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 <div data-pmr-editable="" class="medium-editor-insert-plugin">On the week that senior civil servant Sue Gray’s full report into Partygate is due to be published, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61560535">prime minister Boris Johnson is facing fresh scrutiny</a> after photos emerged of him drinking at an event which allegedly took place during lockdown. <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2022-05-23/exclusive-pm-pictured-drinking-at-downing-street-party-during-lockdown">The image, first published by ITV News</a>, shows the prime minister drinking at a leaving party for his former head of communications, Lee Cain, believed to have taken place on November 13, 2020.The PM is seen raising a toast to his colleagues while stood by a table visibly laden with wine bottles, drinks glasses and food.<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61560535">The BBC reports</a> that at least one individual in attendance at the event received a fixed penalty notice following the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into Partygate, but the PM did not.Johnson has received one fine following the Met’s probe into the affair, relating to a small gathering in celebration of his birthday in the Cabinet Room of Number 10 in June 2020.However, the force is now facing questions over why the prime minister was not fined over the event November 13, 2020.The Liberal Democrats have written to the Independent Office for Police Conduct requesting that the Met’s investigation into Partygate is scrutinised, while Labour’s London mayor Sadiq Khan suggested the Met ought to “explain why they have reached their conclusions and provide that clarity.”At the time the gathering took place, the second Covid lockdown was in force and indoor gatherings of two or more people were not permitted, unless deemed “reasonably necessary” for work purposes only.The PM has previously been questioned in Parliament over whether a gathering took place on November 13, 2020. He denied a gathering had occurred and insisted that he’d been assured lockdown rules were always observed within Downing Street.Labour shadow secretary for work and pensions, Jonathan Ashworth, highlighted the PM’s historic comments and called on Conservative MPs to push for his removal on the grounds that he was culpable misleading Parliament.Under government guidelines, ministers who knowingly mislead MPs are expected to resign.Meanwhile, Robert Buckland, the Conservative former justice secretary, commented: “If there's a deliberate lie, I can't see how anybody, including this prime minister, can continue.“There are things we say honestly and genuinely at the time that we believe to be true... now that's one thing. Going and deliberately saying X is Y knowing that is the case is, of course, beyond the pale.”Ruth Davidson, the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, went further by saying that Johnson’s position was now untenable and that he was culpable of lying to MPs.In the image concerned, Johnson’s ministerial red box is visible. His fellow cabinet minister, transport secretary Grant Shapps, has leapt to his defence in suggesting that the PM was “probably on his way through” and was not guilty of knowingly rule-breaking and misleading the Commons over his account of events.Shapps said: “I think he's popped down there to raise a glass and say thank you to a long-term member of staff who is leaving.”Shapps also highlighted that the Met had already “thoroughly investigated” the event in question and arrived at the conclusion that the PM was not guilty of any wrongdoing.Meanwhile, a Downing Street spokesperson has said that the unredacted Sue Gray report will be published “in the coming days”, after which the PM would address the Commons “in full”.The spokesperson also raised the point that the Metropolitan Police had been handed photographs as part of its investigation and would have done its due diligence on the November 13, 2020, event.<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61560535">The BBC reports</a> that Sue Gray’s full inquest report could be handed to Downing Street and made available as early as Wednesday.While the publication of the Sue Gray report could pile further pressure on the PM, Johnson is also facing a probe by the Commons Privileges Committee over whether he did knowingly mislead his fellow MPs.&nbsp; Image taken from <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boris_Johnson_giving_a_COVID-19_press_conference.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></div>

On the week that senior civil servant Sue Gray’s full report into Partygate is due to be published, prime minister Boris Johnson is facing fresh scrutiny after photos emerged of him drinking at an event which allegedly took place during lockdown.

Partygate: PM under fresh scrutiny following release of photographs

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 <div data-pmr-editable="" class="medium-editor-insert-plugin">Writing for The Leaders Council, <a href="http://www.leaderscouncil.co.uk/members/andrew-clowes">Andrew Clowes</a>, headteacher of <a href="https://www.heywithzion.oldham.sch.uk/">Hey with Zion Primary School</a> in Oldham, Lancashire, highlights how small numbers of school pastoral staff are meeting ever growing workloads post-pandemic, meaning that extra staffing is required to meet the need.Increased social need alongside reduced support for those in crisis isn’t good.&nbsp;Most adults would be shocked if they knew what school safeguarding officers know about what our children are having to live with.Yes, there has been a pandemic. Yes, there is a cost-of-living crisis going on. Yes, there is a worrying war in Ukraine.Go beyond that.&nbsp;Think of where you live. Think of your local primary school.It is the location of a coming together of all the children whose families are linked with everything the prison service knows; everything the police knows about crime in the community; everything the NHS knows about illnesses affecting families in the area and everything social care knows about its families.Every bit of work the prison service, the police, the NHS and social care do, has effects on children.When teachers teach lessons on English, Mathematics or whatever, the children are bringing with them not just their homework but their emotional baggage from the wider life circumstances in which they live.<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingdecember2021.">Violent and sexual offences have risen above pre pandemic levels</a>. The prison population is <a href="https://theconversation.com/prison-numbers-set-to-rise-24-in-england-and-wales-it-will-make-society-less-safe-not-more-172566">expected to rise by 24 per cent within the next few years</a>, and drug, weapon and sexual offences are the <a href="https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_offenses.jsp.">most common types of crime.</a> The number of children in care is <a href="https://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/article/number-of-children-in-care-at-highest-level-on-record-latest-figures-show">at its highest ever level</a>, domestic abuse incidences <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/domesticabuseinenglandandwalesoverview/november2021">have risen </a>and <a href="https://www.lboro.ac.uk/news-events/news/2021/may/dramatic-rise-in-child-poverty/">child poverty is also rising.</a>Schools deal with the effects of these as they present themselves in our children. We teach them how to improve their reading, their writing and arithmetic, but also their emotional resilience too.We teach them words and numbers when we think they are ready to cope with them. Social problems are not differentiated, though. They come to children without waiting for the children’s readiness to cope.An article here will not rectify that, but it brings to light a leadership issue of trust.Do you trust schools to manage our children through their individual crises? I think schools do an exceptional job, given the context in which they are working, but they need more support to do it well.Hey with Zion is a church school and for years we have talked of our caring, Christian ethos. However, once we appointed a learning mentor, I realised that previously we had not been doing all we could to support children through their difficulties, as so many of those difficulties were under our radar.Without the staff, we did not know about them. So, we did not help the children through their difficulties as well as we might have done.That was then.We appointed a learning mentor with money we might otherwise have used for an additional teaching assistant, and we improved what we did for our children: by putting in more time with them on pastoral matters.Many schools have followed a similar path. 10 years ago, many primary schools did not have designated pastoral care staff; now it is the norm.The workload of school pastoral staff has increased significantly as society’s difficulties have grown.<a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html">Do we remember Maslow?</a> We shall not have our children fulfil their educational potential unless we can provide them first with their more basic human needs.As society’s social needs have grown, numbers of school pastoral staff must grow to meet them, and schools need the money to appoint them.We do not need a flurry of training courses delivered by people working at home, training courses which take staff away from the children.We need money to be spent on more pastoral staff in school.</div>

Andrew Clowes, headteacher of Hey with Zion Primary School in Oldham, Lancashire, highlights how small numbers of school pastoral staff are meeting ever growing workloads post-pandemic, meaning that extra staffing is required to meet the need.

Social difficulties are rising and schools need more pastoral care staff to cope, Oldham headteacher says

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 <div data-pmr-editable="" class="medium-editor-insert-plugin">Axis Energy Projects Ltd is a firm which specialises in the design and delivery of offshore moorings and foundations including Tension Leg Buoys [TLB]. For more than 20 years with its Axis TLB™ technology, it has produced subsea structures, moorings and foundations such as floating arch systems for the oil and gas industry.&nbsp;Now, Axis is bringing this expertise to the floating offshore wind [FOW] industry and has developed the ideal solution to deliver clean, sustainable energy. Offshore wind has been developed to date in relatively shallow water, using substructures fixed to the seabed. However, 60-to-80 per cent of all offshore wind resource is located in waters of 60 metres or more in depth, where conventional fixed substructures are not economically viable, but higher wind reserves would be accessible. Solutions are therefore needed to harness the true potential of offshore wind.Indeed, industry estimates suggest Floating Offshore Wind [FOW] could deliver 12 gigawatts of offshore wind, valued at £32 billion, by the year 2030. Furthermore, FOW benefits from faster delivery, simpler substructures, anchors and foundations, together with safer operation and maintenance and less environmental impact.The novel Axis TLB™ system is being billed as the solution behind the delivery of floating offshore turbines. The Tension Leg Buoy is a robust, proven substructure and mooring system that provides controlled stability, roll and pitch, keeping the turbine vertical even in the most extreme conditions.<div class="medium-insert-embeds">
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</div>Independent numerical modelling suggests that the Axis TLB™ outperforms other designs in terms of reduction of maximum pitch. While FOW catenary moored structures are subject to movement in all six degrees of freedom, the TLB™ tethers allow roll, pitch and heave to be controlled, for the largest floating offshore wind turbines, allowing turbines to be located in optimum wind locations. This reduces the vibration loading on the turbine.The system’s stability in operation and through the various phases of the installation process has been <a href="file:///C:/Users/Podcast/Downloads/Axis%20TLB%20Flyer%20Rev1.pdf">confirmed by hydrodynamic analyses performed by the Department of Naval Architecture at the University of Strathclyde.</a> This independent numerical modelling concluded that the “Axis TLB™ system shows excellent dynamic properties under both operational and extreme conditions and can survive the harshest environmental condition in the North Sea”.Some of the high-level environmental benefits of the Axis system include its relatively small seabed footprint, the lack of need for piling or jack-up vessels, and a very simple decommissioning process. Financial modelling of an entire offshore windfarm using the Axis TLB™ system has determined a levelised cost of electricity that is 30 per cent less than other FOW designs and comparable with offshore fixed installations. Future developments on design life, mass production, and material developments, will drive this further down.With a share of 25 per cent of the forecast UK floating offshore wind market and five per cent of the global floating offshore wind export market, UK-based manufacture and supply of the TLB™ could generate a total UK gross value added per year of £280 million to £470 million in the 2030s, and £560 million to £940 million in the 2040s.TLB™ is already drawing in support from within the industry and has been given due recognition as an award-winning piece of technology and an industry gamechanger. Because of TLB™, Axis Energy Projects enjoyed <a href="file:///C:/Users/Podcast/Downloads/RUSHLIGHT-AWARDS-2019-20-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf">the double success of picking up the Natural Energy Award and Wind Power Award at the 13th Rushlight Awards in 2020</a>, an awards showpiece which sought to celebrate and promote then new technologies, innovations and best practices across the whole environment spectrum for organisations throughout UK and internationally.&nbsp; Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@nrdoherty">Nicholas Doherty</a> on Unsplash</div>

Axis Energy Projects Ltd has developed a solution which can harness the potential of the floating offshore wind industry and help deliver clean, sustainable energy.


Energy: Axis Energy Projects’ Tension Leg Buoy technology to harness potential of floating offshore wind

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 <div data-pmr-editable="" class="medium-editor-insert-plugin">On April 22, 2022, conflict resolution specialist <a href="https://thetcmgroup.com/">The TCM Group</a> was delighted to host its very first online event in partnership with <a href="https://www.institutelm.com/">The Institute of Leadership and Management [ILM].</a>The event was centred around developing the ability to hold good quality conversations, as a cornerstone to effective management and leadership.The ability to hold good quality conversations ought to be considered a core leadership capacity. Conflicts both at work and throughout our personal lives are somewhat inevitable, however, the ability to disagree well can prove critical in remaining productive and collaborative when disputes do arise.During the unique webinar session, <a href="http://www.leaderscouncil.co.uk/members/david-liddle">David Liddle [pictured]</a>, founder and CEO of The TCM Group, supported delegates in understanding how to prevent workplace conflicts from escalating, alongside some common barriers to communication and how to handle challenging behaviours. The event proved incredibly popular, with over 500 registrants including a mix of ILM members, and TCM customers and connections. Speaking about confrontation as a whole, David Liddle commented: “Confrontation is a choice that we make as human beings. Every day, we choose how we react, how we behave and how we speak to others. In conflict, we can choose to respond rather than react, and collaborate rather than confront.” Those who did not attend the webinar can view a recording of the session <a href="https://thetcmgroup.com/quality-conversations-how-to-disagree-well/">here.</a>

















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On April 22, 2022, conflict resolution specialist The TCM Group was delighted to host its very first online event in partnership with The Institute of Leadership and Management [ILM].

Quality Conversations: TCM Group boss explored "how to disagree well" in recent online seminar

The National Foundation for Educational Research published a new report earlier this month investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on schools serving deprived communities.

Pauline Robertson

Career Overview

In the News

Schools have modified curriculum to support catch up, new report finds

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Partygate: PM under fresh scrutiny following release of photographs

Social difficulties are rising and schools need more pastoral care staff to cope, Oldham headteacher says

Energy: Axis Energy Projects’ Tension Leg Buoy technology to harness potential of floating offshore wind

Quality Conversations: TCM Group boss explored "how to disagree well" in recent online seminar

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