Transcript Document

Catholic Education in 2012
 Friday 23rd November 2012
 At the Apollo Hotel, Basingstoke
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
Catholic Education in 2012
Programme for morning:
Introduction: Rosemary Olivier;
Diocesan Strategy: Catherine Hobbs & Robert Dare;
Practical examples: Tony Corish & Graham Wilson; Trisha Phelan &
Ursula Clark
Survey of schools’ strengths: Oaklands School, Matt Quinn &
Dervla McConn-Finch
PCP SCITT: Paul Haslam, Director
Discussion & feedback
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
Catholic Education in the Year of
Faith
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
Education in 2012
Change in local government role and impact: a carrot?
Teaching Schools: route for training/CPD funds & for school
improvement
Initial teacher training/ School Direct: school-sponsored
Nearly half of all maintained secondary schools are now
academies,1148 converters & 354 sponsored: impact on LA capacity
Central grant cut, LACSEG reduced, 300 staff lost in Children’s
Services in Hampshire in 2 years; further reductions from 2013
Commissioning services, not providing services: variation between
13 LA’s in our diocese
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
Education in 2012
A stick?
 New Ofsted framework
 Schools below the floor standards/at risk: duty of LA to
intervene
 Under-performance & Brokerage team at the Academies Division
 Office of the Schools’ Commissioner
 Increased expectation on diocesan commissioners to broker
school improvement, to intervene: this is not all new!
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
Education in 2012
Decision-making about education to parents and to schools:
parental choice and preference: Free Schools & Academy schools:
flash mob, twitter, downing street website petitions, direct action;
& to the Ministers/ elected representatives:
centralised powers to Secretary of State, e.g. TDA, GTC
400 more academy sponsorships announced this week
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
National Catholic picture on
academies
“We should make conversion to Academies a ready possibility for
Catholic schools, subject to the wishes of their Bishop, Trustees
and Governing Body.”
The Right Reverend Malcolm McMahon OP, Chairman of the CES
148 Catholic voluntary academies are open, of which 140 are convertor
academies and 8 are sponsored academies.
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
and in Anglican Dioceses
Co-sponsors:
Portsmouth
Winchester
Oxford
Colleagues:
Guildford
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
Catholic Academies in Portsmouth
Diocese
5 Pathfinder Catholic Academies in Portsmouth
Diocese (+ 1)
Protection of Catholic ethos
The common good/ mutual benefit
Building on existing clusters & partnerships
Professional development
Procurement & facilities
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
Diocesan view on academies
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
What now for Catholic Education in
our Diocese in the Year of Faith?
 Distinctive Catholic education, with commitment to the common
good: counter-cultural
 Sharing good practice & learning from each other
 Supporting schools in difficulties
 Schools in both phases, both sectors, pooling resources
WHY?
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
Because:
In this 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, we
remember:
“The Church’s role is especially evident in Catholic schools. These
are no less zealous than other schools in the formation of culture
and in the human formation of young people. It is, however, the
special function of the Catholic school to develop in the school
community an atmosphere animated by a spirit of liberty and
charity based on the Gospel. It enables young people, while
developing their own personality, to grow at the same time in that
new life which has been given them in baptism…..
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
Documents of Vatican II vol.1: Christian Education:
Gravissimum Educationis pp. 732-733, § 8
 Thus the Catholic school, taking into consideration as it should
the conditions of an age of progress, prepares its pupils to
contribute effectively to the welfare of the world of men and to
work for the extension of the kingdom of God, so that by living
and exemplary and apostolic life they may be, as it were, a
saving leaven in the community. “
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
So, then…in this time of change & challenge, what
do we do?
An alliance of all Catholic Schools in the diocese?
Discussion in March 2012 led to:
“Catholic Schools supporting Catholic Schools”- a diocesan
framework
Key actions:
1. Teaching School status to act as conduit to provide funding for
school improvement, training and CPD
2. Hallam Diocese: Notre Dame School and the Teaching Alliance
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
What does it need?
Partners:
 PCP SCITT: teacher training
 St. Mary’s University College
And:
 A Teaching School…what’s that?
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
Catholic education in the second
decade of the 21st century
In a time of change, so the “Catholic Schools supporting
Catholic Schools” (March 2012) morphed into the
“Catholic Teaching Alliance” (CTA) (July 2012) but
change happens, so:
Diocesan Education Alliance
DEA
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department
An alliance for Catholic Education
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What does it mean?
How does it work?
What does it mean for my school?
Can we fix it?
“If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed
with a mosquito in the room.”
Anita Roddick
Catherine Hobbs & Robert Dare will explain…
Diocese of Portsmouth: Schools' Department