Headteachers’ Bulletin – 6th February 2026

• 9th Feb – SEND Network 2pm @ Pastoral Centre
• 12th Feb – Writing Moderation FS2/KS1
• 13th Feb – Trust Choir Workshop @St Marie’s Cathedral
• 23rd Feb – TRUST INSET day @ All Saints
• 26th Feb – Morning session for Heads and Senior Leaders with Jes @St Catherine’s
• 26th Feb – Writing Moderation Y3/4 5th Mar – DSL Network Meeting

Actions from previous bulletin

Please complete the form to book places at the Choir rehearsal.

Trust INSET – Final reminders for response

Thank you for your work in encouraging staff to get responses to us around workshop choices and lunch orders. We had the overwhelming majority of staff respond by the deadline. Where we didn’t get a response by the deadline we will be allocating workshops according to space. Thank you as well for responding to the things we asked of you as Heads, including letting us know if any of your staff are coming by coach and also notifying us of first aiders and the ‘responsible person/people’ from your school. If you haven’t got that back to us yet, we really need it by lunchtime on Monday as we are having a meeting to finalise all planning with All Saints on Tuesday of next week.

DSL Network – Thus 5th March

Our next DSL network meeting will be 4-5pm on 5th March. We will be sending an agenda out directly to all DSLs by the end of the week. This meeting will focus on feedback from the peer safeguarding reviews and the work done with Sai Patel. It will include updates on some actions and plans arising from the reviews, including guidance for safeguarding governors, online safety policy, a proposal round safeguarding training and proposals around the single central record. We want to move forward with actions and would like all DSLs to be able to be part of the planning, so please do make sure that your DSL (or you if you are DSL) can attend the network meeting.

Thursday 26th February – Next Leadership Session with Jes Smith

I do know that he is my brother so I am probably biased but I think we have all really enjoyed our sessions with Jes and developed our leadership as a result of his input! Jes has designed all of the sessions for St Clare Leaders, he is back in the UK now and he has offered to continue our leadership journey in the morning on Thursday 26th February. Jes gives his time and resources to us free of charge, can we encourage as many Heads and Senior leaders to join this session as possible? We recognise how stretched things are in school currently but if we don’t develop ourselves we won’t be able to develop our teams. Arrival from 8.30 for a 9am start please.

Senior Leaders Group

We recently scheduled and presented an overview of school funding and financial planning to the senior leaders group. Although originally planned as a single overview session, it was clear that colleagues were interested in developing a deeper understanding, we will look into the possibility of developing a more detailed programme going forward. However, as we will shortly be commencing the financial planning cycle we wondered if this would be an ideal opportunity for the senior leaders to be involved in the development of their school budgets alongside headteachers, SBM and central finance colleagues. This may range from observing/shadowing through to actively participating in the development of financial plans/costing. Therefore, we would be grateful if you could have a conversation with your senior leaders and confirm the extent of any engagement, you feel would be appropriate subject to your operational needs. Please confirm any details of engagement with John Coats and Adnan Bashir.

Internal Audit Programme 2025/26

Our internal audit programme will commence on the 9th February with the following audit assignments:

• GDPR
• Fraud, Theft & Bribery

Schools selected by the internal auditors will be notified on Monday 26th January and provided with a detailed schedule of requirements, where appropriate. If your school is selected and you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Adnan Bashir.

Secondment Opportunity

St Patrick’s are in need of a Learning Mentor! We are looking to second a Learning Mentor to St Patrick’s for the remainder of the school year. If you have a member of staff who may be suitable for this role could you please email Fiona? Ideally we would want this post to be full time but if anyone has a member of staff who could join the St Patrick’s team on a part time basis we would consider it!

Funded Accreditation Opportunity

I wanted to share a funded accreditation opportunity for early years leaders who already have experience of leading professional development. The programme is aimed at leaders who are keen to build on their existing practice and support professional development both within their own setting and by working with another setting. The commitment includes: Three days of professional development (a mix of face-to-face and online sessions) One additional day to complete and submit an Accreditation Evidence Document There is £800 of funding available to help schools release colleagues to take part. Places are limited, and the selection process will include a visit to the setting. If you’d like more information, please see the flyer or if you want to arrange an informal discussion please get in touch with vjohnlewis@symathshub.org.uk.

Writing Moderation

This is a reminder that our writing moderation dates are as follows: Foundation/Y1/Y2 – Thursday 12th Feb Y3/Y4 – Thursday 26th Feb Y5/Y6 – Thursday 12th Mar All of the moderation sessions will be hosted at the Pastoral Centre and will run from 2.30-4.00pm Please use this link to confirm places for your staff at the moderation

Part Time Maternity Leaver Cover

St Alban’s need a part time teacher for Y3 from Easter. This is a maternity leave cover for 2 terms -April to December 2026 (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday half day – negotiable). If you know of someone wanting a secondment or temporary experience elsewhere, please put them in touch with Lindsey.

HLTA Opportunity

Lindsey Ebsworth has a HLTA who is doing the Assessment Only teaching training route. They are currently teaching in KS1, and need an (approx.) 20 day KS2 placement in an alternative setting. This could be organised anytime from spring half term onwards on a one-day per week arrangement until the end of the year. This is so that Lindsey can backfill their release. The HLTA lives in Doncaster and doesn’t drive, but their partner works near the centre of Sheffield. The HLTA would need some mentoring support in gaining confidence in KS2 but could otherwise be expected to take responsibility for the class for significant portions of the one-day per week with no other cost to the host school. If this is something that is of interest/might also help you, Lindsey would be interested in hearing from you.