Learn – Explore – Debate

The early years sector has played a crucial role in the country's response to Covid-19 and we know that the wellbeing of staff and children is your top priority during this challenging time.

The National Children’s Bureau recently hosted five free Learn – Explore – Debate events focused on putting wellbeing at the heart of early years practice.  The events brought early years practitioners, local authorities, consultants and academics together with officials from the Department for Education and Ofsted to discuss practical ways to support the wellbeing of children and staff.

The recordings, slides and case studies from the events, including a video from the Department for Education, thanking the early years sector for their work, are now available to view on the Foundation Years website.

Once you have watched the presentations, you can take some time by yourself or with colleagues to reflect on your practice with the discussion prompts used in the breakout rooms at the events.

Supporting children's learning at home in the early years.

Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, it's been important for schools and settings to find ways of supporting children's learning at home in the early years. Lindsey Foster and Julian Grenier, from the East London Research School, consider the top 10 things they've learnt since March 2020.

Read the full article here

Engagement for recommissioning of 0-5 Public Health Nursing Services

We want to hear from you!

The Warwickshire 0-5 Public Health Nursing Service is due to be recommissioned by Warwickshire County Council, and it is important that we gather views on the service from all key partners who work with expectant parents and 0-5 families.

What’s it commissioned to do?

The Warwickshire 0-5 Public Health Nursing Service (which includes the Health Visiting Service and Family Nurse Partnership programme) is responsible for leading local delivery of the national 0-5 Healthy Child Programme (HCP), in partnership with health and social care colleagues.

Join a focus group and have your say

We would like you to join a focus group to talk about your experience of working with the Warwickshire 0-5 Public Health Nursing Service. How well is the service meeting the needs of the 0-5 families you work with? Given current funding pressures on all public services, are there ways in which we can strengthen partnerships and innovative collaborations to help address needs and gaps, harness assets, and achieve positive health and wellbeing outcomes for local children and families?

A number of 1-hour focus groups with partners and professionals are being planned for Jan-April 2021. For you and your team/s to join one of these focus group please contact: sophyforman-lynch@warwickshire.gov.uk, Tel: 01926 731443

For full details please click here

Online Support and Intervention for Child Anxiety

What is OSI?

OSI: Online Support and Intervention for Child Anxiety is an online, parent-led, therapist-supported, psychological intervention for child anxiety.  The programme is based on CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) principles, which works on the premise that the way we think, feel and behave are interlinked.

There are three different versions of OSI used across three studies - 

iCATS - Identifying Child Anxiety Through Schools

My-CATS - Minimising Young Children's Anxiety Through Schools

Co-CAT - Child Anxiety Treatment in the context of COVID-19

Full details of the programme can be found by using this link.

EHC Plan Process for Families

Warwickshire County Council is looking at ways to improve the EHC plan process for families.

Your feedback will help us to know where we can improve and how we can build on things that are going well.

The survey should take around ten minutes to complete.

Please click here to take part.

SEN Local Offer Co-Production Workshops

Are you a parent or carer who lives in Warwickshire?

To support the development of the new Local Offer webpages we are looking for parents to participate in a virtual co-production workshop on Thursday 14th January at 7pm.

Click here to see the full poster

Colleagues and parents can also support the development of the webpages by completing the card sorting exercise which can be found by using the link here 

If you’d like to attend this workshop or find out more information, please get in touch with maggiehawker@warwickshire.gov.uk

Department for Education Coronavirus (Covid-19) helpline - Christmas opening hours.

The Department for Education Coronavirus (Covid-19) helpline will be available over the Christmas holidays to answer any questions you have about Coronavirus (Covid-19) relating to education settings and children's social care.

The helpline will, however, close on the bank holidays, and have shortened opening hours on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

Phone: 0800 046 8687

Opening hours:

• 24 December - 8am to 4pm
• 25 to 28 December - Closed
• 29 to 30 December - 8am to 6pm
• 31 December - 9am to 4pm
• 1 January - Closed
• 2 to 3 January - 1Oam to 6pm

Until 24 December, the helpline opening hours are:
Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm Saturday and Sunday from 1Oam to 6pm

Please listen carefully to all of the available options before selecting the most appropriate option for your nursery, school, college or university.

Please select option 1 or 2 if you require specific advice on the action to take to respond to a positive case of coronavirus (Covid -19) in your setting. This option will take you through to a dedicated team of NHS Business Services Authority advisors who will work through a risk assessment with you to identify close contacts and will inform you what action is needed based on the latest public health advice.

Please select option 3 or 4 for any other questions about coronavirus (Covid-19) relating to education settings and children's social care.

Miles Marriott

It is with deep regret and sadness that I am writing to let you know that Miles Marriott has passed away, suddenly but peacefully last week. 

Miles worked for the County Council for very nearly 27 years and I know that he will have worked closely with many of you over those years and most lately as the contact for WES Safety & Premises so we felt it was important to inform you of his passing.

Miles was a very respected member of our team and he will be greatly missed, our thoughts go out to his friends and family at this difficult time. There will be a centralised book of condolences set up online and once we have those details we will update you further, alternatively if you would like to send them via email then please do send them to wespremises@warwickshire.gov.uk

Emma Phillips

Team Lead - Health, Safety and Wellbeing

Virtual School Workshops and Loan Boxes

The Heritage Education team launched a new virtual offer in the Autumn but had to cancel during Lockdown 2.  They are now running them again, along with 2 new workshops for Spring 2021, they are also free in the spring term.

Bringing the past to life through immersive and creative workshops. Workshops are cross curricular and cover a range of curriculum topics to support your teaching.

• Online live and pre-recorded workshops supported by an accompanying loan box.
• Loan box has replica and real objects that children can handle and investigate.
• Set of supporting information for the teacher to prepare the children for their virtual workshop.
• Loans are for two weeks, plus a 72 hour quarantine period.
• Delivered free to Warwickshire, Coventry, and Solihull schools. Please enquire to see if we can deliver to other areas

All work shops have an accompanying loan box and you can choose from the following -

• Victorians
• Stone Age to Iron Age
• Fossils
• Ancient Egyptians
• Fire of Warwick

Full details can be found via the following link - virtual-school-workshops-and-loan-boxes or by visiting heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk/education

Email: heritageeducation@warwickshire.gov.uk
Call: 01926 738880

HS2: Competition launching in February 2021

In February 2021, HS2 Ltd will be launching a competition to name the machine which is going to dig a deep tunnel under Long Itchington Wood next summer.....and they need your help.

Workers on the site will be using a 2,000 tonne tunnel boring machine and they need a name for it.  In early 2021, HS2 will be reaching out to schools in Warwickshire to ask them for suggestions for the name.

Images of the site, and the work undertaken so far can be seen by using this link.

2,000 tonne tunnel boring machine

The Joyce Bowley Trust in Partnership with Hillmorton Teaching School Alliance

The Joyce Bowley Trust, in partnership with Hillmorton Teaching School Alliance is committed to improving the life chances of children across the Rugby area. We collaborate to provide fully-funded or subsidised training to adults working in school to support children with social and emotional needs.

Please click here to read the full update.

Christmas holiday activities

The directory for Christmas holiday activities including some virtual activities can be found using the link below.

Click here to view the Christmas holiday schemes available for families across Warwickshire

Schools embrace council support to plot careers strategy

The Future Careers Fund 2020

Many secondary schools across the county have taken advantage of a Warwickshire County Council programme which helps them update their careers strategy to deal with these fast-changing times.

The Future Careers Fund 2020, run by the county council's schools and career coordinator Emma Neale, offered each school a £2,000 grant to help redraw their strategy for helping students make the right career choices.

Over two thirds of secondary schools in the county have taken up the grant. They are now putting together or already implementing programmes tailored to their specific needs with specialist input from Emma and other advisors.

The funding was made available for schools to put forward projects and will be delivered in partnership with WCC project officers supporting implementation and bringing additional support where needed.

Among schools to benefit from the Future Careers Fund 2020 will be Myton School, in Warwick. The £2,000 grant will become the latest in a number of Skills for Employment schemes to have enhanced the school's careers service in recent years.

Garry Coffey, Careers Leader at Myton School, said: “Careers leaders like myself are always looking to improve, develop and initiate careers-related activities for our students in Warwickshire and these grants help make that happen.

"The Skills for Employment grants have been an invaluable source of funding that has helped Myton tremendously over the years. Using them to support our careers programme, we have been able to purchase career-related software programmes, training courses for staff, dedicated careers-use computers and a bespoke motor-vehicle course.

"In truth, without these grants, none of these initiatives would have been possible. Thank you once again.”

The Future Careers Fund 2020 is just one strand of the broad range of support offered to schools through the council's Skills for Employment programme. That support is evolving all the time and a series of recent meetings with schools' careers leaders is playing an active role in helping to shape support to be offered in the future.

Fay Winterburn, Lead Commissioner, Employability and Skills at Warwickshire County Council, said: "The careers leaders meetings have proved invaluable to understanding some of the new challenges and gaps in support schools and colleges now face as a result of Covid-19.

"We are very grateful to all the careers leaders who took part. It was great to see such an appetite to engage with us and we will certainly do everything we can to support schools as they look to give young people the best possible careers guidance going forward.

"We are delighted that the Future Careers Fund 2020 has had such a strong take up. More initiatives from our Skills for Employment team are on their way."

Future Careers Filming: Digital Marketplace

September 2020 saw the launch of the Future Careers Digital Marketplace Project.

This programme is a digital filming project which takes the WCC project team to visit businesses across Warwickshire and produce short film pieces, providing a remote and COVID safe opportunity for employers to present to schools and employment programmes the careers opportunities they have to offer.

The films contain an introduction to senior management and HR departments, introduce who they are, what they do and the roles they have available. In all films we encourage employees who may just be starting the career with the business to talk about their journey so far and the route they have taken into employment.

The collection of local films will be available for schools, colleges and employment programmes to use as part of their new digital and blended delivery activity. Our next phase to the project is to provide additional tools to “Build a Fair” so watch this space!

These videos will become a regular feature so keep an eye open for upcoming films which once films are finalised will appear in this newsletter, via email from our Schools and Careers Coordinator – Emma Neale and on our website skillshub.warwickshire.gov.uk

Midlands Group Training Services

A training provider based in Coventry, specialising in engineering related apprenticeships - MGTS Video

Letting a Property.com

An online estate agency based in Henley in Arden - Letting a Property Video

Virgin & Castle

The oldest pub in Kenilworth - Virgins and Castle Apprenticeships

Vivarail

A train manufacturer based in Stratford-Upon-Avon - Vivarail Video

Let us know what you think and if there any more films you would like to see.  Please do let us know if you know of any businesses who are recruiting and growing and would welcome this opportunity.

Contact: Nikita Takhar – nikitatakhar@warwickshire.gov.uk