The Norfolk Learning Collaborative

A Learning Ambition for Norfolk, through the Norfolk Learning Collaborative: Update, June 2024

Within the Capacity and Expertise of the Education Workforce group, joint presentations were delivered to members of the Norfolk School Leaders Association by the  NCC Apprenticeships team and Apprenticeships Norfolk team, with a focus on recruitment and retention benefits of an apprenticeship route. This was received positively, with renewed interest already translating into new sign up to the TA apprenticeship in particular.

There will be an ITT provider webinar for schools on Thursday 10 October at 4pm, where ITT providers will share information about their mentor programmes, and to demonstrate the range of provision across the system and how this can be accessed.

The Ensuring Effective Transitions task group has received a large number of parental responses to the transitions survey which was sent to a group of Norfolk parents: 766 parents returned the survey, which will now be analysed, ahead of the production of a report which will be shared in due course. These responses also will be used to inform any recommendations made by the task group and influence the direction of their work going forward.

A survey was sent to all schools by the Improving Data and Information Sharing task group calling for volunteers to participate in a networking group to consider the needs and wants of future data sharing systems. This was well responded to, with colleagues from a wider range of school phases, structures and roles interested. After an initial meeting, key requirements were captured and will be used to shape any tools created. The pilot inclusion dashboard tool is still ongoing; as soon as a complete draft is available this will be shared with school leaders for feedback.  

A programme of school visits arranged by the Enhancing the self-improving system through a Norfolk Collaborative Standard​ group has had almost 30 signups, with colleagues from across the county visiting and learning from a range of school settings. For many this has been the first opportunity to visit and spend time in another setting outside their own. Colleagues have commented on how useful and inspiring they have been and how they have given lots of food for thought.

The Schools, Colleges and Settings Communication and Engagement task group have been working on the creation of a shared calendar, which will be accessible via the website and contain key dates and events relevant to education professionals. This will be maintained and updated through the year, with the aim of maximising notice for upcoming events. This will launch ahead of the summer holidays. Additionally, a directory of key members of staff will be available on the website, which will also be updated to ensure it remains a useful resource for contacting colleagues within Children's Services.

A Learning Ambition for Norfolk, through the Norfolk Learning Collaborative: Update, May 2024

The Learning Ambition for Norfolk works to support and deliver the aims of the Norfolk Learning Collaborative, where education leaders from across the county have agreed to work together to address key issues. At the first Collaborative meeting, members identified the Norfolk Challenge of improving the KS2 outcomes across the county as one of the main priorities, and this will be a core focus of the group moving forward, alongside the core themes in the Learning Ambition. The next meeting takes place on Tuesday, 11th June at 2pm at County Hall; if you would like to join please let us know. Six task groups within the Learning Ambition continue to work within these core themes, and we would like to share some of the collective work of these groups with the following highlights:

The School, Colleges & Settings Communication and Engagement​ task group has been working to improve communications with schools, colleges and settings. The new Norfolk Schools website now hosts all news items, categorised and tagged so that they are easier to find, share and revisit. The eCourier bulletin has now been redesigned for ease of access and readability, highlighting items which require action and foregrounding content to share with staff, parents, children & young people and the wider community.

Their next actions are to further develop the website so that information is easier to access. This will include the creation of 'one-minute guides' for a range of topics, including clear signposts to local and national guidance and ensuring that routes into teams within the Local Authority are clear. This, combined with a longer-term ambition to reduce the number of different platforms which are needed by education providers, aims to help education providers to access and use information effectively.

The Capacity and Expertise of the Education Workforce task group has launched a short-term, local recruitment campaign via EducationHR to grow the teacher and teaching assistant talent pools. This campaign is live and runs until the end of the summer term. They have also continued their work to improve retention rates in leadership by beginning to create resources to support headteacher well-being. In collaboration with Educate Norfolk, systems leaders are creating a graduated wellbeing resource for heads and systems leaders to signpost to local and national support available, and featuring Norfolk leaders' anecdotal experiences, challenges, and solutions. If you would like to contribute to this resource, please do get in touch.

The Ensuring Effective Transitions task group, building on work from the Norwich Opportunity Area, and aligned with transition work in Local First Inclusion, has created a questionnaire for parents, designed to understand how the education system can better support transition between all phases. Starting with a pilot year 6 and 7 group, the intention is to make this available across the county. They have also created a template for a research report to support strong transition practice, which will also be shared. Potential aspects for research have been identified, linking a number of other themes of work (such as work to support Key Stage 2  outcomes across Norfolk, and school communications).

The task group focusing on Enhancing the self-improving system through a Norfolk Collaborative Standard​has arranged a number of school visits across the county, including primary, secondary and special schools, to highlight and share good practice. A case study proforma has also been developed, designed to be easy to share and compare school improvement and development experiences. This group has representation from both Local Authority maintained schools and Academy Schools, but is always keen to hear from those across the education sector; if you would like to participate, ask a question or provide input, please get in touch.

If you would like to find out more about the task groups, or if you (or someone on your staff) are interested in supporting the education system, please let us know.