Impington Village College selected by DfE for Workload Reduction Toolkit

Impington Village College, a non-selective secondary school on the outskirts of Cambridge, has been chosen to represent the East of England and North East London regions for the ‘System Leaders - Workload Reduction Toolkit Refresh’ project, run by the Department for Education (DfE). The project will be completed during the Summer term and the toolkit will be published in Autumn 2021.

The toolkit is being updated to include new practices adopted in schools during COVID-19, ensuring that it continues to support school leaders effectively in reducing workload. During the project, Impington Village College will be working closely with a large number of schools across the East of England and North East London, sourcing new content for the toolkit and exploring the ways school leaders have worked to ease teacher workload during the pandemic, through a series of focus groups. Findings from these focus groups will be transferred into the toolkit for all schools to access.

Victoria Hearn, Principal at Impington Village College, said: “The wonderful thing about the workload toolkit is that it is produced by, and has input from, school leaders, teachers and experts in the education sector, as well as the DfE. It is a truly collaborative project and I am so proud that we are able to represent schools across two regions, ensuring that the updated toolkit is a true reflection of what works well to ease workload pressures. Through our status as the Flexible Working Ambassador School in the East of England and North-East London regions, we will also be able to share key insights from the schools that we are supporting in order to inspire other schools to do the same. I am looking forward to getting started!”

School leaders and teachers will be able to access the toolkit via the government website and can use the resources to: identify and address workload issues in schools, such as feedback and marking; and evaluate the impact of workload reduction measures. The project will be led by Ryan Kelsall, Principal of Impington Village College 2016 – 2020 and now Deputy CEO of the Eastern Learning Alliance. If your school is interested in taking part in one of the focus groups, please contact Sarah McGill at smcgill@tmet.org.uk and register your interest before 7th June 2021.