Celebrating Warwickshire’s Family of Schools
Headteacher Wellbeing - Further opportunity to join James Pope's Network Support Sessions
Dear Colleague,
As part of our continued commitment to supporting headteacher wellbeing and following excellent feedback from Warwickshire headteachers who joined James Pope/HeadsUp4HTs Network Support Sessions last term, I am delighted to be able to open this opportunity up to a further cohort of interested headteachers.
You may remember that James spoke at our Spring Term Headteacher Conference and held a follow up webinar to provide more detail about keeping yourself well as a leader and the successful model of support and coaching that HeadsUp4HTs run for Headteachers nationally. The webinar is attached here for those who need a reminder or who missed it and are interested this time round.
This latest round of Network Support Sessions will run for a period of 6 weeks from early autumn term. They will be weekly sessions that:
- are for headteachers only (officers at Warwickshire County Council do not attend the sessions and are not aware of which headteachers join the groups)
- are a safe, open and transparent space
- provide the opportunity to reflect on your challenges and successes
- allow you to receive support from peers and provide support to others
- will take place outside of normal school hours in order to ensure that you have the dedicated time you need, free from distraction.
Please indicate if you would like to join these sessions (or not) by completing the google form
Once James and his team know how many Headteachers are participating, HeadsUp4HTs will structure the groups and will be in touch to let you know the next steps.
From here on your relationship will be with your network groups and with HeadsUp4HTs – we just wanted to get you started on the process of self-care. However, we are always here to support Warwickshire headteachers in any way we can so do please keep in touch. Please also remember our Listening Ear service and look out for our upcoming Peer Coaching Directory.
With very best wishes
Margot Brown
School Improvement Lead Commissioner
Head Teacher Wellbeing Free Coaching Sessions
Just a reminder that WCC's 'Listening Ear' service for Headteachers is still available. Headteachers in Warwickshire schools can have up to three free coaching sessions with our hand-picked school-experienced team of coaches. The sessions are confidential - the LA doesn't know who accesses the support - and you don't have to be 'on the edge' to access the support - it may be that a chat or two with someone neutral to your situation may enable to you offload, talk issues through and sure up your confidence. Details of our coaches are available here, along with some other sources of support that may be useful.
Watch this space - we will shortly be adding to sources of support with the launch of our Peer Directory and the addition of one or two other 'Listening Ears'.
DFE amendments to School Suspensions and Permanent Exclusions
The DfE has updated its guidance on schools supensions and permanent exclusions. of pupils from local-authority-maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units.
They have made a change in regards to returning the number of days which must be allowed to raise an application for an independent review to 15 days.
Support is available for people affected by suicide in Coventry and Warwickshire
Approximately 7% of children will have attempted suicide by the age of 17, according to a paper in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, experts say these figures could rise, and with World Suicide Prevention Day last Friday 10 September, organisations across Coventry and Warwickshire have been raising awareness of the local and national support available to anyone thinking of taking their own life or to anyone affected by suicide.
Three years ago, with rates of suicide increasing in our area, Coventry and Warwickshire Health and Care Partnership (HCP) found itself in the unique position of being able to make a difference to those in crisis or who were considering taking their own life.
Successfully securing suicide prevention funding from NHS England and Public Health England in May 2018, a three-year programme of work began. The programme, led by a multi-agency group, included suicide prevention leads from health, social care, primary care, and voluntary and community sector organisations.
An event highlighting the projects that came out of this funding and looking at ways in which partners can work together to reduce suicides in the area, was held last week to coincide with World Suicide Prevention Day.
Some of the projects which have been successfully established as part of the three-year programme, include Safe Havens, evidence-based mental health awareness and suicide prevention training for non-mental health professionals, groups for those whose mental health has been impacted by drug and alcohol addiction and the suicide prevention website www.dearlife.org.uk.
The Dear Life website provides a range of support and signposting to vital services for anyone who is desperately seeking support for themselves or those who might be worried about a loved one or someone they know. There is a dedicated section for young people with links to support that they can access online or by telephone.
Warwickshire County Council and Coventry County Council have also funded a new service called Amparo, launched last week for anyone in Coventry or Warwickshire, which provides free and confidential support to those who have been bereaved or affected by suicide. Amparo can support anyone who has been affected, whether this is family members, friends, ‘finders’, work colleagues etc. and can be accessed by calling 0330 088 9255, by emailing amparo.service@listening-ear.co.uk or through an online referral form available at https://amparo.org.uk/refer/.
In 2019, the partnership launched the Stay Alive app, a free suicide prevention pocket resource designed to be a lifeline for people at risk of suicide, or for those concerned about the safety of someone. It contains local mental health and suicide prevention information all in one place, as well as customisable features like the LifeBox to store photos and memories and reasons for living. Designed for everyone, this is an easily accessible and supportive app aimed to keep minds at ease. Find out more about the Stay Alive app here: http://ow.ly/2hwM50vT4L8
Please consider sharing the links to the support mentioned above in your newsletters.
Further support
- Young people in Coventry and Warwickshire aged 11 to 25 years, can also access an anonymous online counselling and support service at Kooth.com. Throughout September, they are holding a number of events and activities.
- YoungMinds Crisis Messenger: text YM to 85258
- Chat Health is a free service that enables 11–18-year-olds across Coventry and Warwickshire to send confidential SMS text messages to School Nurses who will provide impartial advice and support. For Warwickshire, text 07507 331 525. For Coventry, text 07507 331 949.
- Coventry and Warwickshire Rise (Children and young people’s mental health service) Freephone 08081 966798 (select Option 2) - 24/7 service
If you believe or are concerned someone’s life is in immediate danger, call 999.
School Improvement Team Who’s Who, September 2021
We are pleased to let you know we have now a school improvement team in box schoolimprovement@warwickshire.gov.uk . We will increasingly use this to communicate relevant information with you. Please feel free to contact us using this email address or you can contact individuals directly as detailed below.
Please note:
School Improvement team members:
Updates from Gateway Alliance - Training and Development Brochure and ECT Enrichment CPD Programme
The 2021-22 Gateway Alliance Training & Development Brochure (Autumn Edition) is now available.
In the 'Autumn Edition' of our brochure we have all of the courses, conferences and webinars that are coming up this term with some limited information about the spring and summer term programme. We will publish further updates as the year progresses.
All AUTUMN TERM courses and events are now available for you to book on their website. Please log-in into your school account before making any bookings to ensure you are not charged unnecessarily and can access event details on your personal dashboard.
For more information or to book a course please visit their website or contact the team on tel: 02476 347697 or email: info@gatewayalliance.co.uk
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Early Career Teacher - Enrichment CPD Programme
To enhance and complement the Full Induction Programme for Early Career Teachers (ECT) Gateway Alliance have created a new and rich programme of essential CPD for teachers early in their career.
The ECT Enrichment CPD Programme contains an essential safeguarding session plus a series of Learning & Teaching Conferences, one per term, led by inspirational speakers, focusing on the sharing of practical strategies to support pupil engagement and impact on learning.
To view the full programme click here.
Subscribe to the full programme for just £350 per person, saving a huge £245!
Don’t delay as the first session starts on the 23rd September.
Subscribe now by visiting their website or contact the team on tel: 02476 347697 or email: info@gatewayalliance.co.uk
Primary MFL competition sees deadline extended to 24 September
We would like to thank schools for their interest in the Primary MFL competition run by the University of Warwick School of Modern Languages and Cultures in conjunction with the bid for Coventry City of Languages. In light of the busy period at the start of term we have decided to grant an automatic extension to all Primary Schools for submission of the posters.
The deadline for entry is Friday 24th September 2021 at 6pm and please see these rules attached.
The winning school will be notified 1 week later by the 1st of October and invited to attend the launch event of Coventry City of Languages on Friday 8th October 2021.
The competition prize is £60 for MFL resources in your Primary School and £20 in Amazon vouchers for the winning entry.
The best of luck with your entries and we look forward to receiving them in due course.
Opportunity to take part in gallery of living history
Please see the attached letter from Margaret Casely-Hayford CBE, Director, Gallery of Living History.
New To Teaching Core Maths Programme and Maths Hub Newsletters for September
Please see this link to find out more about a programme from Origin Maths Hub to support those new to teaching Core Maths.
You can read an update for Primary and Early Years in their September newsletter.
You can also read an update from September and Secondary and Post-16 news from the Maths Hub.
Fair Workload Charter: opportunity to get involved
The Department for Education is due to publish information about how to sign up to the recently launched Education Staff Wellbeing Charter this Autumn. The charter is voluntary but “is a declaration of support for, and set of commitments to, the wellbeing and mental health of everyone working in education”. (http://www.gov.uk/guidance/education-staff-wellbeing-charter)
We would therefore like to consider if this charter could be part of our first step in gaining the Warwickshire County Council (WCC) Fair Workload Charter status when the opportunity to participate is re-introduced in 2022.
The Fair Workload Charter was originally developed to address the continuing national focus on the effects the management of workload is having on schools and staff sickness absence and turnover. In order to consider the process for achieving the WCC Fair Workload Charter status further we are looking for some volunteers from School Leadership Teams to form a Task and Finish group.
In particular, we would like representatives who are from: • a school that gained the Fair Workload Charter • who applied but was not successful • from those schools who have not considered applying. We will also ask for representatives from teaching and non-teaching unions to attend these meetings. We anticipate that there will be three afternoon online meetings in the Autumn Term 2021 with the relaunch of the charter expected to take place in January 2022. If you would like to send a representative from the leadership team of your school, please apply to fairworkloadcharter@warwickshire.gov.uk as soon as possible
Secondary NQT+1 Programme
Please note the Secondary NQT+1 Programme which the John Taylor Teaching School Hub is offering this year.
Details can be found below and attached however this programme comprises of five face to face sessions at a cost of £150 for the programme. There is also an NQT+1 Conference which can be booked separately or as part of the package. To book the conference separately it is £100 or for the package it is £225.
If you would like to book a place for your NQT+1’s then please email j.taylor-perks@jths.co.uk and confirm which elements you would like to book.
National Professional Qualifications Starting November
The John Taylor Teaching School Hub are partnering with Ambition Institute to deliver the reformed National Professional Qualifications.
These include:-
NPQLT – Leading Teaching
NPQLTD – Leading Teacher Development
NPQLBC – Leading Behaviour and Culture
NPQSL – Senior Leadership
NPQH - Headteacher
NPQEL – Executive Leadership
Additional information can be found via their website www.jttshub.co.uk.
New suite of NPQs
Coventry and Central Warwickshire Teaching School Hub are pleased to be working in conjunction with UCL to deliver the new suite of NPQs.
University and school partners have drawn on their leadership professional learning expertise to design the following evidence informed programmes.
- NPQ Leading Teaching (NPQLT) - designed for teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading teaching in a subject, year group, key stage or phase.
- NPQ Leading Teacher Development (NPQLTD) - designed for teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading the development of other teachers in their school. They may have responsibilities for the development of all teachers across a school or specifically trainees or teachers who are early in their career.
- NPQ Leading Behaviour and Culture (NPQLBC) - designed for teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading behaviour and/or supporting pupil wellbeing in their school.
- NPQ Senior Leadership (NPQSL) - designed for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilities.
- NPQ Headship (NPQH) - designed for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a headteacher or head of school with responsibility for leading a school.
- NPQ Executive Leadership (NPQEL) - designed for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, an executive headteacher or a school trust CEO with responsibility for leading several schools.
Click here to find out more about the programmes and how to sign up. The deadline for completed applications to be received by UCL is Monday October 4th. Allow enough time for registering with the DfE and your application being processed with UCL. We suggest you register with the DfE if possible by Monday September 27th.
Coventry and Central Warwickshire Teaching School Hub delivering new NPQs
Coventry and Central Warwickshire Teaching School Hub are pleased to be working in conjunction with UCL to deliver the new suite of NPQs.
University and school partners have drawn on their leadership professional learning expertise to design the following evidence informed programmes.
- NPQ Leading Teaching (NPQLT) - designed for teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading teaching in a subject, year group, key stage or phase.
- NPQ Leading Teacher Development (NPQLTD) - designed for teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading the development of other teachers in their school. They may have responsibilities for the development of all teachers across a school or specifically trainees or teachers who are early in their career.
- NPQ Leading Behaviour and Culture (NPQLBC) - designed for teachers who have, or are aspiring to have, responsibilities for leading behaviour and/or supporting pupil wellbeing in their school.
- NPQ Senior Leadership (NPQSL) - designed for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a senior leader with cross-school responsibilities.
- NPQ Headship (NPQH) - designed for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, a headteacher or head of school with responsibility for leading a school.
- NPQ Executive Leadership (NPQEL) - designed for school leaders who are, or are aspiring to be, an executive headteacher or a school trust CEO with responsibility for leading several schools.
Click here to find out more about the programmes and how to sign up. The deadline for completed applications to be received by UCL is Monday October 4th. Allow enough time for registering with the DfE and your application being processed with UCL. We suggest you register with the DfE if possible by Monday September 27th.
Please see these flyers
E-Act conference
Please see details of this conference at this link.
Firework Safety Poem and Poster Competition 2021
Teachers and Head Teachers are encouraged to involve their schools in Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service's Firework Safety Poem and Poster Competition 2021. Please see the attached letter.