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Schools North East welcome new trustees at AGM

Schools North East held its 13th Annual General Meeting 2020 this week (delayed due to coronavirus restrictions), welcoming Partner Schools virtually from across the region. We are delighted to announce the election of four new Trustees, all who have previously supported our work as members of our Head Teacher Advisory Board. The new trustees are:

  • Zoe Carr, OBE, CEO at Wise Academies;
  • Kate Chisholm, Head Teacher at Skerne Park Academy;
  • Pete King, Head Teacher at Federation of Mowden Schools; and 
  • Jo Heaton, OBE, CEO at Northern Lights Learning Trust.

Following on from the official business of the AGM, Professor of Education at the University of Manchester, Mel Ainscow, spoke about the importance of collaboration as a strategy for promoting equity in education. 

Mel identified three interlinked sets of factors that impact on the learning of pupils: within-school factors, between-school factors, and beyond-school factors. He said that school improvement is a social process, involving practitioners learning from one another and from others, and that the task of those involved in leadership roles is to create a supportive climate for collaboration.

After his presentation, Mel joined us for a panel discussion with Schools North East Trustees John Hardy, Maura Regan, and Colin Lofthouse. Keeping to the theme of ‘within, between, and beyond school’ factors, discussions focused on equity, what are the ‘big wins’ schools need and have had during the pandemic, which barriers need removing, and how success in schools should be measured going forward.

John Hardy expressed concerns that the government appeared to want to go back to the education system exactly as it was in February 2020, before the pandemic. However, he added that schools had learnt too much during the pandemic to do that. Schools have been at the forefront of social care during the lockdown, and provided support for a range of community issues including food poverty. While this has been draining, it has allowed schools to return to the centre of their communities, and there is now an important opportunity for joined-up thinking and properly integrated approaches.

Maura Regan said that the pandemic had thrown up all kinds of success stories and challenges. Importantly, it is now time to think about how we measure success. Maura argued that currently the system is too focussed on exams, working against vocational and the practical achievements of students. Mel Ainscow reinforced this point, saying that what is measured is what schools end up doing, and that we now need to start measuring in a way that promotes equity.

Finally, Colin Lofthouse spoke about school leadership. He argued that a ‘big win’ for the future would be encouraging more classroom teachers to think about leadership. This would require quality CPD and opportunities, based on trusting and valuing the teaching profession. The challenge would be ensuring that these opportunities are spread equitably across the country. Additionally, Colin built on the points raised by John, that the importance of partnership has been highlighted by the pandemic, bringing together disparate parts of the system and the clear need to learn from each other. However, Colin added that this may be difficult to hold on to if we rush too quickly back to ‘normal’.

The discussion held with the panel, in particular the importance of collaboration between schools and with other services, will inform Schools North East’s policy work around school ‘recovery’, and we will continue to lobby on your behalf to ensure equity is central to all efforts in the education system.

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