HEADS UP

Securing the Best Start to Life

First Five Years Count: Day in the life of an early years practitioner

The early years sector educates over 1.5 million children between the ages of 0 to 5 in the UK every day.  

NDNA's #Firstfiveyearscount video highlights the dedication early years professionals show every day to create positive environments for our children to learn, develop and thrive. 

Get your children moving with a free activity class from Early Years Sports Fund!

With rising obesity rates among children and years of inactivity through multiple national lockdowns, getting children moving has never been more critical - for their physical and mental wellbeing.

That's why early years providers can now get a free activity class for their setting thanks to the £1million Early Years Sports Fund from Super Star Sport UK.

Foundation Years Newsletter

Read here Foundation Years Newsletter

New Early years child development training

The Department for Education has launched a new online Early years child development training course.

The flexible training:

  • has been developed in consultation with early years experts
  • has been tested with early years practitioners and experts, and refined based on feedback
  • provides a greater understanding of child development
  • gives practical advice for supporting children in early years settings
  • reinforces understanding through videos, learning check questions and end of module tests
  • allows users to pause and restart the training at any time
  • offers the chance to download certificates of achievement for each module

The first 4 modules of the course available now are child and brain development, personal, social and emotional development (PSED) and communication and language. Further modules will be added throughout 2023.

Education Endowment Fund

Support and resources for professionals working in schools, nurseries and other early years settings. They have launched new resources designed to support early years professionals in using evidence to their advantage:

High quality early years professionals play a critical role in laying good foundations and setting children up for success.

In this blog, Rob Newton of Huntington Research School, explains the important role of early years professionals, and how the Education Endowment Foundation's newly updated toolkit can support their practice.

Read more:  https://buff.ly/3x5w0sE

Funding opportunities by Education Endowment Foundation

Today, Education Endowment Foundation's first funding round of 2023 has opened for applications.

Themes include:

  • Supporting the recruitment and retention of teachers
  • Edtech approaches
  • Supporting maths and English resits in post-16 settings

Supporting Inclusion for SEND and Vulnerable Groups

The latest Let's Talk Warwickshire podcast is out now!

Strategy and Commissioning Manager for SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and Inclusion, Duane Chappell talks all things SEND in Warwickshire and how to have your say on the latest SEND consultations.
The consultations cover changes to SEND Home to School Transport and the SEND support services offered to education settings in Warwickshire. Both consultations close on Sunday 12 March 2023.
 

Find out more and respond to both consultations here.

Supporting families to understand Coventry and Warwickshire RISE mental wellbeing services

Professionals working with families, and parents and carers, are invited to join a free webinar to understand how to access emotional and mental wellbeing support for children and young people in Warwickshire. 

Taking place on Tuesday 28 February 2023 from 12pm to 1pm and hosted by Warwickshire County Council, the webinar aims to raise awareness of the support available through Coventry and Warwickshire RISE.

RISE is the family of NHS services led by mental health specialists and aims to build resilience and empower children, young people, and the adults in their lives, so they know where to go for support and advice when the going can get tough.

To help families and professionals to gain a better understanding of the support available, the webinar will cover:  

  • An introduction to RISE and how it links to other services  

  • How RISE can help children, young people and their families  

  • Myth-busting  

  • Future plans for RISE  

  • How and where to find information  

During the session, there will also be an opportunity to put questions directly to RISE practitioners.

The webinar will take place on Tuesday 28 February 2023, 12pm - 1pm and you can register to attend at: bit.ly/CWRiseWebinar.

Everyone who registers will receive an automated email with a link to join the webinar. They will also receive an email following the webinar with follow up information including presentation slides and a link to the Q&As.   

Celebrating Warwickshire’s Family of Schools

Save the date - Spring Term 2023 Headteachers' Conference

Save the Date! 

Spring Term 2023 Headteachers' Conference 

Thursday 23rd March 2023 (9.00am – 1.00pm) 

Deli lunch bags for all delegates to eat in or take away 

Venue 

The University of Warwick 

Rootes Building (close to the Arts Centre) 

CV4 7AL 

Parking will be free to delegates on the day 

Agenda to follow shortly 

LA-funded wellbeing and networking support for Deputies and Assistant Heads

Working together to improve school attendance

School Attendance Network - The Warwickshire Attendance Service and the Stowe Valley Multi Academy Trust are jointly planning a school attendance network event.  The purpose of the event will be to discuss the new attendance guidance and begin the development of an attendance support network. 

The proposed date is 6th March 2023, 12:30pm to 3:30pm - PLEASE NOTE THIS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE DEPENDING ON THE VENUE AVAILABILITY

The initial meeting will be in person and is targeted at those responsible for school attendance, especially the school’s Attendance Champion.

Reminders

- NEW DFE GUIDANCE: Mental health issues affecting a pupil's attendance: guidance for schools February 2023 - Summary of responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance and examples of effective practice

- An invitation for schools to share daily attendance data : The DfE have advised local authorities that at some point this academic year they will start to contact schools who have not yet signed up to Wonde, as this will become a requirement. Sharing data means you’ll be able to access daily attendance reports on view your education data. To help you access and use the free reporting service, the DfE have a series of webinars for schools, trusts and local authorities starting this month. They will be holding monthly webinars, where you can learn about new features and get support with non-urgent technical issues.

- Improving attendance: good practice for schools and multi-academy trusts. There are some really useful effective practice attendance webinars produced by the DfE in conjunction with schools, with good or improved attendance, sharing their good practice. It is highly recommended that your attendance lead/champion access this free resource.

- Additional attendance resources are available on the Education Hub and Teaching Blogs

Contact Us

If you wish to discuss any issues relating to school attendance, please feel free to contact the Warwickshire Attendance Service: was@warwickshire.gov.uk

ICYMI: School Admissions Webinar for Secondary School Offers

Parents and carers of children currently in Year 6 who are expecting their secondary school offer on 1 March are invited to join our school admissions team at an online webinar on Tuesday 28 February at 7pm.

During the event they’ll get advice and guidance on how to respond to their school offer, and have a chance to ask questions of the admissions team.

Anyone wanting to join the webinar should book a place online at: https://bit.ly/3iYtAZj  

Coventry and Central Warwickshire Teaching School Hub Courses

Andy Buck - BASIC Coaching - Summer Dates

Download the poster here. 

Warwickshire Legal Services - training event for schools

This year, the School DPO Service have teamed up with the Education Legal team to organise  a training event that will be packed full of useful information. Download here for further details and complete the form linked at the bottom of the page to reserve your place.

Maths Hubs: Primary & Early Years Opportunity Bulletin Feb 2023

In this bulletin you will find details of all our free professional and school opportunities with available places and how you can register your interest to take part for the Spring and Summer term!

Secondary & Post 16 February Newsletter 2023

In this newsletter you will find details of how you can register your interest, to take part in any of our free professional and school opportunities in the Spring and Summer terms!

Little Sutton English Hub newsletter

You can find here the latest edition of the Little Sutton English Hub newsletter

Calling all 4 to 21 year olds in Warwickshire!

We’re inviting children and young people in Warwickshire to submit their ideas on what it means to be child friendly, as part of our Child Friendly Warwickshire competition.

The competition is open to any child or young person aged from 4 through to 21 who are in full-time education and live or go to school within Warwickshire. All they have to do is answer one simple question, which is: What does being child friendly mean to you? 

They can enter by submitting any form of artwork or media by the deadline of 27 February, and could win £2,500 for their school or college! More information can be found on our website: childfriendlywarwickshire.co.uk/childfriendlycompetition. 

Extra info - if you want to include:

Child friendly businesses, organisations and individuals do both big and small things, from becoming a foster carer to litter picking at their local park. Anyone can be child friendly  and we want to know what children and young people think that means.  

One winner from each of the four age categories will be chosen after the 27 February deadline to receive £2,500 from Child Friendly Warwickshire for their school or college to spend on projects related to our five outcomes and the themes from recent engagement with children and young people. The themes covered climate change and the cost of living, a desire for more open green spaces, access to mental health support, more opportunities such as clubs and activities and careers advice, and to see progress on the Safer Streets programme. The prize money could be used for something like planning a visit to a local nature reserve, improving an existing play area, hosting a wellbeing day with yoga classes, or even purchasing new equipment for clubs and activities. 

The winners and runners-up in each category will also have their work showcased at the 2023 Warwickshire Youth Conference, to be held in November. Organised by young people, for young people, this event will offer a friendly and empowering environment to discuss important topics that are facing them today with the organisations who are making a difference in the community, amplifying the voices of tomorrow to help shape the county. 

This competition is a way for children and young people to learn more about Child Friendly Warwickshire through creativity, and for their contributions to be heard so they themselves can be advocates for positive change.

Money Advice Market in Rugby - 1 March

Warwickshire residents are invited to drop into a Money Advice Market event taking place on Wednesday 1 March at Rugby Library.

The event, which is running from 10am to 12.30pm, will feature organisations offering a range of support services for residents who may be struggling with the rising costs of living. This will include assistance with finance and debt, food support, energy and fuel, family assistance including childcare expenses and school holiday support, mental health and wellbeing, and local job vacancies.

Organisations who will be present at the event include Rugby Foodbank, Citizen’s Advice, Act on Energy, Family Information Service, Orbit Housing, Rugby Job Centre, Rugby Borough Council Housing, Coventry & Warwickshire Mind, Severn Trent, Warwickshire Rural Community Council and their mobile warm hub, P3, and Equip. The Rugby Repair Café team will demonstrate the types of items they try to repair at their monthly repair café held at St Andrew’s Church in Rugby on the third Saturday of each month. Rugby Children & Family Centres will provide free children’s activities, and free refreshments will also be available.

The Money Advice Market is open to everyone and free to drop into, with no booking required. Parking is available opposite the library and is free for two hour stays.

Visit www.facebook.com/CostOfLivingRugby for more information and support.

Sustrans Big Walk and Wheel is taking place 20-31 March 2023

Sustrans have a campaign running in March aimed at Schools to inspire pupils to make active journeys to school. For more information visit their webpage

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