In the Every Child Matters agenda and the Childcare Act it states that parents in the UK with children between the ages of 3 and 4 are to entitled to at least 15 hours of child education a ensure that children receive 2 years of free education before they reach the stage of starring school properly, parents are not permitted to contribute towards this however they will be charged for any extra hours which there child receives outside of their 15.
During the Early years stage of school it is the schools provision to support the young children during this period to ensure they are getting the best experience they possibly can. It is very different to Key Stage 1 in schools as they are more for the children learning through the process of play rather than having them doing more formal education such as sitting in a classroom completing work. It is known that play can be more beneficial for them as they will be developing the skills at their own pace. If you are asked to work with children in nursery or reception and you have no prior experience working with them you may have to go on specific courses
There is various different types of schools and they are all funded by the local authorities and are commonly know as maintained schools. There is 4 main types of these schools, they consist of
• community schools
• foundations and trust schools
• voluntary schools
• specialist schools
Community schools are owned by the local authorities or in some cases owned by the Education and Library Board in Northern Ireland. This will allow the school to be supported whilst looking for ways in which they can link the s hook within the local community, they can do this by hiring out the facilities for things such as adult education or even using the facilities to do activities such as football on a night time.
The Foundation and Trust Schools have their own governing body and are ran by this and they determine their admissions policy during consultation with the Education authority for the area which they are in. These types of schools will have to buy in their own form of support staff when needed as they are not part of an organisation. As well as this the school itself will be owned by a governing body or in some cases owned by a charitable foundation to help suit the needs of the school.
There is two different types’ voluntary schools and they consist of Voluntary-Aided and Voluntary-controlled. If a school is Voluntary-aided it will usually be a religious or ‘Faith school, however this does not stop people from wanting to apply to go as anyone person can get the opportunity to be able to go this type of school. Just like the Foundation and Trust Schools this type of Voluntary school is ran by their own governing body however the land of which the school is built on will be owned through a religious organisation. The funding for this type of school is split up Into various different places, some of the funding will come from there governing body, by the charity of which they are supporting and even the local education will provide as they will offer any support devices which are needed.
Voluntary-controlled are similar to Voluntary-aided, however a big difference is that these types of school are ran and funded by the local authority who employ all members of staff and support staff working within the organisation.
Specialist schools are predominately secondary based schools who will apply for the title in order be able to call themselves a ‘specialist school.’ in doing this they will receive an additional set of funding from the government in order for them to be able to hit the targets of which they are aiming for in certain subjects. In England there is around 92% of schools who have the status ‘specialist school.’
When students finish year 11 they have a wide range of choices of which they can do. Students can either leave school or enter the world of employment or they can choose to stay in education by doing things such as going to sixth form or college. Something called the September guarantee was set up and put in place students between the ages 14-19, The September guarantee is the government saying that all students will be guaranteed a place in further education so that they can continue their learning on further. In 2007 it was put in place that students have to be in sort of formal education until they are 17, this meant that students could leave school after year 11 to do things such as join a college or continue further into sixth form. This was later changed in 2015 to the age of 18 so that students are getting a better education to prepare them for the world around them.
There are various different members that are the build-up of a school team. These are the people who ensure that the school is running smoothly and ensures everyone is getting the best experience they possibly can be.
School governors is a team of around 10-12 people who are responsible for making sure the school is running as best as possible. there are lots different governors set in place to make sure that the people employed are following all the policies and procedures set in place to ensure that the students at the school are working in a good and safe environment. These may consist of people such as a local community governor, local authority governor, staff governor and a support staff governor. These people will all work closely together to ensure the running of a school and the staff is as efficient as possible. Governors will often be based outside of school on different comities which oversee the running of the school. For example the school site personnel or community cohesion. The purpose of these committee’s is so that they are able to set new aims and objectives for the school so that they are always working towards new goals every day and wanting to improve on what they already have been doing. They will also think of ways in which they can introduce new policies so that they can set out to achieve the goals which they are aiming to succeed.
A schools SLT team is built up from experienced members of staff who have different management positions. This is different if you are working within a primary school as the SLT leader is usually the deputy head and is permitted to work closely with the head teacher of the school. This is the same for a secondary however they may have year group managers rather than a deputy head as they can specifically overlook their year group so that they can make out what they expect to happen and what they are looking for.
SLT teams will house regular meetings so that they can all meet up and discuss any issues which they have come across themselves or which they have seen happening around school. it is important that they do this regularly as they will have to come up with ways that they are going to be able to use so that the school will be ran as efficiently as possible. During these meetings they will need to figure out different strategies of which they are able to use so that they can pass out all of the information to the other members of staff and support staff around the school.
Teachers within schools have the responsibility of planning and preparing the curriculum for pupils which they teach throughout the school year. However in a primary school teachers will plan the curriculum for all the classes which the kids are doing daily. As well as planning the curriculum some teachers within schools will often have other roles which they need to fulfil such as being a part of the SLT team or being things such as a head of year. Within schools there will need to be a member of staff who is responsible for overlooking there subject and to represent the rest of the members of staff within things such as staff meetings or meeting with parents. In smaller schools or primary schools some where there is less staff some teachers may be responsible for being in charge of 2 or 3 different subjects due to the low staffing.
The amount of support staff within schools has drastically risen over time, since 2010 the DfE’s statistical first release has shown that there were over 181,000 support staff employed all across the UK. This has happened due to the significant increase funding that government has set aside for schools in the UK. Support staff can be classed as things such as,
• Lunch time and break time staff/ catering staff
• Office/ administrate staff
• Care takers/site managers
• Teaching assistants
Within schools there is a lot of different external professionals that will work with the school on a regular basis to help them achieve different goals. If you are working with a student and the schools SENCO it is likely that you will come into contact with a range of different agencies or relevant people. Even if this does not happen it is important that you are aware of who is coming into school and working with the head teacher and other staff in the school.
All schools should have an educational psychologist through the local Special Needs department. The role of this person will be to help support the SENCO help plan and prepare observations for students who require additional support throughout the year.
Speech and language therapists will work with students who struggle with day to day communication issues. Usually there will be a few speech and language specialists in your area of work who will work closely with the school to help them with the students who are struggling with their speech or language.
Different specialist teachers may come into schools to help offer any form of advice and support to pupils for various different reasons. The three main types which students will get additional support in are,
• Behaviour support
• Social and communicational needs such as autism
• English as an Additional Language needs.
An educational welfare officer is based within the local authorities they usually go out and visit schools and work very closely with the head teacher of the school so that they are able to monitor and track the pupil over a period of time. This is so that they can provide all of the necessary requirements in order to help them benefit the student so that they can improve their attendance. Not only do they do this but they also will work together with the parents of a pupil who has been excluded for their return when they get back into the normality of their daily school life.
Within schools there is something called an SIP which stands for School Improvement Partner, this person will come into school to help support the head teacher for around 3-5 days every school year. This individual will have prior experience of being part of a senior leadership within other schools. They will also be working closely alongside the Local Education Authority which they will both help support the Head Teacher of a school on how they can improve and what they need to do in order to take the school to the next stage of getting better. They will look at things such as pupil progress and how they can develop the school through its self-evaluation.
Within schools there is various different ethos, aims, and values which you will be expected to understand. Each school will have their own unique ethos, aims and values as they are usually something which the school strives for. Ethos are usually based around the schools beliefs
Ethos within my organisation- At Ashington Academy we aim to provide opportunities to enable all students to learn and make lifelong friendships in a caring, supportive environment. In becoming successful learners, we want all of our students to develop a love of learning, to recognise that learning is a lifelong activity and that the skills they acquire and develop are transferrable.
Success is not just measured in terms of examination results; we would expect all of our students to develop their talents and achieve in a myriad of ways throughout their school life. This means that they will develop confidence and self-esteem in gaining success be it through taking part in school trips and visits, House activities, Challenge Weeks, school shows and productions, the many school sport and PE activities offered, work experience or other events.
Our aim is also to enable our young people to become responsible learners and caring citizens who can contribute to school and the wider, indeed global, community. Our school community is based on the values and attitudes of mutual respect and that all people are of equal worth.
School life at Ashington is also inclusive, supportive and inspiring in helping young people prepare for their learning journey ahead, equipping them with the skills, knowledge and understanding they will need to be the successful, confident and responsible members of the community and of society as a whole.
Students’ leadership skills are consistently challenged and developed. These leadership skills prepare students exceptionally well for their futures and enable them to make an excellent contribution to the school and local community.
It is important that the aims and values of are regularly spoken about within schools and organisations. It is also essential that these things are posted on school websites so that parents and carers can view to see what the school is aiming to achieve. Working within schools it is important that you are aware of they are communicating these things as it is important that you are aware of what the school are aiming to do at all times.
All schools and other similar organisations are permitted to work under all of the current legislations. As well as this schools will need to work in various ways in order to follow these legislations and what they mean. Some of these legislations consist of the Data Protection Act 1998, The Education Act 2002, Children Act 2004 and the Childcare Act 2006.
The Data Protection Act 1998-
This act was brought in use in 1998 and it means that all data that is handled by schools and other organisations is to be kept private and is not to be shared publically with other people who have no right about what it is. It is essential that this information is kept confidential as it is usually information such as addresses and medical information about a person which they may not want people to know about. If you are an assistant working within a school it is essential that you are careful with the information which you pass and share as there are certain pieces of information which you will not need to share with others. Whereas in some cases if adults are working with children as 1 to 1 they may need to get more information about that student whereas staff who are not involved in that will need to know nothing.
The Education Act 2002-
There are lots of different education acts set in place and are something which will constantly updated as they are something which is always changing on a regular basis. The Act which was brought in during 2002 came along with a lot changes to the way in which schools were run. This act was amended again in 2006 which meant it was to mean that schools are required to work closely alongside community organisations such as leisure centres and outside clubs.
Children Act 2004 and Childcare Act 2006-
The Children Act was something which was brought into to place alongside the Every Child Matters framework and impacted the way of which schools and organisations dealt with things such as the care and welfare massively. It is organisations such as Social Services and Education Work which will work closely together and with the school the help improve the welfare of a child which they are working with. As well as this there are 5 major outcomes to come from this and they are for children to be:
• To be healthy
• To stay safe
• To enjoy and achieve
• To make a positive contribution
• To achieve economic well-being
Schools need to comply fully with all legal requirements. Legislation is put in place in schools to promote equality and to stop any form of discrimination from happening.
The Health and Safety Executive outlines guidance and will follow the legislative framework for all types of organisations, these can be different things such as educational or business organisations. However all schools are too abide by The Health and safety Framework Act 1974. This means the employer of the school is usually held responsible for being in charge of overseeing the health and safety within the school.
Not only this it is important that risk assessments are to be carried out when appropriate, for example if you are lading an offsite school visit and you are taking students with you. There should also be paperwork such as incident reports to be filled out and kept in the event of an injury happening to a student at school so you can refer back so you know exactly what happened.
The Office for Standards in Education also known as Ofsted was brought into place to help regulate the education of children and the young people who are in education. They do this by carrying out visits to schools and carrying out inspections so that they gain evidence of good practice and will