25 April 2025 weekly update

Dear Colleagues

I hope you had a lovely Easter break.
Not much to update you on this week.

Meetings attended 

On Tuesday I attended the second meeting of the newly established SEND Partnership Board which is independently chaired by Graham Razey OBE, former Chief Executive of East Kent College Group. For those of you that know Graham, you will be aware that he is committed to getting the best provision for children, young people and families and is forensically focused on driving improvement across the system. We very much welcome that challenge as we move forward. Representatives from both DfE and NHSE continue to attend the Board, as they did the previous SEND Improvement and Assurance Board. The main focus of the new Board is preparation for the next area inspection and information on this will be shared with you in the near future.

Communities of schools 

Thank you for registering to attend the four upcoming Community Induction Meetings. There has been very high demand and as all the face-to-face meetings are at full capacity we have organised an extra virtual meeting should anyone wish to still register to attend. The content will be the same across all the meetings and has been shaped by questions and issues you have raised.  This is the key link page on KELSI with all the relevant information. The FAQs document was uploaded yesterday, so do have a look if you have submitted a question.

Updates, Frequently Asked Questions and Keeping in Touch - KELSI

The financial information which was sent to schools before Easter has been uploaded and can be seen here Communities of Schools Financial Information - KELSI

The Education Strategy

You will remember we started this development work reflecting on the implications of a more school led improvement system about a year ago and a big thank you to all that have contributed to the Education strategy that will be launched later this term. We are very much looking forward to seeing the impact of school-led improvement exemplified by hearing from Kent leaders who are already working in collaboration with colleagues at the next set of headteacher briefing meetings. If you are interested in talking about the impact of your collaborative work on school improvement do let me know. As we are considering these issues locally, I was intrigued to see an event advertised on Eventbrite which is focused on sharing research on place-based approaches to school leadership development and tools to improve teacher resilience and retention and thought it might be of interest. It's on line and free - tickets available here  How to build resilient schools Tickets, Mon 19 May 2025 at 17:30 | Eventbrite.

Headteacher Briefings - Summer Term

The dates and times have been confirmed for the Headteacher briefings in June.

North Kent Headteacher Briefing - 04/06/2025 - 13:00-16:00 - The Inn on the Lake, Shorne, Gravesend, Kent, DA12 3HB

West Kent Headteacher Briefing - 11/06/2025 -13:00-16:00 - Mercure Great Danes, Maidstone, ME17 1RE

East Kent Headteacher Briefing - 12/06/2025 - 13:00-16:00 - Seasalter Christian Centre, Faversham Road, Whitstable, CT5 4AX

South Kent Headteacher Briefing - 13/06/2025 - 09:00-12:00 - Ashford International Hotel & Spa, Simone Weil Avenue, Ashford, England, TN24 8UX

To express your interest in attending, please register here.

We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible.

Christine McInnes
Director of Education and SEN