the magazine for our community of schools

COVERED
the magazine for our community of schools
Autumn 2011
Issue 1
Christmas Competition:
Win £200 for your school!
Enter up to five works of art by your
students to our 2011 Christmas Card
Competition to be in with a chance of
winning the top prize - £200 for the
school, and the honour of seeing your
pupil’s work printed on this year’s
card. Two runners-up prizes of £50
each will be sent to the schools of the
second and third prize winners.
Please send your masterpieces to us
by post or by email (reasonably high
resolution) clearly marked with the
school name, the artist’s name and
school year. We regret that we will be
unable to return entries.
The competition will be judged by a
professional artist on Monday 21st
November, so be sure to get them to
us by then. A festive theme would be
appreciated!
AN ACADEMIC DECISION?
The Department for Education
describe Academies as publicly funded independent schools
that provide a first-class education, because they have freedom
to innovate and raise standards.
Funding for Academies comes
from central government, with the
same amount per pupil as before,
but with extra funding to cover
the cost of services previously
provided by the LEA. Academies
also have more freedom over how
their budget is spent. Successful schools who convert are expected to partner a weaker school.
School staff unions have been
campaigning against Academies,
including writing to parents and encouraging them to object to conversions. They describe an Academy
as “a school with no local links to
the community or the council, but
funded by the taxpayer” and they
claim that there is no evidence of
raised standards. Academies’ freedom over staff pay and conditions
have been presented as an opportunity to pay excellent teachers
more. It looks like the teaching unions are concerned that it will have
the opposite effect and undermine nationally agreed standards.
In April the Guardian suggested
www.absenceprotection.co.uk
that despite government assurances that Academies would not enjoy
funding advantages, some heads
are beginning to view the incentives offered as a ‘bribe’. The “lacseg” (local authority central spend
equivalent grant) is calculated as
a cost per pupil of the provision of
central services such as behaviour
support, and they claim that many
Academies have a lower than average take-up of these services
(or are able to provide the equivalent services for less money). This
leaves the school in profit while the
LEA has a hole in the budget for
providing the services to less fortunate schools. The Government
have announced that for 2012/13
there will be new arrangement for
calculating the Academies’ funding
as the present arrangements are
‘complicated and unsustainable’.
The debate is only likely to be compounded by the opening of the first
Free Schools in this term, everyone will be watching to see what
effect even greater freedom has
on both finances and achievement.
If you have guided your school
through this process and would be
willing to share your experience
with other APL schools, we would
be delighted to hear from you.
0800 862 0077
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ATTENDANCE MANAGEMENT: ARE YOUR STAFF WATCHING THEIR FIGURES?
The link between pupil attendance
and attainment has been conclusively proven. Diverse attendance
management measures are being
trialled across the country. There
are social methods - using mobile
technology to interact with parents
to improve punctuality and attendance; hi-tech methods - using the
latest in biometric fingerprint technology for the register; and even financial incentives - penalty notices
(fines) for the parents of persistently
absent pupils or even paying pupils
to attend school. But who is innovating to improve attenance for the
school staff?
The Taxpayers’ Alliance claim that
on average, Secondary schools
spend over £100,000 a year on supply teachers (with higher spending
in more deprived areas). Might it be
NEWS*NEWS*NEWS
Self Certification Forms:
We love to reduce the burden of administration on your scheme wherever we can. From Autumn 2011,
you will no longer be required to return self certification forms to us for
those claims for absences which do
not exceed 10 days and which do
not require a Section C Doctors’ authority for other reasons.
This means that you can process
short-term straightforward claims
entirely online, without the need to
send supporting paperwork by post
or fax!
Doctors’ Fees:
We know that many GPs charge for
completing paperwork for your staff.
We understand that the fees they
charge have risen sharply in recent
years. So, from Autumn term 2011,
whenever a member of your staff
has to pay their doctor to complete
a Section C Doctors’ authority form,
you can claim the reimbursement of
this cost from us up to £30, up 200%
on last year’s reclaimable amount.
cost effective to put active attendance management programmes in
place for the staff? There is useful
free advice, including a checklist to
help managers support a return to
work after extended absence, available at:
www.healthyworkinglives.com
If you have advice or experience of
implementing staff attendance management schemes and you would
be willing to share it with other APL
schools, we would love to hear from
you.
Time is money: choosing your Excess Days
Excess days, or waiting days, are
the days of each absence the school
waits before claiming on your policy.
With Absence Protection, one of the
many ways you can adapt your policy to suit the needs of your school is
to choose how long to wait. We offer
anything from zero (first day cover)
to 20 days excess. The choice is reflected in the cost; the higher your
excess days the lower your premium.
The most popular choice is 5 days:
a practical solution (do you really
want to be claiming for every cough,
cold and tummy bug?) with protection against any serious illness that
keeps a staff member at home for
more than a working week.
When budgets are tight, it could be
www.absenceprotection.co.uk
time to consider a 20 day excess
period. If your school’s absences
are fairly low but you need to protect against unforeseen serious absences such as accidents or hospitalisations, this could be a sensible
choice for you.
Over 20% of our schools choose
first day cover, or a zero day excess. Whilst this option may raise
your premium, you can be sure that
chronic low level absence will not
carve a hole in your budget.
So much depends upon your
school’s particular circumstances, it can be a difficult decision to
make. If you would like to discuss
your options with the schools team,
please get in touch and we would be
delighted to help you.
0800 862 0077
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FREE STUFF ONLINE
There are loads of sites offering
freebies, especially for schools.
Some of these are teaching and
learning resources, and some are
just fun! If you use them, be sure to
let us know how you get on so that
we can share the advice.
www.freestuffjunction.co.uk/freestuff-for-teachers.html
www.naturedetectives.org.uk
(The Woodland Trust)
www.walktoschool.org.uk
www.timetoteach.co.uk
www.dofreestuff.com
www.primarygames.com
www.study-pro.com
(Access to learning aids, particularly
for dyslexia and low vision)
www.freestuff4kids.net
Health Focus: Winter Flu
602 people died of flu in the UK last
winter, and 70% of them were between the ages of 15 and 65. Only
half of the under 65s identified as “at
risk” in England & Wales took up the
NHS offer of immunisation.
Influenza is a viral respiratory
infection with symptoms including
headache, fever, cough, sore throat
and aching muscles and joints. Cases peak between December and
March, hence the name ‘winter flu’.
The groups identified as “at risk” are
many and varied. They include people with certain underlying chronic
conditions, pregnant women, those
in residential care and front-line
health and social care workers.
However, there are no plans to offer immunisation to teachers on the
NHS.
What can schools do to reduce the
incidence of winter flu absences?
Some private healthcare providers
offer flu jab packages to employers.
Your staff may thank you for it, but it
would have to be paid for.
More basic interventions can be
made to cut down on the spread
of viral illness, such as attention to
building hygiene. Sanitizing door
handles,
computer
keyboards,
telephones and wash room surfaces could be a low cost/big impact measure. Ventilation ducts and
filters provide an effective breeding
ground for bacteria, and regular
cleaning could reduce the spread.
Practical hygiene training for the
pupils such as the ‘Catch it, Bin it,
Kill it’ campaign, reminders to cover the mouth when coughing, and
regular hand washing encourages
helpful behaviour from an early age
and might just save you from a costly
and traumatic cluster of absences.
IN-HOUSE CLAIMS DEPARTMENT
Since April 2011 all our claims are
administered by our in-house Claims
Department, located just one floor
above our sales and administration
offices. Not only does this mean that
we are better informed about your
school and your individual policy,
but we can share information more
efficiently and quickly.
Using the password we have
provided, you can access the Client
Area of our website. There you will
see the secure pages dedicated to
your school. As well as keeping your
staff list up to date, you can view a
list of all claims, which shows their
progress and lists the values for
paid claims.
This is demonstrated in our
processing statistics. The average
time for settlement (from receiving
the documents to paying the claim)
is currently just 8 days. In fact, you
can now track the progress of your
claims online whenever you choose.
If you would like help or advice on
using the Client Area, please do not
hesitate to get in touch.
www.absenceprotection.co.uk
Schools are telling us that the inhouse claims department is a great
improvement to our service - we
hope you find it so too.
0800 862 0077
COVERED
COVERED
The magazine for our community of
schools is circulated at the beginning of each term to all our clients.
To view the latest version of Covered, and an archive of previous
editions, please visit
www.absenceprotection.co.uk
OUR SERVICES
Absence
Protection
Ltd
are
specialists in the provision of staff
absence insurance for schools. We
offer a broad range of policies that
can be adapted to fit the individual
needs of each school. Offering
extremely comprehensive policies,
exceptional customer service and
prompt claims settlement, APL are
helping to reduce the costs of sickness absence in a growing number of schools across England and
Wales. Instant quotes are available
at:
www.absenceprotection.co.uk
or on 0800 862 0077.
GET IN TOUCH
We would love to hear from you if
you have any comments about the
magazine, suggestions for topics
or comments on this term’s edition.
The more interactive we can be, the
more useful and current information
we can include. Please email:
Sophie.L@absenceprotection.co.uk
or call 0800 862 0077.
Looking forward to the Spring
edition in January 2012.
Sophie Lavin, Client Liaison
What’s on – the NASBM National Conference
The
National Association
of
School Business Management are
holding their national conference on
the 23rd and 24th November. This
year’s conference has been entitled ‘Effectively Managing Change’
to reflect the challenges facing
Business Managers in the education sector. There will be keynote
speakers from a range of disciplines
as well as a motivational speaker
and a range of practical workshops.
Further information is available at
www.nasbm.co.uk.
will be offering our services to the
delegates from our stand in the exhibition hall and we would love to
see you there!
As an approved partner, we shall of
course be attending the event. We
The value of the Supporting Cast
We all know that you are legally
obliged to replace an absent class
teacher with a qualified substitute.
But how would you cope with support staff absence? Does your staff
absence insurance policy reflect
the central role that teaching assistants now play in the classroom, as
well as the pivotal work of finance,
administration and HR staff?
like to discuss your options with the
schools team, please get in touch.
If you have advice or experience
you are willing to share with other
APL schools, we would love to hear
from you.
Currently, just 38% of our clients
insure only their teachers. The rest
choose to cover at least one member of support staff as well. Some
schools opt to include only the
HLTAs, or only those TAs assigned
to an SEN child. Some schools opt
to cover higher paid administration
staff such as business managers
and non-teaching heads under the
category of teaching staff. Other
schools choose to cover every
employee, including site support,
lunchtime assistants and playworkers.
With Absence Protection you can
tailor your policy to the specific
needs of your school. If you would
www.absenceprotection.co.uk
0800 862 0077