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Mar 26
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Hey Clay! at Kite Studios

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This year kite studios are very excited to be participating in the Crafts Council’s Hey Clay! event.

Hey Clay! gives people the opportunity to get creative with clay at free pottery workshops in over 50 venues, including K ite Studios, Shepherds Bush, around the UK across one weekend. Hey Clay! is part of the Get Creative campaign with the BBC which runs from Friday 7 – Sunday 9 April  2017.

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Thanks to TV shows such as The Great Pottery Throw Down and The Great British Sewing Bee, We have seen a huge surge in arts, crafts and getting creative all over the UK and we at Kite Studios couldn’t be happier about it!

However, although the interest in craft is on the rise there is worrying concern for craft education. The Craft Council’s Studying Craft report shows that students studying craft related GCSEs has fallen by 25 per cent since 2007/8. This concern is shared across the board by the arts. The Creative Industries Federation recently published a paper illustrating how the current focus on the EBacc – which includes no creative subjects – is limiting the options of the next generation. At Kite Studios we are working hard to bring art back to education, to educate in art and to educate with art.

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That’s why we are delighted to be working in association with the Crafts Council  as they work to offer opportunities for the nation to get creative.

img_1917And it’s not just for young people – Hey Clay!  gives everyone the opportunity to roll up their sleeves and unleash their inner potter. So far they have 50 events confirmed workshops in museums, galleries, colleges and potteries across the UK including here at Kite Studios Pottery. – with more being added every day.

Hey Clay! visitors have a go at press moulding, throwing on a wheel, pinching, slab building, coiling, decorating with found objects and much more!

 

 

For more information about pottery at Kite Studios West London click here

and to book a place in our Hey Clay event click here.

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Apr 16
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Consultation on Schools National Funding Formula

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With thanks to the Good Shepherd RC Primary School Team for compiling this response.

  • As discussed at the emergency meetings, schools were informed only this week about the detail of this consultation which closes at 5pm on Sunday 17th April. If anyone would like to respond to this consultation they can do so. We are aware that there is a lot of detail and time is limited so appreciate any responses you are able to make over the next couple of days.

    Anybody wishing to read part 1 of the consultation document itself can click on the link below:

    https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/schools-national-funding- formula/supporting_documents/Schools_NFF_consultation.pdf

    All London Councils have responded to this consultation, and school teaching staff have also responded. Parents and others are welcome to respond. Due to the level of detail and the time constraints we have prepared responses to the questions which are in line with the stance that the Local Authority and our school are taking on this matter. Below is the link to the consultation response form.

    https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/schools-national-funding-formula

    If you are in agreement with the school and would like to make a response, please feel free to use the responses shown on the following pages. We have not included a comment for each question as a number of these questions are more school specific so if you give a yes or no answer to these questions that will be sufficient.

    We thank you for your continued support and will continue to keep you informed as and when we receive more information. We truly believe that any contact you make through the petition or by email to Cllr. Macmillan, the Education Minister or local MP will all help and hopefully make the Government stop and listen to the views of effected families.

Responses to the DfE consultation on the National Funding Formula proposals for 2017/2018.

1 Do you agree with our proposed principles for the funding system?

Yes.

Whilst I agree with the priciples of fairness and transparency, I am concerned about the potential impact that the new formula could have on London schools. Schools outside of London should have their budgets levelled up to match London budgets rather than London budgets cut to match others.

2 Do you agree with our proposal to move to a school level national funding formula in 2019-20, removing the requirement for local authorities to set a local formula?

No.

Local Authorities have a local understanding of the characteristics and nature of schools within their areas. They know their schools and schools currently have the ability to receive support from their Local Authority on a range of matters.

3 Do you agree that the basic amount of funding for each pupil should be different at primary, key stage 3 and key stage 4?

Yes.

Primary pupils, particularly Early Years should receive more money as these children require more supervision.

4a Do you agree that we should include a deprivation factor?

Yes.

4b Which measures for the deprivation factor do you support?

Pupil and area-level.

5 Do you agree we should include a low prior attainment factor?

Yes.

6a Do you agree that we should include a factor for English as an additional language?

Yes.

6b Do you agree that we should use the EAL3 (pupils registered at any point during the previous 3 years as having English as an additional language)?

Yes.
7 Do you agree that we should include a lump sum factor?
Yes.

8 Do you agree that we should include a sparsity factor?
Yes.

9 Do you agree that we should include a business rates factor?

Yes.
This should be included in order to cover this large cost to schools. 10 Do you agree that we should include a split sites factor?

Yes.

11 Do you agree that we should include a private finance initiative factor?

Yes.

12 Do you agree that we should include an exceptional premises circumstances factor?

Yes.

13 Do you agree that we should allocate funding to local authorities in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 based on historic spend for these factors?

Business rates: No

Split sites: No

Private finance initiative: No

Other exceptional circumstance: NO

Historic factors do not reflect continuing changes that we face, such as local growth.

14 Do you agree that we should include a growth factor?

Yes.

15 Do you agree that we should allocate funding for growth to local authorities in 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 based on historic spend?

No.
16a Do you agree that we should include an area cost adjustment?

Yes.

16b Which methodology for the area cost adjustment do you support? General labour market methodology.

17 Do you agree that we should target support for looked-after children and those who have left care via adoption, special guardianship or a care arrangements order through the pupil premium plus, rather than include a looked- after children factor in the national funding formula?

Yes.

18 Do you agree that we should not include a factor for mobility?

Yes.

19 Do you agree that we should remove the post-16 factor from 2017-2018?

Yes.

This should be phased in over a long period to make the transition more manageable.

20 Do you agree with our proposal to require local authorities to distribute all of their schools block allocation to schools from 2017-2018?

No.

21 Do you believe that it would be helpful for local areas to have flexibility to set a local minimum funding guarantee?

Yes.

22 Do you agree that we should fund local authorities’ ongoing responsibilities as set out in the consultation according to a per-pupil formula?

Yes.

23 Do you agree that we should fund local authorities’ ongoing historic commitments based on case-specific information to be collected from local authorities?

No.
Historic commitments should not disadvantage anyone.
24 Are there other duties funded from the education service grant that could be removed from the system?

No.

25 Do you agree with our proposal to allow local authorities to retain some of their maintained schools’ DSG centrally – in agreement with the maintained schools in the schools forum – to fund the duties they carry out for maintained schools?

No.