Notes for Division Meeting: April 3rd 2003

Previous Meeting's notes: (January 2003; supplementary February 2003)

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Suffolk Division NUT
Executive Committee (17:30 - 18:30)
and DIVISION COUNCIL MEETING (19:00 - 21:00)

April 3rd 2003 Venue: Hadleigh Town Hall

This is the Annual General Meeting.

Refreshments curtesy of Sudbury & District Association

will be available from 6.30pm

Apologies already recorded: For EC / Both: For Council:

*=Items for Executive Committee

dot=Items for Division Council

Section A: National with National Executive Report

dot Reportfrom Glenys Shepherd.

  1. War in Iraq: The impact on schools: NUT advice to schools.
  2. NUTNews12: Are You Getting Enough? Budget cuts.
    Circulars from HQ, etc:
  3. 03-051-O&A - ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2003 - PRIORITY MOTION : ANNUAL CONFERENCE REVIEW
  4. 03-050-SUPN - RETIRED TEACHERS' BRIEFING - 10TH JUNE 2003
  5. 03-049-MC&T - FINAL REMINDER: NEW TEACHERS' RECRUITMENT MATERIALS
  6. 03*-048-E&EO - TUC MARCH - NO RACISM: NO THEM AND US. Manchester on Saturday, 26th April 2003
  7. *03-047-CCU - EDUCATION INTERNATIONAL MISSION TO THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES AND ISRAEL 2002: Copy of the report (to be available at the meeting).
  9. 03-046-CCU - INDUSTRIAL ACTION HARDSHIP FUNDS (Notice of change in rules re. local hardship funds).
  10. 03-045-E&EO - NEW SCHOOLS (HQ Seeking info on "promoters" for replacement schools for "diversity" - new faith schools, etc. Only hint in Suffolk was church interest in Holywells, which has subsided.)
  11. *03-044-E&EO - NATIONAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE 2003: 5-7th July 2003.
  12. *03-043-E&EO - EARLY YEARS DEVELOPMENT AND CHILDCARE PARTNERSHIPS (EYDCPs) + Questionnaire for Division Action re. local representation.
  13. *03-042-E&EO - MEETINGS BETWEEN THELOCAL LEARNING SKILLS COUNCILS AND TEACHER UNIONS: LOCAL LSC/TEACHER ORGANISATION FORUMS. Terms of reference have been agreed nationally for such forums. One is already under way in Suffolk.
  14. 03-041-E&EO - IMPROVING BEHAVIOUR AND ATTENDANCE: GUIDANCE ON EXCLUSION FROM SCHOOL AND PUPIL REFERRAL UNITS: NUT Summary and briefing.
  15. 03-040-CCU - EDUCATION FUNDING SETTLEMENT 2003-04: Secretary has reported to HQ and RO on situation in Suffolk.
  16. 03-039-CCU - SEMINAR SERIES AT THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION, INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION LONDON
  17. 03-038-CCU - LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER: A copy of the letter to the Prime Minister, together with the EI declaration, re. War in Iraq.
  18. dot03-037-CCU - THE CHILDREN OF IRAQ - EMERGENCY APPEAL BY UNICEF.
  19. 03-036-E&EO - WAR IN IRAQ: THE IMPACT ON SCHOOLS
  20. 03-035-E&EO - INIATIVES RELATED TO MARKING EXAMINATION SCRIPTS IN SUMMER 2003: Advice to members, which has been placed on the Union's website, + material sent by the Joint Council for General Qualifications (JCGQ) to headteachers/principals of all schools and colleges in England. Divisions and local associations should note that the protection afforded by the NUT's ballot on bureaucratic burdens covers members who are affected either directly or indirectly by the JCGQ's initiative. *Circular faxed to Secondary Reps.
  21. 03-034-E&EO - PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE RELATED PAY - AN NUT BRIEFING ON NEW DEVELOPMENTS. *Copied to Headteacher members for information.
  22. 03-033-E&EO - NUT's CPD PROGRAMME - FORTHCOMING EVENTS (1) On Friday, 4 April 2003, a one-day Conference 'Next Steps in Teaching and Learning?' will be held at NUT Headquarters, Hamilton House, to celebrate the success of the three year pilot NUT CPD Programme and launch a long term professional development service for teachers. (2) On Monday, 12 May 2003, a one-day workshop 'Come Rain, Come Shine' will be held at NUT Headquarters, Hamilton House. This will focus on the importance of outdoor play in the foundation stage.
  23. 03-032-E&EO - INVESTIGATING THINKING SKILLS
  24. *03-031-SALS - SCHOOL TEACHERS' PAY 2003-04. NUT Briefing on Government response to STRB report on Salaries 2003-2004 and standard letter for MPs. Secretary added Suffolk slant and sent to David Ruffley MP. Copied to other LA Secretaries. Supportive reply from David Ruffley: reproduced separately in full.
  25. From Bernard Regan, Westminster NUT: The European TUC's Executive Committee, meeting in Athens on 6 and 7 March confirmed the opposition of European trade unions to a war on Iraq: " ETUC ....confirmed the opposition of the trade unions to the war, and requests that all possible effort should be made to disarm Iraq without going to war. To support this request, the EC has launched an appeal for work stoppages everywhere in Europe on the 14th of March at midday."
    Section B: Regional: John Dixon/Hilary Bucky to Report
  26. We have a delegate to the Regional Special Sub-Committee (Jenny Mosesson) and to the National Working Party on Foundation Stage (Gareth Betts-Davies).
  27. Regional Office has been gathering information locally on budget cuts.
    Section C: Division / County:Division Secretary, Martin Goold, to report, including items from the preceding Executive Committee meeting.
  28. Secretary's Annual Report for AGM 2003 is published separately. An earlier version was prepared for local association AGMs.
  29. The new Division Rules 2003 has been published on the website and a copy submitted to HQ for approval.
  30. UPS2 and supply teachers. A Suffolk case has highlighted another hole in the UPS2 regulations. (1) the DfES told Suffolk LEA that a supply teacher needs to be "registered for performance management" in a particular school and (2) should be "on a contract for a term or more" None of this is in the STP&CD or the non-statutory guidance, but if confirmed this would rule out all supply teachers from being paid on UPS2. However, the regulations do not define how much aggregated teaching on a part-time contract might render a teacher's service eligible for being judged as making a "substantial and sustained contribution" to the work of a school, over the 2 calendar years "minimum" qualification period. Watch this space.
  31. dotSchool Budgets: Some NUT Headteacher members contacted the Secretary re. concerns over the budget 2003-2004. Secretary proposed joint approach to LEA by JNC organisations accompanied by headteacher members to cover all sectors and phases. All JNC organisations agreed. Penny got the meeting arranged for Wed 19th March. Useful meeting where LEA admitted there were shortfalls and individual schools might be hit badly by a combination of factors. Full report of budget crisis meeting circulated to NUT Headteacher members. An EADT approach to the NUT helped towards a lot of publicity and ensured that more than "the usual suspects" were quoted. NUT alone argued the small primary and special school case. Advisory members alerted to the risk of schools playing safe and making "nil" returns for LEA advisory package.
  32. The crisis meeting on budgets has been followed up by an appeal to the LEA to protect NQT induction funding, especially for the Summer Term 2003, and to resist calls from some headteachers to put more money into formula budgeting. The NUT is proposing that any extra money that can be found should be dedicated to addressing specific underfunding issues, such as the NQT induction grant. The NUT has FAXed headteachers to ask them to add to this pressure by contacting the CDO direct.
  33. *GTC Fee: Suffolk LEA was instructed by the GTC to deduct the fee for 2003-2004 (where they are informed that it has not been paid "voluntarily" in March, so that the GTC could receive it by a deadline in mid April. This means that two payments would have been made in the same tax year, although the refund of the £33 is not due to be made until the April pay advice (and the first payment thereafter for supply, etc.). Payroll is gearing up for another round of paying out £33 as one-off sums, and checking to see if they have paid it twice to anyone working in more than one school!
  34. *The Secretary is now in more regular contact with Headteacher members (who we hope have now been fully identified). Luckily, this had been set up before the current budget crisis struck, so we were in a position to respond quickly to members' concerns. Relevant circulars and consultation items are now being sent. Amongst our number are at 4 large Secondary Heads.
  35. *Forms 120 & 423 sent to HQ + Rules and Annual Report, 26/3/3.
  36. "Progress" on outstanding issues:
    Review of operation of the General Complaints Procedure JNC teachers' panel adopted NUT's paper for improvements. Also a need to add Complaints in unattached situations (eg. PRUs), Regional Secretary anxious that there is no "double jeopardy" for members in our procedure. Response awaited from LEA. Should have been a meeting.
    Industrial Injury: determination that an absence is due to industrial injury (non-physical) Lodged with JNC. Response awaited from LEA.
    Assaults on staff: Joint LEA and Police guidance (draft) Secretary provided LEA with a copy of the Safe Schools Toolkit information from the DfES website. Agreed not to hold up the current talks with Police in Suffolk. Response awaited from LEA.
    LEA Guidance to schools on Absence Policies With LEA: October JNC reported no progress.
    Allegations of Abuse: County Policy needs up-dating With LEA; JNC No progress to report
    SEN allowances for PRUs No progress. No response from LEA on question of regulations. New officer appointed.
  37. dotCourses and Conferences Reports.
  38. dotStudent Recruitment: Christine Lloyd to report.
  39. dot Health & Safety: John Osborne to report.
    Section E: Local Associations
  40. *Ian Ford has contacted Division to say that, due to illness, he has not been able to do the job of Association Secretary as he would wish to have done. He wishes to resign from this position and so we will be seeking someone else to pick up the reins and steer Waveney & Yoxford Association back into action.
  41. *Facilities Fund: LEA has officially granted 200 facilities days for the Division, from April. This current year we have used 182 days. Secretary to allocate for 2003-4: Division Secretary 125 days; Assistant Secretary 10 days; Sudbury Secretary 10 days. Waveney & Yoxford Secretary in abeyance (see above) but can be allocated 10-15 days when appointed. Lowestoft Secretary: as required. All other Association Secretaries are retired or on supply and cannot be supported via the facilities fund.

Date of next meeting: May 15th 2003, Conference Centre, King Edward VI Upper School, Bury St Edmunds

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