Annual Report — February 2004


Secretary's Report

Officers and committee — We were pleased to fill every officer post and also had some Committee members.

Meetings — We held 8 Association meetings and 10 Committee meetings (including socials) during the year. We were very pleased to have a variety of guest speakers:

Student and newly qualified recruitment — We have, as ever, endeavoured to ensure that we sign up as many students and newly qualified teachers as possible. We attended the Freshers' Fair at the university and have now made contact with a student who is prepared to be a NUT rep at the university. We attended the NQT meeting arranged by the LEA and gave the NQTs NUT packs. We followed this up by post. We arranged a NQ function which was successful.

Reps training — We provided some high quality reps training on 28.3.03 at the Highpoint Centre. Not many school reps attended but it was well-received by those who did attend.

Annual Conference 2003 — Our delegation comprised; Jane Rolfe, Steve Boyce, Ruth Byrne, Ian Leaver, John Royley, Neil Alexander and Norman Machin. Nic Gavin went as Executive member. We attended a variety of fringe meetings and represented the City well, but did not have any speakers this year.

Campaigns — Our biggest campaigns this year were: " anti-SATs " opposition to the City Academy We tried very hard to motivate members in an anti-SATs campaign and also inform members of the public about SATs. We held stalls in the city centre and at Leicester Caribbean Carnival, with balloons, leaflets and petitions & we visited schools talking to teachers etc. In the end, following a survey of members, Key Stage 1 and 2 members were balloted to boycott the tests. Unfortunately, insufficient members voted and we were unable to take action. This was a considerably blow to those people who had worked so hard and felt so strongly about SATs. Our opposition to privatisation of education in general and a proposed City Academy in particular has continued this year. We have made representations at every opportunity, attended meetings, endeavoured to inform local politicians and members of the public about our concerns. We have heard, as yet unofficially, that the DfES has agreed the City Academy, but that local politicians have said that they will only contemplate an Academy if there is no selection, it is for local pupils and its results can be counted towards the LEAs figures.

Budget — Despite Leicester City Council honouring its commitment to increase spending on education for three years in a row, last year's budget settlement was inadequate. This was mainly due to increases in employers' contributions, the pay settlement etc. Section 188 notices were issued at 6 schools and 8.5 FTE posts were lost. Members were supported throughout the process but unfortunately NUT members were nominated for compulsory redundancy. Subsequently they were employed elsewhere. One school, Avenue Junior School, lost several staff and this meant that they had to endure not only the redundancy process but also have oversize classes with mixed ages. They were determined to resist this worsening of their conditions of service and after a long campaign, which included a Regional Deputation and a National Deputation, the LEA increased its support to the school and the potential strike action was avoided.

EMAG — there were no losses of EMAG posts last year but a Section 188 notice was issued late in the autumn term for Easter 2004. Losses were resolved by voluntary means.

Working parties — I have attended a number of working parties, including: " anti-violence " behaviour " African/Caribbean Dual/Heritage " Flexible working arrangements " Maternity/paternity/parental leave

Consultations — The union has been involved in a number of consultations this year including: " SEN Review " Asset Management Plan " Transforming schools " Every Child Matters " 6 term year " draft accessibility strategy " transforming schools " draft Education and life long learning strategic plan 2003

European Social Forum — three members of our Association attended the European Social Forum in Paris this year. We have proposed to set up a Social Forum in Leicester through the Leicester & District Trade Union Council.

Support for schools in Special Measures — Several of our schools are in Special Measures at the moment and we have tried to give them as much support as we can. This has included visits from national officers.

Reorganisation of Gateway College — I have been involved in a proposed reorganisation of Gateway College and made representations on the NUT members' behalf. Meetings & courses attended — 6th form colleges, briefings at HH, Div Sec's course.

This has been a very busy year, with issues such as Remodelling the Workforce, Upper Pay Spine and pay, teachers' pensions, pupil behaviour etc taking up officers' time. There has also been more casework from individual members than ever. Officers and Committee members have provided me with a great deal of support, particularly when Pete was ill, as his contribution and presence was greatly missed. I would like to thank all the people who helped me during that time and throughout the year. The officers put a great deal of time and effort into the union to help it to run smoothly and effectively. I am most appreciative of the help, support and guidance that we receive from Regional Office which provides an excellent service. We also have some very good school representatives who work very hard for NUT members. The efforts of many people help to make us, in my view, a good local Division and enables us to provide a very good service to our members.

Jane Rolfe 11.2.04

Assistant Secretary's Report.

This report is shorter than usual because I was off sick from almost the time of the AGM to the summer. I'll try not to do it again. SEN We have continued to respond to the LEA's various proposals on SEN, including in relation to delegated funding to schools, the organisation of SEN support services and the Review of Special Schools. Our views have been taken seriously by the LEA and a number of points made were incorporated in papers. We had a very successful meeting in January which was addressed by Paul Livock, which attracted many members from Special Schools. A draft response to the plans to Re-organise Special Schools has been produced ready for the next association meeting. LEA POLICY We have responded to a number of new policies, most recently the Secondary Transformation Plan, LEA Strategic Plan and the Asset Management Plan. Wherever possible I have provided summaries of these proposals for Committee, but the LEA has invariably given us little notice of its plans and little time to respond which impairs proper democratic procedures. TCC We continue to have difficulties in getting the LEA to take unions seriously. Four complaints have been submitted regarding non-consultation. We have also made clear that we do not accept the way the LEA has dealt with Holiday proposals. It is intended that new arrangements for organising TCC to ensure effective consultation and updating of unions on current issues will be discussed with Adrian Paterson in the very near future. NUT needs to re-elect its TCC representatives at the next Association meeting. New College I have spent a lot of time supporting members at New College. This has included several meetings for members, including one addressed by the DGS Steve Sinnott. We continue to recruit at New College, and are winning members from the other unions who seem unable to respond to the welter of issues that emerge. Early Years The new admissions procedure, which we were instrumental in setting up, comes into operation in August. This is a real achievement as it offers an entitlement model of provision for all 3 and 4 year olds and has led to significant refurbishing of early years bases in a number of schools. We will be monitoring its operation, in particular to ensure appropriate staffing is used.

Peter Flack 04.02.04.

Report from the Equal Opportunities Representative.

In November I attended the ninth "Pride in Education" conference at Hamilton House, London. "A Year of Change" was the title of this conference with a focus on events of 2003. These included the repeal of section 28 and the long awaited new employment rights for lesbian and gay workers. Opening the proceedings, John Bangs outlined recent work by the NUT. Mark Bell, lecturer in law at our own Leicester University, out-lined new laws which prohibit discrimination at work on grounds of sexual orientation. He explained clearly how the individual could now expect support and protection from the top. This presentation was followed by a speaker from the Conservative Party, Charles Hendry M.P. he spoke on his work with young lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gendered people. He called on schools to tackle homophobic bullying in a more open and structured way. Stonewall sent their chief executive, Ben Summerskill to speak about their continued work to make civil partnerships a reality for all. Workshops on the rights of LBGT employees, sex education and homophobic bullying followed. I attended a workshop that considered the issues raised from bullying within the primary setting. The conference closed with a lively question time directed towards the panel. This session was chaired by Judy Moorhouse(Equal Opportunities Committee), Tom Lucas(LBGT Working Party), and Rosamund McNeill(Principal Officer for Gender for the Union). The conference closed with a drinks reception to mark the repeal of section 28 and the introduction of ground breaking legal progress in employment law and equality issues.

Norman Machin (Equal Opportunities Rep.)

Membership Secretary's Report

The major change this year has been the decision to change the way that local membership records are kept. For some years now Hamilton House's records have been becoming more accurate and they have reached the stage where they are more accurate than the records that I have attempted to update myself. This came to light during the recent surveys and ballots over a SATs boycott. Jane and I have therefore made the decision that our local membership records should now simply be a copy of the National records. Carol Bligh at Hamilton House is very efficient at changing the national records if I inform her of changes and she sends me an updated database of members monthly. I do however keep my own database of city schools that I regularly update and this gives us local information about NUT heads, governors and school representatives. Currently our membership stands at 1682. Many thanks to Jane Rolfe for again organising the newly qualified teachers' function. This year's "do" at The Hogshead very successful with a number of newly qualified teachers attending.

Ian Leaver February 2004