The PAG Newsletter - Issue 8
Introduction from Tom Legge??
Let me start by wishing you a very happy, if slightly belated new year. As schools return from a well-deserved Christmas break, 2023 is already off to a busy start here at PAG.??
The current free school waves continue to be at the forefront of our minds, as the AP deadline approaches, and we eagerly await the DfE’s announcement of which local authorities have been successful in the SEND wave. You can read more about the current status of the free school waves in this issue.??
We also have a couple of exciting webinars coming up, and you can find more details in the calendar at the end of this issue.?
All in all, 2023 is shaping up to be an exciting year for everyone here at PAG, and perhaps even more exciting for our marketing executive, Vince Taylor, who got engaged last week. Congratulations Vince.??
As always, thank you for reading our newsletter, and make sure to follow PAG on Twitter and LinkedIn.??
Create: Schools - Meet our Marketing Partner, Kinetic Marketing?
By Gabriel Senior?
As part of delivering the Department for Education’s free schools programme, Create: Schools has partners in a range of specialisms including capital, legal, ICT, finance, and marketing. All our partners are market leaders and have been involved in the free schools process since its inception.?
Our marketing partner, Kinetic Marketing, is a leading marketing service for schools and trusts across the country. Their areas of expertise include marketing strategy, branding and design, communications, social media, and website development.??
Kinetic is led by Becci Roach, who is a co-founder of the all-through free school in Eastbourne, Gildredge House. The school opened in September 2013 and received an ‘Outstanding’ rating in its first Ofsted inspection, with the inspector noting that parents were delighted that they enrolled their children at the school. Moreover, Becci has a decade of marketing experience across all types and phases of free school and uses her in-depth knowledge to help clients create the strongest application and achieve their goal of opening a new school.?
Becci believes that effective marketing strategies are key to ensuring that all stakeholders, ranging from pupils to prospective staff members to residents in the vicinity of the school grounds, feel confident in the school’s vision and ambition for the community. This philosophy is embedded into Kinetic’s work and mirrors clients’ passion and determination to open their schools successfully and on time.??
If you are looking for bespoke free school marketing services centring on the needs of the local community, you can click here to get in contact with Becci under no obligation.?You can also click here to book your spot on Kinetic's 'Introduction to SEND' webinar at the end of this month.
PAG Explains: Pre-Opening Project Management??
By Helena Senior and Tom Legge?
Introduction?
The Pre-opening Phase is a vital part of the free school process. Whether you’ve been successful via the central free school waves or via local authority competition, this is the next stage of your journey and far fewer schools emerge from this process than enter it. In many cases, schools do not pass pre-opening for factors that are out of the control of the proposer. For example, if you can't find a site then you can’t open a school. Equally, changes in birth rate and demographics can put paid to the strongest application with little or nothing the proposer can do to affect the outcome.??
At PAG, we know first-hand that opening a new school is a challenging process that requires strong leadership, vision, and determination. Within PAG we have, and continue to sit, in a various seats around the pre-opening table. As such, we bring significant insights into a process which, while well documented and well-trodden, remains a mixture of art and science.?
Within PAG, we have significant experience in project managing the pre-opening phase and have guided many clients through this exacting process. We’ve outlined below what we consider to be the most important elements to consider when working through the pre-opening phase. ?
Time??
As with most things, it is important to get ahead and it is never too early to get started with plans for pre-opening, once your application is successful. Taking prompt initial action will establish a strong base for the pre-opening phase, build stakeholder confidence from the start (DfE/LA) and ensure tasks progress in a timely manner. Set a target date for the signing of your Funding Agreement as early as possible – this gives everyone an aiming point and solidifies your timeline around other work. Critically, in mainstream schools, it enables you to make unconditional offers to pupils and some staff.?
It is also important to assign a project manager/lead as early as possible. Pre-opening takes a considerable amount of time and energy, and prioritising project management will help everyone involved manage often competing demands of the day job and pre-opening – unless you are lucky enough to have pre-opening as your day job like some PAG staff!?
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?To read the full article, click here.?
?Sector News: MP’s launch inquiry into school absence??
By Ernestina Alvarez Corona??
MPs have announced plans to launch an inquiry into persistent school absence, with a focus on identifying the underlying causes and potential solutions.??
On the same day as the DfE released new attendance data, The Commons Education Select Committee reported that during the pandemic, the number of students who were consistently missing from school soared. The latest figures indicate that during December, the absence rate across all state schools was 14.3% in the second week of the month, more than double the figure of 7.8% for the whole academic year. According to the DfE, the recent increased trend was driven by an increase in sick days.???
The inquiry proposed by the committee will examine a range of factors that may contribute to persistent absence, including socio-economic disadvantages, special education needs and disabilities, and ethnic background. It will also consider the effectiveness of current attendance policies and interventions designed to tackle the problem and make recommendations for improvements.??
Robin Walker, chair of the committee, anticipated that further strategies for dealing with frequent absences may include breakfast clubs and extracurricular programmes.??
Create: Schools News – Free School Waves Update??
By Imogen Phillips??
With separate waves for alternative provision, special and mainstream free schools, there are three different timelines for applicants. Below you will find updates for each of the waves.??
Alternative Provision??
?With the deadline for pre-registration passing last year, the window to apply for a new AP free school has opened. The final submission deadline is the 17th of February, leaving proposer groups – consisting of lead applicants, local authorities, and any other partners – with just over a month to finalise their applications.??
Special??
In October last year, local authorities submitted their applications to open a new special free school. The DfE published a list of the local authority submissions, including details on the type of need the schools would aim to address. We are expecting successful local authorities to be announced early this year, commencing stage 2 of the special free school wave: proposer groups will then be invited to submit their applications to local authorities later in the year.??
Mainstream??
The deadline for mainstream wave 15 applicants passed in November last year, with the DfE currently in the assessment stage. We are anticipating that interviews for selected proposer groups will begin in March this year, with successful mainstream applicants to be announced later in the Spring.?
If you have any questions about any of the free school waves, you can get in touch with Create: Schools here for free advice and support.??
Upcoming Events
To book your spot on any of the upcoming Create: Schools webinars click here, or to view our previous sessions, please click here.?
Open Opportunities
For more information on current opportunities, you can check out the live bids page on our website here.?
Public Sector Change & Programme Management
2 年Tom Legge Excellent informative updates as always! Great to see PAG’s Pre-Opening PM resource. Definitely worth Trusts’ investment and would highly recommend.
Digital Anthropologist & UX Researcher at Cibervoluntarios
2 年?? ?? ??