Welcome

Welcome once again to Heads Up. 

As you read this, you may well not be in school following the torrential rain.  Let’s hope that it settles down soon as it can be so disruptive (I’m not sure all our pupils and student would agree, though!) but if you do need to close your school, the following communications process needs to be carried out.

When schools decide they need to close they should call 01926 412611 and give information about when the school will be closed from and until, reasons for closure and a DfE number to identify the school.  It then gets added into the school closure system and pulled through onto the schools closure webpage with alerts going to parents who have signed up to receive alerts.  While never wanting you to make quick decisions about closing a school, it does help parents if you can give as much notice as possible.

Anyway, enough about schools closing.  In happier news, a new one has opened in Water Orton.

After securing funding from the HS2 Select Committee and Warwickshire County Council, Water Orton Primary School has now moved to a ‘state of the art’ building across the village green from its previous location. It includes a county council-funded resource for children with autistic spectrum and communication and interaction difficulties; children with significant needs and who may not have been in mainstream education previously. There is a strong ethical commitment amongst the school team to meet the needs of children locally.

This is a major positive development for the area and has been really well-received despite residents being both fond of the previous school and being opposed to HS2.  The acceptance of the school is testament to how hard staff at the school have worked and what an outstanding facility it is.

On the subject of schools opening, Cabinet approved a series of capital investments yesterday.  It will increase capacity and also allow some schools to address other factors such as encouraging junior and infant schools to become primary, pre-school requirements, specialist SEN provision and other outstanding DDA requirements.  With seven schools benefitting, there is too much for me to discuss here but please follow this link to have a look at the upcoming works programme.

Have a safe journey home and have a great weekend.

With best wishes

Ian Budd

Assistant Director for Education Services