norwich

	Letitia Willins 01263 512447 Norwich and District Meetings Please put these in your diary Please also note the new venue which is Drayton Junior School Meetings will start at 4:30 pm and tea will be available from 4:15pm. January 15th 2008 (Tuesday) Annual General Meeting March 4th 2008 General Meeting May 6th 2008 General Meeting and Reps Meeting *********************************************** NORWICH AND DISTRICT NUT AGM TUESDAY 15th January 2008 Hon Sec Letitia Willins Drayton Junior Sch 4.30 pm Annual Report Dear Colleagues This has been a busy year both locally and nationally. The Union has launched its pay campaign especially aimed to help those new to the profession gain adequate financial reward – this is essential if we are to retain newly qualified teachers and enable them to join the housing ladder. So those of us who are mature/retired teachers do not feel left out the Union is very involved both locally and nationally in the pensions campaigns –Ray Russell from the West of our region is heavily involved in this and attended the Union Conference for retired teachers last year, as well as the National conference at Blackpool. This January the Union has asked all members to vote on accepting a Political Fund – you should all have received your voting paper, so please vote yes and return it. It is an essential requirement if the Union is to be able to campaign politically and legally in local and national elections. It does not tie us to any Party but enables proper campaigning to take place. Locally this year we have seen the re-organization of the school system into Junior and Secondary levels with pupils moving at 11 plus, and we now have to monitor the effect of this and to ensure that colleagues are supported through this change. Please inform your union at the earliest possible moment if there is talk of losing staff so that we are able to provide maximum support for members. The Secondary Sector is also experiencing much change with the raising of the school leaving age and the 14-19 initiative. The local schools and colleges are now having to offer diploma courses in various subjects and Norwich City College is expanding to cope with this new government scheme. Stress is a continuing problem for all teachers both locally and nationally. Do not forget that Heads and Governing Bodies have a duty of care for their staff, therefore staff wellbeing is important. The Health and Safety Executive have a monitoring role in this as the government is concerned over the stress-related illnesses of teachers and the loss of so many due to this ill-health cause. Teachers are expensive to train, so this is another reason for insisting that management is concerned about our wellbeing. Bullying is a perennial problem and is endemic in schools – do not suffer in silence, report all incidents: these could be racial, sexual or homophobic and could involve the use of the mobile phone. Once reported, and make sure this is a written report, wait a few days and then request to know what action has been taken. Asbestos is still a problem in many buildings – if you suspect that this is an issue in your school ask the union Health and Safety Rep to inspect the problem. It is a serious health hazard and teachers have died because of it. There are many other H/S hazards in schools and none of these should be tolerated once they have been identified and reported. Check what action is to be taken and if it doesn’t happen contact our union H/S Rep. Officers and Committee of your LA work hard on your behalf: posters, newsletters and reports are issued regularly, meetings are held twice a term and two of these per annum are socials to which all members and partners are welcome. Last year our Summer social – free buffet and drinks – was held in the delightful rural setting of the Earle Armes pub at Heydon. The Autumn Social and NQ Function was held on the Thai River Boat in Norwich. Again we provided free buffet and bar and the buffet provided was a delightful new experience. It is our custom to invite the Senior Vice President to this Social but as Bill Greenshields had overbooked and was unable to attend Hilary and John Bills came in his place. Both spoke at our social – Hilary on the work of the Union and John on the work of Teacher Support Network. Prior to the social Hilary spoke on Radio Broadland and John spoke to a colleague from Norfolk’s Well Being Project, about the work that TSN does for Headteachers in relation to stress. Norfolk is developing this itself as part of its Well Being Project. Throughout the year officers and committee also attend conferences and section meetings at Hamilton House and ensure that reports are given so that all colleagues can benefit from the information given. We attended National Conference at Harrogate, whare union policy is made. We also attended National Education Conference at Stoke Rochford which is always insightful on educational issues. This Easter the National Conference is at Manchester and we hope to send 7 delegates. If you would like to attend, please contact one of the committee members. Locally members attend LA teacher panel meetings so that your union has an input at local level. As well as this members of your LA always attend Division meetings of the NUT which are held five times a year in either Norwich or Dereham. Glenys Shepherd, our Association member and our Executive Member, who has worked hard for us for many years, is retiring at Easter. We shall miss her expertise and her very clear verbal and written reports. Thank you Glenys for all you have done for us over the years. We wish you well in your retirement. This means that we shall be electing a new Executive Member and we are pleased to have Kendra Deacon, a young Norfolk teacher from the Kings Lynn area, who is willing to stand for election. She was instrumental in forming the Young Teachers’ Section of the NUT and so is well able to forward Union initiatives at local and national levels. When voting starts for our executive member , please ensure you vote her…We, Like other NUT LA in Norfolk, have nominated her. Union Learning Reps are another initiative which the NUT has fostered – we now have three or four colleagues in Norfolk trained in this role. The NUT nationally organizes courses and conferences which all teachers can attend and there are also local IT courses which the Union pays for. There are two such courses running in Norwich at the moment. Another NUT initiative is the development of international work as part of union work. Again there are training courses to help members understand what this is all about. We are all members of one world and should all share in its successes and work to avoid its failures. Teacher Support Network is the only Charity run by teachers for teachers. It used to run Homes for retired teachers and provide grants and loans for those in financial difficulty. The Homes have closed as teachers prefer to retire to local Homes but the financial side has developed into financial advice, debt advice and grants and loans. Counseling is also given by telephone helpline and online. TSN runs a website with many fact sheets on educational topics, which provide guidance support and help for many. TSN is an acknowledged expert on stress and its management within the profession. If you think TSN could help you or a colleague, please contact me as I am your local rep as well as a member of TSN National Council and a Trustee. All our local meetings, except the socials, our held at Drayton Junior school at 4.30 pm and these are preceded by refreshments at 4.15 pm. Meetings finish by 6.00pm. and they are informal and friendly. We can park in the school yard or on the surrounding roads – please make an effort this year and come to some of our meetings. The next one will be before Easter our usual evening is a Tuesday and we can contribute to child – minding costs, if this is a factor preventing you from attending. ********************************************* Thank you to all who attended the welcome function (2007) at the Thai on the River. *********************************************** Norwich Retired Teachers' Association Meetings on Wednesdays at 10:00 am at the Christchurch Centre, Magdalen Road, Norwich For further details contact Janis Tyrer on 01603 451636