Head Teacher Selection Short Leeting and Interviews

Earlier today (Wednesday 2 September 2015), I was involved in a selection panel short listing applicants for a Head Teacher post in the city.

As part of my role as Labour Education spokesperson, I am invited to selection panels along with the Education Convener or his nominee, the Director of Children and Families' Services, a peer Head Teacher and two members of the Parent Council of the school for which a head teacher is being selected. In addition to these six voting members, there are two advisers to the panel; one from HR and the Head of Secondary or Primary Education as appropriate.

I think it is an important responsibility being part of the process of selection of the learning leaders of our schools.

Commenting on Proposed Closure of Menzieshill High School at Education Committee 24 November 2014

Commenting at the Education Committee on Monday 24 November 2014 about the proposed closure of Menzieshill High School as part of the School Estate Review brought forward by Director of Education with the support of the SNP group of Councillors. 

Convener, (the SNP's Education Convener, Councillor Stewart Hunter) this report of the School Estate Review, has the structure of a playground joke. You have good news and bad news for parents and carers in Dundee. The good news is that the Council is proposing to build a new shared campus primary school in Whitfield combining under one roof St Luke's and St Matthew's RC Primary School, St Vincent's Primary School and Longhaugh Primary School. The bad news is that the Council is proposing to close Menzieshill High School and gamble that it has enough secondary school places for children in the combined area covering Lochee and the West End.

In my opinion, beginning the process of closing any school is a very serious business. As it says it in the marriage ceremony, 'it is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly'. Closing a secondary school which stands at the heart of its community as a school and recreation centre out of school hours must be a last resort and must be only when all the alternative strategies have been explored and rejected.

This sentiment is contained in the Scottish Government Guidance on School Closures contained in Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 Statutory Guidance issued on 1 August 2014.

In this case I am surprised and disappointed that you have been prepared to bring such a flimsy report to the committee and dismiss the achievements of pupils and teachers with such minimal written evidence.

So as I have said, I don't think the parents, carers, pupils and the teachers of Menzieshill High School are well served if we rely on one short paragraph and table showing comparative school roll 2008/9 - 2014/15 to begin the process of closing a school. All the report reveals is that the school roll has gone down by 10 pupils in the last year and 57 pupils in the last four years. That's the sum total of the evidence brought forward to support closure of a secondary school.

In fact when you (Education Convener Councillor Stewart Hunter) went to the press about this you provided some reference to additional evidence which you apparently have been privy to which led you to say - as quoted in the Council's official Press Release dated Friday 13 November:

“This is not an easy option to bring forward, but the situation shows no sign of improving and this will only hinder the education of pupils."
“It would be for the educational benefit of young people to attend Harris Academy in the future."
“If pupils go to the new build Harris Academy they will be offered the full curriculum. This is not the case at Menzieshill High at the moment because of the implications of such a small pupil roll."

So apparently the school estate issue has knock on effects to the breadth of curriculum on offer at Menzieshill High School but there is no mention of this in the report we have in front of us tonight.

This admission on your part also raises another important question. If Menzieshill High School cannot deliver a satisfactory breadth of curriculum, how is that any different from 2012/13 when it had just ten fewer pupils? If we accept your conjecture that the school is not delivering an adequate curriculum on your watch, why have you waited to bring this forward as an issue? There must be suspicion about why you delayed making this decision public until the later Autumn, after the Referendum. Importantly the Director of Education did not refer to the curricular shortcomings of small schools in his last annual Standards and Quality Report.

Convener, you are also quoted in that same Council press release as saying:
“Education officials work closely with officers from the city development department to carefully consider demographic trends and planning considerations."
“Numbers of pupils will not rise enough at the associated primary schools to offer an significant increase to the Menzieshill High intake."
I can also confirm that the secondary school identified for the Western Gateway is Baldragon Academy, so that development will have no impact on the roll."

There is no sign of these population projections in the report we have in front of us tonight. More worrying is that later on tonight, in the subsequent meeting of the Social Work and Health Committee, the Review of the Social Work Department Service Plan 2012-14 includes population projections for Dundee to 2032. These show that the under 15 population is projected to increase by 20% over the twenty year period to 2032. What difference will that significant growth in this age group make to the projected rolls of our primary and secondary schools in the city?

We need to know what cognisance has been taken of these trends in the Education Department and whether a move to six non denominational secondary schools down form seven would have sufficient capacity for the expanded demand for places. More specifically, in the context of the proposed joint catchment area for Menzieshill and Harris, can we say with confidence that all pupils living in the catchment area will be able to gain a place at the combined school? I am sure that parents and carers living in the current catchment area of Harris Academy will want to know the effects of current and future cohorts of Menzieshill High School pupils being shoe horned into their new school, will have on access to school places at the school and the quality of education.

Finally, Audit Scotland have criticised councils in Scotland in general and this council in particular for the absence of robust options appraisals when making important decisions. There is no options appraisal and apparently a quite Thatcherite There is No Alternative (TINA) response from the Director and the Administration of the Council. This report is therefore an inadequate response.

We should also examine the catchment area for the western gateway. Indisputably Menzieshill High School is closest geographically to the western gateway area and it is in my opinion it is the mark of a geographically challenged person to claim the this expansion area should continue to fall in the nominal catchment area of Ardler Primary School and Baldragon Academy. When you Convener confirmed that this was the case in the press release it was as though you were slamming the door shut on any initiative to support enlarging the potential roll of Menzieshill High School.

In the belief that it would be totally wrong to initiate the closure Menzieshill High School on the basis of single paragraph and a single table of historic pupil numbers in a report reviewing the school estate in the city, in a report that clearly identifies that the targeted school for closure is assessed as being in superior physical condition to two other secondary schools in the city, in the absence of any educational case for closure, and in the absence of an options appraisal, the following amendment is proposed:

2. Recommendations

ii First Bullet Point
Delete 
"the closure of Menzieshill High School (including the delineation of its existing catchment area within Dundee) to the new Harris Academy, and"

B

Insert
ii Third Bullet Point
"Invites the Director of Education to return to the Education Committee with a comprehensive report about the future of secondary Education at Menzieshill High School containing:
the projected rolls of primary schools in respectively the Menzieshill and Harris catchment areas;
an assessment of the impact of re-delineating the western gateway area from the catchment area of Ardler Primary School/Baldragon Academy to Camperdown Primary School/Menzieshill High School and
an education, pupil focused, options appraisal about the future of Menzieshill High School.

This motion was defeated by all the SNP Councillors voting against it in a block.

Need for Additional Report Before Approving Nearly £0.5m on Nursery Places for Under 3s

Click on image to enlarge

On Monday night at the City Development Committee, on the basis of a flimsy report, Councillors are being asked to approve borrowing of £464,659.00 to pay for:

13-6033 – Various Primary SchoolsProvision for Under 3 year olds

The works comprise alteration works to provide provision for under 3 year olds at Ardler, Ballumbie, Dens Road, Longhaugh, Mill O’Mains, Park Place and St Ninians Primary Schools.

There are no background papers just the contract costs.

Significantly there is no mention of this project on the agenda of the Education Committee which meets before the City Development Committee on Monday night. Apparently it will be on the agenda of the next Education Committee in May. This will be locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.

I appreciate that the pace of change is dictated by the Scottish Parliament's requirement that the Council make provision for 600 hours of nursery provision for 2 year old children where both parents are unemployed in August 2014. But this decision is being presented with inadequate information for Councillors to make up their minds and that can't be right. I have already been advised that the inclusion of Park Place Primary School in the list is wrong; it closed it as a Primary School in 2012. 

Here is my list of the things I think Councillors reasonably need to know now:

1. How many children are we planning to provide places for?
2. How robust are these numbers of 'qualifying' two year old children?
3. Why have the named schools been chosen for these developments?
4. Are there any other schools not needing major building alterations that will be involved in providing places for this additional group of younger children?
5. What is the basis for calculating that qualifying children will live closest to the schools that have been identified?
6. What pattern of nursery hours will be offered to help unemployed parents and carers back to work? What job can you do if your child's nursery place runs for just over three hours a day five days a week? Has any other configuration of hours been considered?
7. What steps are we taking to recruit additional Early Years Practitioners to provide the extra places?
8. Will there be time to do all the building work before mid August as well as obtain the Care Commission approvals?
9. What consultation has taken place with parents and carers?
10. Has an Equality Impact Assessment been completed?

It's still not too late to put his right and introduce a late item at the Education Committee on Monday night. I have written to the Education Convener and Director of Education to propose that.

Link to City Development Committee Agenda Monday 20 April 2014

Link to Education Committee Agenda Monday 20 April 2014

Free School Meals for Primary 1-3 Pupils in Dundee

On Tuesday 7 January, the Scottish Government announced that, with effect from January 2015, it will introduce free school meals for all pupils in Primary 1-3 pupils in Scotland.  This follows the planned introduction of free school meals in England from September 2012.

The announcement of the extension of free school meals to all pupils in primary school classes P1-3 in England was made back in September 2013. As a consequence, there was additional and proportional cash committed by the UK Government to the Scottish Government. It is disappointing that the Scottish Government took so long to make up their mind how they would use this additional funding, which has meant that the introduction in Scotland has been delayed by five months.

On Tuesday there was vigorous debate in the Scottish Government about whether free school meals was the best use of the additional funding, when a substantial proportion of children from households with the lowest incomes already receive free school meals. But now the decision has been made, in Dundee we will need to turn our attention to how best to implement this decision. Hopefully, offering free school meals to children in primary one to primary three in our schools will help promote learning because a hungry child is less likely to be receptive to learning than one who has had a regular nutritious lunch.

I trust that the Scottish Government will promptly inform our Council of the small print of their programme so that the Council can make the necessary arrangements to deliver an anticipated increase in school meals in our Primary Schools from the projected start date in January 2015. The practical arrangements should not be underestimated, as some of our heavily subscribed schools may struggle to serve a larger number of children a school lunch because of existing pressure on kitchen and dining hall accommodation. These schools already have multiple sittings to cope with the demand for school lunches.

I have written to the Director of Education, Michael Wood, to ask him to advise the Education Committee about this as soon as practicable. He has reassured me that once the details of the scheme are provided, he will advise the Education Committee of the arrangements for Dundee Primary Schools.

Dundee Cycling Report Card - Some Good Progress But We Must Try Harder

Click on image to enlarge

A recent national report on Cycling in Scotland assessed the polices of each of the 32 local councils in Scotland. This assessment awarded the City Council an average score of two and a half stars from five. The summary report card is pictured. 

The Council's performance is rated as slightly stronger on 'Planning' and 'Monitoring' and relatively weaker on 'Action'. In fact the two star rating for 'Action' is the Council's lowest score.

The 1% modal share for cycling shows by implication that there is an enormous gulf between this performance and the target from the Scottish Government of 10% of short journeys by bike by 2020 to help meet carbon reduction targets.

Also significant and particularly disappointing are the very low scores of children cycling to school and those undertaking a Bikeabilty Scotland course, which is the replacement for the Cycling Proficiency Test that I tokk when I was at school. I don't think we can anticipate a significant future lift in cycling in our city if only two or three of our Primary Schools undertake this award.

More encouraging is the score for 'Households with Access to A Bicycle' at 23%. This shows that there are plenty of households with a bike who, with the right infrastructure and support, might be encouraged to get back on the saddle and ride their bikes rather than take short journeys in their cars. That would be good for the environment and personal health.

I will be raising the issues raised in this report with the Head of Transportation and the Director of Education.

 Read or Download the National Assessment Of Local Authority Cycling Policy

Concern About Maintaining Numbers of Crossing Patrollers for School Children

Lollipop Sign for School Crossing Patrollers

Yesterday, I received two email letters from constituents who were concerned that the City Council should maintain spending on School Crossing Patrollers; aka Lollipop men and women. In the last few years I have followed up a number of issues about School Crossing Patrollers including the provision of relief patrollers to cover sickness and other absences and the filling of vacancies. I think parents and carers are right to be concerned and vigilant about these vital jobs. Though they are clearly important for pupil safety, there is little in statute to specify the minimum number of patrollers on our city streets.

I have written to the Education Direcor and Education Convener about this to ask for reassurance that, in next year's budget, they are not planning to reduce the number of School Crossing Patrollers.

The letter is self-explanatory:

Dear Councillor Bidwell,

I am writing to ask you to save our lollipop ladies and men and maintain spending on road safety by the council to enable children to make a safe journey to school.

Research conducted by Living Streets shows that in 66% of local authority areas the number ds of lollipop people helping children safely across the road has reduced. While road safety budgets have been cut in 67% of local authorities.

This is of a concern in the context of the latest figures which highlight a 63% rise over a year in the number of children killed and seriously injured whilst walking to or from school.

Good quality crossings and local lollipop ladies and men are important for all pedestrians and particularly children on their way to and from school. Our local lollipop ladies and men provide an excellent service helping children across my area to cross the road safely supporting them to develop road safety and independence skills. They provide extra eyes and ears on the road to help children lead an active lifestyle.

Lollipop ladies and men have a role to play in encouraging parents to allow their children to walk to school independently.

5?

Please make sure that lollipop ladies and men are protected so that we can safeguard children's journeys to school.

Sincerely,

Proposals for School and Family Development Workers At Unacceptable Cost to Support for Learning Teachers

On Monday evening 22 April, the Education Committee was asked to approve a plan to appoint 17 School and Family Development Workers across the city. They will work with primary school and nursery school ,children and their parents and carers. 

The committee report pointed out that:

 'The work of the Early Intervention School and Family Development Worker (EIFDW) is designed to offer early intervention, preventative support and guidance and advice to parents and families to help deal with issues and problems as soon as they emerge.'

I support the case for these staff, but I find it unpalatable that half the cost of this new initiative will be immediately borne by having fewer support for learning teachers in our schools because £250,000 is robbed from their budget which is 'underspent' by not filling vacant posts for Support for Learning Teachers.

As a result, children who have learning difficulties and who are being supported in mainstream schools settings will receive less support in their schools. These pupils will pay for half of this experimental scheme. As the funding for the other £250,000 of the budget is only guaranteed for three years, this proposal asks us to be prepared to reduce support for learning by up to £500,000 in the medium term.

I think the Council should look harder at how they can fund this project; otherwise it would be merely robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Education Committee Papers 22 April 2013

Education Department Got Their Maths Wrong Counting up 30 Consultation Days

Earlier this week the Director of Education advised Councillors that the official date for the end of the formal consultation on the proposals for new schools in Menzieshill and Coldside had been extended. 

It is clear that the original date that had been notified in letters last month had been miscalculated. Apparently staff had not taken account of the closure days for the half term holiday and Continuous Professional Development days when calculating the exact minimum period for the legally defined period of consultation. Getting the maths wrong on a simple calculation is an embarrassing mistake for the Education Department to make.

"The Director of Education's separate letter for each of the three clusters of schools very formally reads:

'Addendum

Please note that the closing date for the consultation period is Thursday 14 March 2013.

This will ensure full compliance with the 30 day term period in line with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.' 

This is also an expensive mistake. To comply with government regulations, I understand that every parent and carer in each of the schools affected will have had to have been written to again by letter. As a second class tamp costs 50p this will cost hundreds of pounds. This is a most unwelcome waste of cash from the budget for schools which should have been avoided. 

Finally, given that the letter had to be sent out, I think the space left on the page could have been usefully used to remind parents and carers and others consulted that they had more time to send in their views to the Education Department and how to do this. Clarity in communication should be the hallmark of letters and reports from the Education Department and these letters are not a good example.

Clearly the Education Department's Report Card should read, 'must do better'.

Convener and Director of Education Plough on Regardless

I was disappointed that the Education Convener and the SNP group of Councillors together with the Director of Education should have been so opposed to my amendment at the Education Committee on Monday night 26 March.

It was strange that they opposed an opportunity for even a small minority of subject departments in some of our secondary schools to have the option to defer entering pupils for the new National 4 and 5 examinations and take the existing Intermediate assessments. But this was only where this was the best interests of the pupils involved.  

I was surprised that they chose to ignore this opportunity since it had been provided by the Cabinet Secretary for Education, Mike Russell MSP, in his letter last week. 

In the same letter he promised some extra cash for Councils to help prepare teaching and learning materials for the new curriculum and the opportunity for secondary teachers to be granted two additional in-service training days. Since my amendment also included using the extra cash and taking the in-service days was defeated, I understand that the Director will need to return to a future meeting of the Education Committee if he changes his mind and wants to make use of these.

Curriculum for Excellence in Dundee Must Provide Best Options for Our Secondary School Pupils

At the Education Committee tonight, I will be arguing that there is an alternative to the Director’s one size fits all flow charts and timetables for curriculum for excellence in our Secondary Schools.

Let’s not kid ourselves that it’s all under control and everything in the educational garden is lovely.  In recent workforce surveys many teachers in Scotland have indicated their lack of preparation for and confidence in delivering the new curriculum and preparing their pupils for the new examinations.  Although the recent letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Education is last minute, it offers some additional cash and some opportunities for opt outs from the new examinations.

The motion I will be presenting to the Committee tomorrow evening will provide an opportunity to pause and take stock rather than ploughing on regardless.

We need our secondary schools and their subject departments to honestly explore the possibility of deferring entering their pupils for the new exams and taking the existing Intermediate assessments instead. We must be guided by the overriding principle that we must always do what is best for our pupils who only get one shot at this.

We should not be over influenced by the Director’s grand design but rather take account of the reality of readiness in every department in every one of our secondary schools.  I am sure many subjects departments and many teachers are relatively confident about the big changes ahead and will take these in their stride. But it would be surprising if some departments in some schools would not benefit from the opportunity to make use of the special measures which the Cabinet Secretary for Education has made available for every secondary school in Scotland.

Finally, we need a report in early June that appraises councillors of the real choices that are to be put before pupils, parents and carers before the end of the summer term.

Phoebe Caldwell - Remarkable Saturday Night Lecturer

Over the weekend, I attended the Saturday night lecture at Dundee University given by the extraordinary Phoebe Caldwell. 
Phoebe Caldwell is an expert practitioner in Intensive Interaction working mainly with children and adults on the Autistic Spectrum. She has over 30 years experience as a practitioner with people with severe learning disabilities. She describes her clients as experiencing 'behavioural distress' rather than their exhibiting challenging behaviour to others.
Her lecture was interspersed with well chosen video clips of her her practising in a variety of settings. The remarkable communicative 'break throughs' she demonstrated indicate an effective, if unconventional, approach to enhancing communication with people isolated by their autism.
I have written to the Director of Education and the Education Convener to suggest the Council consider inviting Phoebe Caldwell to work with practitioners in Dundee who work with children whose severe learning disabilities are linked with behavioural distress.