Policy appointment

Queen's birthday list

Congratulations to those SHA members recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in June.

The list included a knighthood for Pritpal Singh, head of Drayton Manor High School in London, and a damehood for Mo Brennan, head of Hillcrest School and Community College in Dudley.

Receiving an OBE were: Gareth Jones of Kings High School, Bournemouth; Ian Melvin of Thomas Hardye School, Dorchester; and Deborah Sanderson of Mitchell High School, Stoke on Trent. Bernadette Barns, Fulford School, York, was awarded an MBE.

War zone

John Dunford has penned the end notes for a report compiled by the charity War Child, titled Your War is Not With Me. It gives a voice to children growing up in conflict zones and brings research from Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia back to classrooms in the UK.

We hope it will help children in the UK gain an understanding of the problems faced by their peers in these troubled places and develop their own calls to action to governments and other organisations.

The report and accompanying lesson and assembly tools can be downloaded from www.warchild.org.uk/publications.asp

Travelling fellowship

Could experience overseas help to enhance your role in school or fulfil a personal interest?

The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust is accepting applications for its 2006 travelling fellowships to conduct projects overseas.

The grants will fund return air fare, daily living and travel within visited countries. Overseas stays must be at least four weeks.

Projects may range from history and literature, to bricklaying, to science and technology. SHA member Alan Flintham was a recipient in 2005.

For an application or to view the list of categories, visit www.wcmt.org.uk or call 020 7584 9315. The closing date is 20 October.

NAHT relationship

The recent NAHT vote to withdraw as signatories to the workload agreement clearly has implications for SHA's relationship with them.

By definition, NAHT will not be represented on the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group (WAMG) and Rewards and Incentives Group (RIG). Work-life balance issues are part of WAMG, so it will not be possible to issue a joint letter to governors as had been planned.

SHA will support NAHT's continued representation in the New Relationship with Schools steering group and the School Funding Implementation Group (SFIG).

SHA has a long-term goal of working increasingly closely with NAHT; it was agreed at Council in June that this goal should not change. We will continue to hold joint council meetings and to produce papers on areas of curriculum and policy not related to workforce reform.

Take you dog to work

The pet charity The Blue Cross, is calling on the education sector to lend a paw to its annual Take Your Dog to Work Day on 20 September.

Dogs can have a positive effect on the mental and physical well-being of people around them, including children.

Registration for the event is free. Owners are simply asked to work with colleagues to raise funds for The Blue Cross. For more Take Your Dog to Work Day visit www.bluecross.org.uk or call 01993 825502.

Extended schools

SHA has given its support to the government's extended schools prospectus launched in June. For a long time, we have stressed the important role schools play in the community. Extended schools are a natural progression.

At the same time, however, we warned ministers that to implement extended schools effectively will cost many millions of pounds. As well, this initiative more than any other carries enormous risks of increasing workload for school leaders.

The government must make sure that adequate resources are available so that school leaders are not drawn away from their core responsibility of teaching and learning.