EdQuarter Presents: The Education Station EdQuarter Presents: The Education Station

Our last panel of the year, sponsored by MyConcern, was an extremely important one – especially in the current climate. We spoke to Mike Glanville, director of safeguarding services at One Team Logic; Jan Pickles OBE, safeguarding consultant; Adam Lubbock, director of Kings River Education; and Luke Ramsden, designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and deputy headteacher of St Benedict’s School.

We asked the panel about the current challenges for DSLs, what additional measures schools can take to support them, what lessons have been learned since March on managing the consequences of Covid-19, the implications of online learning, and how schools can develop a culture of outstanding safeguarding practice.

The experts spoke about how the workload and expectations of DSLs has escalated due to Covid-19. “Our DSLs need more support in a number of different ways to be able to enhance their role and really recognise the responsibilities that they have,” said Glanville.

Barnaby Lenon began his career in 1978 teaching geography at Eton College and is currently the chairman of the Independent Schools Council. On the topic of the current state of the independent schools sector, we asked him whether demand for independent schools had changed since the pandemic, the financial toll of freezing fees and the biggest challenges facing heads.

The big question was whether the independent schools sector is stronger or more vulnerable than ever. “It’s clearly very strong in some ways”, said Lenon, highlighting the sector’s “very good education”, “excellent value for money” and “tremendous historic continuity”.

However, Lenon continued: “Politically we’re vulnerable – we don’t have enough friends – financially we’re vulnerable because we know that our fees over the last 15-20 years have risen too fast, so we’ve lost some middle-income parents, but otherwise I think we’re in good shape.”

We were delighted to catch up with Sally-Anne Huang, high master at St Paul’s School, who reflected on the last academic year, her role as chair of HMC, and how schools can foster an environment for good mental health. 

Huang, new to her role at St Paul’s this September, said it had been a good time to move schools, as crisis management meant she had been able to get to know the team very well right off the bat.

She highlighted how headteachers urgently needed consultation with the Government on what is going to happen with 2021 exams, and said this lack of discussion with those at the chalkface had led to a loss of faith. “I do wish there was more consultation. We as headteachers often hear things from journalists before official announcements from the Government. Faith that things will be consistent, I think that’s gone, but in some ways it’s made us more resilient.” Huang added about the independent schools sector: “I do think that we’ll come out of this stronger.”

In this discussion, sponsored by CH&CO, we were joined by Amanda Ursell, CH&CO’s consultant nutritionist; Irfan Latif, principal of DLD College London; and Edward Valletta, bursar and clerk to the governors at Kimbolton School.

We asked the panel how CH&CO’s four pillars of focus – mental health, sustainability, nutrition and community – align with the education sector, how important good nutrition is for pupils to achieve their best, and how parents, educators and caterers can work together to encourage food exploration.

We also talked in depth about Marcus Rashford’s school meals campaign, how schools can support children with a vegan lifestyle and how CH&CO’s work to make good food fun will have a lasting impact on children’s health.

We spoke to Nick Dennis about the impact of the pandemic on the curriculum and his role as director of studies, how history education is changing, and practical steps to improve the recruitment and development of staff to increase ethnic and gender diversity.

Nick Dennis is currently director of studies at St. Francis’ College, Letchworth and also a fellow of the Schools History Project, the UK’s premier historical education think tank. He has presented a series of historical documentary programmes for the World History Project, where he also sits on the advisory board. Nick is a member of the GSA’s Inclusion Committee in addition to being part of the National Governance Association’s diversity and inclusion advisory group. Alongside teaching, Nick has worked with a variety of organisations such as EuroClio, Europeana and Apple. Nick has published articles on history education, diversity, educational research and the use of technology to enhance learning.

Our panel of passionate headteachers stepped up to tackle the biggest questions in education. This included Nina Gunson, head of Sheffield High School for Girls; Millan Sachania, headmaster of Streatham & Clapham High School; Mark Beach, headmaster of Sherborne House School; and Jo Anderson, principal of Bury Grammar Schools.

We asked them whether schools should have been forced to shut in March, whether they received enough guidance from the Government to open in September, what strategies they used to reassurance parents and if their schools were prepared for more potential lockdowns. We also asked them about the mental health impact of the pandemic on their pupils, which remote learning tools have worked well and what should happen with next year’s exams.