Continuous Provision for Real

30 hours free childcare

The Department for Education (DfE) is launching a campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of 30 hours free childcare, with a focus on lower-income families.  

The awareness of the 30 hours offer is lower among lower-income families and the DfE is hoping to help address this. They have created:

• A suite of case studies of six families across England sharing the positive impacts of 30 hours free childcare on their household (e.g. making childcare more affordable, enabling parents to go back to work and additional support for parents of children with special educational needs).
• A “how-to” animation to support families applying for 30 hours free childcare and Tax-Free Childcare online.

Please help to share these sources so parents don't miss out on government support. 

Congratulations to the staff at The Purple Playhouse

Congratulations to all the staff at The Purple Playhouse in Leamington Spa who recently received ‘Outstanding’ judgements across all of the 4 inspection areas - Leadership and management; Quality of teaching, learning and assessment; Personal development, behaviour and welfare; and Outcomes for children.

Ofsted stated:

• The manager and her deputy are passionate about providing a high-quality service to children and their families. They lead their well-established staff team with encouragement and enthusiasm.
• Strong reflective practice is exceptional and identifies areas they can improve even further in the environment, as a group and as individuals.
• Staff deployment is superb. The manager and her deputy are fully aware of the staff's individual and unique qualities.
• Children relish their time in the nursery environment and are making excellent progress in relation to their individual starting points.
• Staff's knowledge of their key children and their families is commendable. The sharply focused planning ensures that gaps in children's learning are identified without delay.
• Parents are given a wealth of guidance and the loan of resources to help them fully support their children's learning at home.
• The staff team is extremely knowledgeable about how to promote children's health and well-being.
• Staff's understanding of safeguarding is comprehensive. They are extremely vigilant, and they know exactly what they need to do if they have a concern about a child in their care and take immediate action.

 Read the full report here.

Young People, Mental Health and Reading: A Training Session with Nicola Morgan

We are really pleased to announce a fantastic training opportunity with Nicola Morgan!

Nicola is an internationally-acclaimed author who focuses on pupil wellbeing, including how stress impacts performance, effects of screens, social media and reading for pleasure. She has spent more than 20 years studying the subjects she now writes and talks about and can make highly intelligent and perceptive connections between neuroscience, psychology, observation and the lived experience of the thousands of children, young adults, parents and professionals she has engaged with.  
“Nicola Morgan has that rare gift of being able to communicate science and make it fun.” Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, University of Cambridge

You can find out more about Nicola at www.nicolamorgan.com

This will be a popular event so please book your place ASAP using our online form here

Event Information:
Date: Thursday 3 October 2019
Venue: Northgate House Conference Centre, Warwick, CV34 4JH 

Outline of the session:
12.30-13.30: Arrival and buffet lunch
13.30-15.00: The science of stress, for young people and the rest of us, including the contribution of screen time. Nicola will bring you the well-researched science, going behind media headlines to find out what we do and don’t know about stress in our modern world, offline and online. At the end of the session you will understand the problems and challenges and improve your insight into how things are for many people of all ages, with a special focus on young people in your care. 
15:00 – 15:30: Break   
15.30-16.45: The important role of Reading for pleasure in wellbeing and success. This session takes reading for pleasure as one strategy for wellbeing and looks at the fascinating science and evidence for choosing (and funding) this as a powerful tool for success in schools. How can we support young people (and the rest of us!) to read more for pleasure and why should we? Do our reading choices matter? Fiction or non-fiction? Simple or complex? Digital or print?

Costs:
Book by Friday 26 July to benefit from our early bird rate:
WSLS subscriber: £55.00
Non subscriber: £65.00
After the 26 July tickets will cost the following:
WSLS subscriber: £75.00
Non subscriber: £85.00

*Please note that a cancellation fee will apply to all tickets. If you are unable to attend the session, 50% of the ticket fee will be charged up to four weeks before the event. After this point, tickets will then become non-refundable.

This will be a popular event so please book your place ASAP using our online form here

Please get in touch with us if you would like any further information: schoolslibraryservice@warwickshire.gov.uk 

CPD for Primary School RE Subject Leaders and Coordinators

Thursday 4 July 4pm - 6pm at Southam College

Focus of the session: New to RE subject leadership

Religious Education (RE) subject leaders and coordinators from all Warwickshire primary schools are invited to the next twilight meeting on Thursday 4 July 2019, 4pm - 6pm at Southam College Welsh Road West, Southam, Warwickshire CV47 0JW

These sessions are organised by Warwickshire County Council in partnership with the Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education (SACRE) and are completely free to attend. They provide an excellent opportunity for teachers and subject coordinators of RE to:

• seek advice and support from the RE Facilitator
• receive updates on local and national developments in RE
• network with other RE coordinators
• develop subject knowledge

The focus for this particular twilight session will be new to RE subject leadership

How to book

To book your place, please email your details (name and school) to sacre@warwickshire.gov.uk by Friday 27 June at the very latest.  

Become a Dementia Friend

In Warwickshire, there are estimated to be approximately 7,600 people living with dementia and this is likely to rise to over 11,000 in the county in the next ten years. The fact is that most people will be affected in some way by dementia during their lifetimes.

Raising awareness of dementia, creating dementia friendly communities and supporting people to live well with dementia are key aims of Warwickshire’s Living Well with Dementia Strategy (2016-2019).  To support people to live well with dementia and to raise awareness and understanding of the condition, Warwickshire County Council and partners are aiming to create 30,000 Dementia Friends across Warwickshire by 2019. Our local target will also contribute to the national target: to create 4 million Dementia Friends in England by 2020.

Dementia Friends aims to change the way people think, act and speak about dementia. The initiative is led nationally by Alzheimer’s Society and is based on the principle that people with dementia can live well with a little help from other people and there are now over 2.5 million Dementia Friends in England. Becoming a Dementia Friend is about understanding a bit more about dementia and the small things that can help people with the condition. You don’t need to already know someone with dementia to become a Dementia Friend.

We already have over 25,000 Dementia Friends in Warwickshire, which is a fantastic achievement, but we need your support to reach our target of 30,000. To help encourage pupils, and their families, why not add a few words into your schools' newsletters, asking people to sign up over the school holidays? Signing up to be a Dementia Friend only takes 5 minutes. Go to www.dementiafriends.org.uk, where you can enter your details and find out more about becoming a Dementia Friend.   

There are a number of benefits to raising the concept of Dementia Friends to your school and students/pupils:

• Nearly one in three young people already know someone living with dementia. Dementia Friends can help your pupils understand how dementia may affect someone and how they can support someone living with it
• Dementia Friends is a National initiative  - be part of something really positive 
• Can be delivered within PSHE lessons – links with Citizenship
• Free PSHE accredited lesson toolkits can be used by anyone in the classroom to raise dementia-awareness. These are tailored for each key stage
• A Dementia Friends Information Session can be delivered to a class, year groups or assemblies (up to 200 pupils)
• Information Sessions are interactive and focus on five key messages that are important for everyone to know about dementia. Information Sessions can be tailored to specific age groups (from 5-18).
• Free session lasting 45-60 minutes, delivered by volunteers.
• All resources provided
• Dementia Friends Badges and Information card provided to every participant
• Minimal organisation required from the school.

Warwickshire County Council and Alzheimer’s Society would like to support your school / college to host a Dementia Friends Information Session. Visit alzheimers.org.uk/youngpeople to find out more about raising dementia-awareness with your students. Or simply complete the attached Information Session request form and send to  Alzheimer's Society: youngpeople@alzheimers.org.uk  If you have any queries, please contact Ann-Marie Snelson, Senior Dementia Friends Officer on 07710381679

If you would like to use Alzheimer’s Society PSHE accredited lesson packs or use the animation to teach young people about dementia, you can request these resources from alzheimers.org.uk/youngpeople

Shake Up games for your school

Public Health England have teamed up with Disney to create a set of new 10 Minute Shake Up resources filled with fun, quick and easy activities that will take your pupils on an adventure with some of their favourite Disney characters.

The free resources are flexible and designed to be used throughout the school day, helping to embed physical activity in pupils' daily routine.

Get started with the range of resources below:

• Active whole-school assembly – introduce the movements of each Disney character
• Active role play starters – start your lesson with movement to get pupils ready to learn
• Active school day ideas – use our activity ideas to get pupils moving before, during and after school
• 10 Minute Shake Up certificate – print out and reward pupil activity. A limited-edition Disney themed version will be up for grabs later in the term (subject to availability).

Find out more here.

Virtual School Training

For designated teachers of looked after children and previously looked after:

Autumn training reminder

Our annual DT training follows our usual format:

First session – new to role and refresher

Second session – updates

Third session – Warwickshire EPS delivering ‘Unveiling Anxieties: A Psychological Re-Think’

One free place per school, for the designated teacher, regardless of whether there are currently CLA/CPLA on roll.

Date	Venue
Tue 1 October	Pound Lane
Wed 9 October	Bulkington
Thurs 17 October	Rugby College
Wed 23 October	Bulkington
Thurs 7 Nov	Pound Lane

 

• Event details are included in the flyer sent to designated teachers at the start of term
• Bookings are through the Virtual School
• Places available on all, but spaces limited on first two dates

Spring term training

'Inclusive Responses to behaviour that Challenges' will be run again next year. Booking information will be shared in the Autumn term, but planned dates are 15 January at Bulkington and 19 March at Pound Lane.

For queries and bookings:

virtualschool@warwickshire.gov.uk, 01926 742018

Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT)

The Anna Freud Learning Network has announced Mental Health Awareness Training (MHAT) for over 1,800 schools across England. MHAT is a national programme which will provide knowledge, skills and practical tools to staff working in secondary schools.

The MHAT training for Secondary Schools will be freely available to secondary schools who have not yet received Mental Health First Aid Training in 2017 - 2018. The training will be available for up to two members of staff from each eligible secondary school. The trainings will take place across England in over 100 locations between September 2019 – March 2020.

To find out whether your school is eligible or to register your interest in attending a training, please visit www.annafreud.org/mhat.

New anti-knife crime school lessons ahead of summer

Warwickshire Headteachers' Conference (Summer Term 2019)

Have your say in shaping Warwickshire’s Careers Strategy

Warwickshire educators, businesses and local residents are to have their say on shaping a new Careers Strategy for the county.

Warwickshire County Council is undertaking a public consultation from 19 June – 26 July, to allow a wide variety of voices to give feedback on the Council’s draft Careers Strategy.

Effective careers and employability advice and support are critical components of a successful local economy. They can help people gain the skills needed by local employers, and pursue careers that match their talents and interests, as well as support those who want, or need, to change occupations. Good careers advice can also facilitate social mobility by raising aspirations and highlighting career pathways individuals may not have thought of.

With the number of vacancies posted online in Warwickshire growing, and the ratio of vacancies to working age population almost double the national regional average, according to Office for National Statistics figures, an effective careers strategy for the county is vital.

Key audiences for the consultation include residents - particularly, vulnerable groups such as care leavers; young people, parents and adults looking to retrain; businesses; education and training providers. The County Council will be running a series of formal and informal meetings and consultations to reach these groups across the county with the help of schools the Local Enterprise Partnership; Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, and the Federation of Small Businesses.

To take part in the online consultation follow this link: http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/ask

Warwickshire County Council’s new draft Careers Strategy is based on the principles set out in the Government’s National Careers Strategy of December 2017 which highlights the merits of timely careers and employability support in terms of sustainable employment and higher lifetime earnings. Warwickshire County Council’s draft Careers Strategy currently has five key priorities:

• Raising the awareness of the range of career and employment opportunities locally, inspiring residents of all ages to develop their education and skills as far as possible
• Building the capacity of our education providers to deliver effective and sustainable Careers support and advice
• Providing targeted support and help to our most vulnerable learners
• Improving alignment of demand and supply of skills, now and in the future
• Encouraging and enabling businesses to recruit from a richer and wider talent pool.