Over 120 School Business Professionals from special, hospital and alternative provision settings came to Nottingham to attend the first in-person National Network of Special Schools for School Business Professionals (NNoSS) Conference.
In her opening remarks Pauline Aitchison, Deputy Director of Schools North East and Chair of NNoSS welcomed the delegates saying “We’re delighted to be joined by friends and colleagues today, this is a great network built by the fabulous members” before noting how the network has grown over the 18 months since it was launched and thanking the members for their hard work and commitment.
We would like to thank the Conference main sponsor Vision for Education. Director of SEND, Will Washington, commented that it was fantastic to see everyone in person rather than online and finally get the chance to meet members face to face, pledging their continued support.
Baroness Barron MBE, Parliamentary under Secretary of State for the School System at the Department for Education (DfE) addressed delegates saying that she and all the ministers in her department appreciate the work the SBPs do in their schools and she sent her thanks to all attendees. She hailed NNoSS as a successful network, providing a space for support, to share best practice and overcome challenges collaboratively. Get help buying for schools was mentioned – the tool set up to help schools find a framework and get help from procurement experts, if needed. She thanked the network members, who helped shape the green paper and proposals which she said will create a more inclusive and financially stable system which benefits all children in SEND & AP.
The excellent Dr Carrie Grant MBE who’s keynote address about Leadership and Voice was a great way to round off the morning in the main conference room in an interactive session where delegates tested their singing voices. Carrie reminded us that to be a leader you do not need to have the full toolkit and missing skills in leadership is normal. She explained that to be a leader you need to draw out the skills in people around you. You do not need to be charismatic, you can just be who you are leaving the poignant message: you are enough. The delegates were told that finding the passion in their work is a really important thing- for her it is about people and how she leaves behind something better than when she started with it.
“By bashing down doors people will be walking through arches”
In a fun, but surprising moment delegates were asked to sing in order to display how the delegates can be comfortable in discomfort. This led to a terrific rendition of “Let it Be.” Perhaps the NNoSS Choir has been born. Finally, Carrie left us with here ten marks of good collaboration: all stakeholders are present- about us without us; all are valued of equal status; everyone understands the language; everyone has a chance to speak; everyone is heard; we can all sit in discomfort; new ideas are welcome; good ideas can come from anywhere; everyone understands what they have to do moving forward; ideas are followed up; failure is allowed; and work it till it works.
There was an insightful session from Tom Goldman from the Policy Funding Unit at the DfE who outlined the national picture of SEND and AP funding. In his session, Tom explained to the Delegates about the journey which has been taken to get to the National Funding Formula (NFF). He listened to challenges delegates highlighted and in turn delegates heard the challenge of distributing funding.
A panel session followed which was chaired by Will Washington- the director of SEND at main sponsor Vision for Education along with Sue Prickett, Mick Little, Ruth Radcliffe and Theresa Skillen who had a great discussion on recruitment. They offered their own experiences in their separate schools with the difficulty to be able to attract staff, in particular support staff. The use of modern developments was something which was discussed such as adding a QR code to job adverts which takes potential candidates to a registration of interest form in order to make the whole process easier. They highlighted that they can not compete with other companies outside of the public sector who have the ability to offer short term benefits taking those who cannot see the longer term benefits of working in the education sector.
The day closed with a discussion around the recent SEND review in order to drive NNoSS policy work going forward as well as encouraging those present to contribute to the consultation. The network members Sue Prickett, Matthew Smith and Jo Marchant offered their opinions on the Green Paper looking at the sections on tribunals, where there needs to be more questions answered around this topic. The issue is around capacity and the attempt to make sure that tribunals are no longer needed. In terms of funding, there were encouraging parts of the Green Paper especially with developments around the NFF despite there still being a long way to go. The issue for funding with many is around trying to hold LAs to account which is improving but will need to continually develop over the time which it is in place. For EHCPS, the new proposals which streamline and lower the time cost of entering EHCPs.
There were also incredibly interesting breakout sessions with Nickii Messer, Jo Marchant, Matthew Smith MBE, Claire Walters, Tim Brown and Clare Lovett from session room sponsor Relish. They covered a range of essential topics centred around SEND speaking on wellbeing, leadership, fundraising, estate management, procurement and school catering.
Overall, the day was focussed on collaboration, with the passion, drive and willingness to contribute from NNoSS members was clear. Thank you to everyone who attended this year’s NNoSS Conference. We hope that you will bring the information back to your school to help support your role. Also a big thank you to Vision for Education who were the main sponsor as well as the other organisations who exhibited, sponsored session rooms and sponsored the handbook. We appreciate your support.
