Working together to improve attendance

Guidance to help schools, academy trusts, governing bodies, and local authorities maintain high levels of school attendance including roles and responsibilities

From September 2022, this will replace all previous guidance on school attendance except for statutory guidance for parental responsibility measures.  The Secretary of State has committed to it becoming statutory when parliamentary time allows (this will be no sooner than September 2023). 

The guidance focusses on managing attendance by:

Preventing patterns of absence from developing by promoting good attendance

Intervening early by using data to spot patterns of absence before they become persistent and working with families to remove the barriers to attendance

Targeting support for persistent and severe absentees with all local partners working together to reengage pupils. The main requirements on local authorities. 

What does this mean for local authorities?

Local authorities are expected to:

• Rigorously track local attendance data to devise a strategic approach to attendance
  • Make attendance a key focus of all frontline council services.
  • Use attendance data from all schools in the area to identify the pupil cohorts, schools, and neighbourhoods/ towns on which to focus efforts.
  • All appropriate frontline operational staff in attendance, associated teams and local partners must understand their role in delivering this strategy and working together.

• Have a School Attendance Support Team which provides the following 4 core functions which should not be traded or require service level agreements from schools.
  • Communication and advice
  • Targeting Support Meetings (minimum of one a term)
  • Multi-disciplinary support for families
  • Legal intervention

Local authorities can continue to trade other elements of their attendance management and improvement to schools and trusts, for example delivery of school level responsibilities or training for attendance staff.

• Monitor and improve the attendance of children with a social worker through their Virtual School. To build on the progress made by virtual school heads since the expansion of the programme, local authorities are expected to:
  • Set aspirational targets for attendance of pupils with a social worker
  • Secure the regular attendance of pupils looked-after as their corporate parent
  • Provide support and advice to previously looked-after children
  • Monitor and improve the attendance of children with a social worker through their Virtual School 

To facilitate this, schools are expected to inform a pupil’s social worker if there are unexplained absences from school.

Traded Services

The academy buy back window is currently open and the offer of support has not changed at this point.  Warwickshire Attendance Service will continue to have a traded offer to support to improve attendance.  This will be an adapted offer to compliment the new requirements and further support schools to improve their attendance.

Data Sharing

The DfE attendance data trial continues and we are being asked to encourage all schools to sign up.  Once the trial ends, there will be a requirement to share data using this system.  Further details can be found at the following link:

• https://www.gov.uk/guidance/share-your-daily-school-attendance-data

If you are in the process of changing your MIS or have plans to and have any questions, then please contact us.  We will arrange a call back to discuss this in more detail from our ICT team.

Webinars for Schools

In order to support the transition to the new ways of working, the DfE is holding a series of webinars. 

Webinar theme 

16 June 2022 (16:00-17:00)

• Sign up for a webinar hosted by Star Academies Truston attendance coding practice and day-to-day processes 

23 June 2022 (16:00-17:00)

• Sign up for a webinar hosted by Sapientia Education Truston working with families, local authorities, and other partners effectively 

30 June 2022 (16:00-17:00)

• Sign up for a webinar hosted by Unity Schools Partnershipon analysing absence and attendance data 

TBC

• Effective governance to appropriately challenge leaders on attendance. 

Previous Webinars can be found at the following Link:

• Improving attendance: good practice for schools and multi-academy trusts - Case study - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

‘Working together to improve attendance can be found at the following link.

• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance

If you wish to discuss this further, please feel free to contact the Warwickshire Attendance Service.

was@warwickshire.gov.uk

School Admissions - In Year process and 11+ registration

Further training opportunities from Sonia Gill at Heads Up

Following the success of the ‘Breaking the Glass ceiling to good’ and ‘successful difficult conversations’ training delivered by Sonia Gill please see below two further events that might be of interest to you:

Free 1-hour webinar: How to make genuinely outstanding schools (https://ukheadsup.com/events/h2msgo/)
Discover why only 6% of schools in the UK gain or maintain 'outstanding' compared to 24% of the schools Heads Up work with.

Moving to Outstanding: Best practice from recently outstanding headteachers
Thurs 24th November 2023, £295+VAT for your SLT to attend https://ukheadsup.com/events/movingtooutstanding2022/

NPQ Registrations Open for an October Start

John Taylor Teaching School Hub have partnered with Ambition Institute to deliver NPQs. There are 4 Specialist and 4 Leadership National Professional Qualifications, and an additional support offer for Headteachers.

Please check below for more information. 

 

Download here the file.

Gateway Alliance & Staffordshire Research School Primary Cognitive Science Programme

Primary Cognitive Science

A modular programme for Primary practitioners, brought to you by Staffordshire Research School & Gateway Alliance.

Applied Cognitive Science: Evidence into Practice

Through this ONLINE programme, based on robust research & evidence, participants will explore…

• What does the research say?
• What are the implications for my planning?
• Examples, case studies & avoidances
• A chance for reflection – What do I need to do more of & less of to apply these principles of research?
• So how do I do strategically put this evidence to work to give it the best chance of success?

Programme Overview:

This modular programme is being run over 4 online sessions:

	Weds 5th October	15:45 – 17:15	Memory – Research - ST, LT, capacity, retrieval and encoding, dual coding & misconceptions
	Weds 19th October	15:45 – 17:15	Explicit Instruction and Deliberate Practice
	Weds 9th November	15:45 – 17:15	Retrieval, Spacing, Interleaving - Evidence and practical application
	Weds 23rd November	15:45 – 17:15	Generative Learning & Schema and considerations for the curriculum, lesson structures and varied examples

 

Facilitated by Evidence Leads in Education (Staffordshire Research School) – Jade Pearce & Jeremy Baker

With Primary Specialist Co-Facilitators:

• Bryony Harrison – Hillmorton Primary School
• Matt Tyler – Claverdon Primary School
• Jen Taylor – St John’s Primary School

 

PRICE… £150 per person

BOOK NOW AT…

https://gatewayalliance.co.uk/product/pri-cog-sci/

View the Programme Flyer

Gateway Alliance CPD Subscriptions 2022-23 - NOW AVAILABLE

The Gateway Alliance CPD Subscriptions for academic year 2022-23 are now available. Purchasing the CPD Subscriptions early offers schools the best value for money.

The programme provides targeted CPD for senior leaders, subject leaders, SENCos, early years specialists, classroom teachers and teaching assistants, school business managers and early career teachers.

Through these programmes you will have access to the best new and innovative practice from leading national and international speakers, authors and educational thought-leaders. GA networks are facilitated by a range of experienced trainers and consultants working alongside school practitioners, providing a fantastic opportunity for colleagues to learn together, network and share practice.

The programme for 2022-23 will be a really great mix of both face to face and online sessions and full details of speakers, dates and venues will be published early in the autumn. 

WHOLE SCHOOL BUNDLE…

 

To celebrate ten years of providing high quality professional development to schools, this year we have a unique offer for schools to access all courses for just £2,300, which is a saving of £1,000! With Gateway providing 42 different training events, this equates to just £54 per event!

 

To access this great offer… Purchase ALL 10 CPD subscriptions (you will need to purchase 2 Curriculum CPD subscriptions to access all 10 curriculum subjects) and, at checkout, use voucher code: WHOLESCHOOL+

Other offers and discounts*…

 

Small Schools - (less than 120 pupils) receive a 10% discount

 

Recommend a Friend – recommend a new school & you receive a £50 voucher + they receive a 20% introductory discount.

For more information please visit: https://gatewayalliance.co.uk/subscriptions-guest/

or contact: 

FREE Primary Mathematics Professional and School Development Opportunity - Mastery Readiness Work Groups

Origin Maths Hub (funded by the Department for Education) are delighted to offer primary, infant and junior schools in Warwickshire access to places on this free, fully funded programme of mathematics support. 

This opportunity involves teachers taking part in free collaborative mathematics training through half-termly workshops, and free bespoke support with half-termly school visits, to help schools to introduce teaching maths for mastery approaches into maths lessons - key to promoting a deeper and sustained understanding for all students. 

The key areas focused on are effective leadership, structures to support change, teacher CPD relating to teaching for mastery, classroom culture and attitude to mathematics (within teachers and pupils).

Support is tailored to each school’s specific needs, working with teachers and leaders within a school, as well as giving teachers the opportunity to work closely with teachers from other schools in the Work Group. 

It is free to take part, and after successful completion next academic year, you can move automatically to a Teaching for Mastery Development Work Group in Autumn 2023 (which is also free, and includes a £1000 participation grant to be paid to each school for taking part). 

Please use this link to find out more and register. 

FREE Early Years Road Safety Film - Let's Talk … Seatbelt Safety!

Warwickshire Road Safety Partners are helping to spread seatbelt safety messages to children in the Early Years Foundation Stage as part of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) seatbelt campaign.

Let’s Talk … Seatbelt Safety! is a short film created to raise awareness and help children aged 3 – 5 years understand the importance of travelling safely in a vehicle.

‘When travelling in a car, whether near or far, always remember to buckle up, to be a seatbelt safety star’

Warwickshire Road Safety Education team mascot, Warwick Bear, uses rhyme, story and song to teach the children the importance of always sitting in a car seat and asking their grown-up to buckle them up.

This resource can be shared with parents and carers to help spread the message further.

We would like to encourage all Warwickshire Early Years settings to share this resource and help even the youngest of children learn vital road safety skills.

If you would like to access the full-length version of this film for your setting, please contact: roadsafetyeducation@warwickshire.gov.uk 

Sir Tim Brighouse’s book copies

There are 30 copies left of Sir Tim Brighouse’s book from the Head Teacher conference. If you would like a copy, they are available on a first come first served basis from St. John’s Primary School in Kenilworth.

If you would like a copy, please contact the school office on schooloffice2620@welearn365.com to arrange collection only during normal office hours.

Many thanks to St. John’s for taking delivery of these books.

Art for Wellbeing programme June-July

FREE online and in-person Art for Wellbeing courses are starting from Monday 6^th of June onwards

To see the full programme and book a place visit: https://arty-folks.org.uk/whats-on/

 

In-person:                         Bedworth, Bidford-on-Avon, Coventry, Nuneaton

Online daytime:                Painting for Pleasure, Healing Art of QiGong, Art for Relaxation, Fine Art to Wellbeing

Online evening:                Painting for Pleasure for people in employment

 

Please circulate with your colleagues and networks to help us reach adults across Coventry and Warwickshire who are struggling with social isolation, stress, and mental health difficulties.

 

Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership offers free child car seat safety checks

Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership (WRSP) is offering free child car seat safety checks at Elliots Field in Rugby from 9am – 4pm on Friday 17 June.

Getting your child car seat checked is so important because checks conducted by Warwickshire Police in November 2021 found that 69% of child car seats were not correctly fitted.  The most common issues found related to headrests, seat belt twists, the front seat being too close to a rear facing child seat, the isofix not being installed correctly, and coats being worn in vehicles.  

 

When we point these issues out, most families are shocked to discover they have inadvertently put their child at risk by not having them seated correctly.

That’s why we are encouraging as many parents, grandparents, and those responsible for safely transporting children and young people as possible to come along and get their child car seat checked on 17 June.  It is much easier to get these issues checked in person for your own peace of mind and to speak to someone who is trained to nationally accredited standards who can help you get it right.

The law states that a child must be in a child car seat until they are 12 years old or 135cm tall, whichever comes first and during the event, staff will also use car seat demonstrators, height charts and hand out educational leaflets to explain the fitting.

The event is taking place during the NPCC national seatbelts campaign that aims to encourage all drivers to ensure they and their passengers of all ages travel safely.

The Child Car Seat Checks initiative was funded by Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner’s Road Safety Fund in 2019 when fifteen Warwickshire Police staff were trained to nationally accredited standards to help improve child car seat safety.

Important things to remember when choosing your child’s car seat

• Know the law
• All children must use a suitable restraint for their age, weight or height
• It is safer to transport children in the rear of the car with the correct seat.  If you have to use the front passenger seat, the airbag MUST be deactivated if using a rear facing seat
• Children must use the correct car seat for their height or weight until they reach 135cm tall or their 12th birthday
• Ensure that the seat has an official standard mark (ECE) R44.04 or R129
• Brake (the road safety charity) and other experts strongly advise parents to go one step beyond this and ensure all children under 150cm tall are always in a proper child restraint, because adult belts are not sufficient in protecting children under this height. 

Further advice prior to purchasing a car seat can be found at:

www.childseatsafety.co.uk

www.childcarseats.org.uk/choosing-using

You can get more information regarding the law and child car seats at https://www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules 

Celebrating Young Carers for Carers Week 2022

Along with our partners, Warwickshire Young Carers, we are working with families and those young carers to provide support and ease the caring responsibilities they have.  

Warwickshire Young Carers has been working with young people in the county since 1999 and currently has over 2,600 young carers known to them. The service provides activities and groups as well as one-to-one support in the community and in schools. By providing advocacy for young people, the service helps to ensure young carers reach their full potential despite their caring responsibilities.  

Warwickshire Young Carers also provides fun activities such as days out, virtual activities and get togethers. Young people are bought together with people of a similar age who also have a caring responsibility.   

We know that allowing young carers to have a voice they feel liberated and in control of their own situation. For this reason, we want to spread the word about young carers through schools and colleagues to ensure there is a voice for a young person to speak up and ask for support when needed.  

Training for Education colleagues  

This training allows professionals to better understand the needs of Young Carers. It’s hoped this will improve understanding of the support Young Carers may need and how this could be delivered within the service those professionals provide. It’s hoped by increasing awareness and understanding of the needs of Young Carers that many more young people will be better supported and go on to achieve their potential. 

If you know of a young carer, then please do share with them the Warwickshire Young Carer webpage address www.warwickshireyoungcarers.org.uk  

To find out what activities young carers can get involved with go to https://www.warwickshireyoungcarers.org.uk/carers_and_families.aspx  

Child Friendly Warwickshire  

Warwickshire Young Carers are friends of Child Friendly Warwickshire, which puts children and young people at the heart of decision making and support in Warwickshire.  

Child Friendly Warwickshire is an open invitation to everyone across the county to work together to make Warwickshire the best place in which to grow up. Children and young people across Warwickshire have shaped the programme by sharing their views, opinions and aspirations in the extensive Child Friendly Warwickshire survey. For further info on Child Friendly Warwickshire please go to www.childfriendlywarwickshire.co.uk  

Five Warwickshire residents awarded in The Queen’s Birthday Honours 2022

This month, five Warwickshire residents have been announced as award recipients in The Queen’s Birthday Honours 2022.

Clean Air Day

Clean Air Day takes place next week on Thursday 16 June. Each year, air pollution causes up to 36,000 deaths in the UK. The World Health Organisation and the UK Government recognise that air pollution is one of the largest environmental risks we face today.

Look out for this campaign and related social media messages throughout next week.