Outstanding result for RSC Nursery in Stratford

Congratulations to all the staff at RSC Nursery in Stratford-upon-Avon who recently received ‘Outstanding’ judgements across all the four inspection areas - quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.

Ofsted stated:

The Head of Nursery works extremely closely with her staff team to provide a consistent and coherent approach to learning.

Ongoing training ensures the nursery remains up to date and is very well equipped to support the individual needs of all children.

All aspects of the nursery provision are carefully considered. Planning is informed by children's individual interests and developmental needs. This ensures all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who speak English as an additional language, are well supported to make rapid progress in their learning and development.

Children are very well prepared for the next stage in their education. Transitions into nursery, between rooms, and on to school are carefully managed for each child and their family. There are many opportunities for the children to develop their independence and self-confidence.

Two-year-olds begin to serve their own breakfast and pour their own drinks.

Learning environments are thoughtfully planned to ensure they fully support children to access all areas of learning. An exceptional range of resources are available to the children throughout the day.

Older children have opportunities to paint, make playdough, observe plants growing in the green house, and use torches to explore the garden as it begins to get dark.

Children, babies and staff come together daily for a family-style lunch. Staff visibly enjoy sitting with children, engaging them in conversation and supporting them to eat independently. At first, they use their hands and a spoon, and then real knives, forks and glasses are introduced. The extremely appetising, healthy menu includes fresh fruit and vegetables daily, and introduces children to a broad range of foods.

Staff's individual skills are used well to enhance the curriculum further. They expertly lead children during science, creative, cooking and forest school activities.

Parents are supported to have a very strong understanding of how children learn. They speak extremely highly of the individual support and care provided to both their children and themselves by the skilled staff team. They value the broad range of learning opportunities their children receive, and comment on how well staff know their children as individuals and tailor their approach to each child. Parents describe how difficult it is for them to put into words how wonderful the RSC nursery is

You can read the full report on Ofsted's website here.

Report on the work of SACRE 2018-19

The latest annual report on the work of Warwickshire Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) has recently been published and is available to read on the SACRE website at the link below:

SACRE Annual Report 2018-19 (pdf 1.5mb)

SACRE has a duty to publish a report every year which is sent to the secretary of state and other key partners, including schools, training institutions and councillors.

This report covers the management of SACRE, standards and quality of provision of RE in Warwickshire, as well as the support that SACRE provided last year including CPD sessions supporting the delivery of the Agreed Syllabus, a session for newly qualified teachers; regular RE Bulletins for schools, and monitoring and support visits for schools.

About SACRE

SACRE is a statutory body convened by the Local Authority (LA) to offer advice in relation to quality, standards and progress of Religious Education and Collective Worship in community schools.

It is a statutory requirement that SACRE produces an annual report by 31st December each calendar year detailing their activities. The report must be sent to the Secretary of State for Education as well as to key partners, including schools and councillors.

The main purpose of the report is to hold the LA to account, by informing the Secretary of State and key partners what advice SACRE gave the LA during the year and how that was responded to. This includes advice on RE and Collective Worship in those schools for which the LA has responsibility.

You can find more information about the work of the group on the SACRE website.

Helping schools to support young carers

Please keep reading for details of Young Carers Awareness Day 2020, free training to help schools to support young carers and a request to complete a short questionnaire to help Warwickshire Young Carers improve understand how they can develop their ways of working to improve the support they provide to young carers across the county.

Young Carers Awareness Day - 30 January 2020

In line with Young Carers Awareness Day on the 30 January, Warwickshire County Council will be joining forces with its partner, Warwickshire Young Carers. The joint initiative will see campaign messages around the profile of a young carer and the duties that a young carer undertakes daily.

In addition, we will also be promoting the ‘Count Me In’ campaign – led by the Carers Trust, the aim of the campaign is to encourage education providers to do more to proactively identify young carers and to ensure that they receive the recognition and support they deserve.

People are being asked to post images of themselves or their setting with the tagline ‘A young carer is…’

Here's a great example below that we spotted on Twitter from Stockingford Academy:

Get involved on social media with #CountMeIn, #YoungCarersAwarenessDay and #Warksyc.

The campaign will run in the lead up to 30 January and make use of all social media channels, Twitter and Facebook.

Please make sure you follow, like and retweet the posts:

Twitter: @WarksYC    @Warwickshire_CC

Facebook: @warwickshirecountycouncil    @warwickshireyoungcarers 

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Warwickshire Young Carers School Award Consultation

Warwickshire Young Carers is currently undertaking a consultation to understand how they might work better with education providers to further support young carers in schools and to develop their offer. They would therefore be grateful if you would take five minutes to fill in their short questionnaire:

Warwickshire Young Carers Schools Work Consultation Questionnaire

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Free training to help schools to support young carers

Warwickshire Young Carers offer free training to schools and other partners working with young carers to help raise awareness of the role that young carers play and the support available to them.

Dates for Young Carer Awareness Training and School Lead Training are available throughout the year - please check the Eventbrite page for details and to book your place.

Warwickshire Road Safety – Be Bright Be Seen Animation

Warwickshire Road Safety Club is pleased to introduce a new animated road safety film focusing on ‘Be Bright Be Seen’ during dark mornings and nights.

This animation forms part of the Warwickshire Road Safety Club's educational programme and is now available free of charge for all schools to download and share with their parents and children.

Schools are being encouraged to download the resource to share via social media, on their website and on information display screens, as well as during assembly. 

The key message – make sure traffic can see you at all times – is reinforced by showing pedestrians and cyclists wearing reflective and fluorescent clothes.

For information about how to download the animation please contact roadsafetyeducation@warwickshire.gov.uk

Fully-funded training - Leading a Mentally Healthy School

Funded by the Warwickshire Improving SEND and SEMH in Schools Project (WISSSP)

A two-session fully-funded CPD programme for SLT members to lead their school to become mentally healthy.

The programme aims to enable and empower senior leaders to put mental health at the heart of strategic school improvement and to equip senior leaders with practical and sustainable approaches that can be implemented on return to school.

Various dates and venues are available to book onto, with courses starting early February.

Please see the attached flyer for more details and a link to the online booking form.

This training is run in partnership between WCC, The Griffin Teaching School Alliance and Hillmorton Teaching School Alliance.

Training to support pupils with additional needs

A number of Warwickshire's traded education services provide training and development to help schools to build capacity and skills to better support pupils with additional needs.

Please see a list below of upcoming courses provided by the Specialist Teaching Service (STS) and Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS).

For details of all training provided by WES traded services you can visit the WES website.

Available Training

Demand Avoidance (PDA) Training 

Full day training session with a primary school focus, designed for practitioners supporting a student who has a diagnosis of Autism with Demand Avoidant features/Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA).

When/Where: 30 Jan 2020 at Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa

Book this course

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Inference Training

A group intervention for pupils in KS2 and KS3 who decode adequately but fail to get full meaning and enjoyment from their reading. 

When/Where: 6 Feb 2020 at Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa

Book this course

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Assessing EAL New Arrivals

Two free funded places for all Local Authority primary schools.

Aims to build EAL capacity in schools.

When/Where: 28 Feb 2020 at Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa

Book this course

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EAL SEND Training

For teachers, teaching assistants, SEND & EAL Coordinators requiring support in identifying and assessing SEND in children or young people whose first language is not English.

When/Where: 27 Mar 2020 at Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa

Book this course

Innovative cyber security challenge for 11-17 year olds

With Safer Internet Day on 11 February 2020 highlighting the theme 'Together for a better internet', there's no better time to raise the importance of cyber safety amongst young people and one way of getting your students involved could be through the Matrix Challenge.

The Matrix Challenge is an innovative cyber competition designed and led by the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Cyber Crime Unit. It is delivered in partnership with the regional organised crime units across the UK.

Students aged from 11-17yrs may take part and will learn cyber security skills and how to keep safe online, especially in the gaming environment. 

The Matrix Challenge is a self-contained online game available at home, in schools, clubs or anywhere you have access to a computer. The qualification stage is an online game consisting of five mini tasks, which went live on the website on Monday 20 January and will close on Thursday 14 February. The top 40 players from each region will qualify for a regional semi-final to be held in March 2020. Semi-finalists will take on five activity stations competing for a place in the national finals to be held on the 4 July 2020.

Engagement sessions, which can be tailored to suit both staff and students, are available to schools/clubs/colleges should further detail be required.

Further details are available by visiting the Matrix Challenge website. 

Key national updates

Ofsted consultation: removal of the outstanding exemption

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How 'stuck' schools are overcoming isolation

A report published by Ofsted on 8 January investigates why some schools that have previously delivered a low standard of education for long periods of time have managed to sustainably improve and others have not.

Read 'Fight or flight? How 'stuck' schools are overcoming isolation:evaluation report'  

Save the date - Spring Term Headteachers' Conference

Following such an excellent turn out at our autumn term headteachers conference, we hope you will join us this term for another opportunity to hear updates from the Council and to network with colleagues from across the county.

Save the Date!

Spring Term 2020 Headteachers' Conference

Thursday 5th March 2020, 1pm to 4pm

Stareton Hall, NAEC Stoneleigh, Kenilworth, CV8 2LZ

Booking details and agenda will follow.

Training to support HR in schools

Warwickshire's HR and Payroll Services offers training to support schools with a range of areas in relation to HR and payroll. 

Some of the upcoming training courses are highlighted below. Full details of all courses and bespoke training are available on the WES website.

Course title / Description	Date	Venue	Booking Link
Pre-employment training The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the pre employment checks required as part of the conditional offer. The course will provide an understanding of how to complete the necessary pre employment checks.	5 Feb 2020	Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa	Book this course
DBS training The Objectives of the course are: to build your confidence in processing DBS applications raise awareness and provide background to DBS confirmation of documents that are required	5 Feb 2020	Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa	Book this course

National Apprenticeship Week 2020

The theme behind the 13th Annual National Apprenticeship Week 2020 will be “Look Beyond”

National Apprenticeship Week 2020 will run from 3 to 7 February and the theme this year, 'Look Beyond', will celebrate the diversity and value that apprenticeships bring to employers, apprentices and communities across England.

National Apprenticeship Week is a time to recognise and applaud apprenticeship success stories across the country. It's a fantastic opportunity for employers to promote the success of their apprentices and highlight the huge benefits to other employers, of all sizes, who are thinking of taking on an apprentice.

The week is also a chance to celebrate the achievements of apprentices across the country, with engagement and events in schools and colleges. Many often invite current and former apprentices back into school to tell their story attracting the next generation of apprentices, so they too can fire up their future career.

‘Look Beyond’ will be encouraging the apprenticeship community to unite and showcase the true meaning of diversity within apprenticeships, including:

• calling on young people to look beyond traditional routes into employment and explore the diversity of career options and industries now available to them through apprenticeships;

• calling on employers to look beyond traditional hiring routes and shout about the value they already see from diversifying their workforce by employing apprentices

• calling on parents and teachers to look beyond old preconceptions around apprenticeships, building understanding of the true value they bring and sharing this with young people.

Keep up to date with National Apprenticeship Week news by following @Apprenticeships on Twitter and National Apprenticeship Service on LinkedIn.