Glossary of terms

CAMHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services provide support, assessment and treatment for children and young people in Coventry and Warwickshire experiencing wellbeing difficulties, or mental health problems, disorders and illnesses.

CoG Chair of Governors plays a key leadership role in school with the key responsibility being to lead the governing body and work in partnership with the headteacher to promote and improve standards of educational achievement. They must also hold the headteacher to account for the educational performance of the school and its pupils, and for the performance management of staff.

CME Children Missing Education – if a child fails to attend school for 10 days or more or is not on any school role and not being home educated they may be classed as CME. 

CSE Child Sexual Exploitation is a form of sexual abuse where a child or young person is sexually exploited for money, power or status.

CWLEP Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership is an alliance of private and public sector organisations working together to grow the local economy, attract new jobs and investment and increase prosperity.

DfE Department for Education is a ministerial department, supported by 18 agencies and public bodies. It is responsible for children’s services and education including higher and further education policy, apprenticeships and wider skills in England.

DSG Dedicated Schools Grant is government funding for local authorities to fund the schools that they manage.

DSL Designated Safeguarding Lead is the person in school who is responsible at a strategic and day-to-day level for the safeguarding of children and young people.

ECB  Education Challenge Board consists of representatives from Warwickshire’s primary and secondary schools and Teaching Schools, the Local Authority, Department for Education and Ofsted with its main aim being to oversee the development of the education system in Warwickshire.

EHCP  Education, Health and Care Plan is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. EHC plans identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs.

EHE  Elective Home Education is where children are educated at home by their parents rather than in school.

EFA  Education Funding Agency is an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Education responsible for distributing funding for state education in England for 3-19 year olds, or up to 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities.

EYFS  Early Years Foundation Stage sets standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5 years old. All schools and Ofsted-registered early years providers must follow the EYFS, including childminders, preschools, nurseries and school reception classes.

FAP  Fair Access Protocol applies to certain children when it has not been possible to secure a school place for them through the normal in-year admissions process.

HMI  Her Majesty’s Inspectors are employed by Ofsted to carry out inspections of education and care providers, and to challenge and help them to get the support they need to improve. http://www.ofstedhmi.co.uk/

LADO  Local Authority Designated Officer manages accusations of potential abuse against staff/volunteers working with children and young people.

MASH  Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub is a partnership between Warwickshire County Council, Warwickshire Police, the National Health Service and other key partner agencies working together to safeguard children, young people and adults.                               

MARF  Multi Agency Referral Form is to be completed when making a referral about a child/ren to the Warwickshire Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH).

MAT  Multi Academy Trust is a group of schools that is governed through a single set of members and directors.

NCTL  National College for Teaching and Leadership is responsible for administering the training of new and existing teachers in England, as well as the regulation of the teaching profession and offers school leaders and senior children’s services leaders opportunities for professional development.

NEETS  Not in Education, Employment or Training is the term used to describe a young person who is no longer in the education system and who is not working or being trained for work.

NLE  National Leaders of Education are outstanding headteachers who work with schools in challenging circumstances to support school improvement.

NLG  National Leaders of Governance are highly effective chairs of governors who support chairs of governors in other schools.

NQT  Newly Qualified Teacher is someone who has gained Qualified Teacher Status but has not yet completed the statutory 12 month programme known as the ‘induction for newly qualified teachers’.

Ofsted  Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. They inspect and regulate services that care for children and young people, and services providing education and skills for learners of all ages.

POT Position of Trust is used to refer to people who work with children or young people, whether on a paid or a voluntary basis.

PSIB  Primary School Improvement Board is made up of the chairs of the primary school consortia with its main purpose being to support the Local Authority in relation to school improvement issues to ensure all schools are at least ‘good’ under Ofsted criteria.

QTS  Qualified Teacher Status is required in England and Wales to work as a teacher of children in state schools under local authority control, and in special education schools.

SACRE  Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education is a statutory body who advises the local authority on matters relating to Religious Education (RE) including Collective Worship and the RE curriculum.

SEMH  Social, Emotional, Mental Health needs are a type of special educational needs in which children/young people have severe difficulties in managing their emotions and behaviour.

SEND  Special Education Needs and Disabilities describes the needs of a child who has a difficulty or disability which makes learning harder for them than for other children their age. 

SENCO  Special Educational Needs Coordinator is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the school’s Special Educational Needs policy.

SFA   Skills Funding Agency is responsible for funding skills training for further education in England, and runs the National Apprenticeship Service and the National Careers Service.

SFVS  Schools Financial Value Standard helps schools to manage their finances and to provide assurance to the local authority that they have secure financial management in place.

STA  Standards and Testing Agency is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Education, responsible for setting the tests to assess children in education from early years to the end of key stage 2.

WCC Warwickshire County Council

WRAP  Workshop to Raise Awareness on Prevent provides training for people working with children and young people to help them to understand radicalisation and how to spot someone who may be vulnerable.

Child Sexual Exploitation, Missing and Trafficking Operational Group

Last month a new Child Sexual Exploitation, Missing and Trafficking Operational Group was established.  The aim of this group is to understand our local profile of children being sexually exploited, going missing or being trafficked.  The multi-agency group is open to other professionals/agencies to share up to date information about children at risk or emerging issues in particular areas. 

Informed by intelligence from professionals and the public this multi-agency group will identify issues and commit resources to ensure interception occurs.  Key to this is intelligence from professionals.  We have launched a new CSE Sharing Information Form.  We invite you to bookmark the link to this form, and populate it with intelligence that you have gained on the strands of CSE & Missing Children.  Please share this communication with colleagues.  Only by capturing this intelligence will we be able to pursue investigations.  Complex cases can also be referred to this group.  For more information contact John Coleman, Service Manager, DI Nigel Jones, or Ramandeep Sandhu, CSE Team Manager.

A lot of intelligence is gained from Return Home Interviews completed by the Missing Children’s Practitioners (MCP’s).  Recently we have been able to increase the number of MCP’s who work to engage young people, understand the push & pull factors that led to the missing episode and for those with frequent missing episodes they will complete direct work with young people. 

The Child Sexual Exploitation, Missing & Trafficking Team can be contacted by calling the social care duty number 01926 742226 or email childsexualexploitationteam@warwickshire.gcsx.gov.uk or cse.east@warwickshire.pnn.police.uk

Website www.warwickshirecse.co.uk

Free CSE awareness training

Warwickshire CSE Team delivers multi-agency training with the Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Board which is free to access for all professionals in Warwickshire. The full day training is recommended for DSL’s, Heads of Year and Pastoral staff and you can access the training via the WILMa website: warwickshire.learningpool.com

We recognise that it can be problematic for schools to release staff for multi-agency training and are therefore offering FREE CSE Awareness Raising Training for all Warwickshire Primary and Secondary schools to ensure that staff are able to identify and respond appropriately to concerns around Child Sexual Exploitation. We can tailor training and support to suit the needs of your staff teams and deliver directly at your school.

Child sexual exploitation is a very real issue for children and young people in Warwickshire and it is important for all universal services to understand how it happens, recognise the signs that it could be happening and know what to do if they have concerns.

For more information or to book training contact:  Katy Shipley (CSE Project Worker)   

Email: katy.shipley@barnardos.org.uk

Telephone: 07702 338667

For more information about Warwickshire ‘Something’s Not Right’ CSE Campaign please see the updated website at:  www.warwickshirecse.co.uk.

Prevent newsletter

Click here to read the latest edition of the Prevent newsletter

Statutory collection deadlines and useful contacts

There are number of important statutory collections coming up in May and June:

 *STA may consider it maladministration if schools do not meet the DfE submission dates of 30 June for EYFSP and 29 June for KS1 and KS2. To ensure this does not happen, we are asking schools to submit data earlier than the STA deadline  so we can help with any submission queries and data validation.

Key Stage 2 data is submitted directly to the DfE via the NCA tools website: https://ncatools.education.gov.uk/

School Census deadline - Friday 19 May

Data from schools' May census returns will be used to match against your Key Stage submissions in June. This exercise is vital for the moderation process as it identifies those children that have missing Key Stage results and enables the Local Authority to support you with any submission queries.

Therefore, please ensure you return your school census file to the LA by the deadline of Friday 19 May. Many thanks.

For academies – Please can you ensure that you upload, clean and submit your school census file to the DfE’s COLLECT system as close to 19 May as possible.  We would be grateful if you could continue to send a copy to the LA via the School Upload System.

School Upload System

Prior to 18 May, please ensure that you can access the School Upload System: https://apps.warwickshire.gov.uk/SchoolUpload/users/sign_in  and that you know your username and password.  

If you do not have access or cannot remember your username or need any other guidance on this system please e-mail insight@warwickshire.gov.uk

Useful Contact details

For any technical queries regarding your SIMS system and generating your returns please contact the ICT Development Service Desk on (01926) 414100

For any School Upload System queries, please contact Michelle Ali or Andrew Cartledge on (01926) 742169 or (01926) 742068

For any moderation or assessment queries regarding the primary assessment returns, please contact Debbie Hibberd (01926) 743015 or Elaine Smith (01926) 742089

For any other general queries relating to the returns please contact Michelle Ali or Andrew Cartledge on (01926) 742169 or (01926) 742068

EHC Plan Referrals in the Summer Term

WCC Guidance on The Safe Management of Public Events

FAO Headteachers & School Business Managers in Community & Voluntary Controlled Schools, Community Special Schools & Maintained Nursery Schools (Schools where WCC is the employer).

The WCC Guidance on The Safe Management of Public Events has been revised and updated and can be accessed on the WCC Schools Health & Safety Document Library.

This guidance is to assist with the safe management of public events which could be anything from a simple one day outdoor school summer fete to a week- long Heritage event of different crafts and activities. 

The guidance is applicable to anyone who has either the overall responsibility for the planning, organising and/or management of a public event or for any part of it.

The guidance has been simplified so that those who need to refer to it are clear on what they have to do. For example, an event plan table listing the key factors of an event for consideration has been included.

For further advice and guidance, contact the WCC Corporate Health, Safety and Wellbeing Service on 01926 476803 email healthandsafety@warwickshire.gov.uk

Advice for schools - reviewing current attendance and persistent absence figures

Department of Education Statistical Release

In March the Department of Education released the attendance statistics for England for 2015/16.  Warwickshire’s attendance for compulsory school age pupils (years 1 to 11) was 95.7% which is 0.3% above the National Average.  In the last 4 academic years Warwickshire’s attendance has improved from joint 51^st in 2012/13 to joint 22^nd in 2015/16. 

The DfE reports the data of reception children separately. Warwickshire’s attendance for reception children was 95.4%, which was 0.6% above the national average.  This was an improvement on the previous year from joint 34^th to joint 12^th.

In 2015 the DfE reviewed the level at which pupils were defined as Persistently Absent (PA) and the methodology used to calculate this.  Pupils are no longer defined as PA based on a number of sessions they have missed but when they have missed 10% of their possible attendance. For example, if a pupil is only on roll for 50 days (100 sessions) and misses 5 days or more they would be deemed as PA for that academic year. 

Due to this methodology change the PA levels across England have risen.  However during 2015/16 Warwickshire’s PA levels were 1.3% below the National Average at 9.2%.  

Attendance in 2016/17

The Attendance, Compliance and Enforcement Service (ACE) has identified a drop in attendance during the autumn term 2016 which has continued in many schools during the spring term, with schools reporting an increase in absences due to illness and holidays.  Currently data is not available to compare this to national trends.

It is therefore advised, if it has not already been done, that schools review their current attendance figures and PA levels in direct comparison with the last 2 years and, where appropriate, collate the required evidence on how the drop in attendance is being addressed or how the school will maintain any improvement. It is also advised that similar comparisons are made for vulnerable groups as this evidence may be invaluable in the future, especially if you are expecting an Ofsted visit.   

The Supreme Court outcome

The Supreme Court has decided that ‘regular attendance’ means that a child must attend school on every day that they are required to do so. Failure to do so for any period of time from half a day upwards will be considered as a breach by parent(s)/carer(s) of Section 444 of the Education Act 1996, and they will therefore have committed the offence of ‘failing to ensure that their child attends school regularly’. The Supreme Court makes clear that it is up to local authorities to have a ‘sensible prosecution policy’ which considers when to issue penalty notices.

The court’s decision did not change the law concerning head teacher decision making, which remains that a leave of absence should only be granted in ‘exceptional circumstances’.

If you have any queries in relation to Leave of Absence you can contact the Attendance, Compliance and Enforcement Statutory Helpline which is free to access.

Helpline number for Leave of Absence queries only: 0845 1550990. Open 8.30am to 12.30pm term time only.

New reporting mechanism for Prejudice Related Incidents

The Equalities team have launched a new way to report Prejudiced Related incidents that may be occurring in schools. The form can be found here: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/equalityanddiversityforschools along with guidance to help schools tackle incidents of discrimination. The form was created to ensure that there is consistency in collecting the data of these types of incidents. If you have any queries please contact Claire Bonnet, Equality and Diversity Adviser, on  01926 418199.

Risks of students carrying knives or dangerous weapons in school

A MORI Survey for the Youth Justice Board found that 29% of secondary school children, along with 57% of those excluded admitted to routinely carrying knives. Correspondingly, our hospitals report a rise in ‘stab wounds’ particularly among young males. Knives and the reasons for carrying them, is a self-perpetuating, dangerous trend with horrific consequences. Here are some of the reasons given for their use:- 

• Fear and/or self-protection/defence.
• To steal, by threats to harm.
• Harass, intimidate or even for ‘kicks’
• Peer pressure
• To command ‘Respect’ and status
• Perceived threats such as the “Killer Clown” scare mongering fad recently.

There has been an increase in students being caught in possession of knives in schools in South Warwickshire in particular. We would strongly encourage that all schools make students aware of the legal aspects:

• It is a criminal offence to have a knife or other weapon on school premises.
• It is illegal to carry a knife in public without good reason or lawful authority, for example, a chef carrying their own knives to and from work.
• It is illegal to threaten anyone with any knife or other object.

There is also legislation that states that a bladed or pointed article legally cannot be taken onto school premises.

Despite the fact that one of the reasons given for carrying a knife is for protection, research has shown that someone carrying a knife is actually more likely to become a victim of crime. The medical implications associated with blade injuries are of course very serious.

The new offence of threatening a person in public or on school premises will result in a youth aged 16 or over going straight to charge, as this offence carries a minimum sentence of a four months Detention and Training Order.

We are highlighting this to schools so that you can increase awareness amongst staff and pupils of the risks and wider implications of carrying or using knives in school and in the wider community.

The following resources may be useful to help schools to raise and tackle this issue with students:

http://educateagainsthate.com/

Statutory guidance on the use of force, which includes guidance on rights of school staff to search and confiscate:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/use-of-reasonable-force-in-schools

Need-to-know updates

National funding formula

According to TES, the DfE has said it will not publish its response to the national funding formula consultation until after the 8 June general election. This is because the pre-election 'purdah' period for the local elections in May has already begun, and will overlap with purdah for the general election in June. 

Ofsted launches new good and outstanding logos

On 6 April, Ofsted launched a new logo for use by early years, education and children’s social care providers that have been rated as good, and have also redesigned their ‘Outstanding provider’ logo for use across all the areas inspected by Ofsted. Providers must now use their unique reference number to download the relevant logo which is available in a variety of formats for use on websites, stationary and other materials.

For more details visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofsted-launches-new-good-and-outstanding-logos

School census 2016 to 2017: guide for schools and LAs

Guidance to help schools complete and submit their autumn 2016 to summer 2017 school census data has been published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-census-2016-to-2017-guide-for-schools-and-las#history

National Citizen Service - excellent opportunity for 15-17 yr olds

Call to Action: One Britain One Nation

One Britain One Nation (OBON) wants to utilise the strength of all people to build a proud nation where everyone has a strong shared sense of belonging and aspires to play an important role in the life of our nation, the future for our children. 

OBON has already tangibly and powerfully demonstrated that Britain is a nation of passionate people and passionate united races. Their previous campaigns have brought tens of thousands of people together and already mobilised mainstream and government organisations, community groups, celebrities, religious leaders, big businesses, children and politicians to take up its vision and strengthen national identity. In October 2016 OBON won The Best Not For Profit Campaign for the North of England at a prestigious Awards Ceremony held in Manchester.

OBON is a Not- For- Profit organisation, free from political or religious affiliations. It is inclusive of all people regardless of their background.

Their Campaign “Count Me In”

OBON now wishes to build on the success that has been generated by reaching out to the children in our schools and all educational establishments and have initiated A Call to Action, asking them to join in celebrations on Friday 23 June 2017.

This day will give schools an opportunity to create a celebration as they see appropriate to demonstrate their patriotism and belief in Britain, express their sense of Britishness and gain a sense of belonging. Its focus will be to create a sense of national unity and pride by strengthening national identity and forging a sense of togetherness, so that every child can be inspired to love their nation.

It will encourage all children to be proud and responsible citizens, bolstered by self-esteem and the knowledge of the role they have to play in the country’s future. It will also allow children to restore, strengthen and promote the Fundamental British Values of tolerance, respect and fair play, a belief in freedom and democracy in accordance with the National Curriculum.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3s62l8ANmUs

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=8ngm90xlXK0

Some ideas

- Organise a face-painter who will give children an OBON flag on their cheek.

- Sign the ‘Count Me In’ charter, if you agree with the principles of unity and inclusion.

- Create a school project that focuses on the different cultures of children in your class.

- Write a poem/song that draws inspiration from OBON's aims.

- Make a video of you, your class, or your community singing the national anthem ahead of June 23 and send it to OBON for their YouTube channel.

- Ask your class to create a piece of artwork that shows people from all backgrounds joining hands.

- Tweet your pictures of the day to @1Britain1Nation using the hashtag #countmein

If you do get involved OBON would love to hear about it! Tweet @1britain1nation or email info@onebritainonenation.com or hmqueen90th@hotmail.com

Leaders of Education for Warwickshire appointed

In March, the Teaching School Alliances from across Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire ran a campaign to appoint Leaders of Education (CSWLE) to work across the region to increase the leadership capacity within other schools to help raise standards.

The Teaching School Alliances are pleased to share that following interviews across the sub-region 16 head teachers have now been appointed as CSWLEs and will be added to the sub-regional directory to support schools across the area.

Leaders will be attending orientation training in May where they will confirm which Alliance they will be aligned with.

Updates from the training will be shared on the CSW Teaching School Alliances Facebook and Twitter pages 

Skills challenge grant funding opportunities

Grant-funding worth between £20,000 & £40,000 is available from Warwickshire County Council to businesses and other organisations
who take up the Skills Challenge.

The Council is inviting expressions of Interest (EOI) from companies and other groups who can deliver a project to address a proven skills shortage or gap in Warwickshire. Education or training providers may partner business organisations submitting bids e.g. lead on writing the bid and manage delivery of the project if it is successful.

Skills Challenge projects can be occupation or sector-specific, or in a particular geographic area. For example, the challenge may be to train computer programmers, increase the number of applicants for jobs in the construction industry or provide more apprentices (of various types) to work in Rugby town-centre.

EOIs must demonstrate the Skills Challenge with relevant research, data or other information.

EOIs are welcome from businesses or organisations representing businesses such as sector bodies, trade associations and town-centre management groups. This is to ensure the Skills Challenge identified is based on high-priority, current business-need.

EOIs may be submitted at any time until 30 September and will receive a response from the council within 15 working days. For further details please see the following website: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/skillsforemployment

Launch of the new Warwickshire Agreed RE Syllabus

New Intranet / website for staff, partners, practitioners and teachers

Please feel free to forward this request onto another member of staff who may access these pages on a more regular basis.

Schools celebrating success

Three Warwickshire secondary schools have been recognised for their achievements based on 2016 Key Stage 4 results. The following schools received a congratulatory letter from the Minister of State for School Standards Nick Gibb:

Southam College and Stratford Girls' Grammar School both achieved a Progress 8 score of well above the national average.

The Polesworth School was recognised for being one of the top non-selective state-funded schools showing the highest percentage of pupils entering the English Baccalaureate.

For more information about the criteria and a full list of schools receiving letters click here:

Congratulations also go to Alcester Academy who were successful in being granted National Support School Status in March, and to headteacher, Paul Hyde who is now recognised as a National Leader of Education (NLE).

Making a REAL difference to children in Warwickshire

Thirteen large projects in Warwickshire have been awarded funding from the Smart Start programme to improve school readiness in Warwickshire. One project ‘Making it REAL in Warwickshire’ set out to work with families and children from 2-5 years to improve literacy and language.

Colleagues from children’s centres, libraries, nurseries, schools and health visitors attended training from National Children’s Bureau in REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy).

Over the last year these trained professionals, ‘Family Learning tutors’, delivered the five week course to 345 families in the most deprived localities, with over 400 children attending. The tutors made home visits, took families to local libraries to become members and attend story sessions, took families on environmental print walks and held session in venues to support early writing skills and oral language.

The outcomes exceeded both the projects team’s expectations and the national results of REAL. Some of the highlights to date are:

• 92% of families have noticed an increase in their children mark making, with 72% of children saying what it represents

• 98% of families reported that the course had given them ideas of activities to do at home

• 91% have noticed an increase in their child enjoying and joining in with stories

• 92% have noticed an increase in their child singing rhymes

• 81% of families are now library members

• 78% of adults intend to do more Family Learning or other Adult Education courses.

Some of the families that took part in the REAL courses explain what they achieved:

“I have learnt how to play with my child in different ways”

“I have gained a stronger bonding experience with my child”

“My granddaughter had a great time and it was fun to do. I have also taken up reading again which is brilliant.”

“Got library membership, more confidence, and good friends.”

Jan Lennon, Family Learning Programme Manager explains “We were delighted to have received a Smart Start grant which has enabled us to deliver the REAL programme. In April we will undertake training in REAM (Raising Early Achievement in Maths) which will enhance our family learning offer to families across Warwickshire.”

Helen King, Deputy Director of Public Health at Warwickshire County Council said “The results from the ‘Making it REAL’ programme have surpassed initial expectations and are making a real difference to families in Warwickshire. It is great to see our Smart Start programme helping local projects to play their part in improving school readiness in Warwickshire.”

For more information about the Smart Start projects or the Smart Start programme visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/smartstart

Book your place for the Women's Tour

Schools across Warwickshire have been sent a school pack as the county prepares itself for the OVO energy Women's Cycling Tour coming to Warwickshire on Friday 9 June. 

Warwickshire is hosting the third leg of the tour which first came to the county last year and was viewed by an estimated 75,000 spectators who lined the roads and braved the elements to cheer the cyclists on.

This year, the cyclists will start at Atherstone and cycle 160km along Warwickshire's roads before finishing on The Parade in Royal Leamington Spa.

The riders from 2016 have spoken about the experience of riding through Warwickshire last year and what they identified as the  highlight was the 'wall of noise' that greeted them as they rode.

This came largely from Warwickshire school children. It may come as little surprise to those who teach them that our children created a cacophony of sound that is still living in the memories of those that heard it.

And the riders have said that a repeat performance this year would be perfect so the partners involved in the tour have created the school pack to ensure that schools take the chance to get involved in the tour, plan their spot from which to cheer the riders on and look at activities that the children can do that are related to cycling.

(Top: Gemma, winner of the 2016 Women's Tour Start Flag Design Competition, opening the race. Bottom: Matthew, winner of the Stage Winner Trophy Design Competition)

The pack gives schools the chance to become part of the race with children in the north being invited to design the start flag which will be used to get the cyclists moving in Atherstone. Children in the south of the county are being invited to design the stage trophy that will be awarded to the winner of the Warwickshire stage of the Tour.

Race organisers are looking for schools to also use their influence on social media to increase awareness of the Tour. Schools can follow #WT2017 or #ThisGirlCan on twitter. Or, if schools would like to post messages and share with facebook friends, these can be supplied. Email haydenwright@warwickshire.gov.uk to be included on a database of recipients for Facebook ready messages.

Are you ready for a summer of creative computing and some risky robots?

Run by Warwickshire's ICT Service, our three day summer school for 8 - 14 year olds is a brilliant way of getting into the exciting world of drones and robotics whilst having great fun! Over the three days you will program drones, build and race LEGO creations, interact with NAO the humanoid robot, make music and produce your own movie! Making the most of new technologies and working out of our fantastic Apple Regional Training Centre in Leamington Spa, (Pound Lane, Leamington Spa, CV32 7RT) your three days will be jam packed with lots of hands-on activities and challenges.

Whether you are a beginner or a computing expert there will be something for you:

• Interact with the NAO humanoid robots
• Work with experienced trainers to build and program robots with LEGO Education WeDo 2 and Mindstorms EV3
• Program air and ground drones to complete a range of challenges
• Rock it with the Risky Robots Garage Band!
• Make your own B Movie!!

The sessions are all about getting hands-on and creative with robotics, coding and some great apps. All the activities will encourage problem solving, teamwork, collaboration and experimentation. For the provisional session outline, please click here, but note that all sessions are subject to final confirmation.

This is our second year running a summer school. If you attended last year, it would be great to see you again for even more fun, and new challenges!

IMPORTANT

• The summer school is open to children aged between 8 and 14 years of age at a cost of £119/delegate.
• Refreshments will be provided BUT attendees must bring their own lunch
• Each day will start at 10am (attendees can be dropped off from 9.30am) and will finish at 3pm (staff will be available until 3.30pm)

DATE AND TIME

Mon, 21 Aug 2017 - Wed, 23 Aug 2017 - 10:00 – 15:00

LOCATION

Pound Lane Learning Centre

Pound Lane

Leamington Spa

CV32 7RT

Warwickshire ICT Development Service is part of Warwickshire County Council. 

To register please visit the event page link below:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-summer-of-creative-computing-risky-robots-3-days-tickets-33206769341

For further information, please call our Service Desk on 01926 414100 or email ictdsservicedesk@warwickshire.gov.uk

Focus on pupil premium

What is the pupil premium?

The pupil premium is additional funding given to state-funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and close the gap between them and other pupils.

The government does not prescribe what the pupil premium should be spent on, as it says schools are best placed to assess what additional provision their pupils need. However, schools are held accountable for how they use this funding to support the pupils eligible for it.

All schools should publish a pupil premium strategy

The Department for Education (DfE) has published guidance for what maintained schools should publish online.

The DfE guidance says that maintained schools must publish a strategy on their use of the pupil premium. It is no longer a requirement to publish a ‘pupil premium statement’.

For the current academic year, the strategy must include:

• Your school’s pupil premium grant allocation amount
• A summary of the main barriers to educational achievement faced by eligible pupils at the school
• How you’ll spend the pupil premium to address those barriers and the reasons for that approach
• How you’ll measure the impact of the pupil premium
• The date of the next review of the school’s pupil premium strategy

For the previous academic year, you must include details of:

• How you spent the pupil premium allocation
• The impact of the expenditure on eligible and other pupils

The guidance says:

• Pupil premium funding is allocated for each financial year, but the information you publish online should refer to the academic year, as this is how parents understand the school system.
• As you won’t know allocations for the end of the academic year (April to July), you should report on the funding up to the end of the financial year and update it when you have all the figures.

The requirements for what Academies must publish online are set out in their funding agreements. 

The DfE's guidance for academies says that, regardless of what your funding agreement requires you to publish, the Department recommends publishing the same information as maintained schools, listed above.

As part of our Schools Website Checklist, this template (which is based on the DfE's guidance), can be used to check your school's compliance.

Pupil Premium and Ofsted

Ofsted’s inspection handbook explains that inspectors look at how well governors hold school leaders to account for using the pupil premium effectively. They also compare the attainment and progress data for pupils eligible for the grant with data for other pupils.

Inspectors can recommend an external review of the use of the pupil premium if they think there are issues with the school’s provision for disadvantaged pupils. 

The extracts below are taken from Ofsted inspection reports from Hertfordshire schools.  Although isolated quotes are better read in the context of the full report, these give a flavour of the range of comments that schools receive.

This link provides useful information on The Pupil Premium - What Ofsted Looks For

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is there a deadline for publishing pupil premium information?

Regulation 2, paragraph 4 of The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 explains:

….the governing body must arrange for the information published on the website to be updated as soon as is reasonably practicable following a change to that information and, in any event, at least annually.

Schools are required to update the information outlined in the regulations every year.  The expectation is that this will be done before 1^st September.  However, the DfE understands it is not always possible for schools to achieve this, and that the requirement for information to be updated “as soon as is “reasonably practicable” is designed to accommodate this.  However, if a school does not have the most up-to-date information on its website for each new academic year, it should have a good reason for this.

Should we have a link governor for pupil premium?

Link governors are a link to something outside the governing board, which could include a specific area such as the pupil premium.

Link governors report information back to the governing board but it is up to individual governing boards to decide whether they want to use this system. It is important to remember that appointing a named (link) governor does not absolve the governing board of its responsibilities.

Responsibility for ongoing monitoring of pupil premium impact could instead be delegated to a committee because there is likely to be more scope in committee meetings to robustly and collectively evaluate pupil premium spending. This does not mean that there should be a separate committee for the pupil premium – pupil premium should be a regular item on the agenda of a relevant committee that is already established.

The most important thing to remember is that oversight of pupil premium spending is a responsibility for the full governing board. Whatever approach is taken, the governing board will need to ensure it receives reports on the pupil premium on a regular basis.

Is there a model / template action plan available to use?

The Teaching Schools Council has published templates to support schools in developing and presenting their pupil premium strategies.  (Use of the templates is voluntary).

• Blank primary template
• Completed primary template
• Blank secondary template
• Completed secondary template
• Blank special school template

Virtual Governance

We have recently answered a number of questions regarding a governing board’s rules on virtual governance.

The School Governance (Roles, Procedures and Allowances) (England) Regulations 2013 state “the governing body may approve alternative arrangements for governors to participate or vote at meetings of the governing body including but not limited to by telephone or video conference”.

The essential element is being present at the meeting as the regulations also state   “Every question to be decided at a meeting of the governing body is to be determined by a majority of the votes of the governors present and voting on the question”.

Being virtually present at a meeting will need agreement in advance by the Governing body with drafted approved protocols in place. There is no provision to vote on decisions by email. Academies need to comply with their articles of association regarding virtual governance.

Governor References and Interview – Maintained Schools

A number of Clerks have been in touch to ask if the school must have references on file for existing governors. Whilst it is not statutory for existing governors, regulations state when recruiting governors they should be interviewed and references sought as necessary or appropriate. Guidance shown below:

The Constitution of Governing Bodies of Maintained Schools - Statutory guidance for governing bodies of maintained schools and local authorities in England - September 2016 (Priorities in deciding the membership of the governing body 15) states;

‘Regulations specify that anyone appointing governors to the governing body must only appoint someone they believe has the skills to contribute to the effective governance and success of the school. Their decisions should be informed by interviews and references and made in light of the skills that governing bodies identify that they need.’

The regulations also state;

‘A skills audit, such as that produced by the National Governors’ Association, should be used to identify the skills, knowledge and experience of current governors and any additional specific skills or experience that the governing body ideally requires. The outcome of the audit will help the governing body or other appointing persons to formulate their opinion as to whether prospective governors have the skills to contribute to effective governance and the success of the school. To make an informed decision on the matter an interview or detailed discussion will need to take place with each prospective candidate, with references (oral or written) taken as necessary and appropriate. The skills audit will also help to inform governor elections.’

Dates for your diary

Patch Meetings (from 7-8.30pm):

Central: Thursday 18 May – Aylesford School and Sixth Form College (Warwick)

Governors’ Forum and Long Service Award Presentations: 

Tuesday 20 June, 6.30pm at Shire Hall, Warwick

MASH update

MASH is one year old!

In May 2017 MASH will reach its first anniversary. MASH has received over 23,000 contacts and referrals from professionals and members of the public since its launch. It receives 99 calls and 100 emails a day on average, with 35% of calls across 2016-2017 for consultations. 18.9% of referrals were from nursery, schools or colleges.

We are proud that we are able to offer professionals a direct call to a social worker for advice, information and consultation as few local authorities provide this.  

To coincide with our first anniversary, we will be launching our MASH Annual Report on 3 May 2017.  Some highlights from this report show that through the triangulation of information we are making co-ordinated decisions about children and adults. Timescales and caseloads of MASH professionals are also  inevitably linked.  Since 1 March our caseloads are now 15 referrals per day on average, meaning we have time to look deeply into each referral and understand the concerns being raised.

We have also worked very hard with the police to tackle domestic abuse and are able to report that incidents are being responded to through secondary multi-agency risk analysis, in live time.

Escalation Process

Despite the high amount of referrals received, MASH has received a small number of case escalations - just 6 in 2016-2017.  If you are not happy with the outcome or decision from the MASH please tell us and use the escalation process. 

To feedback to the MASH or initiate a case escalation please email mashmanagers@warwickshire.gov.uk

To escalate issues from cases allocated to children's teams please contact the district Operations Manager.  

You said. We Acted

We constantly seek and listen to feedback.  For example, feedback from professionals has highlighted that the Multi-Agency Referral Form (MARF) needs to improve.  We have made changes to the form, agreed last month by the Warwickshire Safeguarding Children's Board.  The new form and updated guidance is available on the WSCB website: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/wscb

Our annual report sets out a number of priorities following feedback and review of the MASH, including:

• When the outcome of MASH is an Early Help Single Assessment, there is a need to work with professionals to ensure a co-ordinated service is provided
• Ensure feedback is provided to the referrer and other agencies who provide information through triage 100% of the time.
• Develop an online form and improve advice and support available on the website

Workshops for school SLTs and safeguarding leads

Putting children at the heart of what we do workshops

We recently attended some of the headteacher briefings to advise that Warwickshire Safeguarding Children's Board will be holding workshops throughout 2017.  The aim of these workshops is to discuss what support other organisations need from WSCB to respond to children and families needs, in particular how to decide who is best to respond to a child who needs targeted support.  The workshops will include learning from Serious Case Reviews and the latest best practice from around the country.

For school consortiums we are offering to hold bespoke sessions for school senior leadership team and safeguarding leads.  If you're a consortium chair and would be interested in this please contact johncoleman@warwickshire.gov.uk

The workshops will be advertised and open to all professionals via WILMA in the next fortnight.  

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT WWW.WARWICKSHIRE.GOV.UK/MASH OR CALL 01926 414144

Early Help and Targeted Support

Early Help and Targeted Support services seek to prevent escalation and assist with de-escalation where there has been prior social care involvement.  Key components of the Service include:

Early Help Service

The Early Help Officers support professionals to work effectively at an Early Help level.  Key areas of involvement are:

• Training on how to use the Early Help Single Assessment (EHSA) and how to write quality safeguarding referrals with the MASH
• Day to day advice where the aim is that any Early Help exit from the MASH will be completed by someone from the Early Help team, brokering the appropriate level of support for each child/children. Advice is also available on possible referral routes to Early Help or specialist services (such as Single Point of Entry) pre-EHSA, advice on use of pre-EHSA action plan, how to manage situations arising through the EHSA episode and when to close episodes. Early Help Officers will broker support for parents / child where there is not currently a practitioner linked to the family to do this.

MASH 

The Early Help team members in the MASH also operate an advice line about complex and challenging cases in real time. This supports practitioners managing high level cases to develop confidence, reduce anxiety and increase the safety of the process.  It also ensures that front line practitioners do not feel alone and unsupported

Network Event

The team run practitioner network events and cluster events in specific districts to reduce issues of professional isolation and insular working. This allows practitioners to network with one another, share experiences and good practice.  As a broker of services at these meetings, we can ensure that knowledge about services is cascaded down to front line workers.

Early Help Clinics

Early Help Clinics support lead professionals holding cases to enable all the lead professionals or/and Early Help Single Assessment trained personnel to get together in one meeting and discuss cases of note. 

Early Help Single Assessment Oversight

Each Early Help Single Assessment is assigned to an Early Help Officer who will monitor the process of the episode, ensure action plans are acceptable and focus on outcomes for the child/children.  They ensure that episodes do not drift and if they are not effective, discuss options with the lead professionals.  They review records of the meetings and will broker additional services if required and available.  

Family Support Meetings

The team attend Family Support Meetings (FSM) to support, focus and model good practice to practitioners; increasing critical conversation skills and the ability to challenge other practitioners and to support practitioners to deal with challenging people. The current commitment is that Early Help Officers will attend initial Family Support Meetings to ensure a robust action plan is in place and all possible support accessed.  They will then only attend if the situation warrants it, with a particular focus on preventing escalation through the tiers (education, mental health, safeguarding).  Again attendance at these meetings prevents drift.

Family and Parenting Support

Family and Parenting Support services provide a range of services to support families (including parenting programmes) and are the main deliverers of the Priority Families Programme in Warwickshire. This is principally through a Family Support Worker Service that delivers a whole-family intensive approach that seeks to work in partnership with others and in collaboration with the family on key areas such as poor educational attendance, crime/ASB, financial exclusion, domestic abuse, contact with social care and health issues.  The focus is on significant and sustained progress that builds the independence and resilience of families.  

For more info go to http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/parentingsupport

Targeted Support for Young People

Targeted Support for Young People (TS4YP) inspires young people to achieve the skills to manage their lives, and what it brings, through a creative, challenging and supportive approach.

TS4YP has a unique method which is developed through a youth work approach: “The key focus of youth work is to enable young people to develop holistically, working with them to facilitate their personal, social and educational development, to enable them to develop their voice, influence and place in society, and to reach their full potential” (National Occupational Standards, 2010)

Youth work is a profession that requires degree qualification specifically in youth and community work as recognised by the national Joint Negotiating Committee. In Warwickshire, both full time and substantive hours staff working with referred young people are professional youth workers. Some referrals are allocated to extensively qualified staff directly supported by a youth worker.

TS4YP work with referred young people:

• who are at risk of becoming Looked After or who are Looked After
• who are NEET or at risk of becoming so*

[* If the young person is on a school roll a charge will be incurred]

The above are delivered through:

One to one support – We offer individual support for young people with more specific needs – Sessions can focus on resilience skills, behaviour in class and home, relationships, planning and problem solving, managing feelings, communication and confidence. [Criteria - Children Looked After, Edge of Care, Not in Education Employment or Training [NEET], Risk of being NEET.]

Structured Group work programmes are delivered to small groups (5-10) of young people who are judged to benefit from a group setting and/or a similar syllabus.

Informal groups, meetings and projects in the most disadvantaged communities, ie Camp Hill and Lillington, usually in one of the centres managed by TS4YP e.g. young parents group, NEET group, Voice of Young People, and open youth clubs.

TS4YP have also developed a specific course for young people of secondary age that are struggling with school attendance, Vertical delivered from our Kingsbury Outdoor Learning Centre.

For more information go to:

Targeted Support for Young People - further information

Targeted Support for Young People - resources for professional

Accessing our services

Family Information Service

The Family Information Service provide FREE information to families and professionals working with families in Warwickshire on a wide range of subjects including:

• Childcare
• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
• Help with Family Finances
• Parenting Support
• Contact
• One to One Support 

 If you are not sure - JUST ASK! 

If you think we could help support a family in your school please get in touch via our helpline 01926 742274 or email familyinformationservice@warwickshire.gov.uk.

Why not link your school's webpages to the FIS one: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fis

OR follow us on Facebook WarwickshireFIS, Twitter @WarksFIS OR sign up to our regular newsletter – www.warwickshire.gov.uk/parentupdate

Targeted Support for Young People

All forms and information can be accessed via http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/earlyhelp or via direct contact with our local teams

northearlyhelp@warwickshire.gov.uk, southearlyhelp@warwickshire.gov.uk or eastearlyhelp@warwickshire.gov.uk

Or call 01926 414147.  Principal routes of support that can be identified are:

Pre Early Help Action Plan

This can be used by any agency who would like to create an action plan with the family in order to clearly record what Early Help Support is being offered to a family.  This maybe supporting with breakfast club in the morning for a short time, helping with uniform costs, suggesting parents attend a Triple P course.

This is offered when the agency working with the family feel that needs can be addressed with the family themselves and there is no need to complete an assessment of the child/childrens needs.

Often this work is already happening within schools and other agencies.  This work has a significant impact on ensuring that the families needs are met at the earliest possible point using the most appropriate level of service.  This action plan is designed to record this.

Early Help Single Assessment

This is an holistic assessment of need for a child/children or YP.  It is used when a practitioner feels that the needs of a child/children or young person are not clear and an assessment will help to identify the issues and what support is needed.  This can be written by any practitioner in Warwickshire who has attended a day training on using the Early Help Single Assessment.   Once written each Early Help Single Assessment is allocated to an Early Help Officer who will support the practitioners in managing this process.

There are often Family Support Meetings following this assessment where the Family meet with professionals to plan the support to be offered.

The Early Help training is available on Wilma (SCC CS361) any issue please call the Early Help Officer Team on 01926414147

Post Early Help Action Plan

These plans are used once an Early Help Single Assessment and Family Support meeting process has ended but both the family and practitioners feel that action planning will still be useful after the more formal Family Support Meetings have ended.

Locality Panels

This is a multi-agency meeting held every four to six weeks in each locality.  The Locality Panel is a multi-agency panel designed to act as a single point of service allocation to children, young people and families where the professional support system and EHSA are not sufficient to improve outcomes, but where there are no immediate safeguarding concerns.  Referrals need to have exhausted all usual avenues of support.  It is expected that you will have a Early Help Single Assessment in process so can speak to your Early Help Officer about this. 

Information in relation to Locality Panels, including dates, contact details, referral forms can be accessed via the following link: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/priorityfamilies

Referrals can be made through the following link: ts4ypreferralinbox@warwickshire.gov.uk 

Safeguarding 

People in Warwickshire are safeguarded from harm, receiving the services they need, at the right time, effectively and efficiently. The Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) is a partnership between Warwickshire County Council, Warwickshire Police, NHS and other key partner agencies working together to safeguard children, young people and adults.

The MASH will deal with new safeguarding concerns, where someone is concerned about the safety or well-being of a child or adult, or thinks they might be at risk of harm. For example, a teacher may believe that one of their pupils is at risk of harm at home, or a doctor may think an older person is being neglected.

Within the MASH, information from different agencies will be collated and used to decide what action to take. As a result, the agencies will be able to act quickly in a co-ordinated and consistent way, ensuring that children and adults are kept safe. The MASH will involve representatives from the Warwickshire County Council Social Services, Police, Health, Probation and other key agencies working together in the same location. There are also links to other key services and agencies.

You can contact the MASH on 01926 414144 or at mash@warwickshire.gcsx.gov.uk

Closing the gap for disadvantaged children in Warwickshire

‘Closing the gap in the early years’ is a community project funded by the Smart Start programme designed to give children in Warwickshire the best start in life. Practitioners from early years settings (20 organisations) and community groups in Rugby and Leamington Spa have been involved in a 12-month project to close the gap of attainment, between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, in the early years foundation stage.

The work has focused on communities where data indicates weaker outcomes in relation to school readiness. This project built on a successful pilot conducted in Nuneaton and Bedworth prior to the Smart Start funding.

Closing the gap is a priority for Warwickshire as research has shown that by the age of three, children from disadvantaged backgrounds can be up to a year behind their more advantaged peers. The gap increases steadily over time, lasts a lifetime, and is apparent across a range of indicators, from health and wellbeing to income and attainment.
 
High quality and effective early years education is able to redress the balance, helping children from disadvantaged backgrounds to catch up (or not fall further behind) children from more advantaged families.

The project focused on four themes:

• Improving children’s communication and language skills
• Building leaderships knowledge for closing gap - ensuring children are ‘ready’ for school
• family engagement in learning – how engagement in learning improves educational outcomes
• Improving the quality of educational practice

The first face to face training session was held in October 2016 for 22 practitioners working in schools as well as private and independent early years education in Rugby and Leamington Spa. Results from the training sessions suggest attendees experienced a significant increase in their knowledge, skills and confidence as the following feedback explains:

• “Very enjoyable, looking forward to putting and feeding back to staff / setting”
• “Both trainers made it interesting and easy to understand”
• “I enjoyed this course and the information given to me as I was not sure about the project and now feel more knowledgeable on the project.”
• “Really got me thinking.”
• “Looking forward to putting this into our everyday practice”

Free healthy breakfast cereal for Warwickshire schools - limited time only

Pupils are on fire with their poster campaign!

Five pupils from Etone College in Nuneaton have been presented with certificates, medals and a selection of prizes by Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service (WFRS) for their winning fire safety posters.

The year 7 and 8 pupils created the posters following the delivery of an innovative scheme of work, ‘Fire’, which is delivered through WFRS, Fire Safety Education Programme in secondary schools across Warwickshire.

‘Fire’ is used by teachers in schools during personal, social and health education lessons. As part of the programme, Community Fire Safety Officers work with each class to reinforce and extend the fire safety messages contained in ‘Fire!’ and are able to talk from first- hand experience about the consequences of fire.

The programme is very interactive and sees the pupils look at a range of different themes including the consequences of arson.

After delivering the programme at Etone College, the students and their PHSE coordinator were so impressed with the programme that it was decided that a joint poster competition would be run in partnership with the school to enhance on the learning the students had already gained.

In total over 70 posters were produced, but five winners were picked from across the two year groups. The winners from year 8 were; Talia and Kelsi who produced a joint poster. The winners for year 7 were; Joseph Jarr, Aneeqa Iliyas and Mohammed Adil

The certificates, medals and a selection of prizes were presented at a recent school assembly by Community Fire Safety Officer, Andy Morgan.

Talking about the competition, Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Schools Education Officer, Ruth Greenhalgh said:

“I am really pleased for all of the winners of the competition. They did an amazing job of taking everything that they learnt during the ‘Fire’ sessions and put it down on paper in a very creative way. This is a great example of how reinforcing the learning in classroom can really benefit how young people learn about the dangers around them.”

More information about the work of Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service is available on the Warwickshire Website: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/fireandrescue

You can also follow the fire service on Twitter and Facebook.

Avon Valley student nominated for Rotary Award

Matthew Walker, a Year 9 student from The Avon Valley School and Performing Arts College, was recently presented with a special award by members of the local Rotary Club during a year group assembly.

Matthew, who is a member of the school’s Garrick House, was nominated by his teachers for a Young Citizen Award after raising £2145 for Myton Hospice during a sponsored walk which was organised by the school in the summer term.

The Rotary International Great Britain and Ireland (Rotary) Young Citizen Awards (YCA) were created to celebrate the achievements and commitment of inspiring young people across Great Britain and Ireland.

Garrick House’s chosen charity, Myton Hospice, is very special to Matthew as his gran spent her last days and weeks there before she passed away. Matthew was touched by the level of care shown to his gran at the end of her life and wanted to raise money to support the charity.

Matthew was presented with a framed certificate in recognition of his personal qualities and community spirit, which were worthy of a successful nomination as a Rotary GBI Young Citizen 2017. The award was handed over by local Rotarians Mike Beck and Ramesh Srivastava – who is also a school governor.

Matthew’s nomination form submitted by Mike Beck said “Matthew raised more money than every other student put together. He took the opportunity provided by the school to raise money for a charity that had helped him and his family during a dark time. He should be recognised for his selfless charity work that has allowed many others to benefit, and has allowed the memory of this Gran to live on.”

Headteacher, Alison Davies, said “We are very proud of Matthew’s solo fundraising efforts. To raise over £2000 is incredible and shows how much the charity means to him. In the last week of term it was lovely to welcome the local Rotarians who presented Matthew with his certificate in front of his entire year group. I hope he is very proud of his achievement. ”

Warwickshire CSE Training

Half Day Multi-Agency CSE Safeguarding Training: Basic CSE Awareness

Suitable for ALL school staff

Wednesday 6 June 2017, Fawsley House, Rugby

Friday 15 September 2017, Montague Road, Warwick

Thursday 14 December 2017, Bloxham Centre, Rugby

Tuesday 6 March 2018, Myton Park, Leamington

Full Day Multi-Agency CSE Safeguarding Training: Recognising, Reporting and Responding to CSE

Recommended for DSLs, Head Teachers, Heads of Year & Pastoral Staff

Wednesday 10 May 2017, Myton Park, Leamington

Monday 19 June 2017, Fawsley House, Rugby

Thursday 20 July 2017, Myton Park, Leamington

Tuesday 12 September 2017, Fawsley House, Rugby

Thursday 19 October 2017, Saltisford Building 3, Warwick

Wednesday 29 November 2017, Council House, Atherstone

Wednesday 18 January 2018, Kings House, Bedworth

Wednesday 28 February 2018, Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington

Places for any of the training dates can be booked via the WILMa Safeguarding website: http://warwickshire.learningpool.com/

Please contact Jackie Kerby or Katy Shipley for more information:

jackiekerby@warwickshire.gov.uk – Safeguarding Interagency Learning & Improvement manager

Katy.shipley@barnardos.org.uk – Barnardo’s CSE Project Worker

Please contact Katy of you would like to discuss training at your school for full or partial staff teams too.

Prevent training

Click here to see the details of each of the above training sessions and closing date for sign up

Click here for more information on the train the Trainer Workshop

Click here to see step by step instructions on how to register on WILMA

FFT Briefing - Insight into the Progress of EAL Pupils

Insight into the Progress of EAL Pupils – new FFT briefing announced

FFT Education have announced a new briefing - Insight into the Progress of EAL Pupils - to take place in Birmingham on Wednesday 14 June, 2017.

Insight into the Progress of EAL Pupils is aimed at those leading a school with a high percentage of pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL) or those keen to find out more about different groups of pupils within their school.

Suitable for both primary and secondary schools, the event consists of presentations from FFT’s expert consultants, focused activities and the opportunity to network with others from schools like yours.  

During the highly focused two-hour session, you will learn from our most recent research and analysis that highlights how EAL, pupil premium and ethnicity shape educational achievement and progress.

During the session you will explore your own school’s FFT Aspire Dashboard to understand more fully the progress made by EAL pupils in your school and understand better the context of your school in advancing achievement and attainment.

The briefings cost £75 + vat per delegate.

To book, or for more information, please visit https://training.fft.org.uk/ or email training@fft.org.uk

Introductory FFT Aspire Training Course Extended Across England

Schools across England are invited to increase their knowledge of FFT Aspire by attending a computer based introductory course, being held in many venues across the country.  

The practical hands on course provides an overview of the FFT Aspire system, and explains the evaluation, target setting and Student Explorer dashboards and how the FFT Collaborate functionality enhances school-to-school support. 

The course helps you interpret your school’s performance data, including the analysis of pupil groups and subjects, plus explains how Student Explorer will allow you to quickly identify and target pupils who are at risk of underachieving.  During the session you will use and understand forward looking estimates and be able to set end of Key Stage targets for pupils in each year group.

The full day course is led by an FFT expert, and costs £290 plus vat per delegate.

Current dates include:

Bournemouth – Thursday 18 May

Manchester – Tuesday 23 May

Birmingham – Wednesday 24 May

Newcastle – Tuesday 6 June

Torquay – Wednesday 7 June

Milton Keynes – Wednesday 21 June

Maidstone – Tuesday 27 June

Manchester – Wednesday 28 June

Birmingham – Thursday 29 June

Liverpool – Wednesday 12 July

To book, or to find out more information, please visit www.fft.org.uk/training-events.aspx

Teacher training in Warwickshire

Isabella Wallace conference

Click here to view the flyer for the Isabella Wallace conference.

Primary Headteachers' Briefings

The Local Authority holds termly meetings to brief all headteachers on key local and national developments in education. External speakers are also invited to share expertise and to provide professional development opportunities. The meetings are an opportunity for headteachers from across the county to network, share good practice and develop collaborative working.

SUMMER TERM BRIEFINGS

Primary Heads Central and South

Date: Tuesday 13 June 2017

Time: 9.15am - 12.15pm

Venue: Warwick Racecourse, Hampton Street, Warwick, CV34 6HN

Primary Heads North and East

Date: Wednesday 14 June 2017

Time: 9.15am - 12.15pm

Venue: Coventry TechnoCentre, Coventry University Technology Park, Puma Way, Coventry, CV1 2TT

You are welcome to attend whichever meeting is most convenient for you, regardless of which area your school falls into.

Booking your place

If you would like to attend one of the summer term briefings please book your place by following one of the links below. Closing date for bookings is 5th June 2017.

I would like to book a place on the 13 July at Warwick Racecourse

I would like to book a place on the 14 July at the TechnoCentre

Secondary Heads' and College Principals' Briefing

The Local Authority holds termly meetings to brief all secondary headteachers and college principals on key local and national developments in education. External speakers are also invited to share expertise and to provide professional development opportunities. The meetings are an opportunity for headteachers and principals from across the county to network, share good practice and develop collaborative working.

Summer Term 2017 Briefing

Date: Thursday 29 June 2017

Time: 9.15am - 12.15pm

Venue: Warwick Racecourse, Hampton Street, Warwick, CV34 6HN

Booking your place

If you would like to attend the Summer Term briefing please follow the link below to confirm your place. Closing date for bookings is 22nd June 2017.

I would like to book a place at the briefing on 29 July

NQT summer celebration event

Save the date!

NQT Summer Celebration

 Ansty Hall Hotel, Coventry

Thursday 15 June

 Join us for lunch, Keynote Speaker, and workshops

Look out for the flier coming to you soon

christine.blay@lawrencesheriffschool.com

Hospitality means business - skills event for children, parents and teachers

Q Hotels collection and Shakespeare's England tourism company are delighted to launch our 'Hospitality means business' skills events for children, parents and teachers this June. Funding has been provided via the WCC skills for employment programme addressing the gap employers regularly say is missing when they look to recruit in the tourism sector.

The two events will hear from leading advocates from the industry, some well known names and are free to attend. They are for school children from 11 up to college year.

Free Hospitality events
In June we will be holding 2 FREE major hospitality events, one on 27th June (Rugby Campus, Warwickshire College) and one on 29th June (Stratford Upon Avon College) they will be a showcase and discussion events with industry experts and professionals for those who may be considering a career in the visitor economy, tourism or hospitality sectors.

These are the perfect events to find out more, to ask questions and importantly to shape how we tailor and develop work experience and apprenticeships in our sector and encourage more young people to choose our sector as a career option. Travel may be reimbursed for group bookings please enquire for information.

There will be 2 events so that we can meet with yourselves, your students and your parents/carers. The days run from 12.30 for registration and networking through to 16:00, we will serve light refreshments throughout the event.

There will be approximately 100 spaces for each event which will be allocated on a first come first served basis, and we would encourage you to ask your students, teachers and parents to book early to avoid disappointment.

Please could you share the links below for tickets as widely as possible, the attached flyer will also give you more information.
27th June Event
29th June Event

There are also opportunities for the most engaged students to win an ipad air, and for the parents to win weekend breaks, spa days and dinners for two

Free guest lectures
We would like to bring a guest lecturer to your establishment in the near future, an industry professional who will be able to deliver an interesting and engaging presentation about their career path and their current role. This will also enable students to ask questions and find out more about this particular section of the sector. If you would like to book this type of lecture please contact us at hmb@shakespeares-england.co.uk

Free work placement
We want to deliver a series of work placements and apprenticeships and we want to work with you to get this right, we want to engage with you and your students, tailor to yours and their needs, and connect it to their work programmes. You are instrumental in feeding back to us on what is achievable and what your students are looking for. If you are keen to be involved, please contact us at hmb@shakespeares-england.co.uk