We have nearly reached the end of the Autumn Term and the Christmas break will soon be upon us. For our teaching staff it is literally 6 teaching days away since we now have a non-pupil training day on Friday 18th December. The last day of the Autumn term for our children is Thursday 17th December. I also wish to acknowledge the fantastic efforts and commitment of the many colleagues who support our children and schools in a non-teaching capacity – some of whom will continue to work past 18th December.

I continue the theme of thanks by recognising your collective efforts and determination in ensuring the very best education for our children - particularly at a time when we have been presented with constant challenge and the extra demands posed by coronavirus. Your continued persistence with attendance has meant that we continue to track above both national and local averages and so thank you also for your efforts in that regard.

By way of an update on the Executive Leadership Team’s activity and on a developmental note, we are taking the opportunity to reflect on our journey to date and revisit our values and associated professional behaviours. For us to achieve the ambitious goals we hold for our children we need to ensure that our collective professional expertise is fully harnessed to the benefit of all our children. Our shared values form the foundation from which we will engineer our future success.

We are nearly there in terms of completing the External audit process with Francis Clarke and should be able to share our statutory accounts shortly. We continue to be busy with recruitment, both at school level and in the school improvement team. We are interviewing for our Executive Director of Mathematics today and tomorrow and will look forward to updating you on the outcome of that process when we write in January.

Best wishes

Rob Haring, CEO

Recruitment update:

We are delighted to inform you that there are a number of exciting career opportunities within our Trust:-

Callington Community College are looking to appoint the following:- 

  • Assistant Principal - to help drive the development and delivery of a motivating and engaging curriculum and continually develop the quality of teaching and learning. Starting April 2021. For further details click here.
  • Assistant Curriculum Leader - Mathematics to work with the Curriculum Leader to help raise standards and participation in Mathematics. Starting April 2021 - Salary range: MPS/UPS + TLR2B. For more information click here.
  • Learning Recovery Manager - Salary Grade G (£19,863-£24,491 per annum, pro rata), 37 hours per week (term time only plus 5 inset days). For more information click here.

Plymstock School have a vacancy for a Designated Safeguarding Lead -required from February 2021. This is a permanent, full-time, all year round post – minimum 37 hours pw x 52 weeks pa (required to work such hours as necessary to meet the demands of the job). Annual leave in this role will normally be taken during school holidays. Please note that this is a support staff role, with no teaching load. Salary – Grade H - Plymouth SCP 30 – 34  £33,782 - £37,890.Closing Date: 9am – Friday 8 January 2021. For more information please visit the school's website here.

Stowford School have a number of vacancies including:- a cleaner (permanent); wraparound care assistants (fixed term 11.25 or 16.25 hours per week); teaching assistant and meal time assistant (fixed term till Easter).  Closing date tomorrow (Thursday 10th December 2020).  Please see the school website for more information by clicking here.

Ivybridge Community College are seeking to appoint the following:- 

  • A permanent Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (Student Welfare) - Pay Scale: Dependant on Experience / Devon Legacy Pay Scales, Grade F, (scp 24-28) £28,672 - £32,234 per annum (£25,072 - £28,186 pro-rata). 37 hours a week x 40 weeks per year. The post holder will work as part of the College’s Safeguarding Team and their role will be to assist the Designated Safeguarding Lead in their duties, to ensure the College meets its safeguarding aims by maximising the efficient and effective use of its available resources. For more information please click here.
     
  • Head of Geography starting in February 2021 to cover maternity - Pay Scale: MPS/UPS + TLR1A (£8290). The successful candidate will have the opportunity to lead a successful Department at a time of continuing curriculum and educational change. For more information please click here.

  • Assistant Team Leader in Geography - Pay Scale: MPS/UPS + TLR2A (£2872). Permanent/Full time. Commencing January 2021. For more information please click here.

WeST Pay Policy 2020 (for teaching staff) 

Please find here the WeST Pay Policy 2020 (for teaching staff). 

Comments and amendments that arose through the process of consultation are also available here. 

Many thanks to our JCNC Colleagues and to the staff who provided feedback.  This Policy of course includes the revised pay points from September 2020 and other notable changes are the incorporation of recommendations from our Remuneration Committee on the annual process of Trust-wide moderation and a strengthening of Section 12 to reflect that teachers on maternity, extended sick leave or otherwise absent during the period are entitled to consideration for pay progression in the same way as other teachers, whether or not they have returned to service at the date of the annual pay determination. 

As always, if you have any questions at all related to this, or any other HR policies, please do not hesitate to contact the HR Team at HR@westst.org.uk

Best wishes

The HR Team

NHS COVID-19 App: update from the DfE Stakeholder Advisory Group

Please find  here some Q&A’s provided by the DfE following questions (raised by school HR colleagues across the country) that we and others (both employers and trade unions) have raised with the DfE at the regular stakeholder meeting that we are members of.  They have been put together to try and assist schools in staying open and provide some re-assurance in decisions already taken.

This is the launch of The Learning Institute's Email Newsletter available here in which you can find out about all our programmes from Academic Degrees, through new Apprenticeships, CPD and current Research projects.

It would be appreciated if you could circulate this to anyone in your contacts if you think it's appropriate.  If you would like to sign up to receive future newsletters, please click here*.

*TIP: When you first receive the newsletter it will probably appear in your 'junk' folder, so please could you check there in the first instance to view it. To unmark this email so it's no longer junk, please right-click on the email and select 'mark as not junk'. This will move the email into your inbox and should hopefully ensure future correspondence also appears in your inbox rather than as junk.

Thank you for your continued support of The Learning Institute. We look forward to continuing to work with you.

Best wishes

The Learning Institute

New to WeST?  If so, please see the article below on how to access the staff portal area of the website where you will find the latest information and staff policies and procedures......

The National Curriculum Outdoors Series of books receives two National awards...

Outdoor learning has been given a boost this term with more and more schools wanting to increase the amount of time children are learning in the outdoors.  This has been one of the positives of the current pandemic. The National Curriculum Outdoors is a series of 5 books which we were involved in writing and were published in June 2020. Since their publication they have received significant interest from schools across the country and have recently been awarded two national awards. The series of 5 books have been awarded the Resource provider award by the Council for outdoor learning LOTC and the Key Stage 1 book received a highly commended award in the Creative Play awards 2020. The books are available to purchase direct through the Bloomsbury website or are available through Arena.

Do you want to develop Wild Tribe outdoor learning at your school?

If you want to give outdoor learning a boost at your school then take a look at all the training and programme options available on our website. We also have free resources - click here to start the download.

We have inset training available linked to the National Curriculum books. Debbie or Michelle two of the books authors will deliver the training at your school - for further information please contact Michelle via the email below.

You may wish to send your staff on one of our Two Day Wild tribe Practitioner’s awards. We have many courses being delivered during the spring and summer term across Devon and Cornwall.  For information about the courses available click here.

If you require any further information or would like to discuss the development of outdoor learning at your school please contact Michelle Roberts via mroberts@callingtoncc.net for further information.