Support, advice and training for Early Years practitioners

Warwickshire Teaching School Alliance, working in partnership with Warwickshire County Council, delivers part of the statutory duty for early years which is to provide access to support, advice and training.

The alliance is committed to working collaboratively to share strengths and support the development of outstanding practice and practitioners in the early years and offers a wide range of statutory training, including first aid and safeguarding, as well as courses related to learning and development. 

In addition to the published courses it is possible to commission bespoke training and there are further opportunities throughout the year to tap in to training which may be added to the programme in response to the needs of the early years sector and emerging local and national priorities. 

Further information about the services and courses on offer can be found here: https://warwickshireearlyyears.co.uk/

Courses can be booked via the website. For further information about booking a bespoke course or for wider support, please contact Helen Axon - email axon.h1@welearn365.com

Summer scheme to support families on FSM with cost of food

Families in receipt of free school meals may be eligible to receive additional support during the summer holidays to help with the cost of food.

The Warwickshire Local Welfare Scheme helps the most vulnerable residents at times of unavoidable crisis by providing basic and essential help for food and energy. 

It is recognised within the scheme that some families who are struggling financially, and are eligible for free school meals, have difficulty covering the period when their children are off school during the school holidays. This scheme is therefore an opportunity to reach and help those most in need by supporting families with the cost of food for their children over the school holiday period.

Applications for support will be taken from Monday 22nd July to Friday 30th August. 

The eligibility criterion for this offer is that parents are registered for free school meals (not universal FSM) before 12th July 2019.

In order to give families the opportunity to benefit from this support, we are asking partners to identify any parents who meet the eligibility criteria and to refer them in to the Warwickshire Local Welfare scheme.

Applications can be made by yourself or the customer.  When calling, please make reference to the eligibility for free school meals and explain how the customer is struggling financially. If you are asking the customer to call and apply themselves, could you please ask that they also provide the above information.

Contact phone number for referrals: 0800 408 1448 or 01926 359182.

In the meantime, if you have any questions on any of the above please contact Leanne Silverwood via email  at warwickshirelocalwelfarescheme@warwickshire.gov.uk.

For more information about free school meals, go to www.warwickshire.gov.uk/freeschoolmeals 

OVO Tour of Britain 2019 - competition and flags for schools!

Following a successful four-year run in hosting the OVO Energy Women's Tour, we are delighted to announce that the OVO Energy Tour of Britain will be coming back to Warwickshire in September 2019!

Warwickshire will host the seventh-stage of the OVO Tour of Britain on Friday 13th September, welcoming the world's top teams and riders for a second year running. 

The penultimate stage of the race will see riders racing from Warwick town centre to the hill-top finish at Burton Dassett Country Park over a 186.5km (116-mile) route. The riders will pass through the University of Warwick, Kenilworth, Meriden (home to the National Cyclists’ Memorial), Atherstone, Bedworth, Brinklow, Cawston, Dunchurch and Wellesbourne. Action is guaranteed on the climb of Sun Rising Hill, as the stage ends with a 12km finishing circuit involving three ascents of Burton Dassett Hills.

To celebrate these elite cyclists coming through our county, and to build on the legacy of inclusive cycling, we are encouraging schools and colleges to engage in the event in a number of ways. 

Competition!!!

Warwickshire pupils are invited to submit their own creative designs for the Warwickshire stage start flag and the overall Warwickshire stage winners trophy, with the winning designs being made up for official use on race day.

• Stage winners trophy competition - designs should be drawn in the shape of Warwickshire and fit within the lines on the attached template. The winning design will be put on the Stage 7 winners trophy and the pupil will be invited to present the trophy to the winner.

• Start flag competition - designs should be submitted on the back of the attached form. The winning design will be used to create the large starting flag for the race on 13 September and the winner will be invited to present the flag to the starter of the Warwickshire stage on race day.

Completed entries should include the name of the child, age and school or college they attend on the back and be returned by Tuesday 20 August 2019 to: 

Aaron Corsi, Warwickshire County Council, Infrastructure & Sustainable Communities, PO Box 43, Shire Hall, Warwick, CV34 4SX

Above is Oscar Morley, a pupil at St Margarets C of E Junior School, Whitnash who won this year’s Women’s Tour Start Flag Competition.

Engagement opportunities and flags

Over the coming months we will release more information for engagement opportunities but key things to consider at this stage are:

• Will you be arranging to view the races live?
• Where will you watch the races?
• If you will be watching the races, will you want flags to wave? If so, how many?

For more information, clarification or if you would like to let us know how many flags you require then please contact Aaron Corsi, email aaroncorsi@warwickshire.gov.uk or tel: 01926 412963. 

You can also find more information about the race, including the proposed route* here: https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-seven

*The route is subject to change and road-by-road stage timetables will be published in August.

School Health and Wellbeing Service continues in right direction

The current provider of Warwickshire's School Health and Wellbeing Service, wellbeing charity Compass, has been successful in being awarded the contract to continue to deliver this provision from 1 November 2019 to 31 October 2022. 

The County Council commissions the School Health and Wellbeing service as part of its public health responsibility to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people in Warwickshire. Compass won the contract following a competitive procurement exercise, including a public consultation and service evaluation which took place between July and October 2018.

Currently, the service delivers preventative and universal public health programmes in schools across the county, as well as in youth centres, children’s centres, homes and elsewhere and advises on a wide range of health topics from healthy eating; friendships and bullying; to parenting, fussy eating, anxiety and sleep. All school-aged children and young people from 5 to 19 years old (up to 25 years old for people with special educational needs), and their families and carers, are entitled to free access to the confidential school nursing service. 

The School Health and Wellbeing Service follows Warwickshire Safeguarding Children’s Board policies and procedures and forms part of multi-agency services for children, young people and families where there are child protection or safeguarding concerns.

Based in York, Compass provides a similar service in region’s across the UK. For more information on the service in Warwickshire visit: https://www.compass-uk.org/services/warwickshire-school-health-wellbeing-service/

More sex ed please, we're British

Pupils from schools across Warwickshire recently attended a youth conference organised by Warwickshire County Council and partners called 'More Sex Ed please, we’re British'.

The conference, which was held at Dunchurch Park Hotel and Conference Centre in Rugby, saw 96 year nine pupils from 16 Warwickshire schools taking part in a range of different workshops around relationships and sex education (RSE).

The event provided pupils with the chance to discuss topics including consent, the role of technology in RSE, what they would like to see taught in schools and misogyny in pop music.

They also watched videos that had been filmed by pupils ahead of the conference. Prizes were handed out for categories including best costume, best drama and best ensemble performance.

This was the fourth year Warwickshire partners have hosted the popular RSE conference. This year Warwickshire County Council public health and cyber safety teams led the agenda, alongside Rise (child and adult mental health), Barnardos and Warwickshire Youth Justice.

For more information or support, schools can contact respectyourself@warwickshire.gov.uk

First Reading Adventure

The Warwickshire School Library Service is really excited to promote their First Reading Adventure. This is a reading engagement package for years 1 and 2 with the aim of promoting the following:

• Sharing of books
• Recent and fun picture books
• Themes of well being and empathy
• First steps in reading.

How Does it Work?

• Schools will be provided with 30 new books in September (for you to keep) designed to be used over the school year.
• The books will arrive jacketed making them easy to clean and long lasting.
• An electronic pack will also be sent to you at the school, including a quick guide, parent information, activities to use alongside the books and curriculum links. 
• This will also include a variety of promotional materials and certificates to keep pupils engaged in a fun way. 

You can find further details about why we think this is needed here.

How much will it cost?

• The First Reading Adventure pack price, for one set of the 30 books with jackets, plus accompanying materials is £250 (Further book sets can be purchased for £200)

How can I sign up?

You can sign up for the First Reading Adventure Pack by using the online form, or alternatively please do get in touch if you have any questions or would like a further chat.

GCSE and A Level results day data collection

With GCSE and A Level results days just around the corner, we would like to request the continued support of schools and colleges in supplying the Local Authority with high level exam result figures on both examination result days in August. 

Guidance on making your returns will be sent to your exam day contact and we would ask that you provide your results back to us, by 11am if possible, on both days.

For your reference, please find below links to the two data collection forms:

1.    Post16 Results - Schools with Sixth Forms and Colleges
2.    KS4 Results - All Schools (Colleges will be e-mailed directly on the day for GCSE re-sit data)

We do understand that on both result days you will be busy dealing with students and are clear that they are your first priority.

We are aware that the results posted by schools and colleges in August will not be complete or accurate, but early information about results is very important.  In the past, we have used the opportunity to celebrate the general success of Warwickshire students and teachers in the press and other media.

While we hope we are in a position to do this again this year, please be assured that we do not make public any results for individual schools or colleges, and always refer enquiries to the schools/colleges themselves.

Many thanks in advance for your co-operation.

National Professional Qualification for Middle Leadership

(Click on image for larger version)

Educaterers’ business award nomination

Educaterers, our school catering Local Authority Traded Company, has been shortlisted for Business of the Year at this year’s Lead Association for Catering in Education (LACA) Awards.

The LACA Business of the Year award recognises catering teams or organisation that have made an outstanding contribution to catering for schools in their local area. The awards ceremony takes place on 11 July.

Educaterers was the first local authority service in Warwickshire to be set up to run as a Local Authority Traded Company, around 18 months ago, having formerly been Warwickshire County Caterers.

County Caterers were being confronted with dramatic changes as a result of more schools becoming academies and the commercial competition that accompanied this.

It was apparent that our school catering business model would have to change to reflect the changes taking place.

Setting up our school catering arm as a Local Authority Trading Company would enable the organisation to act in a more commercial way in terms of creating new income, as well as greater freedom to compete for the contracts they might want to go after.

And so Educaterers was established. Many of Warwickshire County Caterers existing 700 workforce became Educaterers’ employees and the company has been focused on making sure that staff are given recognition for good work.

Educaterers has turned over £10.5 million in its first full year of operation in 2018 and, to date, it has managed to secure £2 million worth of new contracts, including two from outside the county council’s catchment area in Oxford and Birmingham. It provides some 125,000 school meals a week.

The first 18 months of Educaterers’ operation have also seen three centres of excellence at three individual schools established, in a secondary, junior and infant school, to further improve the cookery skills of Educaterers’ staff.

This allows Educaterers to train both new and existing employees, as well as test-drive new ideas in service and menu development.

Over 75% of what Educaterers put on school dinner plates is homemade and that requires giving staff a greater set of skills. The centres of excellence are enabling Educaterers to showcase what they can do.

Brand development has also been an important part of the company’s growth, including the overarching Educaterers ‘Food Story’ (which can be seen on their website www.educaterers.co.uk).

A ‘Nutrigang’ cast of cartoon characters has been launched for nursery and primary schools (“On a mission for nutrition!”) and the ‘Meet and Eat’ brand for secondary schools and sixth forms, where catering reflects high streets trends and provides healthy eating on the go.

There was a 30% increase in sales in one of the first schools in which ‘Meet and Eat’ was trialled.

Most recently, the ‘GoGo Chicken’ brand has been developed with one of Educaterers’ main suppliers for the ‘inbetweenie’ junior school market, to promote hot chicken and salad wraps.

We’re keeping our fingers crossed that Educaterers will get the recognition it deserves at the LACA awards and brings home the Business of the Year award to Warwickshire!

Have your say in shaping Warwickshire’s Careers Strategy

Warwickshire educators, businesses and local residents are to have their say on shaping a new Careers Strategy for the county. The strategy will support achievement of priority WE4 of the Council’s Education Strategy which is to champion employability by promoting the best opportunities for all learners.

The Council is undertaking a public consultation from 19 June – 26 July, to allow a wide variety of voices to give feedback on the Council’s draft Careers Strategy.

Effective careers and employability advice and support are critical components of a successful local economy.  They can help people gain the skills needed by local employers, and pursue careers that match their talents and interests, as well as support those who want, or need, to change occupations. Good careers advice can also facilitate social mobility by raising aspirations and highlighting career pathways individuals may not have thought of.

Key audiences for the consultation include residents - particularly, vulnerable groups such as care leavers; young people, parents and adults looking to retrain; businesses; education and training providers.

To take part in the online consultation follow this link: https://ask.warwickshire.gov.uk/communities/warwickshire-careers-strategy/

Pathfinders addressing dilemmas in partnership with Ethical Leadership Commission

Courage

Courage is a highly-prized virtue, and many famous and respected people have spoken or written about it over the years. We probably all have an idea of what we mean by courage, or bravery as it is sometimes known.

Courageous people stand up against things that threaten them or the things or people that they care about. They take action in a way that is consistent with their values.

(Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett)

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Last week we invited you to start thinking about how your school can start its journey using the Framework to establish a whole school approach to ethical behaviour by asking you to consider:

How might ethical behaviour be embedded in all areas of your work? Reflect on the needs of your school, college or trust by using your development plan or other central planning documents?

The Coleshill School's experience

The Coleshill have already started addressing this question by becoming a pathfinder school working with the Ethical Leadership Commission.

All the national pathfinders shared their experiences at the inaugural Ethics Exchange event at the University of Birmingham on Thursday 4 July. Over 70 schools and trusts took part in the event to tell other pathfinders how they are using the framework and resources in their decision making.

At the conference, Karen Cornell, deputy head teacher at the Coleshill School, spoke of the work between herself and WCC in creating an ethical culture around inclusion. Working on having difficult conversations between schools and creating trust between schools and local authorities, they have managed to reduce the amount of permanent exclusions and bring students back into education. The framework was hugely useful for all involved in developing the language of ethics that they now use.

Karen further outlined how as a school completing the sections of the audit toolkit helped them on their ethical leadership journey as follows:

a) Leadership Principles

This was very much about generating a growth mind-set from the top down.  An initial reflection session enabled people to be open to the idea of Ethical Leadership as a way of working as opposed to a theory. This then enabled us to move forward with practical case studies and activities to shape our decisions.

b) Safeguarding Values and Virtues

Policies and procedures are in place but this brings us back to moving away from box ticking and towards an embedded culture.  The beginnings of this are underway but consistent drip feeding will be required for success.  Having a champion to maintain momentum is a must.  Leadership team were easy to convince – the next step is the rest of the staff. 

c) Management Styles

 We have already moved to gain an understanding of the ways in which the framework could influence management styles within school from the leadership team, to staff, and to governors and recognition of those values which “come naturally”.  However the next step is to become more strategic in our approach by incorporating the principles when recruiting staff and in in our decision making process.  The case studies have been invaluable here.

d) A Model Community

Here lies the challenge!  Only when Ethical Leadership is truly embedded within our organisation, policies, procedures and decision making, at all levels, can we truly model this for other stakeholders to influence the community at large.

Karen's presentation is available to view here (downloads as powerpoint).

Any schools leaders and governors/trustees interested in becoming a pathfinder are encouraged to register, and continue to promote and develop the Framework for Ethical Leadership by emailing ethicalschools@nga.org.uk.