2 May 2023 weekly update

Dear Colleagues,

Hope you enjoyed your Bank Holiday weekend.

Currently the time I have to visit schools and other education provision has been limited and so I was really delighted to visit three primary schools last week, with my colleague Michelle Stanley, School Improvement lead. I’m afraid I can’t really do the visits justice in the few sentences I write here so I encourage you to contact the schools I visit to find out more if there is something that does pique your interest.

The day started at Valley Invicta Primary School at Kings Hill which has an ASD Specialist Resource Provision (SRP) where headteacher Steph Guthrie and her team showed us around and talked through the exciting curriculum offer and their fascinating work on developing inclusion throughout the school and across the school day.

We then went onto Valley Invicta at Aylesford where headteacher Billy Harrington and his team have put a really innovative staff development framework in place and made a big investment in community engagement to enrich pupil experience at the school.

The final visit of the day was to Valley Invicta Primary at East Borough where staff took us through some of the really exciting work they are doing with partners to extend the STEM and PE curriculum and headteacher Carole Bacon showed us around the school.

A huge thank you to everyone involved, especially the three school communities, as well as Julie Derrick, Chief Executive Officer and Richard Hayden, Chief Operating Officer who accompanied us.

Much of this week has been spent preparing the submission in response to the Improvement Notice that has to be submitted on Friday 12 May. With the level of reporting which is required for this alongside reporting for the Safety Valve, as well as internal reporting, we are working on developing a system which makes best use of technology to simplify and streamline the processes so we keep our focus on delivery.

I am really pleased to report that SEND recruitment is going really well and staffing numbers are increasing. We obviously have a very long way to go, but I am also pleased to let you know we are beginning to get some positive feedback from schools involved in the statutory processes, so thank you for that.

Headteacher Briefings

At the forthcoming Headteacher Briefings, detailed below, I’d like to use the opportunity to showcase some of the fabulous work inclusion work going on in education. So under the banner ‘Stronger Together’ I’d like to invite you to let me know about work in groups of schools which  has evidence of improving inclusion which you would be interested in sharing with colleagues. Please email Sue Kirby in the first instance at Sue.Kirby@kent.gov.uk.

• Tonbridge and Malling - Monday 19 June, 1pm to 4pm –The Hop Farm
• Dartford - Thursday 22 June, 9am to 12 noon – Birchwood Park Golf Club
• Folkestone and Hythe – Friday 23 June, 9am to 12noon – Hythe Imperial Hotel
• Canterbury - Thursday 29 June, 1pm to 4pm – The University of Kent

To reserve your place please use the booking form

Best wishes

Christine McInnes
Director of Education