St Mark's CE Primary School

St Mark's Teaching School Alliance is now recruiting LLEs and SLEs in a new round, along with the other East Sussex Teaching Schools. Application forms can be found at the bottom of this page and we really hope to hear from you. The deadline for applications is the 2nd July,2021, with the Assessment day on the 9th July, 2021. We welcome applications from practitioners in all areas of the curriculum but support in maths, English, curriculum design and behaviour management are frequently requested. Do email on crivers@st-marks.e-sussex.sch.uk or ring Claire Rivers for more information on 01825 830375.

Local Leader of Education Guide for potential applicants  
  
Overview  
If you are a headteacher and want to work with other schools to improve pupil outcomes, you might want to apply to be a Local Leader of Education. In addition to leading your own school, you would have a coaching and mentoring role with a headteacher whose school is in challenging circumstances. The goal of the LLE is to increase the leadership capacity of other schools to help raise standards. This is one part of the government’s plan to give schools a central role in developing a self improving and sustainable school-led system.  

Who can apply  
To become a Local Leader of Education, you and your school need to meet the following criteria:  
Criteria for headteachers  
To be eligible to be a Local Leader of Education, you must:  
have at least 3 years of experience as a serving headteacher 
expect to remain at your current school for at least 2 years after being selected 
have accountability for one or more school(s) that meet the criteria below 
have the support of your school’s governing body and local authority, or a senior educational professional 
demonstrate that you have sufficient experience providing support as a coach or mentor to another headteacher or senior member of staff at a school other than your own 
commit to time expectations 

Criteria for the headteacher’s school  
For you to be considered as a Local Leader of Education, your current school must:  
have an Ofsted rating of good or outstanding 
show consistently high levels of pupil performance or continued improvement over the last 3 years 
be above current minimum standards set by the government 
have experienced senior leaders with capacity to work with other schools  
.   
What a Local Leader of Education does  
The majority of the work of a Local Leader of Education is one-to-one support of another headteacher. 
Typical activities include:  
negotiating objectives for improvement 
coaching and mentoring the headteacher to develop skills, judgement and professional effectiveness 
supporting or arranging coaching or training for staff in the supported school   
Each placement is negotiated via the St Mark's TSA with the relevant school, other organisation, or our local authority.    
Schools that are a priority for support are those where: 
attainment is below the minimum standards 
the school is considered to be vulnerable 
a new, first-time headteacher has been appointed 

Support must be focused on: 
school improvement 
the needs of the beneficiary organisation 

Time commitment
Successful applicants will be added to St Mark's TSA School To School Support list, with placements being brokered by St Mark's TSA. Individual placements can vary by intensity and length, but there must be an agreed end point, negotiated between the LLE, the recipient school or organisation, and St Mark's TSA. Typically, a placement would not be expected to take up more than six days over an academic year. You can transfer some of the contracted days to other members of staff in your own school. For example, your deputy headteacher could be asked to work with the partner school’s deputy. 

Funding Costs for the support of a Local Leader of Education are funded by whoever is asking for your time (eg a school, the local authority, or the Diocese). A proportion of the fees charged will be paid to your school. It is up to your school’s governing body to decide whether you are rewarded financially for your work.

SLEs are outstanding middle and senior leaders in positions below the headteacher, with at least two years’ leadership experience. They have a particular area of expertise (such as a subject area, early years, behaviour or school business management) and a successful track record of school improvement.

SLEs support leaders in other schools. They have excellent interpersonal skills, are able to work sensitively and collaboratively with others and have a commitment to outreach work. They understand what outstanding leadership practice in their area of specialism looks like and can help other leaders to achieve it in their own context.

The SLE role is about developing other middle and senior leaders so that they have the skills to lead their own teams and improve practice in their own schools. This may be done through one-to-one peer coaching or facilitated group support and could involve a variety of activities, such as data analysis, coaching or joint action planning.

SLEs can come from any school or academy, including nursery, primary, secondary, special, pupil referral unit, independent or free school, or sixth form college. Whilst the individual must be outstanding, his or her school does not have to be.

There are now over 4,900 SLEs designated to date.

St Mark's Teaching School Alliance has already recruited 18 SLEs in the following areas and the charge to school for their support is £350 a day:

Maths- 3
English- 3
Phonics- 6
Computing- 2
Modern Foreign Languages-1
Special Educational Needs-2
Dsylexia Friendly status- 2
Science-1

To access the East Sussex SLE Directory, please click on the link below and scroll down to the orange link:

https://czone.eastsussex.gov.uk/school-effectiveness/school-partnerships/teaching-schools/

Computing - Andrew Gunn
Andrew is a Specialist Leader in Education (for Computing) at St Mark’s CE Primary school where he teaches a mixed age Y5/6 class two days a week and is the Maths subject leader.  He is a Master Teacher for the Computing at School organisation, facilitator for the Wealden Education Improvement Partnership, a nationally accredited trainer for several large organisations, delivers training for the East Sussex local authority and runs his own business and training programmes.

He can offer a wide range of support including:

Developing the computing, maths and languages curricula;
Promoting subject leadership skills;
Organising and facilitating CPD programmes;
Coaching and mentoring;
Creating exciting cross-curricular projects;
Embedding e-safety provision across the school;
Supporting teachers in moving from Good to Outstanding;
Making use of video to improve teaching;
Embedding the use of technology across the curriculum;
Creating an online presence for your school through tools such as websites, learning platforms, wikis, blogs, forums and web apps;
Carrying out a whole school audit of ICT provision;
Updating your school ICT strategic development plan.

Mathematics - John Barnes
John is an experienced teacher who has enjoyed becoming a jack of all trades over the years (and possibly a master of some!). He has experience teaching from Early Years up to Year 4 and is currently English leader, Maths leader and SENCO at Little Horsted Primary School. As well as this, he will be taking over the Deputy Head post in September.
He has developed a real passion for Dyslexia and Dyscalulia friendly teaching and led the school in gaining Dyslexia Friendly Status. In particular, he has looked at finding strategies that not only benefit these children, but all children within a class by maximising the use of multi-sensory teaching. John has found Talk for Writing and the Singapore approach to maths especially beneficial within his own school for enabling all children to make good progress.

John would be very happy to work with schools and teachers to develop their practice in English, Maths and SEN and is happy to work 1:1, with groups, with the subject leaders, with support staff or with the whole school team. He is able to do this through after school CPD or during the day subject to time constraints.

If there is anything John can help you with, then please contact the St Marks teaching alliance to set up an initial meeting.

Mathematics - Katie Sherwood
I am a SLE for maths, based at St. Mark’s Teaching School. During my many years at St. Marks I have taught across the whole age range from Foundation Stage to Year 5/6. I am maths subject leader at St. Mark’s.

I am trained in Inspire Maths and believe wholeheartedly in the mastery approach to the teaching of maths. I have run twilight courses for both Key Stages One and Two on a variety of different aspects of maths. I have spent time in schools across the area, supporting teachers with their maths teaching. I am happy to work with schools and teachers to develop any aspect of maths – teaching, planning resources or carrying out lesson studies. I can work on a 1:1 basis with teachers, or with subject leaders. I tailor my support to the individual needs of each school.  

English Reading, Writing, Grammar and Punctuation, Spellings - Amy Meade

Amy is an experienced teacher who began their teaching career as a Secondary English teacher and has taught English across four key stages. Amy is highly passionate about English as it underpins meaning of all learning in the curriculum and the ability to communicate all learning.  

Amy currently teaches in Year 5 at Wivelsfied Primary School, is the English lead and Acting Deputy Headteacher. Amy has also had experience of teaching in Years 2 and Years 6: fully appreciating these milestone year groups and the challenges that children’s progress and attainment can have. Amy is highly committed to ensuring that ‘no lid’ is put on children’s learning and proactively seeks to work with children and staff to ensure that all children are provided with opportunities and teaching which enables them to progress. Amy works to develop plans within schools and with teachers to bring together the different areas of English or specific areas needing development.

 Prior to this role, Amy spent a large proportion of her teaching career in West Sussex – with roles which included being an Assistant Headteacher and an Achievement Team Leader. Amy has taught in a variety of different settings from a large secondary school, multiform entry primary schools to currently a one form entry primary school and respects that no two schools are the same. Every setting is unique and presents different challenges, but one thing that remains at the heart of all of her roles is making a positive impact on children’s learning and staff development and confidence for teaching English as a whole.  

Maths and English- Kate Elliott

Kate has over 15 years teaching experience, with 10 of those in leadership roles. Throughout her career she has actively participated in Maths and English development, and will be leading both subjects in her capacity as Year 1/2 teacher at Frant Primary School. 

She has taught children from Year 1 to Year 6 in both single and mixed aged classes, with a range of previous employment from Teaching Assistant to Head Teacher - so has a thorough understanding of the essential role that every member of a school team plays. Added to this are qualifications such as SENCo accreditation and the National Professional Qualification for Headship.

Her career has alternated between state and private, where she has been able to identify and then take with her areas of strength. Her places of work have mainly been in London and East Sussex.

Kate is looking forward to working with schools to develop any areas of Maths and English. This includes, but is not exclusive to; planning, innovation, effective monitoring, assessment and subject leader support. She is also happy to tailor her support according to the needs of the school. 
Phonics - Emma Dwyer
Emma is a passionate teacher who offers training and support in: Reading, Writing, Phonics, spelling, assessment, moderation, middle management and Early Years.

Emma received BA (Hons) and QTS from Greenwich University in 2008.  Over the past ten years Emma has taught across the Key Stages in Primary, specialising in Key Stage One. In her first school Emma successfully led Key Stage One, English and Phonics. Following this Emma worked as a Teaching and Learning Consultant for East Sussex County Council for three years, supporting schools across the county.

Currently Emma works as Assistant Headteacher at Pashley Down, a large infant school in Eastbourne. Leading the Phonics Hub Emma manages a team of Phonics leaders supporting schools throughout the county. In addition, Emma teaches a Year 2 class and leads on English, Phonics, assessment, moderation and Key Stage One. 

Emma sits on the National Council for the United Kingdom Literacy Association and is a strong supporter of the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education. Emma believes drawing on wider research and sharing expertise across schools is key to school improvement.

Phonics - Norma Manktelow
Norma Manktelow is an experienced teacher who has worked as a Foundation Stage and KS1 teacher for 10 years. She has also taught in primary schools in Mexico, including bilingual and international schools.  Norma was also a TEFL instructor for one year in Mexico and she is currently teaching year 2 at Motcombe School, where she has been an Acting Assistant Head of Year 1 and is now a co-subject leader for English with a focus on Phonics.

Norma has a degree in Literature and throughout her career has developed a passion for literature, linguistics and phonetics. She has delivered training sessions to teaching and support staff across a range of Year groups in schools in East Sussex.

Norma can deliver a range of support that includes advice on whole school delivery and embedding of phonics, use of quality texts, assessing and tracking phonics, supporting SEND, Pupil Premium and EAL pupils and closing knowledge gaps. She would be very happy to work with subject leaders, teachers and support staff, 1:1 or with whole school teams.

English - Amanda Bennett-Tomlin
I am currently a Year 2 class teacher and English lead/co-ordinator at Little Common School (a large 3 form entry primary school). I have previously worked in a small rural school as a KS1 leader and maths lead/co-ordinator. I am currently a KS1 lead moderator manager for Rother EIP facilitating and supporting moderation across schools and also an external moderator for ESCC. This is a role I also held last academic year. I have run sessions on ESCC courses for Recently Qualified Teachers about the creative curriculum. 

I am able to support schools with the new assessment framework in KS1 and provide advice and support about moderation of reading, writing and maths.

I am happy to support teachers new to KS1 as well as NQTs and RQTs across the curriculum. 

I am passionate about cross curricular learning and making meaningful links across core and foundation subjects. I have been involved in designing new curriculums and learning opportunities, making 'boy friendly' topics and learning  journeys. 

I'm happy to support subject leaders in developing their role as a middle leader and have experience in this in both small and large schools. 

I can support teachers in developing evidence for the greater depth level in KS1. 

I have worked with cohorts with large proportions of SEND children and can support teachers to develop their  general classroom practice to support children with a range of needs. 

I have developed phonics in the schools I have worked in so can support the improvement of phonics teaching across the school. 

I have previously worked with teachers on a support plan and helped develop their practice and planning to achieve 'good' awarded by Ofsted. 

Julie Ball - English
Julie Ball is an experienced teacher who has taught in a range of different schools across the country, including Inner London. She currently teaches Year 6 at Bonners Primary School and her expertise lies in using formative assessment techniques to teach children to write brilliantly and instill in them a love of reading. She has worked with Shirley Clarke on her action research team and has been filmed teaching writing for her website used to train teachers. Julie is able to work with your school on refining techniques to ensure that high quality texts are used to inspire the children, excellent modelling of writing is taking place and excellence is analysed prior to writing. From this, success criteria is generated and effective cooperative improvement takes place between pupils, so that outstanding progress is achievable for all students.
Julie has experience of leading whole school inset training, mentoring and supporting NQTs, training RQTs and coaching teachers on the moving from satisfactory to good support programme.
She is happy to work with individual class teachers, English subject leaders or groups of teachers to help improve practice further.

Assessment - Annette Stow
Annette is currently the Headteacher at St Marks CEP School and has had experience in teaching across Key Stage 1 and 2. She has worked in a variety of schools and was deputy head when she supported a school in moving from ‘Special Measures’ to ‘Good’ in just under a year. Annette has worked with, and developed, the skills and confidence of middle leaders and NQTs.

Annette has lead a range of core subject but has always been passionate about the effective use of assessment. She has had 14 years’ experience as Assessment lead using a range of strategies and systems, from AFL to data analysis. She is keen to support schools in developing their assessment to impact on the attainment and progress of all children and vulnerable groups. She has experience in using RAISE online, FFT, Assessment Manager, Target Tracker, INCERTs and EYFS tracking.  As an SLE, Annette is keen to support others in their confidence and own professional development.

Special Educational Needs - Lou Alexander
Specialist Support for SEN

Lou Alexander is an experienced, qualified SENCO with 12 years of mainstream and special school practice.  In her Specialist Leader of Education role she can offer:-

* Mentoring and support for new SENCO’s 

* Awareness training for teachers and TAs surrounding a variety of SEN conditions such as Dyslexia, ASC, Dyspraxia, ADHD, Challenging Behaviour and Hearing/Vision Impairment

* Specialist advice on classroom strategies for supporting SEN in the classroom

* Support with making referrals

* Advice and support for EHCP application

* Support with systems and paperwork

* Advice on working diagnostically with children to establish the nature of need

Lou has a strong CPD record that includes: Level 7 Teaching and Assessing for Dyslexia; lectures on challenging behaviour and attachment at the Child Centre for Mental Health; Art Therapy training at the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education. She has also attended SLE training and recently Achievement for All, Inclusion: Effective Deployment of Support Staff offered by ESCC and Measuring, Monitoring and Evaluating Progress training for SENCOs (PATOSS)

Maths  - Jo Shobbrook

Jo is an experienced teacher who has taught in East Sussex and Richmond over the last 14 years.  She has experience teaching from Year 1 through to Year 6 and is currently Maths leader and  Science leader at St Michael's Primary School. 

Since joining St Michael's she has helped to develop the maths mastery approach across the school and has developed a real passion for the approach in her own classroom. She believes that all pupils can master maths and her teaching style has been transformed by using the approach in her teaching.  She has recently written a case study on using maths mastery for the Chartered College of Teaching. 

Jo would be very happy to work with schools and teachers to develop their practice in Maths. She is able to do this through after school CPD or during the day subject to time constraints.

English (Talk for Writing) and UQT/NQT support-Yvonne Knight

Yvonne is an experienced teacher who has taught from EYFS up to Year 5. She has worked in a range of schools including one which was in special measures. She has been a KS1 Leader, English Leader and NQT mentor. She also has a NPQSL.

She is currently a Year 2 Class Teacher and Maths Lead at Ashdown Primary School (a large 2 form entry primary school).

She is passionate about Talk for Writing and has been fortunate enough to work alongside Pie Corbett. She has trained staff in a number of schools in this approach and was commended by HMI for Outstanding progress her class had made in writing and the impact her training and leadership had across the whole school resulting in the removal of special measures.

She is happy to introduce this to other schools or work alongside colleagues in supporting them with Talk for Writing.

She has supported several colleagues new to KS1 as well as NQTs and UQTs and is happy to work with teachers in all aspects of their practice.

The process for commissioning an SLE can be found on a link at the bottom of the page.
Do contact us on crivers@st-marks.e-sussex.sch.uk if you would like some more information.