Free meals for all

All primary school children in two local authorities are to get free school meals in a government experiment to see what effect it has on behaviour and obesity.

The pilot scheme will last two years, and two local authorities in deprived areas will be chosen. In a third authority the eligibility rules for free meals will be changed.

Hull council introduced free meals for all primary children, but Labour lost power in the local elections and the Liberal Democrats scrapped the scheme.

Under the present rules, about 16% of primary children are entitled to free school meals but child welfare charities say many don't take them because of the stigma attached, and fear of bullying.

Chair appointed to new support staff pay body

The government has appointed an independent chair to set up the new body which will oversee school support staff pay and conditions.

The Schools Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB)will be underpinned by new legislation. The new law will also compel schools to abide by the national workforce agreement, designed to free up teachers from other responsibilities.

Under the agreement, teachers were supposed to have 10% of their time for Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA), and not to have to cover for absent colleagues for more than 38 hours a year. But the government says some teachers are still being expected to cover for absent colleagues during their own PPA time.

The SSNB would give a bigger voice to more than 300,000 school support staff, and will establish a separate negotiating formum for support staff pay and conditions "where the specific role they play is recognised and reflected fairly and openly accross all schools", said a government statement.

"The national framework will facilitate a much greater degree of clarity and consistency in the terms and conditions of support staff nationwide than is possible under the current arrangements, while still allowing employers sufficient flexibility to meet their local needs."

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said, "This is a very important development. Professional and support staff in schools deserve fair pay and the hard work starts now to make sure the new negotiating body can deliver this."

The chair of the new body is Philip Ashmore, currently a member the NHS Pay Review Body, responsible for making pay recommendations for 1.2 million NHS staff.

Unpaid overtime by TAs must stop, schools told

Schools have been told by an official committee to change the way they employ teaching assistants.

The Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group (WAMG) – made up of government, employers’ and union representatives – has issued new guidelines in response to worries about the way support staff are being used in some schools.

TAs are being required to take on responsibilities they are not appropriately trained or skilled for in some schools, it says. In primary schools, support staff who have not been trained to HLTA level (including in behaviour management) should not be used to cover planned or unplanned teacher absences even in the short term, says the guidance.

They are also being expected to do unpaid “overtime” which is unacceptable says the WAMG. If a TA’s working arrangements do not fully cover the work required of the post there should be “a proper discussion” to resolve the issue. This could include paying overtime, extended their contractual hours and pay, or getting another member of staff to do the extra work, says the guidance.

The new guidance also says that too many HLTAs are being hired on “split” contracts – in which they are paid as HLTAs for some of their time and at a lower rate as basic teaching assistants for the rest.

Schools are taking too a narrow view of the HLTA role – seeing it only in connection with teachers’ PPA time. This means the skills of teaching assistants with HLTA status are not being fully used to raise standards, as intended.

Casual arrangements in which TAs who have achieved HLTA status are given extra pay only for the hours they work with whole classes “are not in line with the aims of workforce reform and the principles of the National Agreement”, says the guidance.

“The National Agreement explicitly recognises that support staff should receive remuneration that reflects their level of training, skills and responsibilities – and this is particularly important as higher level roles develop.”

The guidance also says schools should review the use of term-time only contracts. These now cover the majority of permanent support staff, but they are sometimes issued “inconsistently, without transparency, and can be applied disproportionately to part-time staff.” The new national negotiating body for support staff in England, due to start work this year, will be looking at the issue of term time only contracts.

The Appropriate Deployment of Support Staff in Schools. Department for Children, Schools and Families July 2008. www.dcsf.gov.uk

Multi-ethnic schools "better for children"

Children in multi-ethnic schools have higher self esteem and experience less bullying than children in schools where everyone or nearly everyone is from the same ethnic group, say researchers.

A study by Sussex and Kent university researchers led by Professor Rupert Brown found that minority ethnic children did better in schools with children from different ethnic backgrounds, and children from the ethnic majority had more friendships with children from other ethnic groups and were less prejudiced.

The results cast doubt on policies which lead to a reduction in school diversity, such as promoting single faith schools.

Call for child mental health training

People working with children need better training in child mental health, says the children’s mental health charity Young Minds.

All professions working with children should be trained so they have a the expertise to pick up problems as they arise, says the charity. “It’s key that young people have someone they can turn to who they can trust and knows how to support them”, said Young Minds’ Julia Mason.

“We are not calling for everyone to become a therapist but simply to understand the role they can play in spotting mental health problems at an early stage. Training for professionals who provide support in the first years of a child’s life is particularly important.”

SATS firm sacked

The private company responsible for marking this year’s SATS papers has been sacked.

The American company ETS was stripped of its contract by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which appointed them in the first place. The announcement came after thousands of complaints from schools about delayed results and inadequate marking.

Results were so late that by the end of July some children still hadn’t received their marks. Some heads said SATS papers had been returned unmarked, with pupils marked as absent.

Heads reported problems with the system from early on. At one point, according to the BBC, ETS had 10,000 unopened emails from schools.