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PRIMARY |
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Funding for school fees – Are you prepared?
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Every year school fees seem to rise by more than the rate of inflation.
This can have the effect of leaving behind even the most complex
plans designed to pay future school fees. It is also beyond doubt
that anyone considering private education for their child is going
to face significant bills throughout the term of that education.
Nowadays, of course those bills will not stop when the child moves
on to higher education, and top-up fees could well increase the burden
still further.
It is therefore essential that anyone considering setting aside money
for school fees planning seeks professional advice to help fund future
fee payments. Even if you are already paying fees it is not too late
to review your arrangements, and make appropriate changes to improve
the situation.
Planning for school fees would on the face of it appear straightforward,
because the level of fees may be a known quantity. However, it is
vital to plan ahead by investing sums correctly to ensure that they
generate the required level of growth, and provide the required funds
at the appropriate time.
For advice on future school fees planning or a review of your existing
arrangements contact Ian Blagrove, Senior Consultant at Independent
Financial Advisers Wentworth Rose on 01276-26111. |
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The Role of Ofsted |
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 The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) was set up on 1
September 1992. Ofsted is a non-ministerial government department
whose main aim is to help improve the quality and standards of education
and childcare through independent inspection and regulation, and
provide advice to the Secretary of State.
Our principal role is the management of the system of school inspection
defined originally by the Education (Schools) Act 1992. This provides
for the regular inspection of all 24,000 schools in England, which
are wholly or mainly state-funded.
In addition to school inspections
we undertake reviews of local education authorities (LEAs), inspect
initial teacher training courses, the private, voluntary and independent
nursery sector, independent schools (including independent special
schools) and service children's education and report on LEA-funded
youth services. We also report on the impact of government initiatives
such as education action zones and the national numeracy and literacy
strategies.
In 2001, Ofsted assumed responsibility for inspecting all education
and training for ages 16-19 in sixth form and further education colleges.
Through area-wide inspection reports, we review the overall planning
of education and training provision for post-16 learners throughout
England.
A major development for us was assuming responsibility from local
authorities under the Care Standards Act 2000 for the regulation
and registration of all early years childcare and education. Since
September 2001 this has added the task of inspecting some 100,000
childminders and 40,000 day-care establishments to our inspection
programmes. It has also entailed a rapid expansion of the Ofsted
organisation with 1500 new colleagues transferring from local authorities
to Ofsted to take part in this work. |
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“My child is being bullied”
advice for parents and young people about bullying |
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 Your child may not want you to get involved; young people often
worry that bullying will get worse if they are seen to be telling
tales, but all schools by law have an anti-bullying policy, which
includes plans about how they will keep on tackling the problem until
it stops.
Bullying behaviour includes things like name calling and teasing,
threats and extortion, physical violence, damage to belongings, leaving
people out deliberately and frequently, spreading malicious rumours
and sending nasty text messages.
Parents are important in helping to deal with bullying. For example,
you should always discourage your child from bullying behaviour at
home, and show how they can solve difficult situations without being
aggressive.
WATCH out for signs of bullying, e.g. reluctance to go to school,
headaches, stomach-ache, anxiety and irritability. Talk about
what is going on. Keep a note of what she says, reassure her that
telling you was the right thing to do and she should TELL THE TEACHER
immediately if anything further happens, and that the problem WILL
be stopped.
SEE YOUR CHILD'S TEACHER immediately and explain the problems your
child is reporting.
Ask to see the school's ANTI-BULLYING POLICY, so you will know what
action to expect from the school.
Schools WILL act, e.g: give a reprimand, a stern warning, punishment,
or even fixed term exclusion, depending on the circumstances. They
may do groupwork with the bully, your child and groups of other children.
Dealt with promptly and with subsequent monitoring, the problem WILL
stop.
In some cases, your child may need some individual help, eg: to learn
to be assertive, (not aggressive), and to plan how to contribute
to changing things. This should only happen as PART of many
other ways of dealing with bullying, including making sure that all
children and staff know what bullying is, that it is unacceptable,
and how to behave respectfully to each other. Anti-bullying
is a topic that is regularly covered in many lessons - in assembly,
RE, Citizenship, PSHE, History, Drama and English.
If you think you need more help or that the problem has not gone
away, you can talk to the headteacher, the parent governor, the Chair
of Governors, a parent helpline, the Director of Education, or in
the last resort, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. Things
work best for your child when you and the school are working together
to solve the problem and there are other services which will help
you and the school to resolve the difficulties, for example, the
Educational Psychology Service and the Education Welfare Service. Wakefield
LEA promises that everything possible will be done to ensure that
a young person can go to school feeling safe from fear of being bullied.
As the new guidelines from the DFES say:
DON'T SUFFER IN SILENCE.
For more information and a reading list, contact your school and
ask to see the DFES and Wakefield anti-bullying guidelines.
Fionnuala Frances
Wakefield Educational Psychology Service |
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