POLICIES

Guidance on Multicultural and Multifaith Issues in C of E schools - issued May 2006 (Adobe Acrobat format)

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Admission Policies During the Autumn term governors are advised to include a review of the school's Admission Policy for 2008/9 on their agenda. All schools have to consult other admission authorities within the 'relevant area' by 1 March 2007, and make a determination (ie finalise it) by 15 April 2007 . Schools must 'have regard' to the LDBS guidance on admissions and also consult with the LDBS before making their final determination. Draft Policies can be emailed to Penny Harvey at penny.harvey@london.anglican.org , who can advise on and agree them. The new Code of Practice has just been published in draft form this September; it will affect the 2008/9 round of admissions. The new Code will be statutory and is likely to be 'tougher' in some respects. (09/06)

Headteacher Appraisal - issued May 2006 (Adobe Acrobat format)

Model Policies and Guidance Keeping up with all the model policies and guidance schools are supposed to have, could provide permanent employment for a team in every school. There are a number of places where you can get model policies or up to date guidance for things that have been changed. One useful commercial product we have come across is called Quick Guide for School and College Management. For an annual subscription fee (£130) you get sent a CD Rom 3 times a year with every policy and guidance document under the sun, which you can then customise for your school. Also enclosed is a booklet which shows which policies have been updated since the last mailing, in the light of the latest DfES, EU directive or court case! If you just want to have a quick scan at them go to www.qgpsolutions.com . These people are the same people who produced the Pocket Handbook that we distributed to you last term. (03/06)

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Admission of Vulnerable Children who are hard to place outside the normal round of admissions You may be aware that LA's are required to formulate a policy on the admission of vulnerable children who are hard to place. Discussions will have been held between headteachers and the LA on a protocol to enable these children to be placed in school. Because this will involve these children being accepted as a priority, and the governors of VA schools are the admission authority, admission policies will need to be amended to take this into consideration. Regulations allow for changes of this nature to be made after the normal policy round. You will note that the agreement is subject to the agreement of the governing body and the Diocese. If schools are in doubt as to whether the Diocese is in agreement with a local policy please contact Penny Harvey on 020 7932 1151.

We are suggesting that schools add the following paragraph to their current and subsequent admission policy to allow for the admission of these children:
'The school is committed to taking its fair share of vulnerable children who are hard to place, in accordance with locally agreed protocols. Accordingly, outside the normal round of admissions, the governing body are empowered to give consideration to a child where admission is requested under any local protocol which carries the agreement of both the governing body and the diocese for the current admission year. The governing body has this power even when admitting such a child would exceed the normal admission number.' (02/06)

Employment Checks and Safeguards Following the recent events portrayed in the media regarding employment checks for staff in schools, we suggest heads and governors ensure that they are familiar with the DfES circular issued in June 2005 entitled ' Safeguarding Children: Safer Recruitment and Selection in Educational Settings' DfES/1568/2005. This can be downloaded from the DfES website:www.teachernet.gov.uk/childprotection. The guidance was produced following the Bichard Inquiry into the Soham murders. This document gives very detailed and exhaustive guidance on the procedures and checks that schools should go through prior to appointments.

NB: We suggest that any headteacher or deputy headteacher who does not have a current CRB check applies for one. (02/06)

Update on Section 48 Inspections - issued January 2006 (Adobe Acrobat format)

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The Schools White Paper The Schools White paper, 'Higher Standards, Better Schools For All - More Choice for Parents and pupils' was published by the DfES on 25 October 2005. It outlines a change to the role of Local authorities and defines new duties and powers for them authorities in relation to schools. The White paper seeks to set out how the Prime Minister's ambition of doing better, to 'tackle the pockets of deep educational disadvantage; lifting schools from average to good; enabling mode schools to become genuine centres of excellence', can be achieved. There are nine chapters plus an annexe. There is also an executive summary. The document or the executive summary can be downloaded from http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/schoolswhitepaper (09/05)

List of Statutory documents and policies that governing bodies must have in place and other recommended or suggested policies or documentation that schools have - issued September 2005 (word doc)

The Denominational Inspection of Church of England schools: arrangements from September 2005 - issued September 2005 (word doc)

Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 - issued January 2004 (Adobe Acrobat format)

Guidance on New School Governing Body Constitution - issued June 2003

Publicity for School Visits and “Openings” - issued April 2003

Summary of Guidance & Advice on Admissions - issued January 2003 (Adobe Acrobat format)

If you cannot open the Adobe documents please follow this link to download: http://www.adobe.com

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