HEADS UP

Heads Up 19 May 2023

Celebrating Warwickshire’s Family of Schools

Summer Term 2023 Headteachers' Conference

Reminder - Summer Term 2023 Headteachers' Conference

Summer Term 2023 Headteachers' Conference

Tuesday 6th June 2023 (9.00am – 1.30pm, registration from 8.30)

Venue

Stareton Hall, Stoneleigh Park (NAEC), Stoneleigh, Kenilworth, CV8 2LZ

Keynote Speaker:

Leora Cruddas CBE

Chief Executive, Confederation of Schools Trusts

Agenda to follow shortly.

Coventry & Warwickshire Teacher Network CPD Events - Secondary Summer Term

Secondary Dance Teacher Network - Dance in non-traditional spaces

Wednesday 7th June 2023, 4.30-6.00pm

Daimler Powerhouse, Coventry

Looking for exciting ways to bring a new wave of inspiration to your students and their choreography?

Both Motionhouse and Ascension Dance tour exhilarating outdoor work to festivals, high streets and other non-traditional spaces, taking performance to people who  ordinarily wouldn’t visit theatre spaces and enabling them to engage with dance in their community.

Join Motionhouse and Ascension at the Daimler Powerhouse in Coventry to explore how each company approaches and creates work for non-theatre spaces. Discover how your students can take their choreography out of the classroom or studio and into different spaces across the school grounds.

Secondary Visual Art Teacher Network - Art, Outdoors & Creative Journaling

Thursday 6th July 2023, 4.30-6.30pm

Compton Verney Art Gallery & Park

Indulge in a tour of the latest Compton Verney exhibition, led by curator Amy Orrock, which focuses on nature, environment and design. You will also have the opportunity to explore the outdoor Living Symphonies installation before participating in a practical session, led by Creative Arts and Therapy facilitator, Lindsay Jane Hunter.

Lindsay will guide you to discover how creative practices can be adopted in urban spaces as well as rural settings through creative journaling processes. This opportunity will present you with new ways to approach arts interpretation in the classroom, supporting meaningful reflective and therapeutic experiences and encouraging students to take a more flexible approach to the visual arts.

Secondary Drama/English Teacher Network - RSC, The Empress for English & Drama teachers

Thursday 6th July 2023, 4.30-6.30pm

Belgrade Theatre, Coventry

This free workshop at the Belgrade Theatre, led by an RSC practitioner is for both English and Drama teachers. As well as offering insight into the play, we will explore productions choices made for the production playing at The Swan Theatre from early July.

Whether your students are studying the play or not, this meeting will give you a chance to network with like minded colleagues and pick up drama approaches to use back in your classroom.

All events are free for all KS3-5 teachers, support staff and trainee teachers based in Coventry & Warwickshire. Light refreshments will be served and there will be plenty of opportunity for networking and peer support.

For further information about the Coventry and Warwickshire Teacher Networks email: teachernetworks@rsc.org.uk 

School capacity form

WCC is required to report the total capacity of all Warwickshire schools (including academies and special schools), as part of the annual statutory DfE SCAP survey.
 
Please complete the online form here with details for your school: https://forms.office.com/e/Y8g6E1d78p
Not all questions are relevant to all schools, the estimated completion time is 10 minutes.
If possible, a response by Friday 19 May would be much appreciated.

Teaching School Hub News - Secondary Edition

Please find here the "Teaching School Hub News - Secondary Edition"

Teaching School Hub News - Primary Edition

Please find here the "Teaching School Hub News - Primary Edition". 

Low Carbon Warwickshire Network and Solar for Schools in Warwickshire

The Low Carbon Warwickshire Network (LCWN) is working through its 30 community groups with the organisation Solar for Schools. LCWN hopes by this to stimulate our community groups to build beneficial relationships with their local schools and generate as much energy as possible on school roofs for the benefit of the schools.

Please find more information here. 

Engaging Children with Nature, the Environment and Climate Change

If you’re interested in ways to get your pupils involved in nature, then you might want to have a listen to the latest episode in the Sustainable Warwickshire podcast series. The discussion focuses around giving children and young people more opportunities to connect to nature, in the hope that by doing so, they are more likely to take action to protect it.

The podcast guests include Kristie Naimo, Director and Project Manager at Achieving Results in Communities Community Interest Company, who leads on a Children’s Forest project in Radford Semele (Leamington), and Diane Compton-Belcher and Sarah Gittins from Michael Drayton Junior School in Nuneaton, who have created an amazing outdoor education space for their pupils and embedded nature into their curriculum at every opportunity.

To have a listen, search for Sustainable Warwickshire on Podbean, Spotify or Apple. And don’t forget to subscribe or download to make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes!

Continuing Professional Development events

There are two CPD events happening in Coventry this summer term.  

Both cost £100 but if participants add the code TRP2223 when booking they will receive a reimbursement of £70 paid back to their school via BACS about 1-2 months later.

Warwickshire’s Country Parks May half term activities

The team of Education, Community & Health Rangers at Warwickshire’s Country Parks have been busy developing an fun-filled half-term activity programme. Whether it’s pond dipping or bat hunts, toasting delicious popcorn over an open fire or getting a Blue Peter green badge, there’s something to get every child immersed and engaged in Warwickshire’s unique natural landscape.

For more information or to book tickets, visit the Warwickshire Country Parks Eventbrite Page.

County event supports young people to be heard

Last week (9 May) around 40 young people from across Warwickshire came together with county leaders for the first Child Friendly Warwickshire Youth Voice event.

The event at Shire Hall, Warwick was attended by young people from the county’s Youth Council, Children in Care Council, Care Leavers Forum and IMPACT (SEND Forum). They were joined by children’s service managers, elected members and professionals from the public sector partners to talk about a range of local issues that affect them. 

True to the ethos of Child Friendly Warwickshire, the event provided a platform for young people to ask questions, gain insight into the roles of the councillors, and ensure their perspectives were heard and valued. By actively engaging with the young councillors, Warwickshire County officials demonstrated their commitment to shaping policies and initiatives that align with the aspirations and needs of the younger generation. 

With a focus on celebrating the youth voice, the event featured engaging activities such as drumming, salt sculptures, badge making and more. The atmosphere was vibrant as participants took part in four group discussions, addressing crucial topics: mental health and wellbeing, more things for young people to do, staying safe, and their experiences at school. 

The feedback received from the young people in attendance mentioned how ‘inspirational’, ‘exciting’ and ‘interesting’ the event was and that they were pleased to have an opportunity to have their voices heard. Many left the event keen to make a difference in their community and are already looking forward to the next chance to get together. 

Continue reading here. 

Local community encouraged to offer support to unaccompanied asylum-seeking young people by becoming supported lodging Hosts

Hosts are needed to support unaccompanied asylum-seeing young people moving into Warwickshire and the county council, in partnership with Barnardo’s, is looking for people with a spare room and a caring nature to come forward.

Barnardo’s provides Warwickshire’s Supported Lodgings Service on behalf of the council which provides young people with a room of their own in a private home where they are a member of the household. The homeowner, or "Host" provides a safe and supportive environment, working alongside professional services to help and support the young person in gaining skills for independent adult life.

As a supported lodgings host, people will have the chance to support a young person to learn skills to prepare them for independence. Hosts will have the opportunity to attend some training to support them in this role. Finally, hosts will also receive a payment to cover the costs of having a young person living in their home.

For more information and how you can help please read here. 

Let’s Talk Child Friendly Warwickshire

A new episode of the Let’s Talk Warwickshire podcast has been released, exploring the Child Friendly Warwickshire (CFW) initiative. 

The podcast series discusses important issues facing the communities of Warwickshire. This latest episode shines a spotlight on the exciting CFW programme, featuring a conversation between John Coleman, Assistant Director for Children's Services, Alice Battersby, Co-Chair of the Warwickshire Youth Forum, and Abbey Baker, Development Worker, along with our podcast host, Gail Downey. The podcast episode is available to listen to now. 

The episode explores the innovative approach implemented by Child Friendly Warwickshire, which aims to ensure that all children and young people in the county are happy, healthy, heard, safe and skilled. Alice Battersby, representing the voice of Warwickshire's youth, highlights the issues that young people face today, while John Coleman talks about why this scheme is such a priority for the county council and Abbey Baker discusses how she has been expanding the network of supporters committed to enriching the lives of young people. 

You can learn more about the initiative on the Child Friendly Warwickshire website. 

You can listen to other episodes from Let’s Talk Warwickshire on PodBean. 

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