I was utterly saddened to hear of the Anti-Muslim terrorist attack in New Zealand last week and my thoughts, as I am sure yours are too, are with all of the people who have been directly affected.  As with any attack of this nature, it is likely to cause a certain degree of unrest within the community so I would encourage you to share this letter from the National Policing Lead for Hate Crime, ACC Mark Hamilton, as widely as possible.

I am really pleased to be able to share the news this week that Warwickshire's proposal for an alternative provision free school has been given the green light to proceed to the open competition stage of the process. The school will help to increase our offering to the most vulnerable pupils in the county, providing a mix of short-stay, full-time and part-time provision. You can read more about the proposal here.

It was excellent to see such a good turnout at the Headteachers' Conference yesterday at Stoneleigh Park, where we were joined by HMCI Amanda Spielman and HMI James McNeillie, answering your questions and busting some myths in relation to the new inspection framework. In the spirit of co-production, our own headteachers provided us with some really helpful insights into the Ofsted framework, the benefits of Google for staff and pupils, and ideas for encouraging physical activity during the school day. 

And to make sure you are kept informed of all of the latest news and developments within the local authority we provided updates on some key initiatives, such as the mental health trailblazer and The 'W' Code to make sure no child gets left behind.

We will be sharing all of the presentations as well as Amanda's responses to all of your questions in next week's Heads Up, and also by email, so watch out for these.

Lastly, I would just like to encourage you all to let us know if we are getting it right with Heads Up - frequency, format, content, timing - we would like to hear your thoughts and suggestions on how we could improve so please do send us your feedback on our short online survey.