Glossary of terms

0–9

4I model

Information gather, Identify the issues, Intervene systematically and measure the Impact. A framework for systematic problem solving and improvement.

A

A Level

Subject-based qualifications for 16–19 year olds.

A&R

Audit and Risk committee. Oversees financial reporting, internal controls, risk management and compliance.

AAP

Associate Assistant Principal.

AC

Academy Council. Local governing body that provides oversight and governance for an individual academy.

AFM

Assistant Finance Manager.

AI

Artificial Intelligence. Computer systems that simulate human intelligence.

AO

Accounting Officer. Each academy trust must designate a senior executive as Accounting Officer, usually the CEO. They are personally responsible for the trust’s financial regularity, propriety and value for money.

AP

(Education setting) Alternative Provision. An education setting for children who are unable to attend a mainstream school.

(School leader) Associate Principal or Assistant Principal

APS

Average Point Score. A way of measuring and comparing student achievement across different qualifications.

ASCL

Association of School and College Leaders. Professional association for school leaders.

AT

Academy Trust. Charities that have responsibility for running academies.

ATH

Academy Trust Handbook. Official guidance for academy trusts on financial management and governance.

AVP

Associate Vice Principal.

ASP

Analyse school performance. Department for Education online portal for educational professionals to retrieve information about school performance.

AWPU

Age-weighted pupil unit. The basic unit used in calculating the funding of an academy, weighted according to the pupils’ ages. Now known as Basic entitlement.

B

Basic entitlement

Used to calculate academy funding. Previously known as AWPU, or age-weighted pupil unit.

BM

Business Manager.

Burgundy Book

The “Burgundy Book” is a term for the conditions of service for school teachers in England and Wales.

C

CAR

Consolidated Accounting Return. Annual financial return that academy trusts must submit to the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

CAMHS

Child and adolescent mental health services. NHS services that assess and treat young people who are experiencing difficulties with their mental health.

CAPEX

Capital expenditure. Spending on assets that will be used long-term.

CEO

Chief Executive Officer.

CEP

Community Executive Principal.

CFO

Chief Financial Officer.

CIN

Child in need.

CLFP

Curriculum-led financial planning. Tools and methodologies to help schools and multi-academy trusts to plan their finances and staffing. Follows the principles of integrated curriculum and financial planning (ICFP).

COLLECT

Collections On-Line for Learning, Education, Children and Teachers. Department for Education online portal for schools and local authorities to process and manage data collection returns.

Community

Community is a union for those working in the education and early years sector.

COO

Chief Operating Officer.

CPD

Continuing professional development. Ongoing learning and training to maintain and enhance professional skills.

CPOMs

A child protection monitoring service used in Outwood schools.

CTF

Common transfer file. A standard file used to transfer pupil data between schools.

D

DBS

The Disclosure and Barring Service. A public body that helps employers make safer recruitment decisions.

DEEPs

Areas of the wider education of children within Outwood schools. Deep Experience, Deep Learning, Deep Support, and Deep Leadership.

DfE

Department for Education. Government department responsible for children’s services and education in England.

DofE

Duke of Edinburgh Award. Youth achievement award program.

DPO

Data Protection Officer.

DSA

Data Sharing Agreement. Legal contract that outlines the terms for sharing data between organisations.

DSL

Designated Safeguarding Lead. They take the lead on safeguarding and child protection.

E

EAL

English as an additional language. Term for students who have a first language other than English.

EAP

Employee assistance program. A program that provides support to employees who are experiencing personal or professional challenges. Outwood’s EAP provides confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

EBD

Emotional and behavioural difficulties.

EBSA

Emotional Based School Avoidance. A term to describe children who experience challenges attending school due to negative feelings.

ECF

Early career framework. A framework for the professional development of early career teachers.

ECT

Early career teacher. A teacher in their first two years of teaching who undergoes a structured induction program based on the early career framework. ECT 1 and ECT 2 refer to teachers in their first and second year respectively. The term ECT has replaced newly qualified teacher (NQT).

EHE

Elective home education. A term to describe when parents/carers choose to provide education for their child at home, or in some other way, instead of sending them to school full-time.

EHRC

Equality and Human Rights Commission. Britain’s independent equality and human rights regulator.

EP

Executive Principal.

ESFA

Education and Skills Funding Agency. The government agency responsible for funding education providers.

Evolve

The system Outwood schools use to manage school visits.

EWO

Education Welfare Officer.

EYFS

Early Years Foundation Stage. The framework that sets standards for the learning, development, and care of children ages 0–5. In schools, this typically refers to nursery and reception classes.

F

F&R

Finance and resources committee.

FAP

Fair Access Protocol. Local authority mechanism to ensure that children who are vulnerable or are having difficulty securing a school place are allocated a school place as quickly as possible.

FFT

FFT Education is a non-profit organisation that works with school data, literacy, and education research.

FM

(Service provider) Facilities Management.

(Role) Finance Manager.

FOI

Freedom of Information Act. Law giving public right of access to information held by public authorities.

FoS

Family of schools. Group of schools working together in partnership.

FSM

Free school meals.

FTE

(Student sanction) Fixed-term exclusion. Also known as a suspension.

(Employment term) Full time equivalent. Way of standardising workforce numbers accounting for part-time staff.

G

GAG

General annual grant. Main funding allocation for academies from the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

GCSE

Subject-based qualifications for 14–16 year olds.

GIAP

Get information about pupils. Department for Education portal for education professionals to retrieve pupil data.

GIAS

Get information about schools. Department for Education website that provides information about schools.

Green Book

The “Green Book” is a term for the national agreement on pay and conditions of service for local government workers.

H

HLTA

Higher Level Teaching Assistant.

HMCI

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector. The head of Ofsted.

HMI

His Majesty’s Inspectors. Senior education inspectors working for Ofsted.

HoD

Head of Department.

HoF

Head of Faculty.

HSB

Highly sexualised behaviour.

I

ICT

Information and Communications Technology. Digital tools and systems used to process information and communicate.

ICFP

Integrated curriculum and financial planning. A management process to help schools plan the best curriculum for the funding they have available.

IDSR

School inspection data summary report. A summary of data about a school, used by school inspectors.

IHCP

Individual Health Care Plan. Document detailing medical needs and support for students with health conditions.

I&E

Income and expenditure.

INSET

In-service training. Professional development days for school staff.

IRP

Independent review panel. Panel that reviews permanent exclusion decisions.

ISR

Individual school range. Categorisation of a school according to its size and type, used in calculating the salary level of a Principal

ITT

Initial teacher training. Programs preparing new teachers for the profession.

J

JCC

Joint Consultative Committee. Forum for union consultation.

JCQ

Joint Council for Qualifications. Organisation representing exam boards.

K

KCSiE

Keeping Children Safe in Education. Statutory guidance on safeguarding in schools.

KS 1–5

Key Stage one to five. Stages of the education system, covering school years 1–13.

L

L&P

Learning and performance time. Weekly time for professional development, briefings and admin tasks.

LA

Local Authority. Local government body responsible for providing services including education.

LAC

Looked-after children. A “Looked-after” child is provided with care and accommodation by the local authority.

LADO

Local Authority Designated Officer. Local authority role responsible for overseeing allegations against a person who works with children.

LBCT

Land and buildings collection tool. Department for Education portal for academy trusts to submit information about their land and buildings.

LGPS

Local government pension scheme. A public sector pension scheme for non-teaching staff.

LM

Learning Manager.

M

MAT

Multi-academy trust. Organisation that operates multiple academy schools.

MDT

Multidisciplinary team. Group of professionals from different specialties working together.

MIS

Management information system. Used to manage information in an organisation. Schools use specialised MIS to manage information about students, contacts, parental permissions, timetabling and more.

MLD

Moderate learning difficulties.

MPS

Main pay scale. The main pay scale for teachers.

MPSRE

Moral personal social and religious education. Curriculum covering personal development and ethics.

MUGA

Multi-use games area. Outdoor sports facility suitable for various activities.

N

NAHT

NAHT is a union for school leaders.

NASUWT

NASUWT is a union for teachers.

NEU

National Education Union. Union for education professionals.

NC

National curriculum. The national curriculum for England, taught in all local-authority-maintained schools.

NFF

National funding formulae. The formula used to allocate school funding.

NGA

National Governance Association. Organisation supporting school governors and trustees.

NIoT

National Institute of Teaching. National provider of professional development for teaching and school leadership.

NJC

National Joint Council. Body setting pay and conditions for local government workers.

NoR

Number on roll. The number of children registered at a school.

NPQ

National Professional Qualification courses. Suite of professional development qualifications for teachers and school leaders, including specialised NPQs for leadership roles (NPQH, NPQSL, NPQML) and teaching specialisms.

O

oCloud

oCloud is Outwood’s internal portal to track student progress, behaviour and achievement.

OGAT

Outwood Grange Academies Trust.

OIE

Outwood Institute of Education. Outwood’s in-house training and development provider for education professionals.

Ofqual

Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. Responsible for regulating qualifications, examinations and assessments in England.

Ofsted

Office for Standards in Education. Responsible for inspecting schools and other services providing education and skills.

Oracle

The HR and finance system used by Outwood.

Outwood Plus

Benefits platform for Outwood employees and governors.

P

PA

(Role) Personal assistant

(Student attendance) Persistent absence. Student attendance below 90% of possible sessions.

PAN

Published Admission Number. The maximum number of school places a school will admit to a year group.

PD

Personal development. Non-academic aspects of education supporting student growth.

PEX

Permanent exclusion.

PFI

Private finance initiative. A mechanism used to procure public sector infrastructure or services using private investment. Some schools were constructed using PFI.

PGCE

Post-Graduate Certificate in Education. Teaching qualification for graduates.

PLAC

Previously looked-after children. A “previously looked-after” child is no longer provided with care and accommodation by the local authority.

PM

Performance management.

PP

Pupil premium. Grant funding to improve the educational outcomes for disadvantaged children.

PPA

Preparation, planning and assessment time. Time for teachers to prepare for lessons and to assess students’ progress.

PRU

Pupil referral unit. Alternative provision for students not in mainstream education.

Praising Stars

Outwood’s system for tracking a child’s attainment and progress in school. Children receive periodic Praising Stars reports, typically half-termly.

PS 1–6

Praising Stars (cycle) 1–6. Praising Stars is divided into reporting cycles, typically half-termly.

PSHE

Personal, social and health education.

Q

QTS

Qualified teacher status. Professional certification required to teach in England.

R

RA

Risk assessment. Systematic evaluation of potential risks and mitigation measures.

RAG

Red/Amber/Green. Traffic light system for rating progress, priority, risk etc. Outwood maintains a RAG system for assessing student intervention needs.

RIDDOR

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations. Health and safety reporting requirements.

RSC

Regional Schools Commissioner. Official overseeing academies in a region.

RSE

Relationship and sex education.

S

S2S

School to school. Department for Education online portal for schools and local authorities to transfer student data.

SAT

Single-academy trust. Organisation that operates a single academy school.

SATs

Standard assessment tests. National curriculum tests taken in primary school.

SEF

Self-evaluation form.

SEMH

Social, emotional and mental health needs.

SEND

Special educational needs and disability.

SENDCo

Special Educational Needs and Disability Coordinator.

Session

The school day is split into two sessions: morning and afternoon. Sessions are used to calculate a child’s school attendance.

SFA

School funding agreement. Contract between academy trust and Secretary of State.

SI

Statutory instrument. Form of legislation made under powers delegated by Acts of Parliament.

SLA

Service level agreement. Contract defining services to be provided.

SLD

Severe learning difficulties.

SLT

School leadership team.

SM

Site Manager.

SORP

Statement of recommended practice. Charity Commission guidance for financial accounting and reporting.

SSO

Single Sign-On. An authentication method that allows you to access multiple systems/websites using one set of credentials.

SWC

School workforce census. Annual statutory collection of data about school staff.

T

T Level

Technical qualifications for 16–19 year olds.

TA

Teaching Assistant.

TAC

Team around the child. Meetings of multiple agencies to support vulnerable students and families.

TDP

Trust development plan. Strategic planning document for trust improvement.

TEP

The Education Platform. An online tool used at Outwood to survey employee satisfaction.

TLR

Teaching and learning responsibility payments. Additional payments for teachers who take on additional responsibilities and accountabilities.

TRA

Teaching Regulation Agency. Agency maintaining teaching standards and misconduct cases.

TPS

Teachers’ pension scheme. A pension scheme for teaching roles.

TUPE

Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment). Regulations protecting employees when an organisation transfers from one employer to another.

U

UPS

Upper pay scale. A higher pay scale for experienced teachers.

UQT

Unqualified teacher.

V

VP

Vice Principal.

W

X

Y

Z