Education Durham is the leading school improvement service in the North East. We work with schools, academies and other educational institutions to ensure the highest quality opportunities and outcomes for all children and young people in County Durham, and in our partner organisations across the north east.
You are assured of a first class, consistent, integrated service which works professionally with all partners and stakeholders to meet their needs and aspirations. This is done through providing or brokering support and challenge to help schools, settings and academies continually improve.
What we offer
We have developed our new service level agreement (SLA) in consultation with School Leaders and are pleased to offer a choice of Partner or Affiliate level. Bespoke arrangements are also available on request.
Acknowledging that one-size does not fit all, our 2024-25 offer is relevant, responsive and flexible. At this time of challenging financial circumstances for schools, Education Durham believes that the revised SLA structures will provide the flexibility that will enable our partners to purchase services selectively and efficiently, with confident assurance of value for money.
The Education Durham team has a proven track record and can respond to specific and detailed requests across a wide range of training and development needs. All members of the primary team are skilled professionals using evidenced based approaches and drawing upon a wide range of educational leadership, subject and inspection expertise. The Education Durham primary team includes experienced school and system leaders, experienced and current practising Ofsted inspectors, national subject leads, examiners and Continual Professional Development (CPD) leaders.
Each SLA is offered annually to schools, academies and other institutions, and runs over a financial year, 1 April to 31 March. A range of SLAs are available for your school. We can also work with you to develop a bespoke support and training package to meet your needs and oversee the contract process from commission to delivery.
Restrictions
Full or affiliate partners cannot invite staff from non-partner schools to attend training arranged through the SLA.
Options available
Full Partner
- Full leadership and curriculum support programme – access to a full year-round programme of face-to-face and virtual professional learning, published in advance and constantly updated as local and national priorities emerge. A service level agreement guarantees one place on every event, bookable in advance at no additional cost. Content from evidence-based regional and national perspectives is delivered by acknowledged educational specialists mainly in linked series of professional learning events. Termly subject networks, covering the entire curriculum, are sequential and thematically linked. Conferences and events included within the SLA highlight priorities such as attendance and inclusion. SLA holders have early-bird access for all other Education Durham projects, conferences, and events.
- In-school support - 10 hours of tailored in-school support (six hours for small schools with pupil roll below 100). Schools may choose to use these hours for up to two visits per year from an experienced Leadership Adviser, or can opt to use them for other aspects of leadership support and/or bespoke in-school work from a range of Education Durham specialists. Further in school support - using additional hours purchased at a reduced rate (detailed below) - is always available on request.
- Head teacher performance management - 3 hours from an experienced Leadership Adviser who will support the governing body to carry out head teacher performance management, helping them to review your performance and to set appropriate challenging targets for the forthcoming year.
- Leadership briefings - at least termly briefings for head teachers and deputies.
- Ofsted readiness - support and advice is on hand prior to Ofsted visits and during inspection. This includes on-site support if appropriate, at no additional cost.
- Appointments - support with head teacher appointments from an experienced adviser, either using available hours of in-school support (above) or additional purchase of hours as required (service not available to organisations without this SLA).
- Attendance and inclusion – in addition to a termly event highlighting local and national priorities, SLA holders can access additional support with managing and improving attendance, including advice/guidance relating to statutory duties.
- Some support components are available to SLA holders but at an additional cost: examples - Health checks; Educational Visits Co-ordinator training; Safer Recruitment.
Please note: organisations that do not hold an SLA with Education Durham wishing to access support will be charged at a significantly higher rate. In some cases, services and events will be unavailable to organisations without a full Education Durham SLA.
Affiliate Partner
- Full leadership and curriculum support programme – as detailed in the full partner SLA, but with limited “no-cost” access to some conferences, events and projects otherwise included in the full SLA.
- In-school support – 3 hours of in-school support. Hours could be used for one visit per year from an experienced Leadership Adviser or for other in-school support provided by one or more Education Durham specialists. An affiliate SLA allows the organisation to book further in-school support hours as required, for an additional but reduced cost.
- Ofsted readiness - support and advice relating to expected Ofsted visits and during inspection.
- Appointments – should you require support with senior appointments, having an affiliate SLA enables you to secure time from an experienced Leadership Adviser (dependent on availability) at an additional cost per day or half-day. This support is not available to organisations without an Education Durham SLA.
- Leadership briefings – at least termly briefings for head teachers and deputies.
- Attendance and inclusion – termly events for all schools, highlighting local/national priorities.
- Some support components are available to affiliate SLA holders but at an additional cost. Examples: Head teacher performance management; health checks; educational visits coordinator training; safer recruitment.
In-school contracts can be raised to address identified needs, as required.
Please note: organisations that do not hold an SLA with Education Durham wishing to access support will be charged at a significantly higher rate. In some cases, services and events will be unavailable to organisations without a full Education Durham SLA.