Early Years Adviser opportunity

After seven years working for Warwickshire as an Early Years Adviser, Sara Haigh will be leaving her post on 28 June 2019. This leaves an opportunity for an experienced early years colleague to join the local authority team.

Further information about the role and how to apply is on the WMJobs website.  Deadline for applications is 10 June 2019 with interviews being held at the end of June.

Please pass this opportunity on to any early years colleagues who may be interested in this position.

Please be reassured that Sara’s early years colleague, Dawn Jearum, will be available on email and telephone to support you with any EYFS advice and guidance that you may need, both in the interim period before a replacement adviser takes up post, and thereafter as usual.

Contact Dawn Jearum:

Tel: 07769 914 668   Email: dawnjearum@warwickshire.gov.uk

Again, and as normal, if you have immediate safeguarding concerns please do not hesitate to contact the MASH team on 01926 414144.

Time to Talk cluster meetings

Run by the Warwickshire Early Years team, the cluster meetings are an opportunity for Time to Talk champions and supporting practitioners to keep up to date with the latest developments, share good practice and ideas, and network with others.

The meetings can also help to provide specific support and advice and empower champions to share what they have learned with their teams in effective ways. 

A number of sessions are organised across the county on the following dates:

10 June - Rugby, 9.30am - 11.30am

11 June - Nuneaton, 1.30pm - 3.30pm

12 June - Stratford, 9.30am - 11.30am

Following the cluster meeting, there is also an opportunity for a pre-booked appointment with the Speech and Language Therapist. 

Cost: £23

For more information and to book a place visit the Warwickshire Early Years website.

New SEND and Inclusion Strategy launched

Last month, Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet approved a new strategy to support learners with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

This follows a full consultation with SEND learners, parents/carers, teachers and other stakeholders during November and December 2018. Responses were analysed during workshops and meetings, with the majority of respondents agreeing with the proposed vision and priorities of the strategy.

The new strategy will build on the Vulnerable Learners Strategy 2015-2018, working in partnership with schools, parents and their children to involve them in key decisions to deliver an effective SEND system.

By working in partnership, it will ensure that the needs of SEND learners are met in all educational settings, which means schools can focus on supporting vulnerable learners to be independent and safe in school and beyond.

A leaflet summarising the six priorities and key activities to deliver each of these, will be distributed to parents/carers and to all Warwickshire schools over the coming weeks. In the meantime, both documents are available online via the links below: 

Read the leaflet here

Read the full strategy document here

Legal advice for schools - Social Media and Surveillance

Warwickshire Legal Services has issued this important message to make schools aware of the risks associated with repeated or extensive viewing of social media accounts

With the prevalence of social media in today’s society, it is easy to take the view that if a person shares information about themselves online that there is no limit to how this can be viewed. However, regulations are in place to protect the rights of every individual to his private and family life, his home and correspondence, and limits the rights of public authorities to interfere with this (European Convention on Human Rights – Article 8).

Any surveillance seen as necessary by a school can only be carried out for the prevention or detection of serious crime, and when this is proportionate and properly authorised. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (‘RIPA’) governs all state agencies, including schools and local authorities to carry out covert surveillance activities and provides for an authorisation process to enable them to conduct those activities lawfully. The use of these powers is overseen by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner and the Home Office has a Code of Practice for its use.

The Code of Practice makes clear that the use of the internet to uncover information can in some circumstances amount to surveillance. This is because there may be an expectation of privacy over information which is on the internet, particularly where information on social media websites is accessed. If the study of an individual’s online presence becomes persistent, or where material obtained from any viewing is to be extracted and recorded, this may amount to an unwarranted interference with the privacy of the individual.

Headteachers should therefore be aware that repeated or extensive viewing by staff of social media accounts, including twitter and facebook posts, without the individuals’ knowledge, may risk interfering with the privacy of those persons and constitute “surveillance”.  

It is unlikely that an authorisation under RIPA will be available for such surveillance since it will not be carried out for the purposes of a criminal investigation. Nevertheless, the County Council has a policy in place which provides that an application must be considered by the Assistant Director (Policy and Governance), the Senior Responsible Officer for RIPA, where it is proposed to carry out covert surveillance, even if this is not covered by RIPA.

The County Council’s policy and further guidance on RIPA and surveillance is available here: https://i.warwickshire.gov.uk/content/ripa-regulation-investigatory-powers-act-2000/ripa-regulation-investigatory-powers-act-2000

Or you can seek further case specific advice from the Council’s Education Solicitor Guy Darvill on:  01926 476973, guydarvill@warwickshire.gov.uk 

Support for raising awareness around dental health

National Smile Month, the largest and longest-running campaign promoting good oral health, runs from 13 May to 13 June 2019. 

According to Public Health England a quarter of five year olds have tooth decay, with an average of three or four teeth being affected.

This leads to around 60,000 missed school days a year and causes problems with eating and sleeping. Children’s tooth extractions are also one of the largest causes of hospital admissions in the UK.

School Health are promoting National Smile Month and have some excellent resources to help support schools in raising awareness around dental health.  Our Health Support Workers have already made a number of bookings to work with schools to deliver sessions promoting dental health with pupils. If you would like us to visit your school then please give us a call on 03300 245204.

Our contact details

• ChatHealth – Young People can contact us directly using our confidential text messaging number – 07507331525
• ChatHealth Parentline – Parents can contact us directly using our confidential text messaging number – 07520619376
• Central number for schools - schools wishing to contact the School Health Service can use the central number 03300 245204, selecting option 1,2 or 3 depending on where your school is located.

School Health would really like to attend as many school events as possible.  So if you have a sports day, open day, parents evening or any community events taking place in the near future, then please give us a call and we will endeavour to attend.  If we aren’t able to attend we will send you some information which could be displayed about the School Health service.

KS2 Agreement trialling meetings show improvements in quality of writing and teacher knowledge

Warwickshire's Assessment Team recently ran a series of Agreement Trialling meetings for Key Stage 2 writing assessments for teachers in Year 3 and Year 4. 

The aim of the sessions were to ensure teachers:

• were up-to-date with the latest assessment information and documentation
• understood their role in helping children to secure the writing skills (compositional and transcriptional) that underpin statutory end of Key Stage 2 assessment – and in-school, consortia
  moderation
• had an opportunity to present and discuss their evidence trails for writing at this point, during the school year
• could accurately moderate their judgements with colleagues from other schools, outside their consortia
• could share and evaluate good practice, processes and systems, compare their body of evidence with others and identify their own next-steps

Evaluation

Over the four half-day sessions, approximately 85 teachers attended from a mixture of Years 3 and 4. Teachers from the same school were encouraged to sit separately unless they were current job-shares.

After sharing and clarifying expectations around the statutory knowledge and skills outlined in the national curriculum programmes of study; the end of KS1 and KS2 Teacher Assessment Frameworks and the corresponding recording grids, a considerable proportion of time was scheduled for collective discussion and moderation around the given standards (age-related expected standard or age-related greater-depth standard) using a clear set of criteria.

All attendees brought and presented a range of writing evidence, working either as a group or in pairs to discuss and agree their teacher assessment judgements. Teachers engaged enthusiastically and were openly encouraged to reflect upon, and evaluate, the quality and quantity of their evidence at this point in the year, consider how it compared with others in the group, the accuracy and robustness of their assessments, and to identify next step actions to move their practice on.

Since the initial core offer of professional development in 2015, the subsequent ATMs, and the roll out of consortia moderation for the whole of KS2, there have been significant improvements to the quality and quantity of writing in Years 3 and 4, as well as in teacher knowledge and expertise.

Teachers in lower KS2 now have a far greater understanding of the statements within the national standards, and their engagement in the process of moderation has improved tenfold. Increased accountability across both year groups is clearly evident, as teachers demonstrate a greater understanding of the important role they play in statutory end of KS2 assessment. They are far more confident and willing to present and discuss both their own and each others’ writing trails; are increasingly adept at identifying their own strengths, gaps in skills coverage and balance of genres and text types; are much more willing to share good practice such as, curriculum themes and texts that excite and engage children, as well as effective systems and processes for editing and proof reading the compositional and transcriptional elements of writing.

These meetings have a ‘buzz’ and evaluative feedback confirms all the above.

For further information about these meetings please contact edassessment@warwickshire.gov.uk

Westgate Primary is the latest Educaterers school to receive top food hygiene rating

Westgate Primary School in Warwick has received a five star food hygiene rating – the highest rating possible – from the Food Standards Agency.

The school’s catering premises, which are run by Midlands-based school caterers, Educaterers, were inspected by food safety officers and rated ‘very good’ across the board.

Hygienic food handling, cleanliness and the condition of the facilities and building, and the management of food safety all received the top marks from the Food Standards Agency.

Read the full article

Arts & Minds competition - open for entries!

2019 entries now open!

Arts & Minds is a schools-based competition organised by the NASUWT to celebrate Black History Month.

The competition is open to children and young people from primary, secondary and special schools across the UK and includes categories based around art, creative writing and The Anne Frank Poetry Award. Entries must explore themes around diversity, race, equality and identity and reflect the competition's aims to promote cultural diversity and equality and tackle racism in schools.

Prizes include £1,000 for the overall winning school and £350 for the winning schools in each of the three categories - primary, secondary and special, which will be presented at a prestigious awards ceremony in London on 8 October 2019. 

Closing date for entries is 5 July 2019.

For more information see the NASUWT website.

Free assembly plan - epilepsy awareness

It's National Epilepsy Week 20-26 May, and the Epilepsy Society, the UK's leading charity for epilepsy research and support, has put together a free, interactive resource for schools to raise awareness.

The pack includes an assembly plan aimed at Key Stage 2 and explores some exciting facts about the brain, what causes a seizure and how to help someone who is having a convulsive seizure. There is a powerpoint and detailed script/guide for the person delivering the assembly.

Download your free resource pack here.

Poster competition

The Epilepsy Society is also running a nationwide poster competition for pupils to design a poster about Seizure First Aid. The winning pupil will receive a £25 voucher and £100 for their school's science department.

1 in 20 people will have a seizure at some point in their lives so to provide children with advice on how to safely help someone could make a real difference.

Need to get hold of further information / contact details to include here

New senior leadership structure in Education Services

In the recent edition of Heads Up, on 2 May, we shared with you some changes within the Education Services senior leadership structure, part of the wider transformation across the council to embed our new operating model. This will ensure we are in the best shape possible to meet the challenges of the future and that we are getting the best from the resources available to us.

We can now share with you the current structure chart for Education Services (click the image below to view full size).

Please note that interim arrangements are still in place to cover the role of the Assistant Director of Education Services, with Hayley continuing to be the main point of contact until Ian Budd is well enough to return.  We wish Ian a speedy recovery and look forward to him rejoining us soon. 

Please note that there is no hierarchy in this chart with respect to the members of the team who sit underneath the Commissioning and Delivery Managers (Jane, Hayley and Sarah).

Important reminder to all schools - teaching stranger awareness

Following a number of incidents at Warwickshire schools in recent weeks, Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Board's Taking Care Scheme would like to issue an important reminder to schools about the teaching of stranger danger.

Please remind all of your school staff to follow the guidance below when communicating with children and young people around this issue.

For more information about the Education Safeguarding Service and Take Care Scheme visit www.safeguardinginwarwickshire.co.uk

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As promoted by Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Board’s Taking Care Scheme please do not teach blanket ‘stranger danger’ messages to children.

The reason for this is that sometimes a stranger is the only person who can help us and is a far safer option than not talking to anyone. E.g. a child lost in a shop is far safer to tell a stranger they are lost than to wander off looking for the person they have separated from. We may choose to discuss the likely ‘safest’ strangers in such scenarios, such as a mother with a pram or small child or someone who works in the shop.

However, we do need to clarify the stranger issue, as plainly there are situations we may want to warn children about for their own safety e.g.

• not to get in a car with anyone (NOT just someone they don’t know) unless their parent/guardian knows who/ where/ when etc and has given permission.

• not leaving school with someone other than who they were expecting unless their parent/guardian knows who/ where/ when etc and has given permission and they have checked with a school staff member. Sometimes a password system is used so that children are only released into the care of an adult who can give the correct password – this is usually changed as soon as it has been used once.

• not to walk off with anyone (NOT just someone they don’t know) unless their parent/guardian knows who/ where/ when etc and has given permission. 

• If someone tries to grab them it is ok to break all the rules of politeness to others e.g. scream, kick, punch, bite…etc. Whatever they need to do to draw attention to themselves and alert others to the fact they are in danger.

Please reinforce these safety messages to the children regularly without giving them the idea that ALL strangers are ‘bad’.

Ofsted’s publishes new inspection framework

Ofsted has how published the outcome of the consultation on its new education inspection framework, following a record 15,000 responses - the highest Ofsted has ever received.

The main changes include:

• A greater emphasis on the curriculum with a new 'quality of education'  measure

• Two new separate judgements for 'behaviour and attitudes' and 'personal development' 

• A move away from using a school's internal performance data as inspection evidence

• An increase from one to two days for short inspections, except for small schools (150 pupils or fewer on roll)

Some ideas have not made it into the new version of the framework, including the proposal to give inspectors preparation time on-site prior to the inspection.

The new framework and inspection handbooks will be used across all education inspections from September 2019. 

Teaching Leaders Programme

Do you have aspiring middle leaders? Do you want to improve your school's performance and help more children and young people from disadvantaged areas?

If the answer is yes, then the Teaching Leaders Programme might be just what you're looking for.

Delivered by registered charity, The Ambition Institute, and fully-funded by the DfE, the Teaching Leaders Programme has been independently shown to be the only middle leadership development programme in England to have an impact on pupil outcomes. It provides participants with access to over 100 hours of development across the two year course, including one-to-one coaching, national whole-cohort development days and local peer group support sessions. 

It also provides the opportunity for participants to complete either the NPQML or NPQSL through the programme.

There are no additional supply costs to the school, with all training taking place outside of school hours and the school and its pupils can directly reap the benefits:

• Primary schools - there is an increase in performance of low attaining pupils with Teaching Leaders participants, resulting in +9% in Maths, 6% in Reading and 7% in Writing.

• Secondary schools - 1 in 12 pupils achieving a grade higher at GCSE in departments led by a Teaching Leaders Participant.

The ideal candidate? A Primary phase leader or secondary head of department are obvious candidates, however there will be lots of variations to job titles, so as long as participants are in a middle leadership position, line manage another staff member and have some level of responsibility for teaching and learning outcomes in classrooms (so not staff that are 100% pastoral), they will be eligible to apply.

With the programme being fully-funded by the DfE, schools do have to meet certain eligibility criteria to be able to access this training free of charge.

Enquiries

To enquire if your school would be eligible or for further details you can visit the Ambition Institute's website, or contact Lorraine Moulton, the regional manager for Warwickshire: Lorraine.moulton@ambition.org.uk 

Coventry and Warwickshire announced as Careers Hubs to help transform careers education

Warwickshire County Council's longstanding commitment to providing young people with maximum career pathways has received a boost after the county was included in a new wave of Careers Hubs across the country.

Following an announcement by the Secretary of State this week, Warwickshire and Coventry are to become two of 18 new Careers Hubs, the first in the area. Warwickshire Careers Hub will be integrated with Warwickshire County Council's existing Skills for Employment Programme. It will add a new dimension to the ongoing work that the county council has been doing to establish bridges between education-providers and employers for a number of years.

The first 20 Careers Hubs were launched by the Careers & Enterprise Company across England last September. Schools and colleges in that first wave are already outperforming the national average across all aspects of careers education.

This week's announcement is for a second wave of Careers Hubs, backed by a further £2.5m investment. Just over 1,300 secondary schools and colleges (around a quarter of those in England) will now benefit from being part of a Careers Hub.

Each Hub brings together a group of up to 40 schools, and colleges give every school and college in the area the opportunity to work together with universities, training providers, employers and career professionals.

Monica Fogarty, Chief Executive of Warwickshire County Council, said: “Warwickshire County Council welcomes this new funding which will build on and expand the work that we have been doing with our schools and colleges for a number of years through our Skills for Employment Programme.

“We know that effective careers and employability advice and support are critical components of a successful labour market, while also providing clear social benefits, increasing the likelihood of successful employment outcomes and lifetime earnings.

“Ensuring that all our young people develop strong employability skills, and are provided with effective and appropriate careers advice and support, is a key priority for the County Council.”

Schools and colleges in the hub will have access to further support and funding, including an expert ‘Hub Lead’ to help coordinate activity and build networks, a central fund to support employer engagement activities and training for a ‘Careers Leader’ in each school and college.

Employers are vital to the Hub model's success and more than 100 ‘Cornerstone Employers’ across the country have committed to driving and championing all-important connections to the world of work. Cornerstone Employers work with a specific Hub and underwrite careers provision in these areas. 

Supportive Employers come together to create opportunities for supported interns

Warwickshire’s businesses came out in force for the inaugural Supportive Employers Inc. forum with over 40 representatives from businesses joining Warwickshire County Council and the Careers and Enterprise Company in Coventry and Warwickshire (CEC).

The morning session was the first in a planned series of events to bring businesses together to share ideas and best practice on providing supported internships to people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

The government has committed to a 20% increase in the uptake of apprentices with SEND by 2020.  Nationally, there are nearly a quarter of a million people currently in education with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). Of this number, while nearly 80% would like to get a job, a mere 6% actually go into paid employment.

The Supportive Employer Inc. partnership between the county council and the CEC is looking to create a network of businesses that can offer work experience and potentially apprenticeships.

Speakers included Cllr Izzi Seccombe, Leader of Warwickshire County Council who stated the council’s commitment for 100 young people to access supported internships within Warwickshire across a range of different employers. Other speakers included Louise Saunders of National Grid, Deborah Pendleton of the RSC and Sandra Trainor of GEFCO, all of whom spoke about their businesses’ experience of supporting interns.

Giving the national picture was Claire Cookson, Deputy Chief Executive of the DFN Foundation, a charity which specialises in providing employability skills programmes for people with SEND.

Among the stark figures that Claire highlighted was the cost to the economy of people with SEND not working – an estimated £1million to the taxpayer in social care over the course of a lifetime for each person with SEND.

Harvey Duncan, a 23 year old man who had undertaken an internship at Hereward College also gave the audience his own insight into his own internship and how it had benefitted him. Having worked at the college after finishing his education, Harvey is now set to return to his family home in London and seek full-time employment, armed with the skills and experience he has acquired through the internship.

The businesses who have already gone on the journey gave inspiring accounts of the benefits of taking on a supported intern not least of all was the pipeline of talent with people with SEND consistently displaying great attention to detail, a conscientious approach to duties and attendance and the opportunity for businesses to make efficiencies via job carving.

The overall positive effect on staff morale, increased disability confidence in employees, enhanced skills developed by staff and the bond created within teams were also recurring themes. As they left, businesses signed pledges, promising levels of support to the programme ranging from offering work experience through to taking on an intern.

Future forums will help employers to understand the technicalities behind taking on a supported internship so that the intern’s needs are met and appropriate adjustments made to the workplace.  The Department for Work and Pensions will also provide advice on funding and support to help businesses make offers.

Mark Ryder, Strategic Director for Communities at Warwickshire County Council, said: “The county council is committed to increasing the number of people with SEND who are getting opportunities to take on paid employment.  The county council is looking at every way possible to increase our own take up of interns and we will encourage and work with local businesses to increase the breadth of offer across the county and across a range of businesses.”

Lizzie Mara, Enterprise Co-ordinator for the Careers and Enterprise Company in Coventry and Warwickshire, said:

“Young people with SEND are less likely to take exams that employers recognise, such as GCSEs. They also have higher rates of unemployment than other students. Many young people with SEND would benefit from additional cover support such as supported internships, apprenticeships and employment, extended workplace interviews, supported enterprise activities and volunteering. With the support and encouragement, many of these students can access the broad range of career outcomes available to their peers including apprenticeships, employer training schemes, university or employment.”