I hope that you have all managed to have a restful half term break. We have repeated last week’s bulletin as I appreciate a number of you will have been away and quite rightly not been checking emails etc.

Over the last few weeks, I have spent a considerable amount of time attending various Standards Meetings with school leaders and governors. My thanks go to you all for the time spent in preparing for the meetings, the documentation you have shared and the high quality dialogue that has ensued. I was reflecting on Christine Gilbert’s blog item last week, where she was focusing on collaboration and system leadership. There were a number examples of effective collaboration captured during the standards meeting conversations, one being the Netley Campus and the other Frank Barnes school for deaf pupils. The development of the Netley campus which includes Robson House, Netley Primary school and Woodlands is an effective example of an inclusive setting which compliments each other in providing support and services to not only their school community but to the wider system too. Frank Barnes school works in partnership with Kings Cross Academy, where they not only share the premises, but share values, features of the curriculum, training and staff expertise. Frank Barnes is also influencing pedagogy and curriculum design nationally and internationally, which is most certainly pioneering but also demonstrating system leadership.

The Chairs of Governors Forum on Thursday evening was well attended and featured two key items of discussion; one being the Youth Safety Task Force and the other place planning. I know that place planning has been a real cause of concern for Heads, CoGs and officers, so it was useful coming together, to debate and share thoughts, intelligence and ways forward. For those of you that do not know, the Council have commissioned ISOS to look in depth at the local issue, which goes beyond the traditional place planning metrics and LGA tools. Furthermore, a working group of chairs of governors and head teachers are being convened to work together on the matter and potential ways forward to deal with what is fast becoming a London wide issue.

Over the first half term, the Camden Learning Hubs have come together for their initial meetings and begun working together on the agreed areas of focus. I attended the first meeting of the secondary maths hub, which was really well attended by representatives from across the majority of Camden schools and their maths departments. Please find attached the blog that was written by Jeremy Silk from Acland Burghley School, who is one of the co-leaders of the hub, which captures the essence of the activity this term. We will be sharing more of the collective hubs’ progress with you over the next half term.

Please find attached the presentation for this week’s Primary Leadership briefing.

Jon Abbey

Managing Director, Camden Learning