FOI Request - School Pupils and Faculties

Request 101002930731

- How many hours do pupils spend in school per year in your authority in a) primary b) secondary
- Do pupils in your authority have Friday afternoons out of school? If yes, please state the year this came into being, and please include any information explaining the background to this decision and why this was introduced?
- Have faculties been introduced in your secondary schools?
- If yes
a) do all the council’s secondary schools have faculties, or just in some of them (if some of them please state how many)
b) when were faculties introduced to the council’s secondary schools?
c) was this a cost saving measure?
d) please supply any background information you hold on why the decision was taken to introduce a faculty structure in secondary
- The new ‘lead teacher’ role was introduced in August 2021 [https://www.tes.com/news/eis-new-lead-teacher-posts-be-introduced-august] – has your authority made use of this new promotion route for teachers? If it has, could you please state how many ‘lead teachers’ the authority currently employs, as well as how they are being deployed?

Response 08/12/2021

1 How many hours do pupils spend in school per year in your authority in a) primary b) secondary

All pupils have 190 days of school with primary having 25 hours per week - 4750 hours per year and in secondary 27 and a half hours per week - 5225 hours per year.

2 Do pupils in your authority have Friday afternoons out of school? If yes, please state the year this came into being, and please include any information explaining the background to this decision and why this was introduced?

Our secondary schools have an asymmetric week ie 33 period week and so classes end on a Friday at lunchtime.  This came about after consultation with all secondary schools and was implemented at the start of the new school year in 2018. This decision was to taken to:

     a  Target improvement and excellence and equity in education
     b  To raise attainment and close the gap.
     c Development and enhancement of the curriculum.
     d Increase variety of opportunities for learning and teaching
     e Flexibility to work with a range of partners
     f Increase options for wider achievement

3 Have faculties been introduced in your secondary schools?

No faculties have not been formally introduced. We do have some joint departments and principal teachers leading these joint departments eg PT Biology and Chemistry

4 If yes a) do all the council's secondary schools have faculties, or just in some of them (if some of them please state how many)

These joint departments are only in some of our secondary schools

b) when were faculties introduced to the council's secondary schools?

Joint departments have been introduced as and when a Head Teacher uses their devolved school management authority to progress a change management plan which is authorised at local authority level.

c) was this a cost saving measure?

No this has not been a cost saving measure

d) please supply any background information you hold on why the decision was taken to introduce a faculty structure in secondary

We have not introduced a formal faculty structure.

5 The new 'lead teacher' role was introduced in August 2021 [https://www.tes.com/news/eis-new-lead-teacher-posts-be-introduced-august]  – has your authority made use of this new promotion route for teachers? If it has, could you please state how many 'lead teachers' the authority currently employs, as well as how they are being deployed?

We have not progressed this. This would be placed on the LNCT agenda for discussion prior to any agreement or implementation.