With two of my children as teachers I regularly get a sense of the sort of pressures they experience and this reminds me, if required, of the pressures our Trust staff face on a daily basis. You will recall that in October 2016, the Trust published a Workload Report that made a number of recommendations and suggestions for trying to reduce workload pressure. This report has gained considerable traction especially with the DfE and our trade unions because it appears, sadly, to be one of just a few attempts to tackle workload across a range of schools/academies.

Caroline Foster (Vice Principal at The Co-operative Academy of Leeds) and I spoke at a DfE conference in Manchester recently about the efforts the Trust has made regarding the workload issue. To be honest it does feel a little like putting a finger in the dyke but water continues to flow through.

The recently completed Foretel survey will provide further evidence of our efforts and I will be undertaking a formal review of the workload report in early summer. I will be asking the original group of colleagues to reform and review the progress made so far. I will let you know when this is taking place so that you can engage with the colleague/s at your academy.

The progress report will be honest about the success or otherwise of our efforts and include a consideration of the impact of external forces such as revised examination requirements, changes in assessment processes etc. If the dyke is getting flooded we must make clear where the water is coming from.