Catherine Tallis

Director of Business Services at HFL Education. Passionate about bringing schools best in class solutions to deliver impact and best value.

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

2/2 Flowers from your colleagues to show their appreciation for your efforts is beautiful, but a hand written card can say it better and can be kept forever! @HFL_Education's Schools HR team can support you in boosting wellbeing whilst remaining within public sector guidelines

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

1/2 Clearly controversial, but topical in light of government revelations about declared gifts. It's a real tightrope to navigate!
https://t.co/gjMQ2RKpIq @HFL_Carole @HFL_Education @Teachinherts

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

Read the
@CSTvoice
National School Trust Report from cover to cover. Such valuable insight from the sector body on the challenges trusts face. @HFL_Education has some gems to help trusts with challenges from our Complaints Toolkit to Financial Sustainability consultancy.

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

It's official! The new inspection handbook is out https://t.co/f6PezyFOyr…. Whilst it would be tricky to measure, I'd love to see financial sustainability feature in the balanced scorecard moving forward. @HFL_Education @HFL_Carole

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

Preparing for the week ahead. Highlight promises to be the Small Schools Session on Tuesday focused on disadvantage @HFL_Carole @HFL_Education @neils46 @Kate_KDilks @HfLGovernance @RedKiteLearning @RD_EofE @stalbansdioedu

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

Fantastic to meet the 2024/25 cohort of new Hertfordshire Heads at the Moving to New Headship session yesterday. HFL Business Services are here to support from HR queries through to finance mentoring and coaching. @HFL_Education - owned by you to provide a service back to you

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@teamsquarepeg @Rachel_deSouza Failed at every step along the way. Family in crisis for 17 months, unsupported. I spoke to an Ofsted inspector as part of my LAs area review. He said I'd described a horror story! It's the reality of numerous children with SEND

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@teamsquarepeg @Rachel_deSouza Totally. NHS failed to diagnose child in a timely way. Child hit crisis unsupported in mainstream. NHS took a further 8 months to deal with an urgent paediatric referral. No SEND friendly ESMA support. LA have taken over 40 weeks and counting to put an EHCP in place.

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@Rachel_deSouza What about the social contract between LAs and children with SEND? Absolutely shattered up and down the land. Children left for months and for years with no appropriate provision. The stories are heartbreaking and a massive chunk of the attendance crisis.

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@teamsquarepeg @Rachel_deSouza Totally!

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@Rachel_deSouza Properly fund SEND services. LAs need to stop forcing children that can't cope into mainstream environments, into mainstream environments. Hold LAs to account for failing SEND services!

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@Rachel_deSouza I can assure you I didn't want long-term absence normalised for my child. However, he had a breakdown after the SATs. Refused mental health support 7 or 8 times, NHS failed to diagnose his ASD in a timely manner, EHCP process took 40 weeks

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@Rachel_deSouza We waited over 8 months for an urgent paediatrics referral about chronic migraine and a further 6 months after the initial appointment for a medication review. My child achieved 0% attendance in Y7. Totally failed by a system that is not folit for purpose for children with SEND

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@JodieSmitten And the crushing impact on families. Yet to LAs we are just a statistic. An inconvenient statistic!

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@vicgoddard I'm getting nothing but racist feeds 😡😡😡😡

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@gfreeman2012 @educationgovuk Indeed. https://t.co/61XoO0q3k5

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@gfreeman2012 I really can't understand why LAs don't seek to help and support vulnerable children. The blatant neglect of SEND children across the country is a national scandal!

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@RealGeoffBarton @ASCL_UK Two words. SEND. Reform. Put the proper investment in that's needed and a huge portion of the attendance crisis can be addressed.

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@IGMansfield His life chances are diminishing by the week. Hardly a golden ticket. Parents of children with SEND experience parental blame, gaslighting alongside their children being failed by a broken system. You are welcome to meet with me for an education on reality

[Catherine Tallis @HFL_Catherine]

@IGMansfield It's cost me £8k to get absolutely nowhere. I can't begin to tell you the lengths I've had to go to get his needs identified. After nearly 40 weeks of fight, still no final EHCP. Even when we do get a final EHCP there are no school places to deliver the provisions.