National Week of Play 2023: Creating connections through play

Find out more & sign up here: https://bit.ly/3njMBaI

Makaton Library – did you know that you can access the Makaton Library via their hub?

Pre School Referral Form.

Please find here the Referring Pre School Children Advice Leaflet: 

Free educational resources

Looking for free educational resources to help keep children safe?

Time to Talk Warwickshire

Helping to inform families about support for SEND in Warwickshire

Are you looking to enhance the resources available to families of students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in your school community? 

If so, why not consider adding a link to Warwickshire County Council's Local Offer website to your school's SEND section. 

The Local Offer is a comprehensive online resource that provides information, advice and support for children and young people with SEND aged 0-25 in Warwickshire. By adding a link to the Local Offer on your school's website, you can make it easier for families to access the information they need to support their child's educational journey. 

Not only will this benefit families in your community, but it can also demonstrate your school's commitment to inclusivity and accessibility. By partnering with the Local Offer, you can help families to better navigate the often complex landscape of SEND support and ensure that your school is offering the most up-to-date and relevant information available. 

Adding a link to the Warwickshire Local Offer website is easy and can be done in just a few simple steps: 

1. Copy and paste the wording that we’ve provided below (or feel free to adapt/use your own wording) and add this to the SEND section of your school’s website.  

By taking this small but impactful step, you can help to create a more informed and supportive community for all students.  

If you have any questions or would like some support, please contact the Family Information Service on 01926 742274 or email fis@warwickshire.gov.uk   

___________________________________________________________________ 

Copy and paste the wording below for the SEND section of your school website: 

Warwickshire’s SEND Local Offer brings together information about the local services and support available across education, health and social care for families with children and young people aged 0 to 25, who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  

You can find out more about how the Local Offer can support you and your child or young person by watching this video.  

You can visit Warwickshire’s Local Offer pages here. 

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Top tip: If you would like to embed the Local Offer video within your webpage, you can do this by opening the video in YouTube, underneath the video click ‘Share’ > ‘Embed’ > ‘Copy’. This code can then be used to add the video to your school webpage.  

Walk to School Week

We would like to encourage your school to participate in the upcoming Walk to School Week, which takes place from 15 to 19 May 2023.

This national initiative, organized by Living Streets, encourages children and parents to walk to school instead of using a car or other vehicle.

As you are aware, walking to school has numerous benefits including:

• improved physical health, and
• reduced traffic congestion and pollution.

By participating in Walk to School Week, your school will help to make our communities healthier, happier and more sustainable places.

To register your school, find out more information and purchase resources, you can visit the Living Streets website at: https://www.livingstreets.org.uk/products-and-services/projects/walk-to-school-week

Even if you don’t sign-up with Living Streets, there is nothing to stop you from launching your own walk to school week activities and encouraging your pupils and wider school community to get involved.

At Warwickshire County Council, we also offer the Safe and Active Schools programme, which offers lots of free resources and support for your pupils to switch to active travel. You can find out more about this, here: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/homepage/366/safe-and-active-schools

Secondary Network Meeting

Warwickshire Schools Library Service would like to invite all Secondary School Librarians/Assistants to our next network meeting on:

• Thursday 18th May 2023, 2.30pm-3.20pm

Our next meeting at a local secondary school. A great opportunity to see another school's library, share ideas and network. Email us at schoolslibraryservice@warwickshire.gov.uk 

Everyone is welcome.

National Centre for Computing Education – free CPD courses

All CPD courses are now FREE for state-funded primary and secondary schools. This includes all full day and short courses both face to face and remote.

Subsidies for Secondary Courses:

Subsidies are available to provide two days supply cover (£205 per day) for teachers to attend the Computer Science Accelerator (CSA) CPD, helping to develop teachers’ subject knowledge and skills without impacting pupils' lessons. This support is available to state-funded secondary schools and colleges in England. This incentive payment is capped at two days of release per school in an academic year, which will support a teacher to complete the minimum required CPD to access the CSA test.

Extra funding support for primary schools taking Leadership NPQs

Extra funding support for primary schools taking Specialist NPQs

Messages from Teaching School Hub

NPQs:

• Funding for NPQs 2023-24 has been confirmed. There is also an update to the targeted support fund eligibility for state-funded 16-19 organisations. more information can be found here.
• We are offering all NPQs during the 2023-24 academic year. For more information, please visit our website. Also, please see the attached leaflet, which shares more information.
• There will be briefings for Headteachers / CEOs on:
  • Monday 15th May 16:00-16:30
  • Wednesday 24th May 08:00-08:30
  • Friday 9th June 12:30-13:00
• There will be briefings for anyone interested in making an application on:
  • Wednesday 24th May 15:30-16:00
  • Tuesday 6th June 13:00-13:30
  • Monday 12th June 08:00-08:30
• Sign up at our Eventbrite page.
• Interested in facilitating an NPQ? Find out more about what is involved at our website here.

AB:

• We are approaching the assessment window for the summer term. All ECTs will need to have either a progress review of a formal assessment submitted on ECT Manager between Friday 9^th June and Friday 30^th The only exceptions are ECTs who have had less than one full term (or equivalent) of induction at your school.
• The DfE are finalising improvements to the school guidance and the online registration platform. Registration for September 2023 will open in July 2023. This is later than in previous years as the DfE are piloting the registration platform changes in June.

ECF:

• The deadline for schools signing up ECTs for the April 2023 cohort is the 31^st
• Registration for September 2023 ECTs and Mentors will open in July 2023. The DfE are conducting a pilot in June to ensure changes to the process are clear for July.
• There are likely to be some programmatic changes for ECF for both ECTs and Mentors in September 2023. We will communicate these details as soon as we can.
• The Education Development Trust, our lead provider for ECF has received a positive Ofsted result following their first inspection in the Spring 2023. You can find it

ITT:

• We are beginning to plan for our 2023-2024 delivery. The more of us that can support new entrants into the profession, the stronger the future for our children will be – if you want to become involved or would like to find out more, please contact us using this link or call us on 0121 705 5100 and ask for Steve Dixon (Director of Initial Teacher Training).
• We still have places available on for primary and secondary training starting in September 2023. Further details of our courses are available Please feel free to share this information with anybody in your community who may be interested in becoming a teacher.

Please download here the Information about Tudor Grange Teaching School Hub: /assets/1/copy_of_npqs_at_tudor_grange_tsh.pdf

Fire Safety Session for the Home Educated Community

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month

The annual GRTHM (Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller History Month) will be held in June, as it is every year. This year, there will be a competition for all primary schools in Warwickshire, organized by the GRT (Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller) team. The team has produced a short video about the competition, showing details of the event. Additionally, Travellers' Times has created a video about the history of Travellers.

If you are interested in participating in the competition, please note that the deadline is May 12th. This will allow the team to estimate the number of participating schools before the event, which will take place at the Police Headquarters in Leek Wootton at the end of June.

For more information, please read this letter (that you may have already received).

Please find below the video produced by the team and "Roads from the Past" by Travellers' Times.

Warwickshire School Pupils Celebrate the Coronation with a Menu Fit for a King!

Children in schools across the Midlands were treated by school caterers Educaterers to a special coronation menu in celebration of the King's Coronation.  

The caterers, who provide over 120,000 meals a week in more than 200 schools serve up delicious and nutritious meals to primary schools in Warwickshire, Leicestershire, Oxfordshire, Birmingham, Coventry, and Staffordshire. 

The special coronation menu on 5th May included a street party lunch featuring sandwiches, filled wraps, pizza fingers, quorn dippers, fruit and vegetable sticks, followed by iced celebration bunting biscuits, or ice cream. For those staying indoors for lunch, Great British fish and chips, breaded vegetable fingers with chips, peas and baked beans were served, followed by iced celebration cake, or ice cream. 

Vicki Barnard, Managing Director of Educaterers, said:  

"We wanted to help children celebrate the King's Coronation in style. With the special coronation menu, we offered an opportunity for children to enjoy a delicious and memorable meal while celebrating a significant event in British history. 

We work closely with our school catering teams to come up with novel ways to get school children engaged at lunch times and enjoying an assortment of freshly prepared foods throughout the year, so as always, our appreciation goes to our brilliant staff who are our greatest asset." 

Primary, junior and infant schools using the Educaterers service have special menus throughout the year for occasions such as St George's Day, Chinese New Year, World Book Day and many more. 

Educaterers source local produce where possible to reduce food miles and support local producers. They work with trusted suppliers to provide the freshest, most nutritious, and highest quality produce available to their schools.  

Educaterers is proud to have recently become one of a small number of partners of ‘Love British Food’ - a national organisation dedicated to encouraging people to seek out British food when they are shopping or eating out.      

Carers Trust Carers Award Ceremony

Primary Network Meeting (Virtual)

Join us for a free virtual workshop on Oral Storytelling. Please click on this link to register.

Oral Storytelling: Exploring simple techniques and ways to learn, shape and tell stories with Kate Coleman

And So the Story Goes ...

 

The session is the first step of a journey into the practice of oral storytelling, exploring simple techniques and ways to learn, shape and tell stories. We will delve into why particular tales are important to us and how they shape our lives, thinking about why some stories resonate with us and others do not. Exploring the power of the voice, we will explore how we use voice during storytelling through learning to tell stories from the heart, and with that the importance of silence and active listening.

 

Whilst the session will require some feedback and participation, there is no expectation to tell a story at the end ... unless, of course, you wish to do so! The workshop is playful, and curiosity based as we start to explore oral storytelling and building confidence around taking stories from the page to the body.

For more information, email: schoolslibraryservice@warwickshire.gov.uk