Ready to tackle term four?

In this article, Andrew Blench offers up some top tips on how to make sure your summer planning goes smoothly for Term 4 – and that you can plan in some well-earned rest

But Andrew… there are only 3 terms in an academic year! For those of us who have been school business professionals for a while, we know that there is a term 4. It starts in the third week of July and ends at the start of September each year.

It’s a Marmite time of year as we love it and hate it in equal measures. It’s the only time when we get time and space without staff around to make improvements to our schools. We love it because it is an opportunity to do what we are all good at – making a positive difference for our children. But we also hate it because it rarely runs to plan, limits our ability to take a complete break (even if you’re not on a 52-week contract you will still get the calls during the summer, right?) and sometimes goes unnoticed when staff return in September.

Write a plan

Before becoming a consultant, my professional experience was in the secondary phase, with all the complexity that brings. I produced a plan showing who was expected in school each day/week, including contractors, me, site staff/IT staff and so on. A description of the works, where this was happening and what the impacts would be.

This plan came out of planning meetings which I had with my IT Network Manager and Facilities Manager during summer 2 term.

The plan was shared with all staff before and on the training day when everyone was back. To draw attention to how hard those of us who were still in school had worked, as well as pointing out anything which was not quite finished.

Manage expectations

Set expectations around when staff can and can’t come into school over the summer. It’s up to you how you manage this, but it may be that you keep the first and last week of the holidays free of contractors and significant jobs so that staff can come in and tidy their classrooms or update displays. The thing you don’t want is staff getting in the way of work, as this can make progress slower and there are safety aspects to consider. My message would be ‘no access without running this past me first’.

There is an old saying ‘you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. Even the most careful contractors will occasionally damage school property in the process of their work. So, the message is ‘take home any personal stuff’ and ‘also lock away student work and resources’.

In my experience it’s also not possible to keep the IT network fully available over this period. Often significant upgrades need to be undertaken and things must be taken down. This needs to be made clear to staff in advance – encourage them to save documents to the cloud if they need access from home.

Part of this is managing your own expectations as well. With the best laid plans there will always be a curve ball thrown in. Some works become more complicated than originally expected or a contractor lets you down. So, allow for some overrun in your planning.

Safeguarding and security

We don’t have to worry about safeguarding during term 4 as there aren’t any children in school, right? If anything, I would say that safeguarding arrangements are more important than ever during term 4.

We used to run holiday clubs during the summer, which brought children onto site. We also had sports facilities lettings which ran through the holidays. This can be harder to manage as there are fewer staff onsite. Also, occasionally adults would come into school to alert us to safeguarding concerns.

There is an expectation now that school safeguarding staff should be contactable over the summer, so have key numbers available.

Also think about how children can be kept segregated from any contractors. Make sure that contractors and site staff know how to escalate any concerns.

Sadly, my experience is that things do go missing during the summer period. With so much going on and so few staff around it can present an opportunity for petty theft. So as mentioned remind staff to take any personal stuff home with them and to lock everything up.

Health and safety

Have a signing in system at one central point for staff and contractors. Even in the absence of reception staff you still need to have a means who knowing who is on site.

Fire safety control measures still apply such as weekly testing of the fire alarm, emergency lighting tests and so on. If there are people on site (however few that is) we still have a legal obligation to keep them safe.

Look after you!

If you are employed on a 52-week contract book off at least 1 week and go somewhere where you can’t be reached.

If not on a 52-week contract remind staff of when you are working over the summer. So, if your contract is 39 weeks plus 2, agree with your line manager when you will be working your plus 2 and stick to that.

Say what you mean and mean what you say. If you are not available, then stick to that. Agree with your line manage in advance who an alternative contact is for site staff over the summer for when you are not available.

When you come to the end of term 4 it can be easy to focus upon what you didn’t achieve. Instead celebrate what has been done. The best compliment I ever received was from a group of year 8 students who made a point of coming to see me in the first week of September to say to me how nice school looked and thank you! It makes it all worthwhile, doesn’t it?