Update from the Chair of the Education Challenge Board

Last month the Commonwealth Heads of Government met in London. The event put me in mind of one of the phrases used by Eric Wood, our former County Education Officer, who often referred to the ‘Commonwealth of Warwickshire Schools’. The description was designed to capture the way in which every school in Warwickshire was inter-connected and had a valued part to play in the totality of education across the county.

I think something of the same thought runs through the developing work of the Challenge Board. Our big focus at present is on seeking to join up the different strands of work taking place across Warwickshire. Our aim is to create a structure that is joined up, a coherent system in which we all play a part in offering the best possible education to children across the county. As part of this, the Board is hoping to draw together in one place the different projects happening across the county which may be of interest to schools and others involved in education.

It is very encouraging that Warwickshire’s successful bid to Round 1 of the Strategic School Improvement Fund has released additional funds to support the development of schools across the county. Another area of focus will be to ensure that these funds are used in a highly effective manner to support pupils in these schools.

As with all emerging structures, we are not there yet. However, we have come a long way in a relatively short time. The Board is very clear that over the coming years we need to concern ourselves not with micro-management but with broad strategy across the Commonwealth of Warwickshire schools . In this respect it is very appropriate that the Challenge Board is taking the lead in overseeing the implementation of the WE3 strand of Warwickshire's Education Strategy.

Peter Kent, Chair of the Education Challenge Board

New Home to School Transport Policy

New Strengthening Families Service

Warwickshire County Council’s Children and Families business unit has a new service which incorporates Targeted Family Support and Child In Need and is called Strengthening Families.

The service is for families with children and young people aged 0-18 years old who need support to improve their life chances or avoid issues escalating to child protection concerns. Depending on the level of need they will either receive targeted
support or child in need support.

Key to the new service will be the joint approach between multi-disciplinary and multi-agency professionals who will be supported by a Strengthening Families Social Worker (advanced social work practitioners who work closely with a small group of family support workers and other professionals within communities to provide the most comprehensive support possible at an early stage).

More detail is included in the attached short briefing from John Coleman, Interim Head of Service for Children and Families, which outlines the new service. 

Summer Term Headteachers' Meeting

Warwickshire's Summer Term Headteachers' Meeting will be taking place on the afternoon of Thursday 28 June 2018 at Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth.

** Please note we have issued a revised agenda with some slight changes to the running order - see link below**

We are very pleased to have secured Sir John Timpson CBE as our keynote speaker.  John is well-known for his 'upside-down management' philosophy, as well as for being a foster parent with his late wife Alex to over 90 children. John is currently working with Headteachers of Virtual Schools in the West Midlands on improving outcomes for Children who are Looked After.

The meeting will also be an opportunity for headteachers to hear key updates from Education and Learning. Please view the attached agenda for further details of the programme for the afternoon.

Date: Thursday 28 June 2018

Time: 1pm arrival for a 1.30pm start. Finish at 4pm.

Venue: Stareton Hall, NAEC, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, CV8 2LZ (For Satnav please use CV8 2LG)

Booking: if you haven't already done so please follow the link below to register your attendance using the online booking form by the latest Wednesday 19 June:

Booking Form - Summer Term Headteachers' Meeting

For queries please contact Ruth Waterman on 01926 742075 or email schoolpartnerships@warwickshire.gov.uk

Research into contemporary safeguarding practice in schools

ESRC funded research project: Supporting and engaging schools in decision-making and multi-agency working for the protection and safeguarding of children

Colleagues are encouraged to respond to the survey by 22 June to help with the request to understand the pressures facing schools in relation to safeguarding/child protection.

Schools should already have received an email from Adrian Over explaining that Warwickshire County Council has agreed to participate in research, along with a number of other Local Authorities, looking into safeguarding practice in schools and schools' engagement with partner agencies in undertaking safeguarding activity. The research is being conducted by Dr Carl Purcell, Research Associate at King's College London

John Coleman, Head of Service for Children and Families, and Adrian Over, Education Safeguarding Manager, have already responded to detailed questionnaires and are keen for as many schools as possible to also respond.  It should take no more than 5 minutes to complete.

Information provided by Dr Purcell provides more information:

The overall aims of the project are to investigate the nature and quality of:

• contemporary safeguarding practice within schools
• schools’ engagement with other agencies in child protection and safeguarding practice.

More detail about the project can be found at:

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/policy-institute/scwru/res/knowledge/EdProt.aspx

The research team is planning to carry out case studies in 5 local areas. Warwickshire children’s services have agreed participate in one of these case studies. These case studies will help the research team to understand the pressures schools face in relation to safeguarding/child protection. The case studies will involve:

• a short questionnaire for local schools.
• follow-up interviews/discussions with staff at 10 schools.
• Interviews/discussions with local authority staff.
• Feedback on findings.

The short questionnaire can be accessed via the link below. This has been sent to all maintained schools in Warwickshire. We hope you feel able to contribute to this research by completing this questionnaire by 22nd June 2018.

https://kings.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/schools-and-multi-agency-safeguarding-schools-questionn-4

All the information you provide will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be shared outside of the research team. Any report on the questionnaire will not identify any school or individual. A privacy notice explaining how the data will be handled by the research team is attached to this email.

The research team have shared documents with the local authority evidencing approval for this work from King’s College London’s Ethics Panel and from the Association of Directors of Children’s Services Research Panel.

If you have any further questions about the research please contact:

Dr Carl Purcell: carl.purcell@kcl.ac.uk or 07949296640.

'Our quality of life'

The poem is written by April Mitchell, mum to Jayden who is currently in Year 6 at the Discovery Academy, a new specialist setting in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. This poem was written in response to a request to parents asking how the school had supported children and families during the first two terms/seven months of opening. April says that "poems are a great way to display emotion and thoughts."

In the past, at school my son was always seen as the 'naughty child',
Misunderstood, the crazy one, often wild,
Excluded from school because no-one understood,
Put on a part-time table and told to be good.

So many rules with which to comply,
Too many bright lights upon high,
Noise everywhere, too much to filter out,
No wonder he wanted to fight and shout.

So, I took him out of that school,
See he's a good child not a fool,
His daily struggles all too real,
How was this child supposed to feel?

Each day spent confused, depressed and alone,
He needed a sanctuary, somewhere more like home,
Along came a school, The Discovery Academy,
A school so great they treated my son more like family.

The Academy, a place to nurture not to preach,
A wonderful space in which to learn and to teach,
Along with time, understanding and much care,
New friends were made in a place he could bare.

Look at him now, he's full-time in school,
Finally, he has been given the right tools,
Happier, healthier, no longer doomed,
Releasing his potential and blossoming to full bloom.

So, now life as a family is far less stress,
Looking back we were in a right mess,
Now able to work and to go out,
The difference is amazing there is no doubt.

Thank you for helping us to smile again,
Maybe it's time to crack open the Champagne,
So, here is to each and everyone at the school,
Our family think you are all pretty cool.

April Mitchell