Small and rural schools set to benefit from £2.5m funding – Kirsty Williams

Pupils across Wales are set to benefit from a new £2.5 million Welsh Government small and rural schools grant it was announced today (Friday 17^thNovember)  

 

Local authorities have been applying for the funding after the Education Secretary Kirsty Williams revealed the support package in November last year to encourage innovation and  support greater school to school working. 

 

This includes using digital technology to combat the issue of professional isolation, providing administrative support in schools where the head teacher has significant teaching commitment, supporting collaboration and federation of schools, and where opportunities exist and there is local demand, using school facilities for community purposes.

 

Amongst the local authorities to receive funding are Anglesey, which will receive £138,000 to federate some of its schools, and Pembrokeshire, which has been awarded £158,000 to fund a Small School Innovation Project for a network of 15 small and rural schools.

 

Kirsty Williams said:

 

“Small and rural schools play an important role in our national mission to raise standards and extend opportunities for all our young people.  

 

“We are taking action and providing new funding to help small and rural schools deal with the unique challenges they face, such as small pupil numbers and issues in recruiting head teachers and staff.

 

“This financial support will benefit pupils, teachers, and the wider community. I want to see rural schools working more formally together and across the country, forming federations and looking into the possibility of sharing buildings with other services to ensure school buildings remain viable.”

 

WLGA Spokesperson for Education, Councillor Debbie Wilcox (Newport) said: 

 

“This funding is great news for small and rural schools. As a former teacher of many years myself, I know how having the best possible learning environment can enhance education and overall experiences. Local education authorities have been working hard to ensure schools are responding to modern challenges and are fully-equipped to provide the best education environment for teachers, pupils and staff, and this investment will help to continue that important work.” 

 

WLGA Deputy Spokesperson for Education, Councillor Ellen ap Gwynn (Ceredigion) said:

 

“Small and rural schools face unique challenges, especially in terms of recruitment and smaller pupil numbers. But they’re more than just schools in the communities that they serve. They are important assets to the community as school buildings and resources are widely used for an array of community purposes. This funding will contribute to ensure that learners and communities alike can continue to reap the benefits of these schools, and also to strengthen the support for Welsh language education provision in our rural communities.”

 

The Education Secretary also announced plans to consult on strengthening the School Organisation Code in respect of a presumption against the closure of rural schools. For the first time ever there will be a designation of rural schools for that purpose. A 14 week consultation ended on 30 September and responses are currently being analysed.   

 

END

 

Notes to Editors

 

Anglesey has been awarded £138,000 to strengthen and formalise joint working arrangements through federation of a number of its small and rural schools, with shared leadership, business managers and administration functions and to improve communication through enhanced ICT.  

 

Blaenau Gwent has been awarded £36,000 to support greater school to school working between 2 of its small and rural schools in preparation for amalgamation in 2018. The funding will be used to develop shared practice and collaboration, to bring pupils and staff together to aid transition, for interactive equipment for pupils and staff and for a transition co-ordinator focusing on communication and integration of pupils, staff and the wider community in the new school.

 

Bridgend has been awarded £61,000 to support greater school to school working across a number of its schools, this includes helping teachers work together to share best practice, to implement a programme of evidence based research and develop a range of digital technologies to support remote collaborative working. The funding will also support wider links in the community and increase community use of school buildings by creating better access to extra curricular activities e.g. with Urdd and Menter Iaith. It will also fund joint working between a Welsh-medium Primary School and local English-medium schools to support development of Welsh and bilingualism development. In addition it will be used to develop a web based learning platform to enable sharing between one local primary school and other schools and the development of ‘virtual classrooms’ with the potential to be used out of school hours by the school community. 

 

Caerphilly has been awarded £104,000 to free up head teachers of two small schools to focus on leadership duties working alongside peer head teachers. The funding will also be used to develop formal associations between 2 partner schools for curriculum development and sharing of best practice; to release an Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator to work across 2 small schools and for transition activities with the secondary school to improve rate of progress at KS3. 

 

Cardiff has been awarded £34,000 to support greater formal school to school working through federation of a number of its small primary schools with shared leadership and backroom functions.

 

Carmarthenshire has been awarded £266,000 to support school to school working by developing capacity and good practice within clusters of schools. The funding will also be used to second headteachers and senior leaders to lead a Small and Rural Schools Best Practice and Innovation Project and to free up headteachers of 36 of its small and rural schools to enhance leadership capacity. 

 

Ceredigion has been awarded £160,000 to enable 22 of its small and rural schools to work together in groups on curriculum planning and to provide additional administrative support to free up headteachers to work together on strategic plans for improvement.

 

Conwy has been awarded £140,000 to appoint 4 higher level business support officers to work across 19 of its small and rural schools freeing up headteachers to focus on leadership and management.

 

Denbighshire has been awarded £109,000 to support joint working between its network of small and rural schools; for the appointment of a Building and Site Support Officer to oversee site security, health and safety, safeguarding and fire protection at various school campuses freeing up headteachers to focus on leadership and management and to increase the use of IT to combat professional isolation, and support collaboration. 

 

Flintshire has been awarded £145,000 to support greater formal school to school working through the establishment of 2 primary to primary federations; the funding will also be used for a feasibility study for a business management role to support schools in a rural location; to support its network of small schools to work collaboratively in relation to children with additional learning needs; to release headteachers in the network to focus on leadership and management and to develop a teacher network for joint working around curriculum planning. 

 

Gwynedd has been awarded £280,000 to fund networking between its network of small and rural schools and the Local Authority to share ideas and support strategic working between schools; to support collaboration between the network of schools; to develop an area office operation for schools freeing up headteachers to focus on leadership and management; for the creation of after school ‘homework’ clubs in the and to develop ‘back office’ support e.g. the sharing of an expert caretaker to undertake regular site inspections of its small and rural schools. 

 

Merthyr Tydfil has been awarded £23,000 to employ a community link worker to increase the community use of school buildings, to improve parental engagement and run and organise parental activities; to enhance ICT to assist one small school in preparing for the Digital Competence Framework; for joint working between schools and for resources to increase leadership capacity. 

 

Monmouthshire has been awarded £73,000 to enable head teachers of two primary schools to work with cluster headteachers on the development of cluster practice including the development of joint-working through cluster moderation in both schools and to enable sharing of best practice within the cluster, local authority and education authorities. The funding will also be used to develop a peer review process to build capacity in both schools; for a business manager to take responsibility for procurement, SLAs and grant funding and for a Team Teach teacher for years 5 & 6. 

 

Neath Port Talbot has been awarded £84,000 to fund 5 of its small and rural schools including: the development of teacher engagement and expertise; to develop school to school working at a cluster and LA level to develop high quality teaching; to provide administrative support to allow teaching Heads to focus on management and leadership; to enhance ICT in support of the Digital Competence Framework and to increase the community use of the school buildings.

 

Newport has been awarded £36,000 to support greater school to school working to improve literacy and numeracy and to allow AENCOs to work with others both within and beyond the cluster of schools The funding will also be used to facilitate parental engagement through a series of workshops/activities throughout the academic year that can be repeated at home, focussing on social and emotional development, literacy and language development and numeracy and mathematics.  

 

Pembrokeshire has been awarded £158,000 to fund a Small School Innovation Project working in collaboration with Carmarthenshire County Council and to support greater school to school working within a network of 15 small and rural schools. The funding will also be used to fund additional administrative support to free up headteachers to focus on leadership and management to implement a network for school staff responsible for vulnerable learners within the network of schools, for school to school support to help schools meet the challenge of the Digital Competence Framework and to increase community use of school buildings and improve the offer for creative and physical learning through engagement.

 

Powys has been awarded £252,000 to support greater school to school working between 20 of its small and rural schools, to make better use of resources and increase opportunities to focus on leadership and management. The funding will also be used to enhance ICT and resources to support distance learning and governance for 5 High Schools and 2 Primary Schools. In addition the funding will be used for the development of outdoor areas at 3 Primary Schools to increase the use of school facilities for pupils and the community and to enable schools within a school cluster to develop reading and writing skills.

 

Rhondda Cynon Taf has been awarded £134,000 to enhance technology and ICT in 7 small schools and to support community learning groups at these schools and to develop staff skills in preparation for implementation of the digital Competency Framework.

 

Torfaen has been awarded £28,000 to free up a head teacher of one of its small schools to focus on leadership and management. The funding will also support a shared Executive Head between 2 other local schools in the area to increase the leadership and management capacity. 

 

The Vale of Glamorgan has been awarded £56,000 to fund shared teachers/higher level teaching assistants across 6 schools to target specialist support for vulnerable learners to boost their mathematical skills and for joint training and networking of ALN specialist staff and a shared resource bank. 

 

Wrexham has been awarded £94,000 to support greater school to school working between three established federations of schools and other schools to maximise the impact of the Digital Competency Framework and support collaboration on curriculum development. The funding will also be used to support pupils’ emotional wellbeing; to employ a music teacher to work across a federation; to free up a headteacher’s time to focus on leadership and raise standards, to enhance ICT to connect classrooms to other schools; to allow Forest School delivery to be extended in one school and to provide extra leadership time and to enhance ICT to support video conferencing.