WE2 An empowering curriculum
Universal FSM leads to loss of £2.1m in Pupil Premium funding
Universal Free School Meal leads to a loss of £2.1m in Pupil Premium Funding in Warwickshire
The universal entitlement to Free School Meals (FSM) was introduced in September 2014 with the Government's aim to improve academic attainment and save families money. All pupils from Reception to Year 2 are entitled to a free school meal. An important message is that parents of pupils in receipt of universal free school meals should still apply for FSM so that Pupil Premium is allocated for their child.
The full impact of universal entitlement on FSM claiming was evident by September 2016. Warwickshire saw a decline of 2.6% in infant FSM claims from 11.3% in January 2014 - prior to the introduction of universal FSM - to 8.7% in January 2017. This equates to 540 infant pupils and £712,800 in lost Pupil Premium funding to schools in Warwickshire in one academic year. Across the three years in infant classes this equates to an estimated £2.1m in lost Pupil Premium.
What are Warwickshire County Council doing to help?
There has been a long-term desire to establish automated FSM enrolment based on sharing data from the district and borough revenue and benefits teams. The restrictions on data sharing as a result of the introduction of GDPR has currently made this impossible.
However, the admissions team have developed an online application process for FSM claiming, which will be completed at the point of applying for school or Early Years places on the parent platform for school admissions. The online eligibility checker will be available alongside the application process. It is hoped this will go live in May 2019 and increase the uptake of FSM.
We have pulled together data on Free School Meals in Warwickshire which is publicly available - please find a copy of the full report here.
Safe Education: new directory of services for education
A new directory listing a range of services that offer support to education providers in the areas of health and wellbeing and crime and safety, is now available. This has been produced on behalf of the Warwickshire Safe Education Partnership Board.
The directory includes information about training and support offered by partners to schools and settings across Warwickshire.
This includes a large number of free training courses, including Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness provided by Barnardos, and Relationship and Sex Education for primary and secondary age pupils. In the area of crime and safety, free training on offer includes 'Prevent Online Grooming:Keeping your Family Safe' and Cyber Crime sessions delivered by Cyber Safe Warwickshire.
There is also a handy list at the end of the document providing the website addresses for each service.
Visit https://safeinwarwickshire.com/resources/ to access the directory.
Safer Internet Day - 5 Feb - resources and competition
It's Safer Internet Day on 5 February 2019 with the theme this year of:
Together for a better internet
Coordinated by the UK Safer Internet Centre the celebration sees hundreds of organisations get involved to help promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.
Calling all budding writers in Warwickshire, aged 6 to 17 years old!
To celebrate the day, Warwickshire County Council and partner organisations are running a competition for young creative writers. We want them to give other young people advice on how to keep safer online. And by ‘online’, we mean when using smart phones, consoles, tablets and computers.
This is the second year of the competition which is open to children and young people aged 6 to 17 years old, living or attending school in Warwickshire.
There was a fantastic response last year, with over 200 entries and it would be great to exceed that number in 2019. With great prizes to be won for the individual and their classmates, it is too good an opportunity to miss.
Further information including a poster, information pack and details on how to apply are below:
Safer Internet Day poster
Safer Internet Day information pack
Safer Internet Day - how to apply
Free resources for education providers to promote safer internet use
The national Safer Internet Centre website has a host of resources to help schools and other education providers run activities for Safer Internet Day, including a series of films for various age ranges and ideas for assemblies. All of the materials are free to download and use.
Support for young carers in Warwickshire
As a school you may already be aware of, or made a referral to, Warwickshire Young Carers.
The Warwickshire Young Carers Project can provide support to schools in a number of ways to help raise the awareness of the needs of Young Carers and to help support individual needs, including:
- Staff training
- Assemblies
- Aid to establish support for Young Carers in school
- Support to complete the Warwickshire Young Carers Schools Award
The project has launched two new training sessions for schools:
1. Young Carer Awareness Training - providing a greater understanding of the role of Young Carers and the support the service offers.
2. Young Carer School Lead Training - providing a greater understanding of the Schools Award and the role of a Young Carers Schools Lead.
Courses run on various dates starting in February, through to June 2019. To find out more take a look at the Eventbrite page.
For any more information please feel free to get in touch with Education Worker, Amy Agnew on Schools@warwickshireyoungcarers.org.uk
Primary - Talking Partners oral language training
'Highly effective' High Needs Funding Panel
A recent independent review was taken of the High Needs Funding Panel.
This is the panel that approves independent Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities (SEND) specialist placements, when all other options have been exhausted. The panel scrutinises requests for higher funding for children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) who attend local mainstream schools. The panel also has the function of identifying trends and unmet need in order to inform commissioning proposals. A recent example being the Learning Pod for learners discharged from psychiatric hospitals.
Findings from the review include:
a) Very impressed with the calm and purposeful atmosphere. Panel members were highly professional and their commitment to achieving the best outcomes for the children they discussed, there was an air of authority and seriousness.
b) 83 cases to discuss is a very high number and is indicative of the extreme pressures SEND officers in local authorities are finding themselves under in terms of funding, capacity to manage an increasing workload with increasing complexity, and a shortage of provision and placements. I think the Local Authority should carefully monitor the workload in preparing all the necessary paperwork and the capacity of staff to regularly attend such meetings.
d) The case work presentation (EHC plan co-ordinators) was very professional.
d) Whilst each case was complex the discussions were lean and efficient where everyone maintained a positive and constructive position in trying to determine more positive outcomes for children and young people being discussed.
e) Having participated in such panels for most of my working life I judged this panel to be highly effective in the way it was managed. Its purposefulness and the authoritative discussions should provide reassurance to any parent or carer whose child is being considered.
For more information please contact sen@warwickshire.gov.uk
Updates from Warwickshire Music Hub
Events this Term
We are off to our usual busy start with an open evening on Wednesday 16 January at the Northern Area Music Centre and the Young Musician’s concert in partnership with Rugby Rotary on Thursday 24 January.
Below is a link to a full list of events and concerts this term. We are looking forward to our ‘Spring Festival’ of events across the county in March/April.
Spring Term Events
Annual Schools' Conference
Places are still available for our annual Schools’ Conference on Thursday 7th March, 9.30am to 3.30pm at Bulkington Village Centre.
It's free to attend and is a priceless opportunity to meet, to play, to talk and to learn with musically minded colleagues. Book your place today!
For any queries please contact Warwickshire Music at music@warwickshire.gov.uk or on 01926 742630.