DfE Case Study: Reducing Teacher Workload

Written by Department for Education
Published: 20 July 2018

Broadford Primary School is a large local authority school that’s part of The Learning Federation, alongside Mead Primary School.

It’s a teaching school and member of the Havering Primary Teaching School Alliance.

Broadford Primary School, Romford, Essex
Phase: Primary
Number of pupils: 540
Website: www.broadford.havering.sch.uk

Technology strategy at a glance

Broadford used to have a variety of IT systems that had: different operating controls, processes and passwords, user rights and permissions that were hard to control which limited options for staff to collaborate.

The school decided to streamline to just 2 platforms, both of which could be used by teaching and administrative staff. These were:

1. The school’s existing management information system (MIS)
2. Google’s G Suite for Education, a free suite of cloud-based tools that enables: teachers to manage classes and provide timely feedback; students to collaborate easily and learn on-the-go; the school to save money, as it allows teachers to assign work and pupils to complete work digitally, minimising time and money spent on printing

Collaboration and scalability

Broadford was inspired by how the new tools allow teachers to collaborate more easily.

In a new school federation structure, where staff work in a range of different environments, access to everything everywhere was considered crucial. Previously this may have involved using USB memory drives, which could easily be lost.

G Suite also offered straightforward scalability. It simplified administration and integration with social media, making it easier to: archive evidence; share information with stakeholders; celebrate children’s achievements

Introducing new technology

Broadford decided to start small and increase its use of technology once the benefits were apparent and issues ironed out:

• teacher champions were chosen so everyone knew who they could go to for support, without overloading one individual
• consideration was given to having the right equipment. For staff and pupils to access everything in the cloud, the infrastructure and devices had to be fit for purpose

Impact on teacher workload
Lesson planning
The introduction of the new tools coincided with the decision to give all teachers in the same year group - across the federation - planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time simultaneously. This means:

• teachers are frequently collaborating on documents and sharing resources
• work is either divided, where appropriate, or staff work on documents together, allowing teachers to be more efficient and work more flexibly
• the federation has ensured there are spaces for all teachers to work together both physically and online

In a staff survey:

• 98% of staff agreed (72% strongly) that G Suite improved collaboration and the sharing of resources across the school
• 83% of staff agreed (69% strongly) that the new platform reduced their workload
• Collaboration and communication between teachers

A range of other school activities have moved away from being paper-based, saving time and reducing workload for teachers:

• parents’ evening bookings are now completed through Google Forms, leading to a quicker turnaround
• all school staff have access to G Suite. This allows, for example, kitchen staff to see lunch choices through the system when pupils go on trips
• year group leaders can see all contact information for their pupils and do not need to chase forms

Recommendations
Remember that file structure and file naming conventions are important. One of the benefits of using technology is that you can use documents again, but you need to be able to find them.

Demonstrate to others how using technology is useful and can save time. Give examples and use champions.

Create policies in Google Docs and link to the document from the school’s website. As you update the policy it will update live on the website. No need to download and upload again.
More information

Contact: Malcolm Drakes, executive headteacher of The Learning Federation, at: executivehead@learningfederation.havering.sch.uk

The government does not endorse any particular commercial products, and any products named in this case study are provided as examples only.

Click here to read the article

We're In The Paper: Education Secretary Visits Broadford

The Romford Recorder have featured the story about Justine Greening MP & Secretary of State for Education, visiting Broadford on the 30th November. Accompanied by local MP Julia Lopez - whose team had been instrumental in organising the visit - Miss Greening met pupils, read with Theo and looked at a range of lessons.

When questioned by pupils, she revealed that the secret of her success resilience! When life throws you a challenge, or you get a knock back, her motto is 'keep on trucking!'.

The TES also featured an article - click here

Department for Education Blog

Havering Website

Secretary of State for Education Visits Broadford Primary

Following their success as being named as the Times Educational Supplement Overall School of the Year, Broadford Primary were delighted to welcome the Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening, who visited yesterday.

Eager to learn more about the approach that has led to the sustained success of the school, Miss Greening observed pupils in maths, topic and phonics lessons. Miss Greening also hosted a Q&A session with Broadford pupils who quizzed her on her career path, how she could help them with their career aspirations and whether school funding changes would limit the offer available to them in future.

Miss Greening was given a quick lesson in how to play the mental maths game 24, which develops the children's fluency with key number facts.

I started Miss Greening off with the one dot cards to help explain the rules. However she quickly picked up the game and even won a couple of rounds. Her maths was pretty good!
Bradley Joy - aged 11

The Secretary of State also took time to talk at length with Learning Federation Governors, the school leadership team of both Broadford & Mead and Paul Wakeling - Headteacher of the Havering Sixth Form College.

At Broadford Primary our vision is to ensure that no child's future is limited by their background. To be able to show Justine Greening the different strategies that we have used to raise aspirations and outcomes for some of Havering's most vulnerable pupils was a real privilege. For the Secretary of State to take the time to talk to teachers, listen to pupils and demonstrate a very clear understanding of some practical ways we can improve our system for the benefit of the most vulnerable was so encouraging.

Malcolm Drakes - Executive Headteacher

Miss Greening's visit followed on from a Skills Summit, which the Department for Education has hosted in the morning in Westminster. The pupils were very pleased to hear about the work of the Government to ensure that big business plays a much more direct and active role in promoting the future of the most vulnerable pupils.

Our Learning Federation has promoted meaningful links with businesses like Bloomberg and PwC. To hear today about the Skills Summit and the DfE efforts to make these links more structured is very positive. To provide a golden thread all the way through a child's education, linking their experiences and lessons to future employment will only aid mobility.
Chris Kent - Chair of Governors

Councillor Robert Benham, Cabinet Member for Children’s and Learning Services, said:

“I am very proud that Justine Greening, Secretary of State for Education took time to visit Havering today, and congratulate Broadford primary school on their recent win at the prestigious 2017 Times Educational Supplement (TES) Schools Awards. Head teacher, Malcolm Drakes, and the entire team truly deserve this visit to celebrate their outstanding achievement. Their inspiration, dedication and enthusiasm for education has improved the outcomes for the children who attend Broadford primary school.”

Broadford named a National Support School

Just before half term, Mr Drakes had to journey up to Leeds to be inducted as a National Leader for Education. With this accreditation, Broadford is also designated as a National Support School - which runs alongside our Teaching School designation.

The status is great recognition of the work that has been done by all parents, governors and staff to improve outcomes for our pupils. Now it also means that we can work alongside other schools to support their improvement journey as well.

Broadford has really benefitted from sharing ideas with others, seeing best practice in action and being supported by other school leaders. It is now wonderful to have the chance to repay some of the kindness and support that was shown to us as we started out journey. To continually work alongside and with others will only help to keep our ideas fresh and challenge our thinking so that our school continues to develop and flourish.

Front Page News!

Broadford Primary has made the front page today! Make sure you get a copy of the paper to mark the TES Award from last week. There are some fantastic pictures of the children inside... and more available online.

The positive feedback from so many of our parents, pupils, school colleagues, friends and family has been amazing this week. We are so humbled and grateful for the recognition that has been given to our whole school community. A week on it is still only just sinking in that the TES judging team choose us as Primary and then Overall school of the year! 

It is a great reminder that the four Rs we talk about so often can enable you to achieve great things. The resilience to keep going when the obstacles are plentiful, the resourcefulness to try new approaches, the reciprocity required to build new teams and create a shared vision and the reflectiveness to be constantly trying to improve every aspect of what we do. 

Everyone has worked so hard to transform Broadford from a school that people would avoid and parents would shun, to a place where everyone is proud to work and attend. It shows that what you do does make a difference, that people do notice and care and that Harold Hill is somewhere where dreams do come true! 

Thank you again to you, our parents and families. As we promised, this award isn't the end, it is the inspiration to strive even harder to provide the best education we can for our pupils and to create the best school environment for all. Our two schools (Mead & Broadford) are so much stronger for the shared relationship with each other. We view this as a team achievement and reflection of the effort that ALL of our Learning Federation staff have put in to change, adapt, improve and refine approaches across the whole organisation.

Have a fabulous Friday!

We're In The Paper: School Funding

We are sad to inform you that we have had to sign up to a letter from the London Councils, which is a bipartisan group representing 32 local authorities and the City of London. It states how the government’s new formula will cut budgets at 70% of schools in the capital at the same time as they are already enduring a funding freeze with increased costs for wages, pensions and inflation.

Currently we are doing all we can to avoid these cuts having any impact on the pupils and staffing levels. However the situation in 2018-19 will be even more challenging.

Governors’ Coffee Morning: 7th March

We would be delighted to see you at this term's Governors' Coffee Morning:

Venue: Mead Primary

Date: 7th March

Time: 9.15am

This will be an opportunity for Governors to give you an update on plans for the rest of the year and look ahead to 2017-18. At both Broadford and Mead there is a very positive period of expansion, investment and change coming and we would like all parents to be both informed about this and able to contribute ideas as we move our Federation forward.
As an added incentive to attend, Mr Kent has managed to secure a hamper of stationery which will be the subject of a raffle. There will be one ticket issued to every adult attending and the winning tickets will have the hamper donated to their child's classroom.

Governor Coffee Morning - 7th March

Dear Parents

We would be delighted to see you at this term's Governors' Coffee Morning:

Venue: Mead Primary
Date: 7th March
Time: 9.15am

This will be an opportunity for Governors to give you an update on plans for the rest of the year and look ahead to 2017-18. At both Broadford and Mead there is a very positive period of expansion, investment and change coming and we would like all parents to be both informed about this and able to contribute ideas as we move our Federation forward.

As an added incentive to attend, Mr Kent has managed to secure a hamper of stationery which will be the subject of a raffle. There will be one ticket issued to every adult attending and the winning tickets will have the hamper donated to their child's classroom.

We look forward to seeing you there!

3FE Expansion Notice

Statutory Consultation on Proposal to expand Broadford Primary by One Form of Entry

The Council has published a statutory notice and other information setting out its formal proposal to expand Broadford Primary by one form of entry.

Broadford Primary is currently a two form entry school with a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 60 and a permanent capacity of 420 places. The proposed capacity following this expansion would be 630 places with a PAN of 90.

The publication of this statutory notice marks the beginning of the formal consultation (Representation period) of four weeks which starts 17 February 2017 and ends on 17 March 2017 The Representation Period is the final opportunity for parents, carers or other interested partied to express their views before a final decision is made.

Any comments and objections must be received before the end of the representation periodl by sending them to: Pooneeta Mahadeo, School Organisation Manager, London Borough of Havering, 9th Floor Mercury House, Mercury Gardens, Romford, RM1 3DW or by emailing schoolsorganisation@havering.gov.uk

You can download a copy of the statutory notice & full proposal below.

If the decision is to proceed with the proposal, it is then legally required to implement on the date specified in the statutory notice, which is; 1 September 2017.

Click here for the full proposal

Federation INSET

This year was the official start of our new Federation. To mark the occasion of our first academic year as a united school community we held a joint INSET day for all staff at the Thurrock Hotel.

The day allowed us to:

• define the shared vision for our school communities
• detail the shared values we will be able to expect of each other to achieve that vision
• identify the strengths we have as schools that we can build upon
• look for ways in which we can improve different aspects of organisation, pedagogy and systems

It was an extremely positive day - with over 150 staff contributing their thoughts and ideas and hopes for the Federation. Now it is time to get started and ensure that we are delivering the very best education for the children of Harold Hill.

Governors' Coffee Morning - Hamper Prize!

Governing Board Coffee Morning - Tuesday 1st November @ 9am

Broadford Primary

Dear Parents/Carers

Our Learning Federation Governing Board will be delighted to welcome parents and carers from both schools to Broadford Primary on Tuesday 1st November.

We will update you on the Learning Federation and how things are going. Mr Drakes will report on building works at the two sites and future plans for the Federation. You will also learn about the exciting progress in your children's education.

In addition we would be pleased to hear your views and answer any questions you may have.

We look forward to meeting with you.

Prize Raffle

• Every attending adult will be given a raffle ticket: one for each child. If you have three children in the school (Broadford or Mead) then you will get three raffle tickets.
• At the end of the session there will be a draw.
• The winning raffle ticket will have the hamper below donated to that child's class!

Thank you very much indeed to Paperchase who donated the items in the hamper!

Governors' Coffee Morning - Tuesday 1st November

We are delighted to be able to invite you to the next Governors’ Coffee Morning.

We believe these meetings are a vital way for Governors and Parents to communicate. We also believe it is an effective way for the Governors to communicate key aspects of the strategic vision that they have for the school and invite parents and carers to contribute to that.

Date: Tuesday 1st November 2016
Time: 9am-10.15am
Location: Broadford Primary School

Tea, Coffee, biscuits and cakes will be provided.

To help encourage maximum parental participation, we have introduced a competition. 

Parents and carers who attend will be given a raffle ticket. The draw will be made at the end of the event, with the child who wins earning a luxury stationary hamper worth £200 for their class!

Mrs Nicholls & Mrs Smith will show children during an assembly, with the intention that they'll come home and encourage family members to attend.

The first coffee morning held last term was at Mead, hence we will be alternating across both school sites each term.

Broadford Primary Accredited As Teaching School

We were delighted to hear this July that our application to become a National Teaching School had been accepted. As a teaching school, we will identify, develop and co-ordinate expertise for the benefit of pupils across a network of schools, resulting in:

• better results for pupils
• fewer poorly performing schools
• more good and outstanding schools
• a self-improving and sustainable system
• There are 6 core areas of responsibility for teaching schools.

In addition we will be responsible at Broadford for developing 3 key areas for the benefit of not just our pupils, but all of those in Havering.

1. School-led initial teacher training
We expect  to develop opportunities to provide school-led initial teacher training.

• lead the development of school-led initial teacher training through School Direct or by gaining accreditation as an initial teacher training provider
• take an active role in the recruitment and selection of trainee teachers
• have a clear plan for teacher training, including:
• give access to outstanding lessons and teachers for observation and planning
• provide mentoring training and development
• provide quality assurance
• co-ordination of initial teacher training with professional development opportunities

2. Continuing professional development
We expect to offer a range of professional development opportunities for teachers and school support staff, extending our strong learning culture to schools we work with. These must build on initial teacher training and induction. We will:

• identify the best teachers and leaders from across the alliance to provide school-based professional development
• tailor development to meet the specific needs of schools
• offer coaching and mentoring
• evaluate the impact of professional development across the alliance
• offer opportunities for formal accreditation or school-based research

3. Supporting other schools
We expect to lead the co-ordination of school-to-school support. This usually involves working with a school or academy in challenging circumstances to bring about improvement.

We will need to identify priorities in our area and support under-performing schools and academies. Local authorities, dioceses and chains may also work with us to support schools in need of improvement.

We will help to ensure that the best leaders are working to improve the quality of teaching and leadership where it is most needed.

This includes deciding how to use the services of system leaders to provide support to other schools, such as:

• middle and senior leaders working as specialist leaders of education
• headteachers working as local and national leaders of education
• chairs of governors working as national leaders of governance
• Information on these can be found in our guide to system leader roles.

4. Identifying and developing leadership potential
We expect to develop successful succession planning strategies to identify and develop people to fill leadership positions in the future.

To meet this responsibility, we will:

• develop future headteachers to help meet the most pressing national needs in primary, small rural, special, challenging urban/coastal and faith schools
• take action to help to more women and leaders from black and minority ethnic backgrounds to become senior leaders
• put processes in place to identify potential leaders in areas of need
• develop potential leaders within and across your schools
• build strategic governance and partnerships in order to make decisions about developing and placing potential leaders

It is a great opportunity to develop the culture at Broadford further and use the progress we have made to have a positive impact on others in our local and national school communities.

Gill Gordon - Chair of Governors

Federation Board Parents' Meeting

We had a very positive Federation meeting for parents on July 4th. Parents from both schools meet at Mead to discuss how they are feeling about the recent changes, meet the new Governing Board, ask questions about the new arrangements and hear what changes are already planned for both schools.

What benefits will my children see?
Working as two schools means that we can offer much wider curriculum opportunities. Mead pupils have already benefitted from author days at Broadford and a writer's workshop. Broadford pupils have benefitted from the chance to attend a careers fair. Now that the Federation is confirmed, our teachers have already met to plan regular collaboration for next year and a whole range of joint activities.

Will Broadford pupils have to move to Mead if there isn't enough space?
Both schools remain separate entities and admissions are governed by Havering. Pupils do not need to be housed at different sites - both schools have ample space to look after their own pupils. If parents wanted to move between the two schools they would have to use the standard procedure with the Borough.

Who will be in charge at each school?
Each school will have its own Head of School, while there will be one Executive Headteacher in place over both schools. For an interim period these posts will be filled by:
Mr Drakes (Executive Head)
Mrs Smith (Mead Head of School)
Mrs Nicholls (Broadford Head of School)

What is different about the Governing Body?
There is now one Governing Board that has oversight across both schools. Previously here were two Governing bodies who acted independently

Why will a Federation improve our schools?
There will be a clear vision for the two schools focused on how we can use high quality education to ensure that pupils' backgrounds don't impact on future achievement. Teachers will benefit from collaborative working and sharing best practice. Pupils will have a wider community in which to work and play. Financially the two schools will be able to get much better pricing and deals on purchases.

Will the new Federation raise standards?
It is our intention to ensure that both schools have outstanding results. This year both schools have exceeded national achievements by over 25%!

Federation Completed!

Following all the consultations, we are delighted to announce that Mead and Broadford are now officially federated. The Department for Education notified us of this last week. The newly appointed Governing Board met today and we are now well underway with preparations for September.

A letter has been posted on the web page and handed out to pupils of both schools.

We would like to invite parents of both schools to an informal meet and greet with the new Governing Board on Monday 4th July at 9am. 

This event will be held at Mead Primary. We hope to see you there so that we can outline our progress so far and what we aim to achieve in the immediate future.

Federation Consultation Update

Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend the Federation Consultation meetings last week. The comments were positive about the benefits that the partnership can bring to both schools. It was a great opportunity to answer questions and give some more detail around the proposal.

However if you were unable to make the meetings and wish to either make a point or ask a
question, there is still time to do so. Please write your comments down and put them in an envelope marked FAO: Joint Federation Committee. They can then be handed in to either the Mead or Broadford main offices who will forward them to the Chair and Vice Chair of the Committee for inclusion in their report.

Broadford Mead Federation Proposal

Dear Parents

The Governing Body of both Mead & Broadford Primary would like to inform you that they have voted to move for a consultation of the proposed Federation between the two schools.

This means that there is now a six week period in which the views of parents and staff will be listened to. To help you understand the implications of and reasons for this proposal, a number of documents have been prepared. You will have received a paper copy of these on April 11th (one per family) but the online version can be accessed below.

Please note that if you wish to ask any questions of the Federation Committee there are four possible meetings that you are invited to attend (you only need to come to one). It doesn't matter if the venue is Mead or Broadford, you will be very welcome at either. 

• Broadford Mead Federation Paper for Parents
• Federation Proposal Document
• Federations QA

Broadford Makes Top 100!

In 2011 Broadford Primary was ranked in the lowest 10% of all schools for progress in Reading, Writing and Maths. Only 64% of Pupil Premium pupils made the expected progress compared to the National figure of 75%. However in 2015, for the third consecutive year Broadford has managed to be ranked in the top 1% of all schools nationally for the progress it's pupils make - a stunning turnaround in performance. In 2014 the school ranked #1 for Reading and All Subjects and made the top 300. Now in 2015 they are also ranked #1 for Maths as well and have made it into the top 100 schools in the country.

 We are particularly proud that the performance of our White British children significantly outstrips the national figure. Our score of 102.4 against 99.8 means that we are giving our pupils the best possible start for when they get to Secondary School. The last three years of being ranked #1 for Reading are a direct consequence of the systematic way that reading is taught across the school and the way a cultre of reading has been established. We are one of the only Primary schools in Havering to have a full time librarian and regular author visits and reading events. The impact has been tremendous.
 Malcolm Drakes - Headteacher

The school also makes highly effective use of the funding for Pupil Premium children as they made progress of 103.2 compared to a National figure of 99.8.

 We are extremely proud of the pupils' achievements. It is a result of the hardwork of them, the staff, Governors and parents. Each year we have set ourselves high standards to reach and we all work together as a school community to reach those aspirational goals. To have this sort of recognition from the Minister for Schools is fantastic!
Mrs Gill Gordon - Chair of Governors

Diary Dates

We have the Parent & Governor meeting on Monday. We also have a Rider Development Day for our cyclists. Tuesday sees us hosting a Language & Literacy day for other schools which will showcase the excellent work your children have been doing. Reception have ‘The Owl Lady’ in on Tuesday, as the Owl Man has sadly retired. In the evening we have the Governor’s Pupil Achievement Committee. Wednesday is our day for the School Nurse – Cathy – to drop in from 8.30am to 9.30am. On Thursday it is our Read Write Inc Development Day and Rev Rich is working with Sequoia in preparation for their Y4 Carol Concert. We finish the week with the Anti Bullying March with the other Harold Hill schools!

Sharing Assembly:  Wednesday 18th November Ash Y3 @ 9.05am
We will be delighted to welcome the parents and friends of pupils in Ash class as they share their learning from the term so far.

Parent Governor Election

Dear parents,

Today we are sending home the election forms for the Parent Governor vacancy. We are delighted that three candidates have come forward. Please return your voting form by 3.30pm on the 19th October using the envelope provided. Alternatively you can print the letter off from the blog post and return it to school via the post or with your child.