Building Update

We had a peek into the building site last week and saw a significant amount of progress. In the last few weeks the external brick work has now reached the roof level, which means that many of the roof panels have been added.

Internally there are now lots of scaffolding structures to allow the interior brick work to be completed. In the hall, most of the wall bricks have been laid.

In the Nursery you can see all the window holes are ready to be glazed, and the roof is partially complete.

We are still looking at a completion date in 2019, probably nearer the February half term at the moment, rather than the January as first hoped. This is partly due to the increased scope of works to be completed around the building which will ensure that the site is fully completed, and ready for a possible 4FE expansion.

Make sure you check out the video!

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

Secretary of State: Ideas from Broadford!

We were delighted to receive a letter from the new Secretary of State for Education. Having hosted Justine Greening in November, it was great to hear that our pupils made such an impact that Damian Hinds MP is already keen to get in touch.

We are very proud of the changes we have made at Broadford and the way they have had such a positive impact on results. To see that the Department of Education considers Broadford to be 'thought provoking and innovative' is high praise indeed.

We’re In The Paper: Review of the Year

We were delighted to see Broadford Primary featured in the Romford Recorder review of the year 2017. It was great to look back on the amazing accolade from the TES in June. This was a testament to the hard work, over six years, put in by staff, pupils, parents and Governors.

INSET Day Consultation

Dear Parents

We believe that your children are entitled to an outstanding education. We believe that to deliver this, our teachers should have excellent subject knowledge and high quality training to develop their skills.

Currently, by opening from 8.30am everyday, we provide 3,800mins extra education a year for your children - almost 65 hours. We propose using 19.5hrs of this time to create 3 extra training days for staff that will allow them:

• to deepen their subject knowledge
• practice key techniques
• be updated on changes to assessment and curriculum
• plan together across both schools

...and generally use this time to become even better teachers than they are today.

It would means that there would be one extra day of INSET each term (3 in total). As a consequence of this we believe that our staff will get additional high quality training, and your children will get an enhanced education and 45hrs extra in school!

Please complete the questions below to register your opinion about the proposal.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FORM

ONLY COMPLETE THE SURVEY ONCE - JUST INDICATE THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN YOU HAVE IN THE SCHOOL IN TOTAL

Building Underway

We have been delighted to see the start of the final phase of building works. This will see six new classrooms, an additional sports hall, staff room, Nursery (with outdoor play area) and office space. It is anticipated that the work will be finished in October 2018, making the school large enough to house 3FE... or 630 pupils.

In 2011 we only had 274, so that is quite a rate of expansion! It has taken a very long time to get to this point and we would like to thank you for the support - including raising the issue with local councillors on our behalf - and patience.

As you can see from the final image below, the completed structure will ensure that Broadford pupils continue to enjoy a world class learning environment.

We will keep you updated on progress as the building work moves forward.

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.

Read Write Inc - Model School Status

We are delighted to be able to display our certificate confirming our status as a Read Write Inc Model school. Over the last six years our teachers have worked tirelessly to ensure that we are providing the best phonics teaching for our youngest pupils so that they are able to read by the age of 6.

Now that we have established a number of years of outstanding results and teaching we are able to offer our school as a support for others who are looking to improve and develop their phonics teaching.

Last year the National pass rate for the Year 1 Phonics screening test was 81% and at Broadford we achieved 89%.

Julia Dockerill MP Visits Broadford

We were delighted to welcome newly elected MP Julia Dockerill to Broadford Primary last week. It was a fantastic opportunity for Julia to meet some of our Broadford pupils, talk to staff and get a better understanding of what made Broadford a unanimous choice for School of the Year.

The children are absolutely gorgeous and a credit to your school.

Julia Dockerill MP

Arhann, Sienna, Ranita, Finley and Samanyu talked to Julia about all of their recent achievements: LAMDA exams, national writing competitions, Count On Us, and the SHINE project. 

I'm very proud of my school and it was brilliant to be able to talk to Julia about how Broadford is the best school on the hill!

Ranita

We're In The Paper: TES Coverage

For those of you who won't have had a chance to see the TES magazine, here is a copy of the article about our school. The journalist - Helen - came and spent a day with us to learn about what we do at Broadford and the progress the school has made over the last six years.

Russell came along to take some photographs of the children... which are stunning.

What is the TES?
The Tes, formerly known as the Times Educational Supplement, is a weekly UK publication aimed primarily at school teachers in the UK. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in The Times newspaper. Such was its popularity that in 1914, the supplement became a separate publication selling for one penny.

TES focuses on school-related news and features. Today its editor is Ann Mroz. It has a circulation of around 58,000 people a week!

Press Coverage: TES Awards

It has been fantastic to see the press coverage that winning the TES Award has bought the school. The finale has been the article in the TES which followed up on the awards. We can't say enough how proud we are of all of our school community: Governors, parents, staff and pupils. The combined team effort is what has put us in this position and it is that spirit that will ensure the standards and expectations remain high in the years to come.

We're In The Paper: School of the Year!

We were delighted to make the front page of the Romford Recorder this week. For the last six years we have tirelessly promoted the achievements of the pupils as we have pushed to move Broadford from being the worst school in Harold Hill to one of the top rated schools in the country.

To see Harold Hill pupils celebrating their incredible achievement on the front page of a newspaper with a huge circulation is fantastic publicity for the children, which they richly deserve.

Make sure you go out and get your copy!

http://www.romfordrecorder.co.uk/news/education/harold-hill-school-scoops-prestigious-primary-of-the-year-tes-award-1-5078491

Mayor of London Letter

We were delighted to receive a very kind letter from Sadiq Khan - the Mayor of London. A long time ago we promised to make Broadford the best school on the Hill, then we aimed for Havering. Now the TES Award has put the school and our local area on a much larger stage.

To have the Mayor of London taking the time to write a letter to congratulate the families and pupils of Harold Hill for the achievements is incredible. We are very proud of all that has been achieved and know that we will be back in September to work harder to reach even higher!

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!

Year 6 SATs Celebration

After months of practice, perseverance and perspiration, Year 6 completed their SATs last week. We are so proud of the hard work the children have put into their learning and the hours they have spent preparing for the tests. In recognition of this and to let off some steam, our Year 6 pupils visited the Queen Elizabeth (Olympic) Park for a day of fun.

Luckily, the rain didn't ruin the proceedings and the children made the most of the park, enjoying the play equipment, fountains, football and a guest appearance from Miss Chau's pet dog!

Parents' Evening Appointments - 28th & 29th March

Dear Parents

This term we are using a new system for you to indicate which time is best to see your child's class teacher and discuss their progress.

Please complete the form by clicking on this link

Alternatively you can scan the QR code below

There will not be any paper forms sent out

Please complete one online form for every child you have in the school

Once you have completed the form, your child's class teacher will send you a paper confirmation of the actual appointment time.

We look forward to seeing you on the 28th - 29th of March.

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.

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

KS2 SATs Awards 2016

Well done to our Year 6 pupils who excelled during the recent KS2 tests. Although we were delighted by the overall performance, there were some stand out scores who deserved special recognition.

Charlotte, Katherine, Sophie and Simona all exceeded expectations with their scores across the areas of Reading, SPaG and Maths. They either had the highest total score in a specific area or had made the most progress this year from their starting points in September.

Well done for all of your hard work!