, £50,000 has to befound from stretched budgets – just for these enduser devices.Schools are also under pressure to provide a servicethat also includes aesthetically pleasing ICT suites andtrendy equipment to satisfy parents and visitors tothe school.  It is therefore little wonder that little isspent on the IT infrastructures, the one area of thesystem that enables ICT to work effectively.Developing ICTOne of the best ways to understand the developmentof school ICT is to view the system in segments andthen prioritise requirements. Sustainable solutionscan then be introduced within an overall plan anda holistic understanding of what is needed fromthe system. The replacement costs for the variousICTwww.teachingtimes.co.uk60 21 Century Schools  Volume 3:2ICTwww.teachingtimes.co.uksegments are then also far more transparent. An ICTsolution is made up of:n Infrastructure which is cabling and switchesn Back end technologies: the central servers andstoragen End user devices, such as desktop PCs, laptops,PDAs, printers, IWB (interactive whiteboardresources) and phones.The most important part of the system is theinfrastructure. It is the foundation upon which allelse is built and developed. If the infrastructure isnot robust, or lacks functionality, then the end userdevices will not be able to deliver the expectedbenefits. Wireless networking is one area where manyschools have failed reap the true benefits. Old hubsand switches have not been replaced and do not havethe capability to support the end-user devices.A network switch is a small hardware device thatjoins multiple computers together within a LocalArea Network (LAN) – similar to a hub, but moreintelligent. Switches are capable of inspecting a datapacket, determining its source and destination andforwarding it appropriately. These are significantcomponents within a network even though generallythey are housed out of sight. They cannot be ignored.As an example, a high quality 48 port switch thatsupports converged network solutions offering VLAN(Virtual LAN) and QoS (Quality of service)  (two ofthe elements required to deploy a robust wirelessnetwork or implement a Voice over IP (VoIP) solution)will cost around £4,500.  Three of these at £13,500 arethe equivalent of 20 wireless enabled laptops at £650pounds each, but the 20 wireless enabled laptopswill not provide a mobile flexible solution unless theschool purchases the switches.ICT BudgetsThe range of reported expenditure on ICT by schoolsacross the country is wide, according to the latestpublished nationwide survey conducted by thethen DFES in 2004. Among primary schools, one inseven spent £5,000 or less on ICT. Only 2% reportedspending more than £50,000. Among the secondaryschools, 7% reported spending more than £200,000on ICT in a year. However 10% of secondary schoolsspent less than 20,000 on ICT in a year.These figures explain the reasons for the piecemealdevelopment of"
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Learning Spaces

Can ICT Be Sustainable?

23 Jun 2008

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      string(228) "Does being born in the summer months make you more likely to struggle at school? Chris Smith looks at the increasingly powerful evidence for greater help to stop the youngest children in their year from falling behind at school."
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      string(326) "... long-run age effects (2006), University of California.P. 19.10. Department for Education, Month of birth and education (2010), DfE. P. 3.11. Edge Hill University, Every Child Counts Annual Report (2012), Edge Hill University. P. 4.12. Tammy Campbell, In-school ability grouping and the month of birth ..."
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      string(5627) "whencompared with external assessments.14 This is a worrying revelation and is indicative of thefact that, currently, there is a lack of awareness about summer-born students throughoutthe education system. As a result, teachers are judging, probably subconsciously, theirsummer-born students unfairly.To help teachers remain aware of the likely differences in their students, one relativelysimple suggestion could be placing registers in order of date of birth, instead of theusual alphabetical list. This alone, of course, would not be enough but would have tobe accompanied with genuine differentiation. If summer-born students are recognisedas likely to be behind their peers and are subsequently appropriately catered for thenthat will surely allow them to make better progress. Teachers are regularly faced withclassrooms filled with a variety of abilities and needs and have to cater for them. Summer-born students are another portion of this spectrum of abilities and needs. It is essentialthat they are recognised as such and not passed over or subconsciously under-valued.Ultimately, although more research does need to be done on the best pedagogicalapproaches for summer-born students, it is most likely that teaching that leads topersonalised learning will be of most benefit to summer-born students. Teachers needto be aware of the issues presented by the fact some of their students are significantlyyounger than their peers. Once they are aware, they can assess how best to promoteprogress for each student, and teachers should be trusted to do that. However, it would beridiculously simplistic to suggest that all summer-born students should be treated in thesame manner or taught in the same way. Only when teachers are able to truly personalisethe learning of each individual student, summer-born or not, will they make the progressthey are capable of.ConclusionsIt is clear that although the summer-born issue has received a high-degree of scholarlyattention, it is time that more attention is paid to it in schools. The fact that in the UK,summer-born students are more likely to miss the government’s academic targets, beplaced in lower sets, be diagnosed with SEN, be under assessed by their teacher andeven be less confident all point to the fact that there is simply a lack of awareness ineducation about the issues surrounding the birthdate effect. As a consequence, there isa lack of action. First and foremost, information needs to be disseminated to teachers sothat instead of unfairly judging summer-born students against their older peers, they canacknowledge that these students are likely to, and in fact should, be behind them. Oncethis is the case, it would seem many of the issues summer-born students encounter atschool would cease to be a problem.With this in mind, some of the current political discussion around summer-bornstudents may be unhelpful. One change to policy is unlikely to have the desired effectVol 4.1 n www.teachingtimes.comEducation/ResearchEvery Child Journal32References1. From BBC, How to build a champion: Be born at the right time (2012).2. M. Gladwell, Outliers: The story of success (2008), Little, Brown and Company.3. C Crawford et al., When you are born matters (2013), Institute for Fiscal Studies. Pp. 20-21.4. Department for Education, Month of birth and education (2010), DfE. P. 2.5. Department for Education, Month of birth and education (2010), DfE. P. 3.6. Institute of Education, Special Educational Needs in the early primary years (2004), IOE.7. C Crawford et al., When you are born matters (2013), Institute for Fiscal Studies. P. 65. & Department for Education, Month of birth andeducation (2010), DfE.8. C Crawford et al., When you are born matters (2013), Institute for Fiscal Studies. P. 65. & Department for Education, Month of birth andeducation (2010), DfE.9. K. Bedard & E Dhuey, The persistence of early childhood maturity: International evidence of long-run age effects (2006), University of California.P. 19.10. Department for Education, Month of birth and education (2010), DfE. P. 3.11. Edge Hill University, Every Child Counts Annual Report (2012), Edge Hill University. P. 4.12. Tammy Campbell, In-school ability grouping and the month of birth effect: preliminary evidence from the millennium cohort study (workingpaper) (2013), Institute of Education.13. J F Bell & S Daniels, ‘Are summer-born children disadvantaged? The birthdate effect in education’ Oxford review of education, vol 16, no. 1,(1990).14. C Crawford et al., When you are born matters (2013), Institute for Fiscal Studies. p. 23.of removing the issue entirely. Of course, government policies may help to mitigatethe birthdate effect but these will take time to implement and are unlikely to changeclassroom attitudes and practices. Consequently, schools and teachers should beginplaying their part now by acknowledging that younger students should not be expectedto be at the same stage of development as their older peers. Once this is the case, andchildren are catered for as individuals, then we might begin to reduce the disparities in oureducation system caused by the birthdate effect.Chris Smith is research coordinator at SSAT, the national hub of active network ofheads and teachers in the UK.Recognised as the most cuttingedge curriculum magazine in thecountry, Creative Teaching andLearning investigates innovationsin the curriculum, exploring howthinking skills approaches canbe embedded within learningenvironments through subject andproject-based teaching.Teachers at all levels will benefit from shared"
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Special Needs

The summer-born effect

11 Dec 2013