Warwickshire Children Safeguarding Board: new website and Inter-agency procedures

New Safeguarding Website

Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Board (WSCB), together with Warwickshire Safeguarding Adults Board, have developed a new safeguarding website, bringing together information and guidance for adults, children, young people and their families and the professionals who work with them. 

To access the new site, go to www.safeguardingwarwickshire.co.uk.

New Inter-Agency Safeguarding Procedures

WSCB have also published new Inter-agency safeguarding procedures. This is a joint project with Coventry Safeguarding Children Board which aims, over time, to increasingly align our core procedures and guidance and to simplify arrangements for professionals who provide services to children living in both Coventry and Warwickshire. 

We would be grateful if all colleagues in your organisation are encouraged to have a look at the new material. The new procedures can be accessed here, or on the new safeguardingwarwickshire.co.uk website.

Training session for parents and carers on online grooming

The Community Safety Team would like to highlight the following training session available for parents and carers:

Preventing Online Grooming: Keeping Your Family Safe Online

This two hour training session will assist parents and carers to keep their children safe online from grooming and radicalisation.

If you have groups of parents in schools or community settings who would like this training please contact the Community Safety Team to arrange a date and time for this session or for more information.

We will be offering these sessions at local community centres across Warwickshire from February 2018 onwards if individual parents would like to book onto these. Please contact the Community Safety team for more details on:

communitysafety@warwickshire.gov.uk

For more information, please see this flyer.

'Stop, Speak, Support' campaign to combat cyber bullying

Prince William has launched his bullying task force's 'Stop, Speak, Support' campaign aimed at helping young people combat cyber bullying.

Education Visits Advice Service update

Since 1st September 2017, Warwickshire County Council (WCC) and Warwickshire Education Services (WES) no longer offer support in terms of an Educational Visits Advice Service to:

• Foundation schools,
• Voluntary Aided schools,
• Foundation Trust schools,
• Academies,
• Free schools,
• Independent schools and
• Voluntary youth organisations.

These are schools where WCC is no longer the employer. The employers of these schools (academy trusts, archdiocese, board of governors etc) have full responsibility, under Health & Safety Legislation, for the safety and welfare of their employees and pupils which includes when they are engaged in outdoor visits, adventure activities, school trips etc. Therefore they should ensure that they have a robust system in place to ensure such activities are compliant with best practice guidance, legislation etc. 

Where WCC is still the employer (in LA maintained schools) WCC has chosen to use the services of 'EES For Schools' to provide this service. Therefore if your school is still 'WCC maintained' (other than VA maintained) the education visits advice service is still provided to you at no cost and you will have received some communications from 'EES for Schools' outlining their service to you.

Whilst WCC is not able to recommend providers, clearly we believe that 'EES For Schools' provides a service that meets our needs, however there are numerous other providers able to deliver this service to schools such as 'Plumsun' and 'nwilevol.co.uk'. 

If you wish to speak to a representative from 'EES For Schools' then please contact norberto.fusi@eesforschools.org directly.

Update on Early Years services

The Early Years offer in Warwickshire is open to all early years’ providers in Warwickshire who are responsible for learning, development and care of children from birth to five years. This includes maintained schools, non-maintained schools, all providers on the Early Years Register, and all providers registered with an early years childminder agency.

The Local Authority works directly with schools and early years providers to improve the quality of practice and outcomes for children. The Local Authority provides statutory one to one support for all providers who have early years Ofsted judgements that are not yet ‘Good’. This support is offered through two Local Authority Advisers who can also provide telephone and email advice and guidance for any early years queries (sarahaigh@warwickshire.gov.uk).

The Local Authority also has the duty to provide statutory Safeguarding functions and services to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This includes cascading information from the Government and Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Board; attending Position of Trust meetings; and monitoring and reviewing safeguarding practices across Warwickshire early years providers.

The Local Authority has a statutory duty to secure sufficient early education and childcare places. This means we need to secure places for babies and young children whose parents are working, as well as funded early education places for 2, 3 and 4 year olds, and out of school and holiday care for school age children. The Early Years Sufficiency and Business Support Team oversee this duty, and offer advice and support to schools as well as private early years settings.

Settings are funded to provide early education places for 3 and 4 year olds as long as they achieve an Ofsted grading of at least ‘Requires Improvement’. Funding for 2 year olds is only available to settings with a grade of at least ‘Good’. The local authority has an established process for removing funding from settings who fall below this standard.

Recently designated as a Teaching School, the Warwickshire Consortium Teaching School Alliance is one of just 34 Teaching School Alliances nationally that are led by Nursery Schools, having demonstrated the capacity to offer expertise, knowledge and training of the highest quality.

The alliance is led by Bedworth Heath Nursery School and Kenilworth Nursery School, and provides 15 Initial Teacher Training places through an early years PGCE with Warwick University. Their long term plans are to develop a portfolio of accredited  training recognising the early years sector’s needs for training development from level 2 to Post Graduate level. It will build capacity within a joint Local Authority and Teaching School approach to system led quality improvement through the provision of training and support to ensure adequate expertise is sited in both our Schools and PVI sector settings and across the early years workforce.

The alliance also provides traded training and development in early years for Schools and settings through their website (www.warwickshireearlyyears.co.uk). This offers professional development opportunities for settings and schools to meet statutory EYFS requirements, develop a strong and enhanced learning culture, identify system leaders and support their training and designation from a cohort of teachers and early leaders across the county.

Analyse School Performance

By now most of us will have realised that RAISEonline is no longer functioning. For a variety of reasons DFE decided that it was time to move to a new data system- Analyse School Performance. Amongst the many reasons that they gave for discontinuing Raise was their view that most schools now have their own data analysis systems and so only need a more basic set of information. Not all colleagues agree with this, but the decision has been taken anyway.

The first challenge that presents itself is getting into ASP. If you are having problems I suggest following the guide that the DFE have put out through YouTube.

Once in, you will notice that the focus is upon progress data for both primary and secondary schools. For all phases it is important to remember that headline scores are basically placed in three groups- above average, average and below average. It is well worth looking at your confidence interval, since this will determine which group you fall into. It is also possible to see how your scores compare with county and national averages

It is possible to drill down into the data and to see the breakdown for groups and then for individual students. I find scatterplots particularly useful, since they show the distribution of scores across a particular group of students. In my experience they provide a quick and clear way to summarise outcomes and to see the impact of ‘outliers’ (pupils whose score is particularly lower or higher than the rest of the group).

ASP is best explored having looked at the changing approach to data set out in the Ofsted September 2017 Inspection update. Much of what is said will be welcome to schools (for example, emphasising that data needs to be meaningful and that very small groups should not be looked at in isolation). It is also important to emphasise that inspectors are particularly interested in current standards as well as historic data.

Within ASP you can find your Inspection Data Summary Report, the replacement for the Inspection Dashboard. The report will be updated as the year goes along, but I suspect that over time this may become the true replacement for RAISE since it is designed to be downloaded and has the background contextual information that we have all become used to in RAISEonline.

Peter Kent,

Headteacher, Lawrence Sheriff School

.

Volunteers required: Independent Review Panel members to hear School Exclusion Reviews

Independent Review Panels consider a parent’s request for a review of the decision of a Governing Body to permanently exclude a pupil from school.

We are currently recruiting volunteers to sit on Independent Review Panels.

The review panel is generally made up of 3 members who must fall into one of three categories – lay member, school governor or Headteacher.

All panel members receive training from Legal Services on the exclusions process and the role of the review panel. There would be an expectation that you would travel to another area of the County to that in which you work to avoid any allegation of bias. You will be entitled to travel expenses for the travel you undertake in connection with a review or training.  You may also be approached to sit on “out of county” reviews.

The work of a panel member is an important role that is not overly time consuming. I do realise that as Headteachers you already have many duties and engagements that you must fulfil. However, if you are interested in sitting as a Panel member or have any queries on this issue, I would be grateful if you could contact me in accordance with the details given below and I will be more than happy to discuss the matter further with you. It is hoped that the training will take place early in 2018.

If you know any recently retired Headteachers who might be interested in this role please pass on this information and my contact details.

Tania Martin, School Appeals Officer

Resources Group, Legal Services, Shire Hall, Warwick CV34 4RL

Tel: 01926 736381, Email: schoolappeals@warwickshire.gov.uk 

Education and Learning e-Comms survey for schools

Thanks to all those who have responded to our e-Comms survey so far, which remains open until the end of this term:

This is your opportunity to give us feedback on the way the Education and Learning team, and the County Council more widely, communicates with schools.

'Heads Up' has been in circulation for just over a year now and has seen a significant rise in the number of subscribers during this period.  The online newsletter is now used as one of the main communication channels with schools and includes regular contributions from a wide range of County Council services, as well as from our partners including Public Health and Warwickshire Police.  One of the key aims of 'Heads Up' is to provide a more regular method for sharing information with schools as well as attempting to reduce the number of separate communications and publications.

Our @wcc_schools Twitter account is another channel of communication that we have tried to build on during the past year as we know so many of our schools and settings, students and parents are also busy tweeting!

We are always looking for ways that we can improve our communications with you, and would greatly value your feedback to help us do this.  We would therefore be grateful if you would take the time to complete a brief survey which should take no more than 5-10 minutes.

The survey is available at the link below until Friday 22 December 2017:

Education and Learning e-Communications Survey

Latest National Updates

Ofsted News

Response to consultation on short inspections published

Last week Ofsted published its response to its consultation on changes to short inspections. Changes come into effect from January 2018 and relate to short inspections of good maintained schools and academies, and outstanding and good maintained nurseries, special schools and pupil referral units.

Ofsted report on reception curriculum

On 30 November, Ofsted published the research report 'Reception curriculum in good and outstanding primary schools: bold beginnings'

This report looks at the Reception curriculum in successful schools and how well it prepares 4 and 5 year olds for the rest of their education and beyond.

You can read the report here.

DfE News

Green paper: 'Transforming children and young people's mental health provision'

New Leaders of Education (CSWLEs) appointed

We are pleased to share the news that three new Leaders of Education (CSWLEs) have been appointed after the latest round of recruitment: 

Joy Mitchell - Headteacher, North Leamington School

Lindsey Oscroft - Executive Headteacher , Wellesbourne CE Primary and Tysoe CE Primary

Kate Madia - Headteacher, Our Lady's Catholic Primary, Princethorpe

Congratulations to all three headteachers, who join a growing pool of CSWLEs in Warwickshire:

Andrew Simms - Bidford on Avon Primary School

James Higham - Henry Hinde Infant School

Leah Adams - Northlands Primary School

Darren Barrow - St. John’s Primary School

Neil Wallace - Stratford-upon-Avon School

Andrew Edwards - The Revel CE (Aided) Primary School

For further information visit the CSWLE website.

SSIF Bid Launch Event

The hard work and planning of all the partners in Warwickshire's Strategic School Improvement Fund (SSIF) Bid Round 1 came together on Tuesday 21st November when we held our Launch Event at Nettle Hill Conference Centre in Ansty.

We were delighted to welcome heads and governors from the schools who have agreed to be included in the school improvement programmes offered through the bid.  We had representatives from the Teaching Schools who are delivering the programme - Shires Alliance, Polesworth/Birchwood, Hillmorton, Lawrence Sheriff and Ashlawn as well as Warwick University, who are leading the Action Research strand of the bid.

Each representative spoke with passion about their particular strands and carefully planned programmes:  delegates heard about the leadership programmes which are tailored to primary and secondary schools and include governance, peer review for heads and regular Task Group meetings as well as  information on the primary and secondary reading and maths programmes. 

Voice care for teachers - 9 top tips

Given the various bugs around at this time of year it has been suggested that voice care hints might be helpful – particularly if voices are feeling rough. I am happy to share my own ‘nine nuggets’ from over the years and welcome further comments from colleagues:

1. Drink water only
2. Warm up your voice – humming in the car is my favourite
3. Talk less in your lessons – go on – try a lesson where you don’t talk at all!
4. Get a student to lead
5. Get the students to work together – perhaps on a composition project
6. In class – use a physical signal to get attention – not your voice
7. When giving instructions - never speak if a child is making a noise - expect silence
8. When giving instructions – speak quieter, not louder – it makes children listen more carefully
9. A smile is worth a hundred words

Jeremy Dibb
Director
Warwickshire Music
 

RE Agreed Syllabus Launch Event

Warwickshire and Coventry SACREs (Standing Advisory Council on Religous Education) held a successful fourth event on Monday 20th November at the Gurdwara Sahib in Leamington to introduce schools to the new agreed syllabus for Religious Education. 46 schools from Warwickshire and Coventry including both primary and secondary schools, attended the event. Feedback on the day was positive. 

Warwickshire Music: Singing for Sounds Programme for early years colleagues

Singing for Sounds is an innovative and dynamic programme designed to support early years language development for nursery and Key Stage 1 children.

It has been developed by Warwickshire Music and is currently led by independent early years consultant Nicola Burke.

It is having a very positive impact on colleagues who have attended training sessions with Nicola and a range of opportunities are available from Warwickshire Music to include:

1. Training for cluster groups of schools with Nicola
2. In-school twilights with specialist teachers from Warwickshire Music – trained by Nicola
3. Weekly delivery to children
4. Parent training sessions

Please click here to see feedback from 56 nursery and school based colleagues following training on October 30^th 2017.

For more information contact beththompson@warwickshire.gov.uk.

Area / Patch Meeting Update

We would like to extend a big thank you to those governors and clerks who attended the Area / Patch meetings this term and we hope you found the meetings worthwhile.

Unfortunately attendance at the meetings was down this year compared to last year, with only 54 people attending with 48 schools / academies being represented throughout the county. 

Dates for the Area / Patch Meeting Spring Term 2018 are as follows:

Tuesday 24^th April 2018 - Stratford Upon Avon School (Stratford Upon Avon)

Tuesday 26^th April 2018 - Brooke School (Rugby)

Thursday 1^st May 2018 - Nicholas Chamberlaine School (Bedworth)

Thursday 3^rd May 2018 - Aylesford School and 6^th Form Centre (Warwick)

All Area / Patch meetings will take place at 7.00-8.30pm.

How many is the Quorum? – In response to questions received...

The quorum is the number of governors who must be present to validate the proceedings of a governors’ meeting.

In Maintained Schools - for a full governing board meeting the quorum must be half or rounded up, excluding vacancies.

Example: If the full membership of the governing board is 15, the quorum is, therefore, 8. However, should there be 3 vacancies the quorum is now 6. The quorum for a committee can be found in the terms of reference for the committee which are agreed annually; the majority of governing boards have a quorum of 3 for committees.

Quorum in Committee Meetings (Academies)

Academy trusts should ‘satisfy themselves’ that they are meeting the requirements set out in their articles of association as this will set out the rules around the governance of the trust, including around delegating to committees and voting on proceedings.

No Set Quorum for Academy Committees

Articles 100 - 104 of the model articles of association for academy trusts deal with committees and local governing bodies.

They do not mention a specific quorum for academy committees, but say that a vote on any matter can only take place if a majority of those present are trustees. However, this requirement does not apply in local governing bodies.

Specifically, the articles say:

• The trustees may establish any committee
• The constitution, membership and proceedings of any committee shall be determined by the trustees
• The establishment, terms of reference, constitution and membership of any committee of the trustees shall be reviewed at least once every 12 months
• The membership of any committee of the trustees may include persons who are not trustees, provided that, with the exception of local governing bodies, a majority of members of any such committee shall be trustees
• Except in the case of local governing bodies, no vote on any matter shall be taken at a meeting of a committee of the trustees unless the majority of members of the committee present are trustees

The latest version of the model articles can be viewed here. 

Code of Conduct

The Governance Handbook (Section 4: People 4.1.2 Conduct) states: ‘Effective boards set out clearly what they expect of individuals, particularly when they first join.  A code of conduct should be maintained and communicated to all prospective appointees…’

We have revised and updated our Model Code of Conduct which is available for subscribing schools / academies to download from the WES document library or from GovernorHub.

The document can be easily amended to ensure it reflects your specific governing board and school structure whether that is a maintained school or an academy; it applies to all levels of school governance.

We recommend that the Code of Conduct is thoroughly discussed so the governing board, as a whole, has ownership of it. Once adopted, governors should be asked to review and sign it on an annual basis, ideally at the first meeting in the autumn term.

WES Document Library & GovernorHub Resources

We are proud of our document / resource library and intend to continue to develop and expand the resources / information both on WES and GovernorHub as we want to ensure we provide governors and clerks with the latest guidance.  To help with this, we will be thoroughly reviewing our current documents to ensure they are the most recent and up to date versions and in turn archiving any documents that have been superseded with a later version.

Following feedback received, we have updated the ‘Notification of an Appointment / Reappointment / Change to the Governing Board’ form to enable you to tell us if the governor has held a previous governor appointment or is currently supporting another governing board.  Please can you delete any versions of the ‘old’ form that you may have and now use the revised form?

Learning Link Update

As we have mentioned previously, “Learning Link” is the new e-learning system for governors which replaces the GEL online e-learning that some governing boards subscribe to.

You will find a “Learning Link Access” button on the NGA website home page (underneath the Login / Logout button) which will take you into the Learning Link area.

This will enable you to access your Learning Link subscription and also find out general details about the whole system.

If your governing board does not have access to Learning Link and you think it would be useful, please contact gurbydhesi@warwickshire.gov.uk to discuss your requirements.

Analyse School Performance (ASP) – do you have access?

The new service allows governors to have their own user accounts to easily identify the data that frames discussions around school performance and priorities. It is also the same view of annual performance that Ofsted inspectors use.

It has also been announced that KS1 and Phonics data for 2017 is now available in ASP and that provisional KS4 data will be added at the end of November/first week in December.

In order to get access to ASP, you must ask the ‘Approver’ of Secure Access accounts within the school to set you up with a governor role account. If the approver is unsure, guidance is available here. Once your account is set up, a short demonstration video is available here.

Inspection Data Summary Report (IDSR) - Ofsted

Ofsted have published guidance for inspectors and stakeholders on the use of the new Inspection dashboard documents and prototypes for the new primary and secondary inspection data summary reports.

The published prototypes for primary and secondary inspection data summary reports (IDSR) show the proposed layout and context using example data.

The IDSR is a new style data report. It will replace the inspection dashboard when 2017 data is released later in the 2017 autumn term.

The guidance includes:

• An overview of dashboard data and how to interpret charts
• 2 anonymised school reports
• The ‘schools own dashboard’ to allow users to input their own data and see how its analyses would change.

Please click here to download the guidance and prototypes for IDSR.

Privacy Notice Model Documents

The DfE have updated their model privacy notice documents. These are suggested privacy notices for schools to issue to staff, parents and pupils about the collection of data and have been updated to ‘help schools comply’ with the new General Data Protection Regulations.

Under The Data Protection Act 1998, when an organisation collects personal information about an individual it must make that information available to the individual.

We will keep you notified of any future changes to these documents or any others as a result of the General Data Protection Regulations.

Technical education & apprenticeships: raising awareness

On 23rd November, the government released guidance on what schools must do to meet the upcoming requirements of the Technical and Further Education Act 2017.

The Act, which will come in to force on 2 January 2018, puts a statutory duty on all maintained schools and academies to “ensure that there is an opportunity for a range of education and training providers to access registered pupils during the relevant phase of their education for the purpose of informing them about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships”.

To meet the requirements of the Act, a school must “explain in a policy statement how providers can get involved with your school and the opportunities you have for them to talk to your pupils”. This must be subsequently “published on the school website”.  A copy of the guidance can be viewed here.

Education Select Committee Enquiry into Alternative Provision

The House of Commons Education Select Committee announced that one of the first inquiries of the new parliament will be on Alternative Provision (AP) for pupils who do not attend mainstream schools for reasons such as school exclusion, behaviour issues, or illness.

The inquiry will look at:

• Routes into alternative provision
• The quality of teaching in alternative provision
• Educational outcomes and destinations of pupils
• Safety, accommodation and provision of resources for pupils
• In-school alternatives to alternative provision
• Regulation of independent providers.

We will share the findings when available.

Consultation and Changes to the School Inspection Handbooks

Following a consultation earlier in the summer (response available here), Ofsted revised their proposals for changes to short inspections and have updated their guidance for Ofsted inspectors carrying out school inspections under section 8 of the Education Act 2005.

The changes, which took effect from 30 October 2017, include that:

• Some ‘good’ schools will automatically receive a full, two-day inspection instead of a short inspection
• Where a short inspection converts to a full inspection, this will usually continue to be within 48 hours but may take up to 7 days in some cases
• Short inspections of secondary schools with more than 1,100 pupils will be carried out by three inspectors (rather than two as is standard).

To view the all the updates and download the guidance please click here

Safer Internet Day 2018

Schools and organisations are now able to register as a Safer Internet Day supporter to share what they are doing for the day, and get more information and resources in the SID2018 campaign toolkit!

Last year 1,645 organisations joined the Safer Internet Day 2017 supporters list, making it the biggest UK Safer Internet Day yet!

Stay updated: Sign up for the Safer Internet Day newsletter and keep up to date with all the latest Safer Internet Day news and announcements!

Free entry for Education Personnel to Twycross Zoo

Warwickshire County Council cannot and does not endorse Twycross Zoo, although we thought you may like to be made aware of the following offer:

From Boxing Day until New Years Day 2017, Twycross Zoo is giving educators free entry to the zoo.

Governor Services can confirm that this offer is open to Governors and Clerks at schools as long as you can bring a letter from the school that shows your position alongside any photo ID (if your school does not provide a Staff Card for you with Photo ID).

For details see the Twycross Zoo website.

Training Opportunities

We provide a comprehensive training programme for all school governors, clerks and head teachers, whether in maintained or academy schools.  Places on training sessions are available to all schools - for subscribing schools these will be free of charge and for non-subscribing schools there is a charge per delegate.

If your governing board does not subscribe to Warwickshire Governor Services and you think it would be useful to do so, please contact Gurby Dhesi to discuss your requirements:

Email - gurbydhesi@warwickshire.gov.uk

Telephone – 01926 745 137

You can view the courses that are available until the end of March by using the link to our current Training and Support Programme (April 2017 – March 2018) available here

As part of the annual subscription governors can choose to have a complimentary in-house course, delivered at a venue and time chosen by governors.  Please note that all requests for in-house training courses must be received by:

• 31st December 2017 (maintained schools) and
• 31st March 2018 (academies)

If you would like to book on a course, please email your booking to  governors@warwickshire.gov.uk, telephone Governor Services on 01926 745120 or book via the WES website at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/wes 

Please remember to quote the course reference number, title and date when booking.

For any further information, please do not hesitate to contact Gail Evans:

Email - gailevans@warwickshire.gov.uk

Telephone – 01926 745 120

Impact of Social Media on young people in Warwickshire

Directors of Public Health (DPH) have a statutory requirement to write an annual report on the health of their population, and the local authority is required to publish it. The DPH Annual Report is a vehicle for informing local people about the health of their community, as well as providing the necessary information for decision makers in local services about gaps and priorities that need be addressed.

The report for 2018 will focus on Warwickshire young people (age 8-25) and the impact of social media on their health and wellbeing.

We are looking to engage with Warwickshire schools to understand the positives and negatives of social media and its impact on health and wellbeing (physical, mental and social).  We will be undertaking:

• An online survey for young people, parents/carers and professionals (probably during February 2016)
• Focus groups with young people, parents/carers and professionals (probably during January 2018)
• Interviews with young people, parents/carers and professionals (probably starting December 2017 and running until February 2018)

Please contact Kate Sahota (Children's Public Health Commissioner) on katesahota@warwickshire.gov.uk or 01926 413763 if you would be interested in taking part in this research. We are particularly looking for schools where:

a) you have experienced problems with social media use with young people and may be willing to talk about it;

b) you are highly regarded/innovative in your approach to social media in school and have seen some benefits from it.

Young Minds launch #Take20 campaign for parents

Get involved in the Youth MHFA in Schools programme

As part of the Youth Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) in Schools programme, the Department of Health has committed to fund over 3,000 places on the Youth MHFA One Day course over the next three years, so that by 2020 at least one person in every state secondary school in England has MHFA skills. 100 Youth MHFA One Day courses are being delivered by MHFA England (CIC) in this first year of the programme, which equates to over 1,000 places available – a similar number of courses will be delivered in years two and three of the programme. One representative from each state secondary school may attend a course, with the exception of host schools, who are offered four additional places.   Please find attached fact sheet for further details.

Under the terms of this government funded scheme, all state secondary schools qualify to receive one free place on a Youth MHFA One Day course. Additional training can be booked independently of this government funded programme, however unfortunately additional funding is not available to support this.

Year one of the Youth MHFA in Schools programme was launched in April 2017 and the first course deliveries took place soon after in June with further deliveries continuing up to December.  To date, we have delivered 78 courses, training over 800 Youth MHFA Champions.

The Youth MHFA One Day course itself has been designed specifically with schools and colleges in mind – as a one day course, it fits perfectly into school inset training days and busy school timetables. Topics covered include; an introduction to mental health, depression and anxiety, suicide and psychosis and self-harm and eating disorders. The course includes a mix of presentations, group discussions and workshop activities, with MHFA England instructors providing a safe learning environment where participants are supported throughout the whole session. Everyone who completes the course receives a copy of the Youth MHFA Schools and Colleges manual which is an excellent reference and support resource. Participants also receive a certificate to say they are a Youth MHFA Champion – someone who is skilled in understanding how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental health issues in young people and who will have the confidence to guide the young person to a place of support.

Courses are currently available to book for the new year (February-December 2018) so if schools have capacity to host courses in these months, or would like to register for its free place, please get in touch with the MHFA England Schools team by emailing schools@mhfaengland.org.

To find out more about the initiative visit mhfaengland.org/mhfa-centre/schools-programme.

Radio DJ launch health podcasts for teens

You can find links to all the Health Uncovered podcasts here.

A new series of podcasts aims to get more young people in-tune with their health and wellbeing. Compass helped produce the candid discussion programs which are hosted by BBC Radio One presenter and actor Cel Spellman.

Sexually transmitted infections, self-harming, depression, drugs and more are on the agenda, as Cel lifts the lid on teenage health issues. Young people from Warwickshire speak honestly about their experiences of different health problems which they say can be embarrassing, uncomfortable and sometimes misunderstood.

The ten shows each focus on a different topic from online bullying to sexual health, body image to mental health, plus other threats that affect the smartphone generation, like online grooming and pressure caused by social media. The team behind the 20 minute episodes hope that young people going through difficulties may find it easier to open up and talk if they can hear peers discussing the same troubles.

Designed particularly for people who like to listen through headphones whilst on the move, users can search “Health Uncovered” in any popular podcasting app, like iTunes, to download or stream the podcasts to mobile devices.

Whilst young people from across the country are the stars of the shows, the health professionals that support them, like school nurses and adolescent mental health teams, helped to bring the project together. They were on hand at each recording session to provide expert solutions, support and understanding.

Presenter Cel Spellman, who hosts the Sunday afternoon slot on BBC Radio One and stars in ITV drama Cold Feet, met with participants in five different UK towns and cities to make the programs. The round-the-table chats were revealing, amusing, usually slightly rude and often a little emotional.

“I feel pretty privileged to have heard such honest and touching personal stories”, says Cel.  “Young people today have to deal with all the classic teenage worries and troubles, but it doesn’t end there. With social media, current affairs and online, this digital generation have much more to deal with.  Sometimes these sort of problems can be misunderstood by our peers who say we’ve never had it so easy, so get on with it.”

Cel feels passionate about encouraging young people to ask access help with health issues. He says “they have so much to think about, it can sometimes feel like it’s all too much. It’s important young people get support and, most importantly, that they can listen and talk to one another – this podcast series gives them a voice and a platform to be heard”.  

He has spoken out in the past about his own challenges, dealing with bullies at school, saying “I preferred to deal with problems on my own, but there comes a breaking point.” 

The idea was created by the NHS working in partnership with the Audio Impressions team at production company This Is Distorted. They are exploring different ways of helping more young health service users feel comfortable talking about their health.

“Young people listen to more audio than other age group and we know they’re more likely to choose podcasts than listen on demand radio shows” says project manager Jimmy Endicott. “One in ten people aged 15 and over listen to at least one podcast every week, so that’s more than 800,000 young weekly listeners.  It’s a great platform for helping people – one we actually haven’t much used yet in healthcare.”

The company behind Audio Impressions specialises in creating compelling audio entertainment for young people, usually working with the UK’s biggest music radio stations and some of the World’s best-recognized artists and DJs to produce chart-topping podcasts with millions of listeners.

Warwickshire School Health & Wellbeing Service and Warwickshire Young Persons Substance Misuse Service provided by Compass

Change Makers Family Lifestyle Programme

Background

Change Makers is a FREE 9-week family lifestyle course, commissioned by Public Health Warwickshire and run by Rugby Borough Council, in partnership with Warwickshire County Council. It is an evidence-based county wide weight management programme for families with children aged 4-12 years. The aim of Change Makers is to halt the rising prevalence of childhood obesity.

Case study of a Warwickshire family

This particular family contacted Change Makers after receiving a letter from the Warwickshire School Health and Well-Being Team due to one of their children being very overweight. The child had been diagnosed with high functioning autism and struggled in group activities. The parent’s main goal was to improve their social confidence and increase their fruit and vegetable intake.

What did the course involve?

The nine week course was fully booked with children ranging from 8-12 years. The Advisor spoke with the parents to establish the child’s coping strategies as loud noises were a trigger. When this occurred the Advisor adopted a 1-2-1 approach during the games to calm the child. The child was gradually introduced back into the group sport activities. Towards the end of the nine weeks the child was less concerned about the noise levels and had made friends with several of the children. The course focused on 5 a day, the eat well plate, portion sizes, breakfasts, lunchboxes, sugar intake and snacks, meal planning and food labelling. Guests included Adult and Community Learning Services who delivered a cooking session, plus a local dance club, boxing and Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. Those who were eligible for a Junior Gym Membership were given a tour of the local leisure centre alongside a free taster session for a Junior exercise class.

Positive Behaviour Changes for the Family:

• Introduced new foods such as broccoli, mango and rice through a gradual process. First the item was placed on the table, then next to their plate, on their plate and finally trying one small piece of new food.
• Changing snacks from bags of crisps to malt loaf or breadsticks.
• Reduced portion sizes at dinner, both children were having the same as the father.
• Meal times are now at the dinner table instead of in front of the TV.
• The father and both children joined the local gym and regularly participate in a weekly boxing club and play badminton as a family as much as possible.

Quote – from the Parents

“We just wanted to say how much Change Makers helped us. Both children joined the gym as a result on top of their other activities. My child is much more aware about what and how much they are eating, plus they have shot up in height but are much slimmer. This has given them far more social confidence.”

Quote – from the Children

“I was really nervous as there were lots of children and the room was big. The games were really fun and I loved the boxing part.”

“I eat more green vegetables and I really like them now.”

For more information about Change Makers please contact Georgia Barrett (Family Lifestyle Co-ordinator) on 01788 533721 or georgia.barrett@rugby.gov.uk. Alternatively, if you would like more information Fitter Futures please contact Luke Butler (Fitters Futures Manager) on 02476 400594 or visit https://fitterfutureswarwickshire.co.uk/

Interested in the programme?

If you are interested in hosting a free Change Maker course at your school or would like to refer relevant families to the service please contact Georgia Barrett at the email address above. Alongside the free nine week course, schools will also be eligible for whole school taster sessions, assemblies, healthy eating workshops and drop-in information sessions.

Warwickshire schools celebrate excellence

The fourth ‘Excellence in Warwickshire’ Awards took place on Wednesday 8 November at Stoneleigh Deer Park Golf Club.

The event was held to celebrate the achievements of schools inspected by Ofsted between September 2016 and July 2017. Schools that improved their Ofsted grading or that managed to retain their ‘outstanding’ judgement were praised for their hard work and presented with an award from Warwickshire County Council.

Many of these schools have worked exceptionally hard to bring about improvements, resulting in their Ofsted judgement moving from either ‘Special Measures’ or ‘Requires Improvement’ to ‘Good’. Some schools were recognised for their drive and determination to maintain the outstanding quality of education for their learners.

36 people including Head teachers, Chairs of Governors, and pupils from 12 schools attended. A wide range of schools from across the county were represented from nursery, infant, primary, secondary; maintained community schools, church schools and academies.

Guests enjoyed a performance from the Central Area Music Theatre Group, who entertained with energetic numbers from Bugsy Malone. Presenting the awards and personally congratulating the schools’ on their achievements were; Portfolio Holder for Education and Learning, Cllr Colin Hayfield and Head of Service for Education and Learning, Chris Malone.

Pupils were invited to speak about why their school is a good place to learn:

Toby and Gabriella from Stockton Primary said: “Our school is very proud to have this award because it will make our pupils more confident and make us all round prouder of ourselves.”

Lizzie from Studley High School said, “There is a distinct atmosphere, as you walk along the corridors, of family and a real sense of community.”

Olivia and Joe from St James CE Academy, Bedworth said “Our school is a good school because every single teacher does their best to bring out the best in all of the students. At St James, we love our learning and would recommend our school to everybody!”

Schools in Warwickshire receive prestigious award

Two schools in Warwickshire have received the Quality Lead Award from leading education charity Achievement for All. Bedworth Heath Maintained Nursery School and Boughton Leigh Infant School in Rugby have both worked hard to improve progress in reading, writing and maths for all pupils, particularly those with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities.

Achievement for All works with schools and settings to improve outcomes for all children and young people vulnerable to underachievement regardless of background, challenge or need. The prestigious award recognises a school's work in developing children's personal social and emotional development and also their progress in physical development, communication skills and early literacy and numeracy.

Atherstone Nursery School, Bedworth Heath's federated partner school, is also on the way to Quality Lead status having been awarded the Achievement for All Quality Mark.

Amanda King, Executive Head teacher of Bedworth Heath and Atherstone nursery schools said: "We are so proud that Bedworth Heath School has achieved the Quality Lead award which recognises the dedication and expertise our team bring to their work in school every day.”

"Working with Achievement for All over the last five years has had a clear impact on outcomes for children, enabling them to make consistently outstanding progress and us to close the attainment gap for our vulnerable groups.”

"We are just as proud that Atherstone Nursery School, which began working with Achievement for All two years later than Bedworth Heath, has achieved Quality Mark status, as exactly the same standards and objectives apply there."

Boughton Leigh Infant School was given a glowing report from Achievement for All’s Deputy Regional Lead Sue Burrows who reviewed the work going on at BLIS. She says:

“We are delighted to present Boughton Leigh Infant School with this prestigious award – a real stamp of quality for their high standards in leadership, teamwork, quality of teaching and pupil progress. The target groups we have been working with have made more than expected progress and are closing the gap with their peers."

“Achievement for All believes that every child can progress and through our programmes we hope to enable every child to be the best that they can be regardless of background, challenge, or need.” 

Pictured are Karen Iles (National Director of Achievement for All), three-year-old Eva-May and Bedworth Heath Nursery School executive head Amanda King.

Celebrating achieving AfA Quality Lead status are Boughton Leigh Infant School teacher and AfA Champion Chris Cartwright (left) and Head teacher Andrew Moorcroft. 

New STEM Centre at Royal Leamington Spa College: available to schools

A brand new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) centre has opened at Royal Leamington Spa College to inspire young people in a range of STEM related subjects.

The centre is funded by the Government’s Local Growth Fund through the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) and was officially opened by CWLEP board member and CEO of Leamington-based technology group The Emerald Group, Sarah Windrum.

Facilities within the centre include:

• Reaction Wall - to test student (and teacher) reaction times as part of investigations into fitness, health and sport
• Nao Robots - can be programmed to perform a number of tasks including dance routines and face recognition
• Infrared Spectrometer - used to analyse chemical evidence at crime scenes and the composition of various substances
• Virtual Reality Technology - software and goggles to explore virtual worlds
• Engineering technology including 3D printer, pneumatics trainer and self-assembly robots
• Dual Projection Facility - for large scale demonstrations of computer games and interactive screen based projects

The centre is designed to be used by pupils from local primary and secondary schools, as well as students at WCG.

Neil Coker, Group Vice Principal Curriculum, explains: ““We want to work with schools to provide activities that directly enrich and support their teaching for the benefit of all our local young people.  We want to hear from and work with schools to develop activities that have real impact and add value to pupils’ learning and engagement in STEM.”

For teachers and schools interested in using the STEM Centre, please email stem@warwickshire.ac.uk.

Technical education & apprenticeships: raising awareness

On 23rd November, the government released guidance on what schools must do to meet the upcoming requirements of the Technical and Further Education Act 2017.

The Act, which will come in to force on 2 January 2018, puts a statutory duty on all maintained schools and academies to “ensure that there is an opportunity for a range of education and training providers to access registered pupils during the relevant phase of their education for the purpose of informing them about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships”.

To meet the requirements of the Act, a school must “explain in a policy statement how providers can get involved with your school and the opportunities you have for them to talk to your pupils”. This must be subsequently “published on the school website”.  A copy of the guidance can be viewed here.

Support for students into Further Education from WCG

Warwickshire College Group (WCG) is proud of its reputation for offering a wide range of programmes for young people with a variety of needs and also for those who are disengaged with mainstream education and lacking in motivation and engagement.

We have a broad offer of Level 1 provision at each college including Hospitality and Catering, Engineering, Electrical Installation, Health and Childhood Studies, Light Vehicle Maintenance, Plumbing, Prince’s Trust Achieve and Foundation Skills Programmes in Construction, Land based and Catering.  We offer a highly supportive learning environment to students as well as a progression path to further qualifications. WCG currently supports students with additional needs, both in mainstream and bespoke programmes and our reputation for this is excellent.

Our dedicated teams of professionals provide support for a wide range of needs.  These teams include Learning Mentors, the Autism Specialist Team, the Emotional Health and Mental Well Being Team, the Dyslexia Specialist Team, Academic Learning Support and the Preparation for Adulthood hub at The White House, based at Moreton Morrell College. 

For 14-16 year old students still at school who may be becoming disengaged, we also have a re-engagement team who are able to offer a range of programmes, as an alternative to or  in parallel with mainstream teaching, to help those students explore their options for the future and keep them in education.  Popular programmes  include   Prince’s Trust Achieve, Positive Choices, Head Start, Construction Multi skills, Motor Vehicle Maintenance, Animal Welfare and Hair & Beauty,  If you would like to discuss working with the re-engagement team please email Chris Gately: cgately@wcg.ac.uk

Skills Conference 2018 - 7th March 2018

Our 4th annual conference for Headteachers and business leaders will take place on 7th March 2018, 8.00-10.00am at the National Agricultural and Exhibition Centre, Stoneleigh.

Focused on the Skills challenges Brexit will bring, the conference will highlight the type, level and location of future jobs opportunities for young people from 2020. It will also consider how changes to the curriculum may have an impact.

The networking and round-table discussion sessions of the event will provide a great opportunity for schools to meet new businesses.  The success achieved by many of our schools, colleges and young people will also be celebrated through film- clips of key projects funded by Skills for Employment grants.

More detail and information on how to book will be sent directly to schools and colleges in January and will appear in the next edition of Heads Up.

Vulnerable Learner Services Training: Primary SEMH Steering Group

You are invited to attend a launch event for the Primary SEMH Steering Group 2018/19 round of bids to support capacity building for SEMH in primary schools. This is an exciting opportunity for primary schools to work in partnership to develop an action plan to bid for up to £10000 of funding. Previous successful bids have focused on the development of a wide variety of provision including the introduction of nurture groups and nurture support networks, reference libraries and training to promote work with families. Launch events are taking place during January:

Wednesday 23rd January 2018, 2.30pm - 4.00pm
Pound Lane Learning Centre
Pound Lane, Leamington Spa CV32 7RT

Thursday 15th February 2018, 2.30pm - 4.00pm
King’s House, Bedworth, CV12 8LL

To book a place please click here

Please contact Tammy Mason (tammymason@warwickshire.gov.uk) / 01926
742990) if you require any additional information

To view the information flyer please click here

Shires TSA - NPQ for Senior Leaders

Please see the flyer below for details of the National Professional Qualification in Senior Leadership, offered by the Shires Teaching School Alliance:

Download the above flyer for the NPQSL Course.

Linking science, mathematics and literacy: training for primary schools

The Community Academies Trust Teaching School is hosting back to back events for Keele University for primary schools on Tuesday 13th February. Delegates may select either one half-day course to book on to, or book on to both:

'Linking core subjects; science and mathematics'

Tuesday 13th February, 9.15am-12.30pm at The Polesworth School, Dordon Road, Dordon, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B78 1QT.

The course: Identify opportunities to maximise your pupils' development in numeracy skills. Science attainment in your school will be improved by planning lessons in which children effectively handle data.

Outcomes: You will be able to plan science activities that develop mathematical skills and use these activities to effectively assess those skills. You'll also be able to identify the progression of mathematical and science skills.

For more information and to book, please see this flyer.

'Making powerful connections between primary literacy and science'

Tuesday 13th February, 1.30-4.00pm at The Polesworth School, Dordon Road, Dordon, Tamworth, Staffordshire, B78 1QT.

The course: Explore the curriculum links between science and literacy and consider a range of strategies designed to improve children's ability to use scientific language.

Outcomes: You will gain an awareness of the nature and breadth of opportunities for linking science and literacy and be able to develop strategies for doing this. This will help to raise attainment in science and will help you to identify progression in literacy.

For more information and to book, please see this flyer.

FREE Teacher Subject Specialism Training (TSST) in Maths, Physics, French and German

Please see this offer of free training from the Communities Academies Trust Teaching School:

Teacher subject specialism training (TSST) aims to upskill non-specialist teachers who may be able to move into a role in which they are not specialised.

We are also offering TSST in secondary French and German.  This programme is available to teachers not currently teaching MFL, but who are in need of refresher training to enable a move to fill an MFL role. It is also available to teachers who may be able to teach a second language in addition to their specialist subject or if a school would like to offer it as an enrichment opportunity. 

The subject knowledge element of all our TSST courses is provided online.  The pedagogical knowledge is delivered through the face to face sessions.

This training is free of charge for participants.

Who can do this training?

• Newly qualified teachers (NQTs)
• Participants who are members of and have been awarded qualified teacher learning and skills status (QTLS) by the Society for Education are eligible for the programme if they have firm plans to teach maths, physics or MFL in a secondary school or sixth-form college.
• Supply teachers and peripatetic teachers are eligible only if they do not have a contract with a school and are committed to returning to a permanent post in a secondary school or sixth-form college.
• Unqualified teachers working in academies are eligible for the programme – however, they do need to have a Teacher Reference Number (TRN) to be registered.
• Overseas trained teachers should be resident and eligible to work in the UK, and actively seeking a post in secondary school or sixth-form college.

Who can’t do this training?

Participants who are not eligible include:

• initial teacher training (ITT) trainees
• higher level teaching assistants (HLTAs)
• teaching assistants (TAs) and other support staff
• unqualified teachers working in academies with no TRN
• teachers from independent schools
• further education (FE) teachers

The dates for the face to face sessions are:

Maths: 20/9,  11/10, 15/11, 31/1, 14/2, 7/3, 21/3, 25/4
Physics:  17/1, 31/1, 14/2, 7/3, 21/3 18/4, 2/5, 16/5, 6/6, 20/6
Languages: 10/1 , 7/2, 28/2 *, 25/4, 23/5 *,  13/6,  27/6, 11/7

these sessions will be conducted as webinars

Venue: The Polesworth School, Dordon Road, Polesworth, Staffs, B78 1QT

In addition to the free training, there is £400 per candidate payable to participating schools upon successful attendance and completion of the course (successful attendance is considered to be 6 out of 8 face to face sessions).

As this is a DfE funded course, please note that the number of places and funding we are able to offer is strictly limited.  Early booking is therefore recommended.

If you are interested, or you wish to book any of your staff onto these courses, please contact m.borders@thepolesworthschool.com or complete the application form.

Teacher Training in Warwickshire - New event