Securing the Best Start to Life
Can you do one wild thing every day for an entire month?
30 Days Wild is The Wildlife Trusts' annual challenge where they ask everyone to do one wild thing a day throughout the month of June.
You can sign up below to receive a FREE pack either through the post* or via email. You'll also receive lots of fun activities from them throughout the month to keep you inspired!
Learning through Landscapes Grants: Outdoor training and resources
Schools and early years Settings in England can apply for support from the Learning through Landscapes programme. The Local School Nature grants are intended to help schools and early years settings offer outdoor learning activities for their pupils.
The grants provide an assortment of nature equipment up to the value of £500 and a two hour training session. The packages are customisable, enabling Early Years settings*, Infant, Primary and Secondary schools to choose from a menu of items which best suit their learners and their setting.
Eligibility: All schools and early years settings who employ at least five staff and have a dedicated building, (either stand alone or part of a school) can apply for fully-funded outdoor learning training for staff and £500 of equipment for outdoor learning.
Training: this includes a two-hour session for up to 30 members of staff that will be delivered outside at your school or setting. When applying you may choose your preferred course from the menu of options including gardening for biodiversity, tool use.
Equipment: when applying for the grant you can choose from a selection of pre-approved products – including woodland activity kits, gardening kits, wildlife cameras and outdoor cooking equipment – up to a total of £500.
There are three remaining funding rounds in 2023. These are the
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9th June,
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8th September or
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10th November.
To find out further information of apply please click here.
Oral Health and the EYFS - what does this mean for me?
Oral Health’ is explicitly referred to in Section 3 – The Safeguarding and the Welfare Requirement of the EYFS under Medicines, paragraph 3.45, because, whilst tooth decay is largely preventable, significant numbers of children aged 5 continue to have tooth decay and this can negatively impact them in several ways.
The recently published results of an oral health survey undertaken by the National Dental Epidemiology Programme1 during the 2021 to 2022 school year showed that, across the UK, there was evidence of some level of dental decay in 29.3% of five-year-old children, with tooth extraction being the most common reason for a child under 6 to have a general anaesthetic. It also showed that children living in the most deprived areas of the country were also 3 times more likely to have dental decay compared to those living in the least derived areas.
For me information visit pacey website here.
How to be sun safe
Now the sunshine is making a regular appearance don't forget to update your sun safety procedures to keep everyone safe.
Fore more visit Early Years Alliance webpage.
Wellbeing - Social Butterflies Year Planner
Give a boost to butterflies and your health and wellbeing with a monthly nature-based calendar! 
With three ideas per month there is something for everyone whether you have a few minutes or a few hours to spare.
Download your copy here 
https://butrfli.es/435nrfe
Hanni and the Magic Window
Written for children aged 3 and up, this rhyming story is about speaking out and getting help.
An online safety story without any technology!
Hanni’s home has a very special magic window. But when Hanni sees something that upsets her, she struggles to explain what has happened.
Can she find the words to get the help she needs?
This story can be viewed as an ebook or is available to download in English and Welsh.
Supporting a healthy mind
BookTrust have put together a selection of picture books that can help young children to start to understand mental health and support a healthy mind.
They include titles that touch on sadness, anxiety and finding courage and reassurance, and are books which can help to supply useful strategies and support a growth mindset.
Welcome to Fifty Things Friday
Every Friday we will focus on one of the activities featured in the ‘50 Things to do before you’re 5’ app. This week it’s time to discover ‘Mini Artist’
#Activity 20
Painting and drawing allow children to focus on an open-ended task, which they have chosen. The freedom to choose what, where, when, how and why. They will have fun, find ways to express themselves and learn about cause and effect.
Making marks outside allows children to try BIG strokes and brush marks. Using water on a warm day means that your child can use a paint brush and bucket, a spray bottle filled with water or sponges and a bowl of water to make long lines or cover large areas.
Download the app and find out more! https://warwickshire.50thingstodo.org/
Interacting with children while they are playing is an investment in their future.
Supporting Inclusion for SEND and Vulnerable Groups
Implementation of new top-up funding matrix to start in June
Following last year’s successful pilot, a new Top Up funding allocation model has been developed with positive feedback from SENCOs and headteachers. The phased implementation will begin from June 2023.
The new funding matrix aims to determine the right level of top-up funding at the right time to enable education settings to make appropriate provision for pupils with a special educational need and/or disability (SEND), as outlined in the SEND Code of Practice.
The new 6x4 matrix will use the four main areas of need and six levels of support from Quality First Teaching to the highest level of specialist support to determine the funding allocation for each child or young person. This provides us with a simplified funding process, giving increased transparency and offering greater financial sustainability to education settings, therefore improving placement stability and supporting recruitment and retention.
Crucially, the matrix is also intended to support more inclusive learning environments, giving children and young people with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) the chance to thrive within their local mainstream settings and communities.
Implementation will be done through a phased approach, with the initial focus on resource provision and specific early years groups beginning in June. This will help to ensure a smooth transition. Following the first phase, the new matrix will be launched in September 2023 for:
- all new EHC Plans,
- nursery age transitioning into reception,
- year 6 to year 7 transfers in line with annual review dates.
A series of virtual awareness sessions will be taking place from June 2023 to the end of term to provide further information and to demonstrate how the new matrix will work in practice. This will be available for staff working in both education settings and the Council’s SEND teams. Attendance at these sessions will be beneficial to support a smooth implementation of the new model and all settings are encouraged to register. Please look out for further details of these sessions which will be shared with you after half term, via Heads Up and email.
It is important to highlight that we will be carrying out in-depth reviews every half term to evaluate progress during the implementation phase of this project, and it may be important for us to pause implementation, if necessary, to ensure its success and sustainability. We are committed to working in partnership with you to deliver the best possible outcomes for our children and young people and will be keeping you updated throughout the duration of the project.
Celebrating Warwickshire’s Family of Schools
Have Your Say: take part in consultation on housing related support services in Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Council (WCC) has launched a 12-week public consultation seeking the input of Warwickshire residents on the redesign of Housing Related Support Services. The consultation period will run from 22 May to 11 August 2023. 
Housing related support services help people stay in their own home or work towards living in their own home by preventing problems that can cause homelessness or lead to institutional care.
These services are offered either through accommodation-based support, where support is provided to people living in specific accommodation, or through floating support, where the support worker visits customers in their own homes.
The work of these services focuses on helping individuals aged 16 and above to maintain independence, good health, and overall well-being, ensuring their safety within their homes and local communities, effective budgeting, understanding tenancy agreements, facilitating participation in training or education, and employment.
Like other local authorities, the council is facing significant financial challenges. In February 2023, WCC Council agreed that the budget for housing related support services would reduce by £1m from April 2025.
Considering this, WCC is undertaking a consultation to re-designing these services to become more efficient and effective within a reduced budget, while still focussing on those people in the greatest need and those whose support will prevent them needing care services.
The aim of this consultation is to inform Warwickshire residents about the proposals to redesign services and to ask for their views about these proposals.
WCC is engaging with groups and individuals across the county to get their views, including people who already use the service, families and professionals living or working with service users, public, private, and voluntary organisations.
If you have any queries or need any help or advice about the consultation, please email peoplestrategyandcommissioning@warwickshire.gov.uk or telephone Warwickshire County Council Customer Service Centre on 01926 410410 and they will direct you to the & Promoting Independence Team for support.
Specialist NPQs for Primary Schools
Specialist NPQs for Secondary Schools
Local School Nature Grants
What do bird boxes, bee hotels, and nature experts all have in common? They’re all available for free as part of the Local School Nature Grants programme, supported by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Open to schools and early years settings in England, Scotland, and Wales, this outdoor learning grant fund has two elements – £500 of outdoor equipment chosen from a catalogue of over 100 items, and an outdoor learning training course for your staff.
Since their launch in 2017, the Local School Nature Grants have helped nearly 3,500 schools across England, Scotland, and Wales to improve their outdoor learning provision, enabling thousands more children to profit from time in nature.
Key information
Product catalogue
With a Local School Nature Grant, you’ll have a budget of £500 to mix and match on items from our product catalogue. We offer a wide variety of products to appeal to a broad range of age groups and projects. All the products are delivered direct to you from our partner suppliers.
Training catalogue
You’ll be able to select an outdoor learning training session from a range of themes. A member of our skilled team will then deliver an engaging session for your staff for up to half a day. You will be offered a choice of dates, but we do ask that the training is delivered within the funding round.
Funding
The project is funded by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and their funding trusts (either People’s Postcode Trust, Postcode Neighbourhood Trust, Postcode Places Trust, Postcode Society Trust, Postcode Local Trust, or Postcode Community Trust).
Eligibility
The grants are available to all schools and early years settings in England, Scotland, and Wales only. Early years settings must employ at least five staff and have a dedicated building, either stand alone or part of a school. School nurseries and the attached school will be classed as one setting.
We cannot fund outside of the geographical limits. Individual childminders are not eligible to apply. If you have previously been awarded a Local School Nature Grant, you cannot apply again.
2023 Dates
Round | Closing date
1 | Friday 28th April 2023
2 | Friday 9th June 2023
3 | Friday 8th September 2023
4 | Friday 10th November 2023
https://ltl.org.uk/projects/local-school-nature-grants/
Great Big Green Week – Get Involved
The UK’s Great Big Green Week takes place from 10 – 18 June. It’s a great opportunity to involve your school in the biggest ever celebration of community action to tackle climate change and to protect nature. 
To get started, have a look at:
Primary School Resources – a lesson plan, assembly pack and teacher’s guide.
Secondary School Resources – a lesson plan for those aged 10+, that includes letter templates and a presentation.
Both packs invite pupils to write a “Letter to Tomorrow”, in which they can share their hopes and dreams for our world and future. These letters can be displayed in school, read out in assembly, or shared online to encourage more people to take action.
If you have photos of your lessons, or letters to tomorrow to share, please do tag @WCC_Schools on Twitter or Warwickshire County Council on Facebook, and we’ll give them a boost on our channels too.
Other Useful Resources
Join our free training event on 8 June at 3.45pm which will give you plenty of ideas on how to deliver different primary classes outdoors. Book your place on “Why Teach Inside?” here.
The latest edition of the Sustainable Warwickshire podcast is all about getting children into nature and the benefits this brings both to them and the environment. It features stories from projects in Leamington and Nuneaton. Search for Sustainable Warwickshire on Spotify or Apple
Parents urged to check their children are up to date with vaccines.
Measles is a highly infectious, but preventable, disease that can lead to serious health problems.
Symptoms of measles include a high fever, sore red watery eyes and a blotchy red-brown rash, and it is particularly easy to catch in environments when in close contact with others.
The MMR vaccination is an easy and effective way to protect against measles, however, vaccine uptake rates are reducing and as a result cases of measles are on the increase.
Children are offered the first dose of the MMR vaccine when aged one year and the second dose aged 3 years 4 months. We’re urging parents of young children, teenagers and adults to check they are up to date with their MMR vaccines – it’s never too late to catch up with your vaccines. Get in touch with your GP for more information or to book your appointment.
More information about measles and how to reduce the risk of measles is available in the attached flyer.
Don’t miss out, sign up to Tax-Free Childcare!
Eligible working parents with children under 12 can get up to £2000 and disabled children under 17 can get up to £4000, per child, per year, towards their childcare costs with Tax-Free Childcare.
Parents entering the scheme open an online childcare account and for every £8 parents pay into the account, the government will pay an additional £2. Parents use the childcare account to pay childcare providers directly, just like an online bank account. Each payment is accompanied by a reference number for each child so childcare providers can identify their payments.
If you are an Ofsted registered childcare provider, a childminder registered with a childminder agency or a school offering childcare provision you can sign up to a childcare provider account and receive payments from parents who use Tax-Free Childcare.
The scheme helps parents stay in work or work more hours by reducing childcare costs, which could provide additional income for your business by increasing the need for extra hours of childcare.
How to apply
The main contact for the registered childcare provision is required to complete the sign-up process. To support with the management of the childcare provider account, the main contact can provide a delegate access too.
You will need your 11-digit user ID from the invitation letter (if you did not have one or have lost it, contact the helpline), bank account details and business postcode. It only takes around 10 minutes to sign up here.
After you sign up, you will be provided with a childcare provider account which you can sign in to at any time to keep your details up to date. After signing up to Tax-Free Childcare, you can still accept payment from parents using childcare vouchers and other payment methods.
Over time, Tax-Free Childcare will replace childcare vouchers. By signing up now, you will be able to accept payments from parents as soon as they ask to pay using Tax-Free Childcare. View guidance for providers on signing up to Tax-Free Childcare for more information.
To support childcare providers to promote Tax-Free Childcare, Childcare Choices have created social media content and short videos for use.
Holiday Activities & Food (HAF)
FREE activities and food for eligible young people this summer!
The next HAF delivery period is the school summer holidays, where eligible young people can attend a maximum of 16 sessions with listed activity providers. Families in receipt of benefits-tested free school meals can apply for a HAF code online: https://searchout.warwickshire.gov.uk/holidays-activities-food-haf
Families not in receipt of benefits related free school meals can be referred for HAF codes if they are facing a significant financial barrier and one (or more) of the following apply to the young person:
- On an open Early Help plan
- Has an allocated Family Support Worker or Social Worker
- Acts as a young carer
The referral process for families not in receipt of benefits related free school meals is via online form, which can be requested by professionals only. This referral form went live on Monday 22nd May and will be issued on a limited first come basis. This is to ensure families have been sent a HAF code before listings go live on Monday 12th June. Please email us to request the link.
If there are any questions on the programme then please contact us on hafprogramme@warwickshire.gov.uk or feel free to speak with a member of the HAF team through the FIS helpline on 0800 408 1558.
Headteachers' Conference agenda
Please download here the agenda for the "Summer Term 2023 Headteachers Conference".
SACRE annual report 2021-2022
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 SACRE Annual report
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
Heading to the farm? Enjoy your visit safely, say health experts
Public health experts at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) West Midlands are reminding families of the simple steps they can take to make sure they enjoy visits to farms and petting zoos safely, over this half term and throughout summer.
Please read more here.
12-13 June - Paediatric Infant/ Child First Aid Course bookings still open
Learn the essentials of paediatric first aid if you work in a childcare or school setting, are a childminder or carer. Prepare yourself to deal with emergencies confidently and competently
Content will be covered using power point, videos, and demonstrations by our highly experienced trainers.
Assessment is by theory exam and practical activities.
On completion, you will receive a certificate, valid for 3 years and have access to your own online learning area where you can watch videos to refresh as required.
- Serious illnesses in children
- Aims of first aid
- Primary/Secondary surveys
- Recovery position
- Unconscious casualty
- CPR & AED
- Shock/Anaphylaxis/Electric shock
- Wounds/Bleeding/Burns
- Choking
- Fractures
- Head injury/Spinal injury
- Poisoning
- Objects in the eyes, ears and nose
- Eye injuries
- Bites and stings
- Hot and cold extremes
- Seizures
- Asthma/Croup
- Meningitis/Sepsis.