Three new SLEs recruited to support Early Years in Warwickshire

The Warwickshire Teaching School Alliance (WTSA) is pleased to announce another positive SLE recruitment round. 

An additional three people have successfully been designated as Early Years SLEs ready to support schools and settings across Warwickshire.   

They will join the first cohort of seven to make up a strong contingent of specialists who have a wealth of expertise and experience between them.

All ten will also be supporting the WTSA Early Years Aspiration Networks, which you can read more about here. 

The successful SLEs are:

• Sorrel Foster - St Lawrence CE Primary School, Southam
• Alison Currin - Coleshill CE Primary School, Coleshill
• Michelle Windridge - High Meadow Community School, Coleshill

For further information about the support they offer please contact Michelle Hutton at the Warwickshire Teaching School Alliance - Hutton.m2@welearn365.com

Consultation on Early Years Foundation Stage Reforms

The Department for Education (DfE) is currently consulting on the proposed changes to the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage (EYFS).

The consultation includes proposed changes to the educational programmes, the early learning goals, the EYFS profile assessment, and safeguarding and welfare requirements to promote good oral health.

The consultation closes on 31 January 2020.

DfE consultation document

Consultation summary

Advice from Public Health England to prevent the spread of norovirus

Public Health England (PHE) West Midlands advises that they are seeing a significant increase in outbreaks of norovirus (winter vomiting bug) in schools compared to this time last year.

Norovirus is highly infectious. The main symptoms include:

• feeling sick
• fever
• sudden onset of vomiting, often projectile
• watery diarrhoea

Some people also have a slight fever, headaches, painful stomach cramps and aching limbs.

The symptoms appear one to two days after people become infected and typically last for up to two or three days.

The most effective way to stop norovirus spreading is by washing hands thoroughly with soap and warm water after using the toilet and for affected staff and pupils to stay away from school until they have been symptom free for 48 hours.

PHE West Midlands is asking schools to promote good hand hygiene and to ensure that toilets are fully stocked with soap and toilet paper. It has been shown that most alcohol gels and antibacterial wipes do not kill norovirus, so pupils must be encouraged to use soap every time they wash their hands and report to staff if the soap has run out.

If your nursery or school experiences an outbreak, i.e. two or more cases of diarrhoea and/or vomiting, please contact Public Health England on 0344 2253560 option 2, option 1 for advice. 

To access a copy of the norovirus nursery/school poster please click here.

Eligibility for Service Pupil Premium deadline reminder

Service Pupil Premium (SPP)

SPP was introduced by the Department for Education (DfE) as part of the commitment to delivering the Armed Forces Covenant. SPP enables schools to provide extra, mainly pastoral support for children with parents in the regular Armed Forces. SPP is paid directly to state schools, free schools and academies across England for supporting Service children.

The amount is £300 per child in classes Reception to Year 11.

Who is eligible?

Children of regular Service personnel (PStat Cat 1 and 2 only) who have been recorded as Service children on any January census since 2015 in state schools, free schools and academies in England in years reception to year 11 are eligible for SPP.

Schools can claim SPP for children of regular Service Personnel, for those who have had a Service parent who has died in Service as well as those who have left including through injury for up to a maximum of six years or up to the end of year 11 (whichever comes first).

If a child is not recorded as a Service child whilst the parent is serving, and the Service person has left the Services, schools will not be able to claim SPP.

If a child is home educated, parents agree to take on the financial responsibility and therefore are not eligible for SPP.

The deadline for recording Service children on the next January census is 16 January 2020. Parents are encouraged to inform their child/ren’s school of their Service status ahead of this date to ensure the school can secure SPP funding.

Service Pupil Premium - what you need to know (gov.uk)

DCYP-MOD Service Pupil Premium poster

Wheelchair skills training helps young people to become independent

A good day was had by all who attended a Wheelchair Skills Workshop, organised by Warwickshire's Integrated Disability Service (IDS), in collaboration with the National Charity Go Kids Go on Thursday 7 November 2019. 

The one-day event was hosted at Weddington Primary School in Nuneaton and gave 12 young people from across the county an opportunity to learn new skills helping them to gain more independence and meet other children who use both manual and powered wheelchairs. 

The school hall and outdoor facilities provided the ideal space for the young people to learn new ways of manoeuvring up and down surfaces, practice safe road crossing and even try out a few handy dance moves just in time for their Christmas parties! Parents and carers also had the opportunity to get involved and try out the wheelchairs for themselves. The day concluded with a rather competitive game of wheelchair basketball! 

There was lots of positive feedback from both the young people and their families on the day and it was such a success that IDS is hoping to organise similar workshops next year. In the meantime, they hope to support Roy Wild and his team from Go Kids Go, in raising some much needed funds so they can continue to offer these opportunities to young people free of charge.

So, look out for further news of their fundraising event in spring 2020!

Free Child Accident Prevention training

Schools and families with children under five may be able to benefit from a free training course to help them make positive changes to their physical and mental health and wellbeing.

In an attempt to reduce the total number of accidents in children aged 0-5 years old which result in hospital admissions, Child Accident Prevention MECC (CAP) was introduced in Warwickshire. In 2016/17, the county had the fourth highest rate of hospital admissions caused by unintentional and deliberate injuries in 0-4 years across the West Midlands region.

The Child Accident Prevention MECC (CAP) training provides a fully-funded three-hour course based on Making Every Contact Count (MECC), an NHS designed intervention. At the end of the training, by working through all course objectives, attendees will be better equipped to understand potential needs, recognise the causes of accidents, discuss issues with greater confidence and learned techniques as well as where to find help and information.

All attendees who complete the course will be able to access ongoing support, advice and up-to-date information from Citizens Advice and Warwickshire County Council.               

Who is the course for?

It is for anyone who works with or has children aged 0-5, though the themes of CAP can also support people working with children of all ages.       

Schools, nurseries or parent groups who wish to benefit from the training can choose a date and location that works best for them. Sessions last for three hours and can be booked in the morning, afternoon or evening with some weekend availability also.  

If you are interested in attending this course, please contact erinyork@warwickshire.gov.uk or lynnbassett@warwickshire.gov.uk

 

For consultation: proposed school term and holiday dates for 2021/22

Schools are being asked to provide comments on the proposed school term dates for 2021/22 by Friday 20 December 2019

Warwickshire County Council is responsible for setting school term and holiday dates for all community and voluntary controlled schools. To date, the majority of voluntary aided, foundation and academy schools have also followed the same term and holiday dates.

Headteachers of all Warwickshire schools and other key stakeholders should have recently received a letter from Hayley Good which sets out two options for school term and holiday dates for the academic year 2021/22. You can read a copy of this letter here.

We would like to give schools the opportunity to provide feedback on the proposed calendars for 2021/22. Any comments or suggestions will be taken into account before the final dates are decided by the Portfolio Holder for Education. 

How to send us your feedback

By email: schoolorganisation@warwickshire.gov.uk

By completing the feedback questionnaire

Feedback should be submitted by Friday 20 December 2019. 

New recruitment round for LLEs

If you are a headteacher / principal or equivalent and you would like to work with leaders in other schools to improve pupil outcomes, you might want to consider applying to be a CSW Local Leader of Education.

The Teaching Schools in Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire (CSW) are working collaboratively to build capacity for local school improvement work and are running a new recruitment round for Local Leaders of Education (LLEs). 

They are seeking to appoint high calibre leaders, usually those who are headteachers or principals or those who have been involved extensively in whole school improvement. Successful applicants will work in a range of schools, on various school improvement initiatives. 

Application window: 2 December 2019 to 10 January 2020

Reference deadline: 24 January 2020

For more information, please contact:

• Emma Hatton, CSW Teaching School Council sub-regional chair - ehatton@solihull.tgacademy.org.uk  or
• your local Teaching School

Alternatively, you can seek information, and download the application pack and reference form from the CSW Teaching Schools website. 

10,000th school meal served at brand new Warwickshire school

Our Local Authority Traded Company (LATC) school caterers, Educaterers, have served their 10,000^th meal at our brand new ‘state of the art’ school, Water Orton Primary School in North Warwickshire.

Pupils at the school celebrated the occasion with Educaterers catering staff, with one lucky pupil, Kayleigh, receiving a £10 gift card from Operations Supervisor, Angie Goldney, and Catering Supervisor, Hilary Cooper, for helping them to reach the landmark number of meals served (see photo).

The new ‘state of the art’ school building opened in September, with Educaterers receiving the contract to offer meals to over 300 pupils at the school from their brand new kitchen. 

The new school, which has been built with £3.5million funding from HS2, has moved across the village green from its previous location in Victorian school buildings in Attleboro Lane to its new building in Plank Lane, as the original site was due to be affected by the high-speed train line.

The school build was completed on schedule and in less than 12 months. Its open plan layout has the latest acoustic design and technology including solar powered roof vents, underfloor heating and a new ‘drive in, drop off’ car park.

It also includes ‘Evergreen’, a resource facility funded by Warwickshire County Council especially for children with Autistic Spectrum, communication and interaction difficulties who may not have been able to attend mainstream education previously.

The official opening ceremony for the new school site in November included a street party along the new school’s two main ‘streets’, which were festooned with bunting, and a cake especially made for the occasion by Educaterers.

Emergency School Closures advice

Free text service

WCC offers a free text service to provide alerts about school closures to anyone who would like to subscribe.

The service is set up in such a way that you will only receive alerts for the school you sign up for and you can subscribe to receive alerts for more than one school.

Full instructions on how to subscribe are available on the Emergency School Closures page. Please do share this link with your families so they can subscribe if they haven't already done so.

Please note: the number that people need to message in order to subscribe has recently changed. This has been updated on the school closure SMS system and on the Emergency School Closures page. 

We are aware that some schools operate their own text service however any school taking the decision to close should still notify us using the phone number for the Emergency School Closures line below.

Notifying us if your school is closed

If you have taken the decision to close your school for any reason, please notify us as soon as possible by calling the Emergency School Closures line on 01926 412611.

Please give information about when the school will be closed from and until, reasons for closure and a DfE number to identify the school.

This will then be added into the school closure system and pulled through onto the schools closure webpage with messages going to parents who have signed up to receive alerts. 

Get real-time updates on Twitter

Parents, carers, students and staff can follow our Twitter account @wccschoolclosed for the latest real-time updates.

Skills support for young people in Nuneaton continues thanks to County Council boost

A skills hub in Nuneaton which supports low-paid workers and young people achieve the skills they need to gain more highly qualified, better paid jobs is receiving a cash boost from Warwickshire County Council to ensure the service can continue.

The PET-Xi Skills Hub has been part-funded by the County Council and the European Social Fund for the past three years for delivery of the Positive Futures programme for young people aged 15-24, who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) – or at risk of becoming so. It supports them into further education, training or work by providing additional careers advice, 1:1 mentoring, and employability training.

As funding for the Positive Futures programme ends in December 2019, Pet X-I applied to continue running this important initiative. Due to a delay in confirmation from central government that its application has been successful, the PET-Xi Skills Hub was facing a funding gap and would have had to close if the County Council had not stepped in. The Council has guaranteed it will cover £20,000 of the hub’s running costs for four months if Pet X-i’s new application is not successful, or if its costs for those months cannot be claimed, even if its new application is approved.

You can read the full news article on the WCC news pages.