WESTMINSTER DIOCESE EDUCATION SERVICE

NB Items marked * do not apply to independent schools

14 July 2000

We welcome the following who have taken up new posts recently, or will do so in September:

St James's, Twickenham: Veronica Heffernan

St Mary’s, Chiswick: Catherine McKeever

St Alban & St Stephen Infants, St Albans: Paula Holden

St Anthony, Croxley Green: Pauline Mary Wilson

St Anselm, Southall: Susan O’Connor

Douay Martyrs: Geraldine Davies

Maria Fidelis: Maria Williams

Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College: Geraldine Freear

St Paul, Wood Green: Anita Dolan

Our Lady of Lourdes, Stonebridge: Ann Sheehan

Christ the King, Tollington Park: Kate Atkinson

St Lawrence, Feltham: Helen Mary Taylor

Our Lady’s, Limehouse: Ian Kendal

St Thomas More, Berkhamsted: Geraldine Ann Booth

St Adrian’s, St Albans South: Anneliese Frank

St Catherine’s, West Drayton: Sara Caldwell

Westminster Cathedral, Pimlico: Linda Vassallo

St John Fisher, Perivale: Gillian Scannell

Blessed Sacrament, Copenhagen St: Madeline Gogarty

St Raphael, Yeading: Margaret Macpherson

St Dominic, Haverstock Hill: Ashley Streeter

St Swithun Wells, Ruislip: Jane Deacy

St Catherine of Siena, Garston: Helen Marie Donald

St Vincent de Paul, Stevenage: Diann Ross

Our Lady of Lourdes, New Southgate: Mairead Devery

St Joseph’s, Bishops Stortford: Barbara Crawshaw

St Joseph’s Belmont: Caroline French

Rosary, Haverstock Hill: Maureen Diane Butler

Divine Saviour, Abbots Langley: Catherine Anne McMahon

St Anne’s, Underwood Road: Deeanne Bell

St Teresa’s, Headstone Lane: Jane Frances Faint

The Annunciation Junior, Burnt Oak: Carol Ann Minihan

Sacred Heart Junior, Brook Green: Joanne Doonan

St Teresa Primary, Boreham Wood: Clare McFlynn

Salvatorian College: James Foley

Mount Carmel: Colette Margaret O’Dwyer

Pope Paul, Potters Bar: Helen Woodhouse

St Paul: Cheshunt: Wendy Sims

St Dominic Junior, Homerton: Marie Hogg

Sacred Heart, Ruislip: Jenny Mordy

Our Lady of Grace Junior, Dollis Hill: Adrian Wright

Blessed John Roche, Poplar: Philip Jakszta

St George, Maida Vale: Marie Stubbs

St Edmund, Millwall: Keith Homewood

St Edmund, Whitton: Ann Watts

Our Lady of the Assumption, Bethnal Green: Richard Pickering

St Teresa, Finchley, Church End: Elaine Carr

St Mary, Ponders End TBA

You will be aware from previous correspondence that the diocesan Education Board is currently engaged in a process of review and re-organisation of the Westminster Diocese Education Service. Three consultation meetings have been held with headteachers since March to discuss the Board's proposal.

The main aims are

• To combine all functions concerned with schools into a single new department to be called the Department of Schools;
• To administer and support CCRS, RCIA, parish catechesis, home-school-parish partnership, youth catechesis, marriage and family catechesis in a new Department for Lifelong Education and Catechesis.

During the course of this summer term, two posts have been advertised to fill vacancies in the Department of Schools:

Principal adviser, to co-ordinate and manage the team of primary and secondary RE advisers and to manage all aspects of the administration of the section 23 inspection programme and

Education Officer, to provide school management support particularly for governing bodies and with pupil and parent issues.

The principal adviser will take on the role currently occupied by Patrick Topp, who will retire from leadership of the inspection unit with effect from 31 August, together with those aspects of Anthony Clark's role to do with RE in schools. Anthony will become Director of the Department for Lifelong Education and Catechesis. The Director of the Department for Schools will be Tony Mackersie.

Interviews for the post of Education Officer are to be held towards the end of July. Regrettably, it has not proved possible as yet to recruit to the Principal Adviser post. The post will be re-advertised in the autumn term.

The following temporary arrangements are being put into place to ensure as much continuity as possible:

Joan Leith will continue in service on a part time basis until a successor is appointed, but with a revised role. Henceforth, Joan will be concerned mostly with head and deputy headteacher appointments.

Ian Beck will take over Joan's responsibility for teaching staff issues, including performance management, advice and support on grievance, discipline and capability and the organisation of in service courses for senior teachers. To this will be added temporary responsibility for the oversight of section 23 issues.

David Squires will continue to have responsibility for school development and place planning issues.

Tony Mackersie will continue to be the main point of contact between the Department for Schools and external agencies such as the DfEE, CES, and LEAs.

Anthony Clark will continue to be responsible for the team of RE advisers until the principal adviser is appointed and will also have general oversight of diocesan conferences for teachers.

The staff of the Department of Schools will continue to provide support for governing bodies where needed, but it must be acknowledged that, until the Department is fully staffed, this will be necessarily limited. For the time being, for example, there will be no centrally provided programme of school governor training and the capacity of officers of the Department to attend evening meetings will be constrained.

Arrangements to mark the retirement of Joan Leith and Patrick Topp will be announced at the beginning of the autumn term.

The Human Rights Act 1998 comes into force on 2 October 2000. It has significant implications for school governing bodies.

For the purposes of the Act, the governing body of a maintained school is classified as a public authority. In some circumstances, the governing body or proprietor of an independent school may also be so classified since they are carrying out functions of a public nature.

When the main implications are listed, most Catholic school governing bodies will feel that they already comply. There is already evidence, however, that the courts are interpreting the provisions very widely.

The main points to bear in mind are:

• The right to a fair hearing of a dispute within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial tribunal;
• Respect for private and family life;
• The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion;
• Freedom of expression;
• Freedom of assembly and association;

In practice, this may mean, for example, that

• A teacher may refer to these rights to support a claim for unfair dismissal;
• A parent may claim failure to follow procedure following the exclusion of a child,
• A parent may claim insufficient reasons give for a refusal to offer a place at a school;
• A parent may argue breach of rights to a special education needs tribunal.

Further guidance will be issued as necessary, particularly in the light of tried cases.

Headteachers are reminded to bring to the attention of experienced Catholic staff the courses run for those aspiring to headship (four day residential in November 2000) and for those aspiring to deputy headship (four day residential in January 2001). Materials and application forms on both these courses were sent with the previous Bulletin (03/00). Both courses are open to teachers in the Diocese of East Anglia, Northampton, Brentwood and Westminster and there is a limit on the number of places available to each diocese.

Information has also been sent to schools on the autumn twilight course in Vaughan House on Leadership in Catholic Education.

The post will be advertised at the beginning of the autumn term with a view to the appointee starting as soon as possible or on 1 January 2001. In the meantime, if any primary school in the north area is looking for assistance, please contact Anthony Clark on 020 7798 9006.

The next CCRS study day is on Saturday 23 September 2000 at Vaughan House. The topic is the Old Testament, and the session will begin at 10am. For teachers or catechists looking for an introductory understanding of Catholic teaching, this is an excellent point to commence the CCRS programme. Prior registration is preferable, but registrations - from 9.30 am - are welcome on the day. Module fee is £15 (£6.50 study day only).

Information about forthcoming study days for the next two years is available on the CCRS web page - look at it in 'RE and Catechesis' in the diocesan website. Also listed are the essay topics for the previous six modules as well as helpful information.

The next annual conference for all those in youth ministry will be held at London Colney on Saturday 23 February 2001.

Enclosed is a copy of the booklet Religious Education in Catholic Schools. Its guidance is to be followed by all schools in the diocese. Further copies may be obtained from the Catholic Media Office on 020 7828 8709 at 50p each plus postage. The text is also available on the diocesan website. The diocesan document Framework for RE is currently being revised in the light of this statement and the revision will be circulated later in the year.

The Bishops Conference has approved the publication of the revision of the primary RE programme Here I Am and the new secondary RE programme it commissioned for KS3 Icons. The KS3 programme developed with the help of RE teachers in the North and East areas has been published - The Way, the Truth and the Life.

Harper Collins is writing to all primary schools with details of the revised Here I Am programme available in September. It is also sending the text of the topic Myself, the topic that is recommended for use this autumn by all schools using Here I Am.

The DfEE published a document in mid July. It replaces Circular 5/94. There has not been time to analyse it in detail and further guidance will be given later in the year. It is noteworthy that throughout the document the phrase 'sex and relationship education' is used whenever the phrase 'sex education' would have been used in previous documents. In the meantime your attention is drawn to the first bullet point in 7.17 which says that schools should have a clear and explicit confidentiality policy which is advertised to pupils, staff, parents and visitors.

WDES administrative staff are grateful that, following their request several months ago, more correspondence is now being addressed to named persons. But there are still a number of cheques going astray, and it would be helpful if school secretaries and bursars could be reminded again that although cheques are usually made out to WRCDT, they need to be routed through a member of WDES staff. So the plea is that all correspondence, especially that which contains cheques, be addressed to a named person at WDES.

There have been one or two queries about the direct link to this list as some schools found that their earlier links have ceased. There has been a change in linkage. The route to the list is via the Diocesan webpage, http://www.westminsterdiocese.org.uk, then go to Schools Administration Department, then to Useful Diocesan Guidance Documents, then to List of Documents. A recent addition has been the proposed RE Self Evaluation form.

If you have recently put up a page about your school on the web, please do inform WDES of its web address so it can be included as a link to the Diocesan webpage.