Critical Incidents in Educational Communities

New resources to help schools and early years settings respond to critical incidents have been launched by the Anna Freud Centre’s UK Trauma Council.

Informed by research and best practice, these resources support educational communities in providing a comprehensive and compassionate response to traumatic events that affect children and young people in their care.

Favourite books for 0-5s by age

It can be a bit of a minefield navigating your way through all the great children's books out there, particularly when you're looking for something age-specific.

To help you out, BookTrust's Books and Early Years teams have chosen a selection of books to engage and excite children at each step of their pre-school journey.

The Importance of Maths in an Early Years Setting

Early Maths sets the foundations for learning, as Mathematics gives children a range of transferable skills they can use in everyday life including problem solving, reasoning, explaining and justifying"

Continue reading here.

Last chance to share views on proposed core and traded SEND offer for education settings

The proposals focus on a range of early intervention activities. These include introducing an annual planning conversation with all schools regarding SEND, carrying out an audit of SEND in every school every three years, and providing an amount of Educational Psychologist time for children and young people who are having their needs met at SEN Support.   

These activities are in addition to the statutory offer that WCC delivers and will be paid for by the Council. No current services are to be withdrawn.

Feedback is also welcomed on proposals for the SEND Home to School Transport Service. This consultation also closes at midnight Sunday 12 March 2023.

Transforming support for children and young people in Warwickshire

Do you work with children or young people with special educational needs and disabilities or those with safeguarding needs?

If so, did you know that Warwickshire County Council have co-designed a webpage where all staff from education settings can access resources and training on SEND and safeguarding needs. There are a variety of resources in each area to provide advice, guidance and support as well as courses to promote awareness and knowledge. 

The courses are designed to help enhance skills to effectively teach pupils in both mainstream and specialist settings and are relevant for professionals from different disciplines working with children with disabilities or special needs and their families.

The council are also offering select free specialist training to all Warwickshire schools as part of a countywide programme to support children and young people including those with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities. 

There are a range of courses available including Autism Spectrum Awareness, Youth Mental Health First Aid, An Introduction to Restorative and Relational Practice and Adverse Childhood Experiences. A set number of spaces will be available for each education setting.  

For more information on the training available, please visit here.

Find out more about Coventry and Warwickshire RISE services

Schools invited to share their experience of involvement in local authority processes for resolving disagreements around support for children and young people with SEND

Non-mandated DfE training grant available

Please be aware that the non-mandated DfE training grant is still available to all schools.

This can be used to support identification of and skills development for a Senior Mental Health Lead, and/or to support development and  implementation of whole school approaches. If you have yet to apply the attached PowerPoint and grant flyer are attached for your information.

Holiday Activities & Food (HAF) Programme - Easter 2023

The HAF programme will once again be in operation in the forthcoming Easter holidays and is for families in receipt on benefits-related free school meals. Each eligible young person from reception through to Yr.11 can attend funded sessions including a meal provision, with a maximum amount of 4 sessions being able to be booked in the Easter holiday.

Families need to complete a brief code request form to ensure we have correct contact details and we can then send out a bespoke code for each eligible young person which is valid for the academic year. We have 98 sites listed for Easter, with 6 providing SEND specific activities. All details on the HAF programme can be found here.

If you would like to have a discussion about HAF activities being available at your school site, or have any questions on the HAF programme then please get in contact with a member of the team at hafprogramme@warwickshire.gov.uk or through the Family Information Service helpline on 0800 4078 1558. 

FREE - Long Covid seminar for schools

The children’s long COVID service at Oxford Children’s Hospital and Medical Needs in Schools are pleased to announce the following seminar:

Long Covid in Schools and Colleges

This is a free, online seminar to inform schools and colleges about long COVID in children and teenagers. It will take place on 26 April 2023 between 4 - 5 PM . At the end of the seminar, you will know more about:

• What is long COVID?
• Consequences of long COVID – medical, musculoskeletal, psychological, academic
• Recovery from long COVID
• Return to school / staying in school
• Support / Accommodations by school – what schools can do to help
• Referrals to long COVID services (information targeted at Buckinghamshire / Oxfordshire / Berkshire)

This seminar is jointly organised by the long COVID service at the Children's Hospital, Oxford and the Medical Needs in Schools Project.

Please book your ticket here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/long-covid-in-schools-and-colleges-tickets-542644884457

For more information, please email Konrad.jacobs@ouh.nhs.uk

 

Buying quality school meals using DfE-approved frameworks

International School Meals Day 2023 was on 9 March and as we celebrate, you might be thinking about retendering your own catering contracts ready for the next academic year. You can use the ESFA Find a Framework tool to explore the range of DfE-approved frameworks that offer catering solutions. In the ESFA latest Buying for Schools blog post, Charlotte Springthorpe, Customer Relationship Manager at Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO), highlights two new, DfE-approved, ESPO catering frameworks.

Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel

Warwickshire County Council is supporting Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel and would like to encourage all Warwickshire schools to take part.

Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel is the UK’s largest inter-school walking, wheeling, scooting and cycling challenge. It inspires pupils to make active journeys to school, improve air quality in their neighbourhood and discover how these changes benefit their world.

 This year’s challenge will run from 20-31 March 2023. It is free to enter for all schools in the UK, including SEN schools, and there are fantastic prizes to be won each day.

There are lots of FREE resources, including curriculum linked lesson plans, which can be used in schools to ensure everyone can feel involved during Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel.

Warwickshire County Council’s Road Safety and Active Travel Team will be offering participating schools the opportunity to compete in a supplementary competition which requires schools to sign up for the campaign and ask students to create a poster that highlights the benefits of active travel to both students and the school alike.   

Each participating school will be asked to complete the Poster and Campaign Activity, details for this can be found at https://bigwalkandwheel.org.uk/resources/primary. Posters to be submitted by Friday 7^th April 2023 to roadsafetyeducation@warwickshire.gov.uk.

 Warwickshire County Council’s Road Safety & Active Travel team will then pick a winner from each district and borough. The winners will receive a gift card (or equivalent) worth £50 to go towards the purchase of an item to support active travel.

Schools must have signed up for Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel to participate in this competition.

Registration is now open, visit www.bigwalkandwheel.org.uk to register today.

Working together to improve school attendance

• UPDATE - School Attendance Lead Network Event – will be held jointly between Warwickshire County Council’s Attendance Service and the Stowe Valley Multi Academy Trust. The purpose of the event will be to discuss the new attendance guidance and begin the development of an attendance support network.

Thursday 23^rd March 2023 - 1.30pm to 3.30pm - Myton School

Training Courses - Stowe Valley Multi Academy Trust (stowevalleymat.com) 

NEW - Wednesday 22 March 11am to 11:45am: Daily attendance data webinar for schools and local authorities

At this webinar you can find out more about how to share your attendance data and access attendance reports via a digital service.

• UPDATE - Compare pupil attendance with other schools in your local authority

Nationally 78% of schools are now sharing daily attendance data with the DfE.  The figure in Warwickshire is 82%. 

The DfE are now rolling out new functionality to allow mainstream schools that are sharing data to compare attendance with other schools within their local authority area.  The tool will help schools to identify strengths and priorities and signpost to additional guidance and support. To share daily attendance data and get access to these tools, please email Wonde. If you already use Wonde, please accept the request in your Wonde portal.

Reminders

• NEW DFE GUIDANCE: Mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance: guidance for schools February 2023 - Summary of responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance and examples of effective practice.
•  Improving attendance: good practice for schools and multi-academy trusts. There are some really useful effective practice attendance webinars produced by the DfE in conjunction with schools, with good or improved attendance, sharing their good practice. It is highly recommended that your attendance lead/champion access this free resource.
• Additional attendance resources are available on the Education Huband Teaching Blogs

Contact Us

If you wish to discuss any issues relating to school attendance, please feel free to contact the Warwickshire Attendance Service: was@warwickshire.gov.uk

Would you like to become an Independent Panel Member to hear School Admission Appeals?

Warwickshire County Council are seeking volunteers to become independent panel members to hear school admission appeals. Independent Appeal Panels consider appeals by parents against school admission decisions in relation to schools within Warwickshire and some neighbouring counties. This is an important role and panels are required by law.

The County Council are looking for:

• Lay Panel members - people without personal experience in the management of any school or provision of education in any school.
• Non-Lay Panel members - people with experience in education (such as current and former headteachers) who are acquainted with educational conditions in the area, or parents of a registered pupil at a school.

Panel Members need only dedicate as much time as they are willing to offer to this voluntary role, and exercise good judgement and demonstrate sound reasoning skills to ensure fair consideration of every case.

To find out more visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/jobs-volunteering/independent-panel-member-hear-school-admission-appeals