Videos to support parents to chat, play and read with children at home

Time to Talk Warwickshire is currently working with Warwickshire County Council to develop materials to support learning at home, consulting early years practitioners to find out what resources would be most helpful. 

You will already find lots of helpful resources on the Time to Talk website, including three videos linked to the national 'Chat, play, read' campaign which supports and encourages parents to provide opportunities to do all three activities with their children at home to support early learning. 

These are helpful resources to share with parents and carers who may be at home with their younger children at the moment as they provide examples of everyday strategies for chatting, playing and reading that can be used to boost their child's development. 

There are also lots of suggestions for home learning that don't require any special equipment, such as making spaghetti sculptures or going on a 'sound' treasure hunt.

Time to Talk home learning resources

More resources will be added to the website soon to support early learning environments, including activity ideas for practitioners to make available to families and some training for selected settings. We'll keep you updated here so watch this space!

You can also sign up to the Warwickshire Time to Talk Facebook page for more regular updates: @warwickshiretimetotalk

Reading resources for primary school children across the nation as lockdown continues

Think Active update and resources to get children and young people moving

Think Active works with partners across Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire to encourage everyone to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle. They provide support for schools across the area to help them strengthen their PE and Sport Premium offer and are responsible for organising the School Games and for awarding the School Games Mark.

During this time, Think Active is still offering their support with resources to encourage physical activity whilst schools are closed and sports clubs and other classes that students might usually enjoy are suspended.

Don't miss!

• The School Games A-Z Challenge - maybe your students will become a bean bag master? Try out new age kurling? Or learn to juggle?
• Virtual School Games - starting on 11 May -  a virtual countywide competition open to all children and young people with events for Athletics, Cricket, Tennis and Dance

For more information about the above activities as well as updates on the School Games 2019-20, Active Lives, School Games Mark and more please read the attached update from Think Active.

Online hub launches to help schools deliver remote learning

Backed by government funding and created by 40 teachers from some of the leading schools across England, the Oak National Academy aims to support teachers and schools in delivering remote education.

Launched on 20 April, the online classroom and resource hub will provide a bank of 180 hours' worth of video lessons each week across a broad range of subjects from maths to art to languages, for every year group from Reception through to Year 10. 

Teachers can use the resources to complement their own lesson planning and remote teaching until schools fully re-open. Every lesson will be free to use for every teacher and every pupil and has been designed to be accessible on any device.

To find out more please visit https://www.thenational.academy/

Free online courses to help boost parents' confidence

A reminder to schools that there are a number of free online guides available for Warwickshire parents and carers to help build their confidence and strengthen family relationships.

With a lot of parents and carers currently spending more time at home with their children, this would be a good opportunity to share these courses with your families.

Created by NHS experts and parents, and offered online by Warwickshire County Council, there are four courses available:

• Understanding your pregnancy
• Understanding your baby
• Understanding your child
• Understanding your teenager's brain

Courses are available online here. After selecting which course to complete, the code 'BEAR' should be used to access the online content. 

WCC Chief Executive reads brand new 'Warwick Bear' Road Safety children's book

Move over Tom Hardy!

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) Chief Executive reads brand new ‘Warwick Bear’ children’s book by local author – the first in a series of virtual bedtime stories from WCC

Following in the footsteps of Tom Hardy, Dolly Parton and Orlando Bloom, who have all famously told bedtime stories on TV in recent years, WCC's Chief Executive, Monica Fogarty, will be narrating a children’s story online next week - with a special road safety theme.

Monica has volunteered her time to read ‘Warwick Bear: Tooting Trucks and Busy Bikes’, the latest book to be created for Warwickshire County Council’s Road Safety Club, for a special online bedtime story.

The illustrated story, which has been developed with Diane Maybey, a children’s author and illustrator based in Warwick, can be watched on WCC's social media channels this Tuesday (5 May) at 6pm.

It will be the first of a number of virtual bedtime stories to be read by County Council employees in the coming weeks, including staff from Warwickshire’s Libraries Service and Fire and Rescue Service.

With two children of her own, Monica is no stranger to reading bedtime stories and was happy to take a short amount of time out from managing the County Council’s Covid-19 response to share an important road safety message with children.

Monica said:

“I was delighted when the Road Safety Education Team invited me to read the latest ‘Warwick Bear’ book, which has been written to help young children learn important messages about road safety by following his journey through our streets and towns.

“It’s wonderful that we have been able to work with Warwick-based author and illustrator, Diane Maybey, to tell the story.

“Families are looking for all sorts of different ways to entertain and educate their children at home at the moment and our staff are doing an amazing job, developing online activities so that families can continue to get involved with libraries and our other areas of work, like road safety, from home.

“Staff from our Libraries Service, Warwickshire Fire & Rescue Service and other Council teams have stepped up to follow in the footsteps of celebrities like Tom Hardy on CBeebies and will be volunteering their time to read some special bedtime story sessions for us in Warwickshire over the coming weeks.”

You can tune into Monica Fogarty reading ‘Warwick Bear: Tooting Trucks and Busy Bikes’ at 6pm on Tuesday 5 May on the following social media channels:

Warwickshire Road Safety Twitter @RoadSafetyWarks

Warwickshire Libraries Twitter @warkslibraries and Facebook facebook.com/WarwickshireLibraries

Warwickshire County Council Twitter @warwickshire_cc and Facebook facebook.com/WarwickshireCountyCouncil

Family Support Team

Arrangements for assessment and grading for summer 2020

Ofqual launches consultation on exceptional arrangements for assessment and grading in 2020

Ofqual has set out its proposals for the assessment and grading of vocational, technical and other general qualifications not covered by the approach already set out for awarding GCSEs, A Levels and AS Levels in summer 2020. They are now seeking views on these proposals with a consultation that closes at 11.45pm on 8 May 2020.

Read more and respond to the consultation here

Guidance on the awarding of GCSEs, A Levels and AS Levels in 2020

Following the decision by government to cancel all GCSE, A Level and AS Level exams this summer due to Covid-19, Ofqual has published further information explaining how students will now be assessed and awarded. 

A guidance document for teachers, students, parents and carers is available, as well as information for Heads of Department and teachers on the submission of Centre assessment grades and a letter to students explaining how grades will be calculated and when they can expect to receive their results.

The guidance confirms that results will be released on the published results days as originally planned. These are 13 August for A level and 20 August for GCSE.

View the guidance on the Gov.uk website here.

Changes to data collections and services this academic or financial year

The Department for Education has published a list of all data collections and services which will be cancelled or paused for this academic or financial year, to help reduce the burden on schools and councils amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Some data collections and services will continue and decisions on some have been deferred until later in the year.

The full list is available here.

Schools' reassuring messages to pupils during lockdown

We have been truly inspired seeing how schools, pupils and families in Warwickshire have adapted to the unusual circumstances they have found themselves in during the coronavirus crisis. No one is going to pretend that it hasn't been challenging and difficult, in different ways for different people, but seeing the sense of humour and spirit which has shone through from across the Warwickshire family of schools has been fantastic.

In the past weeks, seeing your colourful and striking rainbow creations to show support for our key workers has really brightened our days and made us smile, as well as seeing all of the creative activities that have been going on at home and the challenges you've all been setting yourselves.

Scrolling through our Twitter feed we have seen some wonderful examples of the ways that schools are reaching out to those pupils who are stuck at home, offering messages of reassurance and encouragement to keep spirits high and people smiling. 

We thought we'd take the opportunity to share some of these in Heads Up and to say a big 'thank you' to all of you for everything you are doing to keep our children and young people safe and well during this challenging time.

If you would like to be featured in a future edition of Heads Up, please email us at headsup@warwickshire.gov.uk

Also, don't forget to follow @wcc_schools on twitter and tag us in your videos and messages so we can share them far and wide!

A special shout out to the staff and pupils at Stockingford Academy who made it onto the BBC's Big Night In special version of 'Show me the way to Amarillo' with Peter Kay last week (they are the third group in from the start)! Here's the full video for anyone who missed it:

St Matthew's Bloxham C of E Primary School put together this video montage of staff holding up rainbow-inspired pictures to send a message to all of its pupils. Watch on Twitter here.

A picture can say a thousand words! Wellesbourne C of E Primary School encourage pupils to 'stay home for the people you love, keep washing your hands, let's flatten the curve and see the biggest rainbow' .

Reminding their pupils that they are still very much a part of the 'SAB' family, St Andrew's Benn C of E Primary School sent this reassuring message on Twitter - watch it here. 

The staff at Whitestone Infant School have been busy learning British Sign Language to put together this wonderful video to the Bruno Mars song 'You can count on me'.

Educaterers staff praised for keeping school meals going during Covid-19 pandemic

Weekly activities from Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service are running activities each week for children to take part in on both Facebook and Twitter. Last week was salt dough shapes and this week they've set the challenge for anyone who would like to have a go at rock painting.

They would love to see painted rocks that feature a fire safety message, for example 'don't play with matches' or 'get out, stay out and call 999'.

Why not make this an activity for your pupils to do, either at school or at home, and then share pictures of the finished rocks with us on Facebook and Twitter @warksfirerescue, the firefighters would love to see them!

Support for 16-17 year olds Not in Education, Employment or Training during COVID19

Please find an update below on the arrangements in place for Prospects to support 16 and 17 year olds who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) during COVID-19. Further information will follow in due course.

1. Tracking of 16 and 17 year old young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) and Not Known

Prospects will continue to track remotely young people who are NEET and Not Known and will submit monthly DfE returns as normal.

2. Provision of careers information, advice and guidance

Prospects will deliver a remote service (as opposed to face-to-face careers advice and guidance) to those young people who are NEET.

3. Support for young people

Website: www.prospectsnow.me

Freephone number: 0800 731 3219 – choose option 3 for Warwickshire 

DfE launches ‘Skills Toolkit’ to signpost to free online courses

The Department for Education has launched a web page that signposts people to free courses that can develop their digital and numeracy skills during lockdown. 

Thirteen free courses are available through a new online platform hosted on the gov.uk website, called The Skills Toolkit. The new platform gives people access to free, high-quality digital skills, literacy and numeracy courses to help build up their skills, progress in work and boost their job prospects.  

The courses go from foundation level upwards and are provided by organisations including the Good Things Foundation, Lloyds Bank, the Open University, FutureLearn, Cisco and Google.

Read more on the gov.uk website

Free learning available on the Open University's OpenLearn site

OpenLearn's free, bite-sized online learning is available to develop new knowledge and skills while working from home.

There are over 1000 courses available ranging from academic to vocational, which your staff or post-16 students can access.

Visit the OpenLearn website to find out more