Annual Conference 2024: motions

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NAHT Annual Conference 2024

Annual Conference 2024: motions

The running order of conference motions may be subject to change. The following is the anticipated running order of the conference motions, unless emergency motions are introduced. Click on the links below or scroll down to see the motions in full.

Annual Conference motions 1 to 6 – Friday 2 May 2024, 4.40pm to 5.40pm

Trade union law

Motion 1

Conference is appalled at the continued attack on the democratic right of trade union members to strike, as set out in the government’s Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 and accompanying regulations, and the impact this will have on the education sector, and in particular school leaders. The proposals are draconian, unworkable and unnecessary, and make the UK an outlier among nations; no other European jurisdiction with minimum service levels gives employers the power to take away the livelihoods of workers in these circumstances through dismissal, as the UK does.

Increasingly authoritarian measures have led to the UK being downgraded in the International Trade Union Confederation’s annual Global Rights Index. The index rated the UK as a four on a scale of one to five, meaning the government has engaged in ‘systematic violations of rights’, which puts the UK on a par with regimes in countries like Saudi Arabia and Tanzania.

Conference calls on National Executive to:

lobby nationally and internationally to pressure the government to retract the Strikes Act,
jointly campaign nationally and internationally with the trade union movement in opposition to the Strikes Act,work with parents, employers and key stakeholders in challenging anti-trade union measures that strike at the heart of democratic society,
lobby all opposition parties to continue the campaign against the legislation and campaign for laws to be retracted at the earliest opportunity, and
consider the use of legal action should the regulations be enacted in the education sector.

Proposer: Dave Woods (International Committee)
Seconder: Jonathan Gray (International Committee)

Child poverty

Motion 2

Conference is shocked and alarmed at the huge and rising levels of homelessness and insecure housing across all UK nations, with many thousands of children living in temporary accommodation, and the significant negative impact this has on their ability to engage with education. This is shameful for a G7 country.

Conference further notes the stress and anxiety that insecure housing causes to families and the life chances of young people.

Conference calls on National Executive to:

work with housing and homelessness organisations, supporting appropriate campaigns to highlight the situation for families and young people and the impact this has on education, and lobby government to meet its existing obligations and commitments under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Proposer: Michael Henry (Redbridge branch)
Seconder: Dianna Ohene-Darko (Harrow branch)

Curriculum, statutory assessment and qualifications

Motion 3

There is a desire within our profession to ensure all learners experience a broad and balanced curriculum, developing the skills and attitudes they will need to succeed in modern society and preparing them

for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences they will face in their lives. But time for teaching and learning is finite. It can be challenging to cover the current content of the national curriculum and qualification specifications in the time available; they are overcrowded and unmanageable.

Yet, the myriad secretaries of state of successive governments have imposed additions to the national curriculum (including ‘non-statutory’ additions), reformed qualifications to include more content, and distorted the curriculum and qualification offer through their narrow, high-stakes performance measures.

Conference calls on National Executive to lobby government to:

work with the profession to undertake a formal review of the national curriculum and qualification specifications to reduce the existing content and to ensure they meet the current, and future, needs of all pupils for their lives in the modern world,
demand (following this review) that where new subjects or content are believed to be necessary, the current curricula/qualification specifications must be reviewed, and existing content reduced in some areas to allow for increasing content in others,
view the curriculum and its purpose as a whole, from early years to key stage 5, and not in isolated silos of key stages or year groups, and
end the use of high-stakes performance measures as a blunt tool to drive curriculum and qualification choices in schools.

Proposer: Graham Frost (Primary Sector Council)
Seconder: Toni Dolan (Secondary Sector Council)

Motion 4

Conference believes that children who clearly should not undertake a statutory test should not be forced to do so.
Conference calls on National Executive to campaign to amend current government guidance on participation and accessibility arrangements for statutory testing of pupils so the appropriate school leader in every school is trusted to make those decisions using their professional judgement.

Proposer: Patrick Foley (Bromley branch)
Seconder: Joanne Riley (Hackney branch)

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Motion 5

Conference notes that within the education sector and schools in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, there is not the same supportive planning for school leaders and staff who are disabled people as there is for the children and young people in our care. Schools and school leaders have established processes for formally planning for the needs of children and young people with special educational needs, including those identified as being disabled people.

In 2019, the TUC and GMB produced a model reasonable adjustments employer agreement. This is a tool for employees to agree with their employer, using a template reasonable adjustments passport, what adjustments have been put in place to eliminate barriers in the workplace. These adjustments may

include providing specially adapted equipment (like a chair, desk or computer), temporarily changing the duties of the job, changing break times or working patterns, or allowing flexible working or agreed time off for medical appointments. When the adjustments are agreed, all parties sign the passport.

The document can then be reviewed at regular intervals. This means that disabled people (and those who require time limited adjustments through, for example, menopause, some cancer treatments, breaks and fractures etc) don’t have to explain all their requirements again every time their line manager changes, or they change roles within their organisation.

Conference calls on National Executive to:

use the TUC’s model reasonable adjustments agreement and template reasonable adjustments passport to develop a template that reflects the specific barriers and challenges our members face in an educational setting,
identify local authorities (LAs) and groups of schools to develop and pilot the use of the reasonable adjustments agreement and template reasonable adjustments passport,
prepare an information pack to be distributed to branches, and to encourage NAHT branches to negotiate with LAs and multi-academy trusts (MATs) to enable reasonable adjustments disability passports for our disabled members, and
work to establish reasonable adjustments disability passports with sister unions and employers as expected practice in all schools, and accessible to staff and school leaders who are disabled people.

Proposer: Jon Barr (Diversity and Inclusion Group on behalf of the Disabled Members’ Network)
Seconder: Patrick Foley (Diversity and Inclusion Group on behalf of the Disabled Members’ Network)

Motion 6

When considering equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in education, we believe that all protected characteristics should be treated equally. These nine characteristics do not form a hierarchy.

Yet the safeguards we have for our LGBT members and their LGBT pupils aren’t yet complete – this is particularly true for these who are transgender. Too often we’ve seen that trans people are used as weapons in a culture war. We must remember at the heart of this are individual people, teachers, leaders, and even children and young people that deserve protection and respect.

Conference instructs National Executive to:

reaffirm our current policy commitment to supporting trans equality, welcoming the contribution trans people make to our schools and communities and rejecting transphobia in all its forms,
produce clear advice and guidance for members to effectively support all trans staff,
work with the TUC to reduce the wider societal barriers faced by trans people, and
campaign positively and challenge any politicisation of trans people and their lives.

Proposer: Cathy Rowland (Diversity and Inclusion Group on behalf of the LGBT+ Network)
Seconder: Jon Barr (Diversity and Inclusion Group on behalf of the LGBT+ Network)

Annual Conference motions 7 to 12 – Saturday 3 May 2024, 8.50am to 9.50am

Funding

Motion 7a

Our country is in the midst of a serious cost of living crisis. This is leading to unprecedented increases in energy costs, rapid increases in the costs of food and significant increases in the costs of housing via higher rents/mortgage costs. It is predicated that the current situation is going to be with us until at least 2027–28. Senior leaders across the country are able to give stark testimony about the effect of the current crisis. Schools know the impacts of cost of living increases on pupils and their households.

As well as impacting households, rising costs are also affecting mainstream and special school finances. Additional funding for schools is promised, but there is still a question about whether this will be sufficient (Drayton et al., 2022) because schools are also having to manage so many other pressures.

Conference calls on National Executive to work with other unions and campaign groups to highlight the current gap in school funding and to put pressure on all parties to increase school funding in real terms over the course of the next parliament.

Proposer: Katie Anderson (Halton branch)
Seconder: Richard Collings (Halton branch)

Motion 7b

Conference believes all children should have access to a quality, hot, balanced meal on every day at school. We believe any family that receives universal credit should automatically be enrolled for free school meals access and also eligible for pupil premium funding into their school.

Conference instructs National Executive to:

build partnerships with other organisations campaigning for social justice and an end to child poverty to campaign for this outcome, and
work with the mayor of London’s office to analyse and celebrate the positive improvements from the ‘London-wide’ free school meal programme across all primary schools in the region.

Proposer: James Lacey (Wandsworth branch)
Seconder: Stuart Beck (Havering branch)

Motion 7c

Conference notes the many benefits of school trips, outings and visits on the development of students and the increase in ‘cultural capital experiences’ but also the financial burden of the cost of transport on increasingly strained and tight school budgets.

Conference instructs National Executive to:

work with interested groups such as LAs, charities and transport trade unions that promote free transport for school trips/activities, and
lobby and campaign for free school travel for both school trips/activities and for all children who use public transport to get to and from school.

Proposer: Dave Woods (Ealing branch)
Seconder: Jonathon Bailey (Ealing branch)

Motion 8a

The funding crisis facing schools across Wales is crippling school leaders’ ability to deliver. With no fat left to trim from budgets, schools are making cuts that are having a detrimental impact on the education and well-being of children and young people and our ability to meet our statutory obligations with regards to health and safety and the upkeep of the school estate. We cannot sit back and do nothing while the profession suffers.

Conference calls on National Executive to commit the union’s resources to fiercely campaign for additional core funding for schools, and use every avenue open to this union, up to and including industrial action, to achieve this goal.

Proposer: Dean Taylor (Newport branch)
Seconder: Rebecca Penn (Newport branch)

Motion 8b

Small and rural schools across all nations continue to face extraordinary pressures because of real terms budget cuts. Their leaders are dealing with increasing challenges to ensure the experiences of their learners, staff and wider school communities continue to keep pace with other schools. Those leaders often undertake significant additional roles, which inevitably impacts on their workload, performance and well-being.

Conference calls on National Executive to bring pressure on the governments of Wales, Northern Ireland and England to ensure an impact assessment is undertaken on any new initiatives or funding measures to ensure small schools are treated with equity.

Proposer: Damon McGarvie (Pembrokeshire branch)
Seconder: Gareth Lewis (Pembrokeshire branch)

Motion 9

Conference calls on National Executive to recognise the role maintained nursery schools play in supporting children with SEND.

Conference instructs National Executive to work with government officials, LAs and a range of stakeholders to establish clear, fair and consistent funding and placement arrangements for children with SEND, including the role of providing specialist provision for children under five, supported by specific, sufficient, high-needs block funding for the early years.

Proposer: Sam Williams (Bristol branch)
Seconder: Sharon Cutler (Bristol branch)

Motion 10

Conference urges National Executive to petition government to overhaul the national funding arrangement for pupils with SEND, so theirwhole funding follows each child in ‘real time’ rather than a reliance on the notional funding mechanism that penalises ‘magnet schools’.

Proposer: Mark Shrewin-Peddie (Eastern region)
Seconder: Jan Hatchell (Eastern region)

Motion 11

The SEND and alternative improvement plan roadmap, published in March 2023, is already behind schedule; the early actions focus most time and resource on those children and young people who already have education, health and care plans (EHCPs) and on national standards. Head teachers understand that parental confidence comes from high-quality teaching with timely, targeted, evidence- based intervention.

Conference urges National Executive to work with government to ensure that whoever is in power prioritises co-production between central government, LAs and education leaders of all phases to ensure investment in SEN support to avoid needs escalating.

Proposer: Jane Carter (SEND & AP Sector Council)
Seconder: Marijke Miles (SEND & AP Sector Council)

Motion 12a

Conference supports the ambitions of the new Welsh government legislation to support children and young people with additional learning needs, but schools are struggling to deliver due to the complexity of the requirements, inadequate funding and the lack of supporting services. LAs are issuing their own guidance on the code to cover all bases because they are concerned about the risk of tribunals for failing children. However, this is putting immense pressure on schools, particularly ALNCos.

Conference urges National Executive to support calls for the Welsh government to either amend the ALN code and base legislation to better reflect what schools can achieve orprovide the much-needed cash injection to deliver on the demands of the code as it stands.

Proposer: Suzanne Hamer (Monmouthshire branch)
Seconder: Tim Appleby (Monmouthshire branch)

Motion 12b

Conference calls on National Executive to ensure, in collaboration with school leaders, work begins on creating a long-term plan for SEN provision and support in early years. This must not be dependent on those in power at a political level, changes in roles and responsibilities at the Department of Education or the Education Authority, or lack of funding across the province. It needs to be constant and consistent so school leaders can do their jobs and make a positive difference to the lives of the children in their care.

Proposer: Clare Majury (Northern Ireland)
Seconder: Katrina Moore (Northern Ireland)

Annual Conference motions 13 to 19 – Saturday, 11.40am to 1pm

Inspection and accountability

Emergency motion 1

A longstanding and broad consensus has urged government and Ofsted to reform the inhumane and unreliable inspection system. Tragically, that consensus has been strengthened by the coroner’s finding that inspection contributed to the death of Ruth Perry. In turn, this led the House of Commons Education Select Committee to recognise the urgent need to mitigate the risks that inspection poses to the health and well-being of school leaders and their teams.

Government has effectively ignored the findings of coroner’s prevention of future deaths report by rejecting the Select Committee’s recommendations. Its tin-eared defence of discredited and reductive single-phrase judgements, and its unwillingness to enter into any meaningful consultation or negotiation, poses a real and present danger to the mental health, well-being and lives of school leaders and teachers. Should another tragedy happen in the future, it will be ministers who need to answer for their decisions.

In light of Government’s wholly inadequate response, Conference instructs NAHT’s National Executive to explore all campaign, legal and industrial routes to secure necessary changes to inspection to safeguard leaders’ lives.

Proposer: Angi Gibson (National Executive)
Seconder: Amanda Hulme (National Executive)

Motion 13

The Department for Education’s (DfE’s) approach to the forced academisation of schools, which have had successive ‘requires improvement’ (RI) judgements in the current high-stakes inspection system, takes no account of the context or circumstances surrounding individual schools and is impacting head teachers and other leaders’ ability to lead the change needed in these schools.

The ‘poisoned chalice’ of taking over a school that has had an RI judgement and not having the time to address the issues in that school is deterring many leaders from taking on roles in our most challenging schools.

Conference calls on National Executive to demand that government immediately withdraws its plan to intervene where schools have had two successive RI judgements by Ofsted and force them to become part of a MAT.

Proposer: Roger Blackburn (North west region)
Seconder: Nicola Kearney (North west region)

Motion 14

Failure by Ofsted to adhere to its own inspection windows creates stress and drives ill-health outcomes for school leaders and their staff due to the high stakes associated with inspection. Pending full reform of the inspection system, immediate action is required to reduce the negative impact of inspection on school leaders and their teams.

Conference instructs National Executive to advocate and actively campaign for Ofsted to adopt a consistent and fixed specific time window, with a start and finish date of no more than three months for inspections, and to provide clearer notice of this to schools awaiting inspection.

Proposer: Claire Evans (Sandwell branch)
Seconder: Amy Lassman (Birmingham branch)

Motion 15

Conference calls on National Executive to create guidance for employers to aid them in formulating robust and proactive policies to support school leaders in dealing with Ofsted, particularly where there are concerns about an inspection.

Proposer: Simon Hague (South west region)
Seconder: Helen Collinge (South west region)

Pupil support and safeguarding

Motion 16a

Conference calls on National Executive to work with multi-agency services and government to set out a clear national policy on the expectations of schools in providing support beyond the remit of education, including a mechanism of formal rapid escalation for schools if minimum standards of multi agencies are not met.

Over the period of austerity and as a result of covid, the demands on schools have risen to act as a provider of last resort where other services are stretched beyond capacity. School leaders are always committed to supporting pupils and families to ensure the best opportunities for the young people in their care, but are also working beyond capacity. Schools require a properly planned and funded approach that provides clarity for school leaders and other stakeholders about expectations and limits on what schools can provide.

Conference instructs National Executive to urge government—of whatever colour—to set out a clear plan, and to provide an appropriate structure, resource, funding and training to ensure schools no longer need to co-ordinate multi-agency work and to ensure schools can work effectively on their core purpose of education for all young people.

Proposer: Michael Tidd (West Sussex branch)
Seconder: Sam Cooper (South west region)

Motion 16b

Schools can often evidence that they have undertaken all actions possible to address school absence, and parents/families have engaged with the process, but the underlying issues driving absence (eg mental ill-health, school refusal) are beyond home and school to resolve. Schools are reliant on the support of other services, and where these are not accessible, schools should not be held accountable for matters outside their control.

Conference calls on National Executive to lobby government so that ministers and DfE make clear they understand that the attendance issues schools are tackling are symptoms of societal change. Also, that government then commits the investment required to reinstate the external services that will have the biggest impact in addressing persistent school absence, including children’s mental health services, social care and education welfare services.

Proposer: Graham Frost (Primary Sector Council)
Seconder: Liam McGuckin (Primary Sector Council)

Motion 16c

Stockport branch calls on National Executive to demand better support from government for the well-being and outcomes of young people and their families. This should include a clear strategy from government to properly address the impact of covid-19 on children and families and the funding and rebuilding of the crucial services that support them (including mental health services, speech and language services, and social care).

Proposer: Jo O’Raw (Stockport branch)
Seconder: Jim Nicholson (Stockport branch)

Motion 17

Conference calls on National Executive to request that the minister for education in Northern Ireland intervenes with the services, support and advice provided by the Education Authority (EA) for SEN learners in NI schools. School leaders have no confidence in the EA leadership that is tasked to support schools in meeting the educational needs of the children we serve.

Proposer: Jonathan Gray (Northern Ireland)
Seconder: Jackie Bartley (Northern Ireland)

Motion 18

The first ever national capacity audit of specialist provision represents a landmark moment, both to understand the scale of the challenges in meeting need and where and how to target investment to close the gaps between capacity and demand. This is national data, which parents, carers, leaders and all members of the community expect to be used by government to address identified specialist undercapacity.

Conference calls on National Executive to lobby DfE to ensure the findings of the national capacity audit of specialist provision are used to urgently bring forward a strategic plan to address any lack of capacity.

Proposer: Marijke Miles (SEND & AP Sector Council)
Seconder: David Duncan (SEND & AP Sector Council)

Motion 19

Conference welcomes the growing use of the term ‘neurodiversity,’ which recognises that we are all unique individuals and looks for the positive attributes in everyone, rather than focusing on what is difficult or impossible to achieve.

Conference asks National Executive to lobby government to recognise that, while it is important to know the nature of a young person’s needs, this should be set within the broader context of acknowledging the term ‘neurodiversity’ and what it stands for.

Proposer: Rona Tutt (SEND & AP Sector Council)
Seconder: David Duncan (SEND & AP Sector Council)

Annual Conference motions 20 to 29 – Saturday, 1.45pm to 4pm

Recruitment and retention

Motion 20

The current funding settlements penalise schools with a long-serving and experienced workforce by failing to recognise the significant additional costs of employing teachers on the upper pay scale (UPS) and those with higher teaching and learning responsibilities (TLR)..

Conference instructs National Executive to:

seek an updated version of the school teachers’ pay and conditions document (STPCD) in line with the removal of performance-related pay,
ensure future pay settlements apply equally to all pay bands and allowances,
ensure full funding for all future pay settlements (ie 4% rise is matched by 4% increase in salary funding), and
ensure appropriate differentials can be reinstated and maintained between main scale, upper scale and leadership pay ranges to support the retention of experienced staff.

Proposer: Adrienne Wright (Redbridge branch)
Seconder: David Huntingford (Barking and Dagenham branch)

Motion 21

Conference calls on National Executive to recognise that if we are to keep school leaders in their roles and attract aspiring leaders to the positions, current workload pressures need to be realistic, sustainable and safe.

Conference calls on National Executive to examine the impact of workload and well-being taskforces, and continue to support an urgent and meaningful assessment of the continuing pressures on school leadership. The impact needs to be felt by every school leader across our lands.

Proposer: Martin Tinsley (South central region)
Seconder: Jo Ayres (South central region)

Motion 22

In Sunderland, members have expressed, for some time, an increase in verbal and intimidating behaviour against them and their school staff. This behaviour is now almost commonplace, and our school leaders see it as a normal part of their school life. Levels of threat and intimidation from some families are resulting in a police presence in school, legal action and school staff suffering high levels of stress and anxiety. They are scared to go on the yard at the end of the day and anxious when certain parents appear at the school office.

In a recent meeting of Sunderland school leaders, all members recalled at least one occasion where a parent or carer’s response was disproportionate and abusive, and they had no recourse.

Therefore, Sunderland members have launched a campaign called ‘no excuse for abuse’ to raise awareness of this normalisation of threatening and abusive behaviour. They hope to empower school leaders to share their experience and feel less isolated in their role, and provide them with the tools to challenge this inexcusable behaviour.

Conference calls on National Executive to follow this approach and work with Sunderland branch to launch a national campaign on this issue, which is underpinned by the current priorities of workload and well-being, and recruitment and retention.

Proposer: Debra de Muschamp (Sunderland branch)
Seconder: Joanne Beavers (Sunderland branch)

Motion 23

The Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 places a duty on all public bodies to negotiate with recognised trade unions on all issues that relate to employee well-being and future generations. Conference believes that, in the spirit of this social partnership, discussions on new policy that will have a direct impact on the workforce should be discussed at inception rather than when it is announced publicly. Plans to reform the school year without meaningful discussion is just one example of policy overtaking practical discussions.

Conference calls on National Executive to support calls for social partnership to be rooted in education and for meaningful discussions to take place with the profession before policy is announced.

Proposer: Dafydd Jones (Denbighshire branch)
Seconder: Dylan Thomas (Denbighshire branch)

Motion 24a

It is not just Ofsted that pushes leaders to the edge.

The pressure put on school leaders by a range of agencies, in addition to Ofsted, too often has a negative impact on their health and well-being. Putting undue pressure on school leaders to enact structural change of the schools organisation or characteristics, against the wishes of the governing board.

Conference calls on National Executive to challenge any instances of unacceptable pressure placed on schools by DfE and connected agencies.

Proposer: Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson (Birmingham branch)
Seconder: Rubina Darr (Birmingham branch)

Motion 24b

Prioritising members’ mental health and well-being was at the forefront of our industrial action in Wales. For too long our members had taken on additional responsibilities with no reward, been subject to overly burdensome bureaucratic processes and spent too much time on administration tasks rather than leading teaching and learning, all leading to a negative impact on well-being. Through negotiations during industrial action, NAHT Cymru has successfully put conditions of service for school leaders at the top of the agenda and it now forms a key part of the remit for the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) for 2024.

Conference calls on National Executive to support improved conditions of service for school leaders, including protected leave and reasonable working hours.

Proposer: Nicola Hammond (Cardiff branch)
Seconder: Chloe Ford (Cardiff branch)

Motion 25

The lack of available and accessible health, social care and other specialist services means that schools are increasingly expected, instructed, asked or even cajoled to take on the delivery of non-educational, specialist services. These functions sit beyond the experience and remit of schools and educators who do not have the trained specialist staff to deliver these functions, nor are they resourced or funded to do so. Too often, EHCPs make undeliverable and illegal demands on institutions and their staff. This drives unnecessary and unreasonable workload for school leaders.

Conference calls on National Executive to campaign against the inappropriate placement of pupils with SEND in pupil referral units (PRUs) or alternative provision that is unable to meet their needs, in favour of properly funded and resourced special, specialist or, perhaps, mainstream provision, which will also contribute to improving staff well-being and workload reduction.

Proposer: Jackie Bartley (Secondary Sector Council)
Seconder: Darren Gelder (Secondary Sector Council)

Motion 26

While it is right that every school should have a parental complaints policy, malicious complaints are having a very detrimental effect on the recruitment and retention of school leaders who believe they have limited ability to challenge or respond to allegations, unlike many other similar professions.

Conference calls on National Executive to campaign for a reformed complaints regime that ensures:

all complainants have to go through the school’s own complaints policy before being able to escalate to other organisations,
complaints can only be heard by one body at a time and a proper process is established for determining who deals with complaints that are escalated,
complaints cannot be made anonymously (unless in exceptional circumstances, eg in relation to serious safeguarding concerns), and
governors or trustees actively promote respect for school leaders and their staff, and take appropriate action to protect them from malicious or vexatious complaints, including litigation or barring in exceptional circumstances.

Proposer: Darren Gelder (Secondary Sector Council)
Seconder: Stuart Beck (Secondary Sector Council)

Motion 27

Successful industrial action and an increased pay offer for teachers and leaders across Wales proved the review body process is redundant. NAHT Cymru gained more ground for members through direct negotiations with employers than during the last four years of the devolved process.

Conference calls on National Executive to commission a professional study, including professional advice, to determine whether the abolishment of IWPRB and moving to collective bargaining in Wales and England would further benefit our members.

Proposer: Chris Parry (Caerphilly branch)
Seconder: Jonathan Lloyd (Caerphilly branch)

Structures

Motion 28a

Conference supports the recent findings of the middle tier review in Wales, specifically the need to reform the way in which school improvement is carried out. We have an opportunity to shape the discussion and crucially how our members can be better supported to carry out their vital work.

Conference calls on National Executive to support commissioning a report to detail proposals (with evidence) on how NAHT Cymru would want to see school improvement carried out, moving forward while holding Welsh government to account to enable change within the system in a timely manner.

Proposer: Huw Jones (Conwy branch)
Seconder: Gwyn Vaughan (Conwy branch)

Motion 28b

Although many schools are now in academy trusts and run independently, LAs retain statutory responsibility for all children in a local area, and also retain specific responsibilities—for example, admissions, attendance and SEND—and, as such, are a vital partner for the success of our priority campaigns.

Conference instructs National Executive to

lobby government to fund LAs so they can carry out their statutory functions effectively,
work with the cross-party Local Government Association to promote its ‘save local services’ campaign to secure financial stability for LAs, and
use our own and other respected research to support local officials in their understanding of their own LA’s situation.

Proposer: Nigel Attwood (Birmingham branch)
Seconder: Amy Lassman (Birmingham branch)

Motion 29

Conference is reminded of the current significant demographic drop in pupil numbers that is leading to the closure of schools in many London boroughs and more widely across other parts of the country, in urban and rural areas.

Conference notes numerous instances of schools being asked to stay open by LAs and the negative impacts on their funding. In addition, Conference notes that while LAs continue to have the statutory responsibility for place planning, they have no powers to open new schools (other than academies/free schools), nor power to close failing academies or free schools. This leads to situations where schools will be closed not because it is the right choice for children but because a council is prevented from effectively exercising its statutory place planning role.

Conference instructs National Executive to lobby and campaign for increased gap or interim funding to support schools in these instances. Conference further instructs National Executive to campaign for LAs to once again have the power to open and close all schools in their area, including academies and free schools, in the best interests of children and young people in their local areas.

Proposer: Dave Woods (Ealing branch)
Seconder: Clare Rees (Ealing branch)

Emergency motion 2

Two Local Authorities are acting in a manner that will have a detrimental impact of the terms and conditions of our members.

Rhondda Cynon Taf Council are trying to force all primary schools to run paid-for childcare sessions before school in a bid to generate income. When NAHT questioned the proposal with legitimate questions around the roles and responsibility and the principle of headteachers running childcare, the LA pulled funding from all schools that had been placed into their budgets on the assumption they would capitulate.

Cardiff Council has released a Cardiff Federation Strategy, without consultation with the unions, that seeks to urge schools to federate if a headteacher leaves, or retires in a bid to save money. Such a plan is akin to a England academy model, forcing our members to take on considerable additional responsibility of managing a number of schools to save on headteacher salaries without any consideration as to what is best for learners.

NAHT officials met with RCT Council this week and the LA will not see reason and our members feel they are being bullied.

Cardiff Council have refused to pause the plan and it has now been agreed by full council.

Conference calls on National Executive to give support to members in RCT and Cardiff and for all mechanisms open to the union, up to and including industrial action, to be utilised to protect and defend the terms and conditions of our members.

Proposer: Chris Parry (Cymru)
Seconder: Dean Taylor (Cymru)

Emergency motion 3

Schools with a religious character play an important part of the education eco-system and are often popular with parents.

Many such schools are made up of diverse communities and work hard to ensure that pupils mix and interact with children from a wide range of backgrounds and with different beliefs from their own.

However, NAHT is concerned that the move to remove the faith cap is an unnecessary and potentially retrograde step.

We are concerned that there is a danger that such a move could inadvertently lead to a sense of selection through the back door and could potentially make it harder for some pupils to get a place at their local school.

Conference calls upon National Executive to utilise all means necessary to oppose the move and consider all available options available in order to prevent the cap being lifted.

Proposer: Patrick Foley (National Executive)
Seconder: Paul Gosling (National Executive)