WE3 Family of schools
Remote Learning Support for Primary Consortia: please sign up
WCC Funded Support for Remote Learning for Primary Schools
- Free training available to all schools
- financial contribution from WCC towards providing 18 half day sessions per consortium 'expert user' to support other schools in the consortium for the period from now until the Easter holidays
- training for the identified 'expert users' .
- financial contribution from WCC towards providing 18 half day sessions per consortium 'expert user' to support other schools in the consortium for the period from now until the Easter holidays
- training for the identified 'expert users' .
Please note:
- half day cover is funded at £100 per half day
- we will fund release for two expert users from consortia with 14 or more schools. They are as follows: Consortium 1; Consortium 2; Consortium 5; Consortium 7; Consortium 8B; Consortium 9; Consortium 11; Consortium 18
Please use this link to nominate the expert user(s) for your consortium.
Free Remote Learning Training for All Primary Schools
WCC is funding free training to support primary schools with the challenges of providing blended and remote learning.
- 02/11/20 - Session 2 - Preparing Your School for Blended/Remote Learning - Join Teams Meeting
- 03/11/20 - Session 3 - Exploring the Options for Blended/Remote Learning - Join Teams Meeting
- 09/11/20 - Session 4 - Blended/Remote Learning - Considering Online Safety - Join Teams Meeting
West Midlands SEND Leads - WSS OfSTED
Whole School SEND has an OfSTED HMI-led session on Nov 5th 4pm Webinar, and is now live for booking.
It will be presented by OFSTED HMI Chris Pollitt and will look at how high-quality education for all can inform provision for those at SEND Support in mainstream settings.
The session will look at how quality first teaching, as defined in the Ofsted Education Inspection Framework, can drive provision for students at SEND Support to ensure the best possible outcomes for those learners.
This session will also cover the best environments for inclusion, how to overcome barriers to learning and quality-first teaching as it is referred to in the Ofsted Framework.
The webinar will run for 60 minutes and is aimed at teachers, subject leads, Senior Leaders, SEND Leads and governors.
Update from GOV.UK – Changes to checks for EU sanctions on EEA teachers from 1 January 2021
The UK transition period after Brexit comes to an end this year. From 1 January 2021 the Teaching Regulation Agency will no longer maintain a list of EEA teachers with sanctions.
Schools must continue to carry out safer recruitment checks on all applicants. For applicants that have lived or worked outside of the UK, schools must make any further checks they think appropriate so relevant events that occurred outside the UK can be considered, including obtaining an enhanced DBS certificate with barred list information (even if the teacher has never been to the UK). Teachers may be able to provide proof of past conduct as a teacher, issued by the professional regulating authority in the country in which they worked. Where available, such evidence can be considered alongside other information obtained through other pre-appointment checks to help assess their suitability. Read the Home Office guidance on criminal records checks for overseas applicants.
(First published 16 October 2020)
Asthma and Substance misuse
Compass are a leading national Charity providing integrated universal, targeted and specialist health and wellbeing services. Within Warwickshire, Compass Children and Young Peoples Drug and Alcohol Service (CYPDAS) has been commissioned by Warwickshire County Council since 2011. Our mission is to create healthier lives and safe communities by consistently delivering high quality, person centred care, bringing maximum benefit to the people we work with. Included below is our current offer to Primary and Secondary Schools which is free of charge, confidential and safe. We are particularly keen to help support Schools around the delivery of PSHE curriculums specifically in relation to drugs and alcohol delivery. Please contact us for more information.
Find here : Drugs and asthma: A guide to staying safe for young people.
Find here more information about the offer.
School Trips Bulletin
In the attached bulletin, you will find a guidance on booking and cancelling school trips considering current COVID-19 restrictions.
11+ testing
The main Warwickshire 11+ tests are due to take place on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th November, and will be split into morning and afternoon testing sessions with some follow up testing taking place two week later if required.
Letters have gone out to parents and carers this week to advise of their child's test venue and all relevant instructions and timings. All test venues will be strictly following Central Government Covid guidance on social distancing and will be cleaned in between test sessions.
Parents have been clearly informed that no child is to attend a test session if they are displaying Covid symptoms or are self isolating. To assist with this we would be grateful if schools could advise the 11+ team directly via the email below if your school has any children in year 6 children self-isolating at the time of testing.
School Admissions
As part of the process for In year applications over the last few weeks we have been operating an additional online collection replacing what was known as the Previous School Information form (PSI). These questions are now answered directly by the parents or carers at the time of application avoiding the need for any unnecessary delays in the admission process.
We understand this has been a change to previous working practices, however with the DfE's recent consultation on changes to the Admissions Code focusing heavily on how in year applications are processed we must ensure we have an effective process in place moving forward that works for both schools and parents. As previously outlined we will now review this change and work with schools on any amendments.
If you have any further feedback on this, or and other part of the Admission process there is a dedicated inbox for any concerns or queries you may have:
Supporting healthy family relationships
Good family relationships are enjoyable for their own sake and they also help your children feel secure and loved.
Parents are doing the best they can to care for their children at the same time as juggling work, friends, looking after the home and trying to keep their own relationship strong as a couple. There’s also no denying that having children, especially in the early years, puts a huge demand on everyone and relationships can suffer.
All relationships have tricky moments, what's important is solving any problems and getting help.
There are organisations and services that can provide advice, tips and support to help keep parental relationships strong and provide support and guidance if relationships break down.
Warwickshire County Council’s Marketing and Communications Team has been working very closely with the Children and Families service to produce a powerful animation video to highlight the impact of parental conflict on children. We would like to encourage schools to share the video with parents and across your own social media channels.
They have also created three shorter animation that can be played on a loop on screens in your reception or in other settings.
Download the videos here:
- Parental Conflict short 1
- Parental Conflict short 2
- Parental Conflict short 3
Watch the video below:
For more information on family relationships visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/familyrelationships or contact the Family Information Service on 01926 742274 or by emailing fis@warwickshire.gov.uk.
ICTDS Online Safety Conference 2020
The 6th Annual Warwickshire ICTDS Online Safety Conference 2020 is going live - online. It is a great opportunity to widen the net and invite some of the best known speakers from around the UK.
Nationally respected speakers include: Ken Corish from the SWGfL who returns to talk to us about the changes to 360 Online Safety Mark, Project Evolve and the exciting pilot that Warwickshire ICTDS are supporting. Charlotte Aynsley (Independent Online Safety Specialist, Nottinghamshire), author of ‘Responding to incidents of Sexting’ will discuss Safeguarding in Remote Education, Simon Finch (Independent Online Safety Specialist, Northumberland) will challenge our thinking, Vikki Bardon, Entrust (Online Safety Adviser, Staffordshire) discusses Mental Health and live streaming. Warwickshire teachers and ICTDS staff will cover a range of engaging Online Safety topics including feedback on online safeguarding during lockdown, the first virtual 360 Safe assessment and Lindsay Buck, author of Digiduck will read an excerpt from the new Digiduck book!
Full details of the event and the flyer can be found here https://www.ictds.org/e-safety-courses
Booking is essential.
Poppy picture appeal for Warwickshire children!
With the impact of COVID on our communities and the rising cases across the country, Remembrance Sunday is going to be very different this year for everyone.
However, this isn’t going to stop the communities of Warwickshire marking the occasion. To help show a real community spirit, Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service are asking children from across the county to get creative by painting, drawing or colouring in a template of a poppy for firefighters to showcase in their fire station bays and windows, just as they did with the Rainbows earlier in the year.
Read here more.
Free DFE Training for All Mental Health Leads
IF YOU HAVE MISSED YOUR CONSORTIUM DATES FOR TRAINING YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OTHER DATES.
The DfE has released additional funding for local authorities to support children and young peoples' well-being and mental health as they return to full-time education this autumn.
The Wellbeing for Education Return Grant seeks to better equip schools and colleges to promote children and young people’s well-being, resilience, and recovery in response to Covid-19. As well as strengthening and building well-being and resilience, it aims to prevent the onset of mental health problems and ensure those with pre-existing or emerging difficulties access the right support.
There are two elements to the project:
- A new national training package providing guidance and resources for education staff on responding to the impact of Covid-19 on the well-being of their students and pupils.
- Funding to local authorities to help put local experts in place to work with partners to adapt this training, deliver it to nominated staff in education settings, and provide ongoing advice and support until March 2021.
Please note the training that will be available as part of this project is in addition to the training that will eventually be provided for Mental Health Leads in Trailblazer schools and therefore Trailblazer schools should also sign up.
Please nominate your chosen member of staff to attend two free twilight sessions of training. DFE commissioned the training from the Anna Freud Centre, with local adaptations. The training will be delivered by Educational Psychology Service and Compass in partnership. The training comprises two twilight webinars of 90 minutes each. Each consortia/secondary area network has their own set of dates.
For further information or queries please contact margotbrown@warwickshire.gov.uk
Our mailing address is:
lio-admin@warwickshire.gov.uk
Develop your coaching skills
We have commissioned Gateway Alliance to provide 3 webinars led by expert leadership coaches (see below). These webinars are for Headteachers and are FREE to Warwickshire schools. The webinars will explore different aspects of leadership coaching which can be used within your own school or beyond and will provide excellent CPD for headteachers who are interested in finding out more about this approach, whether they wish to become a peer coach themselves or not.
|
Date
|
Time
|
Speaker
|
Session Title
|
|
|
10.11.20
|
10-11am
|
Andy Vass
|
Coaching Through Conversational Influence
|
BOOK NOW |
|
28.01.21
|
10-11am
|
Jackie Beere
|
State of Mind – Coaching as a Leadership and Communication Style
|
BOOK NOW |
|
20.04.21
|
10-11am
|
Julie Rees
|
Using Perspectives in Coaching to Encourage a Different Mindset
|
BOOK NOW |
You can book your place at thesewebinarsthrough the Gateway Alliance website: www.gatewayalliance.co.uk/finder/ just search subject ‘Coaching’.
To browse Gateway’s full CPD programme for 2020-21 please visit: www.gatewayalliance.co.uk/finder/. If you have any questions or queries please contact Gateway Alliance on 02476 347697 or email: info@gatewayalliance.co.uk
Headteacher CPD Opportunity
Become a peer coach for fellow Headteachers
Coaching is a powerful force for change - change that can be long lasting and hugely influential. The power of coaching can transform your daily work; support professional and personal goal setting and generate a calm and focused state of mind, which helps challenge and change.
Learning and using a variety of coaching models will form an important skeleton of this series of CPD sessions
Leaders will be given immediate take away skills and also activities to practice at work, with staff, parents and governors. This course is supplemented by free coaching webinars, one per term, provided in conjunction with Gateway Alliance.
The course sessions will be delivered by Catherine Nyman, an experienced professional coach, who many primary colleagues will know through her school improvement and coaching work.
It is anticipated that colleagues who attend this series of three training sessions - in addition to the webinars - would be willing to make themselves available for a register of Warwickshire headteacher peer coaches which could be shared with schools for an individual arrangement, or may be brokered by the LA school improvement team. In view of the current situation for all heads, we would not expect to draw from this register until summer 2021 at the earliest.
Most headteachers who attend the training would be those from schools in categories A and B (from 2019 categorisation) and with good senior leadership capacity in their own schools, but we know that there will be colleagues in category C schools who will also feel in a secure position and would be happy to discuss this further.
Session One: 25.11.20
What is coaching and its place at work and at play
The richness of our landscape and effective leadership using coaching
Coaching tools and coaching models (Part i)
Session Two 13.1.20
Coaching tools and coaching models (Part ii)
Coaching for performance – long term leadership
Making a difference at a critical moment!
Session Three 28.4.20
Coaching tools and coaching models ( Part iii)
Using coaching with all our stakeholders
Coaching for resolution
Catherine is hoping to hold these sessions as face to face opportunities at Pound Lane Learning Centre in Leamington but this will be kept under review.
To express an interest or for further discussion, please contact:
margotbrown@warwickshire.gov.uk 07917 505157 or catherinenyman@warwickshire.gov.uk 07980 552963
EEF Regional Delivery Lead recruitment
The Education Endowment Fund (EEF) are looking to recruit a Regional Delivery Lead for the West Midlands to be an effective ambassador for the EEF. Colleagues can find more out about this post here: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/about/vacancies/
The closing date for applications is 5th November.
Have you signed up for schools Switch Off Fortnight yet?
Join in the most popular and longest-running campaign! Covid-19 might make this year’s Switch off Fortnight a little different, but it won’t stop celebrating saving energy between 16-27 November. You can also adapt the campaign to suit your school’s circumstances – and do as much or little as you want.
Switch Off Fortnight is a fun and rewarding campaign. This year, the Pod team is looking at the topic of renewable power, alongside saving energy. Plus it could help your school cut carbon emissions, save energy* and achieve an Eco-School award!
We have a limited number of poster and sticker packs to support the campaign – and these will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
Find more information here.
The Pod is an award winning school’s programme, which was launched back in September 2008 and has since become the largest programme of its type. In the summer of 2019, Wastebuster (CIC) UK, took over the programme from EDF Energy and they are looking forward to taking it on to even more exciting things.
Since the launch more than 22,000 schools and 38,000 teachers have registered with us – plus over 200 schools across 56 countries including Hong Kong, India, Costa Rica, Japan, Russia, South Africa and Australia.
Please find here more info about The Pod
Annual Safeguarding Audit 2020-21
Planning is underway for the Annual Safeguarding Audit of all education settings across Warwickshire. An initial planning meeting has been held to review the arrangements of the last audit which covered 2018-2019 and presented its findings in June 2020.
The next annual audit will cover the period April 2020 to March 2021 and will report its findings to all education settings and strategic groups within the current school year. It is important that planning of support in May/June 2021 for Safeguarding provision in 2021-22 across education settings is informed by the audit findings and other appropriate sources such as Warwickshire Safeguarding, the Safe Education Partnership, Focus Groups and feedback from training.
The planning of the annual audit will involve contributions from Headteacher/DSL representatives as part of the full planning group. In this way, we can ensure that the audit covers relevant ground, is accessible to very busy professionals and provides findings which will inform future practice i.e. the plan-do-review cycle in practice and in year and in time for the new school year in September 2021.
Volunteers for the Audit Planning Group
We would welcome contact from Headteachers/DSLs who would be willing to represent the different education settings. Please contact Sophie Morley to indicate your interest to:
sophiemorley@warwickshire.gov.uk
The HT/DLS representative commitment is a planning meeting in November, January and February. The audit will take place in March 2021.
Thank you for your continued support.
Informing WCC of positive COVID-19 cases
Upon confirmation of a positive COVID case within a School or Setting, the online form “Informing WCC of positive COVID-19 cases” should be completed without exception.
Please find here attached the full process that you need to follow.
Here is the link to the form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=BqqwiCdZu0uok4nMJxOsgpeluvab2VBPrs3QTlafSHFUOURLUVpKOVpYNjkyU0NTRlhVMUpQOVhXMi4u