HEADS UP

WE1 Early Years

WE1 Early Years

WE1

New Early Years strategic lead role

Warwickshire County Council is working closely with Coventry City Council to create a new Early Years Strategic lead role across both areas. The post-holder, when appointed, will lead on the delivery for WE1 in Warwickshire.

Early Years Board

The first date for the new Early Years Board has been set as 20 December 2018. Thank you to those of you who have responded to requests for membership. 

DfE calls for Early Years Experts

Ofsted is setting up a forum for academics, practitioners and researchers to talk about a wide range of early year’s issues. Register your interest in attending the Early Years Pedagogy Practice Forum by 5pm on Friday 28th September.

Ofsted calls for early years experts.

WE2 An empowering curriculum

WE2 An empowering curriculum

WE2

Support for teaching Religious Education

FOR HEADTEACHERS, RE SUBJECT LEADERS, RE COORDINATORS

Jennifer Jenkins – RE Facilitator Hello!

My name is Jennifer Jenkins and I am the newly appointed RE Facilitator for Coventry and Warwickshire. My role is to provide support to schools in delivering high quality RE for their pupils and to support the Coventry and Warwickshire SACREs (Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education) with their work. If you have any queries or require any support regarding RE, you can contact me via email at jenniferjenkins@warwickshire.gov.uk. My working day in this role is on a Thursday.

In the next few weeks you will be receiving an Autumn RE Bulletin, which will draw your attention to important dates and events in the world of RE. We will also be sending out a school RE Survey as an important part of our monitoring of RE in Warwickshire Schools. Please complete the survey as quickly and comprehensibly as you can. I look forward to working with you on developing excellence in RE in the future.

Request for contact details of your RE Coordinator

To help us to send the Autumn RE Bulletin, survey details and other useful information to the correct person please could you provide us with the contact name and email of your RE Lead/Coordinator. A request was sent out at the end of last term, so thank you to those who have already provided us with this information, if you haven’t done so please send contact details to schoolpartnerships@warwickshire.gov.uk by 26 September.

Changes to Warwickshire SENDIAS

WE2d Learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

WE2

Warwickshire County Council has commissioned KIDS to take over the running of SENDIAS from Family Action who currently provide the service. The changes came into effect from August 1 2018. KIDS is a national charity established to provide a wide range of support to disabled children, young people and their families from birth to 25 years. KIDS aim to continue and build on the work done by Family Action in supporting parents, carers and families of all Warwickshire children with special educational needs and disability with impartial SEN information advice and support for example:

  • Supporting parents and carers at meetings e.g. with schools or the local authority
  • Supporting parents and carers during assessment for an EHC plan
  • Liaising with schools, the LA, support services and local statutory and voluntary organisations
  • Representing parents and carers and promoting their views within strategic groups
  • Along with providing workshops for schools, governors, early years providers and statutory agencies

For more information please see the website: www.kids.org.uk/warwickshire-sendias

 

Training courses for SEND and Inclusion 2018-19

WE2

HEADTEACHERS, SENCOs, TEACHERS

Please click the link below to view the 2018-19 training brochure for SEND and Inclusion in Warwickshire. The courses range from strategic planning for the whole school to personalised programmes to meet specific needs.

2018-19 SEND and Inclusion Training Brochure

For additional information about training visit: Warwickshire Education Services

Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions

WE2

HEADTEACHERS, CHAIRS OF GOVERNORS

In order to support pupils at school with medical conditions, governing bodies must ensure that there is a school policy and a named person with responsibility for policy implementation. Part of this responsibility is to ensure there are sufficient staff who have received suitable training and are competent before they take on responsibility to support children with medical conditions.

Please refer to the statutory guidance for further information: Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions

Medical Conditions Awareness Training

WE2

FOR NOMINATED SCHOOL STAFF WITH RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUPPORTING PUPILS WITH MEDICAL CONDITIONS

Warwickshire School Health & Wellbeing Service have arranged FREE medical conditions awareness training via cluster sessions throughout the county. These training sessions are for nominated school staff with responsibilities for children and young people with medical conditions including Anaphylaxis, Asthma and Epilepsy. Numbers of places available will be dependent on the venue capacity.

Training date (the session runs from 16:00 – 18:00)

  • Tue 2 Oct St. Michael’s CE Primary School Wed 3 Oct St. John’s Primary School

Places can be booked by contacting the Service on either 03300 245 204 or warwickshireSH&WBService@compass-uk.org

Subsidised school-based training

Training is available for those schools who would prefer on-site training. The service is able to offer the following two courses:

  • Asthma and Anaphylaxis (1 hour)
  • Epilepsy (1 hour)

The courses cost £60 each and can be arranged by contacting WSHWS_Rugby@welearn365.com to request a booking form. Schools will be responsible for the local organisation of these courses.

News from the School Health Team

WE2

HEADTEACHERS, PSHE LEADS, YEAR HEADS

Warwickshire School Health and Wellbeing Service - updates

Prior to, and during the summer holidays, the service has been actively promoting the School Entry online health needs questionnaire. This health needs questionnaire enables parents to inform us of any health concerns they have for their children.

Early in September we will send out information and consent paperwork to all schools for parents/carers regarding the online Health Needs questionnaire which is offered to year 6 and year 9 students. For both year 6 and year 9, consent is considered to be given unless a parent/carer specifically decides to opt out of the process. The information gathered through the completion of the online health questionnaire enables us to understand the health needs of students. Following analysis of the data we will contact schools to arrange a meeting with the head teacher/PSHE lead/year head. We will then jointly develop a plan for how we can work together to address the identified health needs.

We would like to assure you that all information is held securely and only anonymised information is shared with partner agencies.

Our contact details:

  • We have one central phone number – 03300 245 204, please select option 1,2 or 3 depending on where your school is located
  • 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

WE3 Family of schools

WE3 Family of schools

WE3

SSIF3 Update

The Challenge Board met on 18 September. Members discussed the next steps following the news that the sub-regional bid (Coventry, Warwickshire, Solihull, Herefordshire and Worcestershire) to the DfE Strategic School Improvement Fund (round 3) was unsuccessful. We received praise from the DfE on our collaborative process and an acknowledgement of how ambitious a project it was. They are very supportive of our partnership approach and impressed with the work that has left us in a very strong position to facilitate any future partnership working.

WE4 Employability

WE4 Employability

WE4

Support to get young people into Science, Technology, Maths and Engineering (STEM)

A brand new centre at Warwickshire College Group’s Leamington Spa site aims to support local and regional schools in getting young people excited about STEM and is designed to be used by pupils from primary and secondary schools, as well as students at the college. For more information please see the attached flyer.

Don't miss

Launch of the new Warwickshire Education Strategy (2018- 2023) and web pages

We are pleased to share that the Education Strategy was approved by Council on 26 July and implementation from 1 September has gone ahead as planned.

We have produced some new web pages with further information about the strategy and how it will be delivered, including information about the various boards and structures already set up or being implemented that will contribute to its delivery. Please have a look and let us know what you think, we would welcome any feedback to be sent to el-businessimprovement@warwickshire.gov.uk. We would also encourage you to share the link to these pages in your next school newsletter and with all school staff, you may also want to provide a link from your school website.

Education Strategy web pages: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/educationstrategy

Information sharing with WCC – Your Perspective Lite Account

All schools should now have received an email from the Perspective support team containing a link to activate their Perspective Lite account which will give you access to data and information shared with you by WCC.

For support in using the system you can contact the Angel Solutions support team via the online chat facility or by email perspectivesupport@angelsolutions.co.uk; Tel: 0845 129 7196. WCC will be making arrangements to demonstrate the system to headteachers.

If you haven’t received your account details from the Perspective support team or if you have any other questions around Warwickshire’s intended use of the system please contact: el-businessimprovement@warwickshire.gov.uk

Sending of final EHCPs to educational establishments

In response to requests from headteachers asking for quicker communications, from the 1 October SENDAR will be issuing all final Education, Health and Care Plans to educational establishments electronically via WeLearn or Egress email addresses. This will allow us to send out plans securely during periods of school closure and provide evidence of the date of issue.

Department for Education – latest news

Pay rises and teachers’ pay grant details confirmed

The final version of the 2018 School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), alongside initial information about how the teachers’ pay grant will be calculated for the upcoming year has been published.

STPCD: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-teachers-pay-and-conditions

How the teachers’ pay grant will be calculated: www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-pay-grant-methodology/teachers-pay-grant- methodology

Workload Toolkit

In July the government published the workload toolkit and video on curriculum planning – both of which can be found here. The teacher workload team is keen to receive feedback on the toolkit and is looking for schools to help them in their user research during the year – if you would like to get in touch, they can be contacted at: Workload.SOLUTIONS@education.gov.uk

Information: free school meals pupils should remain eligible until at least 2023

Pupils in receipt of FSM immediately prior to 1 April 2018, and those who become eligible during Universal Credit roll out, will retain eligibility until the end of this roll out period. Following this, if they are still in education, they will continue to be eligible until the end of their phase of education. This means that schools should not remove FSM eligibility from pupils until at least 2023, continuing to offer them meals and record them as eligible on the census.

For more information, please see the free school meals guidance for schools and local authorities, or contact the free school meals team at Freeschoolmeals.MAILBOX@education.gov.uk.

Other DfE updates

Ofsted News (July and August 2018)

  • New website for inspection reports – meeting users’ needs
  • Ofsted calls for early years experts
  • Staff qualifications in nurseries and pre-schools: do they make a difference to outcomes?

Ofsted News (July 2018)

Ofsted News (August 2018)

Safeguarding, Safety and Welfare

WSCB Schools Safeguarding Audit 2016/17

HEADTEACHERS, CHAIRS OF GOVERNORS

Thank you all again for your responses to the 2016/17 audit. Please find attached outcomes report already presented to the WSCB Education sub-committee. There is a summary of key thematic messages from the audit on the last two pages.

Governance

Headteacher recruitment guidance

HEADTEACHERS, CHAIRS OF GOVERNORS, CLERKS TO GOVERNING BOARD

Just a reminder that headteacher recruitment guidance has recently been published by the DfE and NGA.

The guidance outlines the different stages of the process including:

  • planning and setting up a selection panel
  • preparing the application pack
  • advertising and promotion
  • the interview itself and the actions to be taken once an appointment is made

The NGA has developed a toolkit alongside the guidance comprising practical checklists and templates for boards to use to support the recruitment process, including shortlisting templates, suggested interview questions and a checklist of things to consider when using a recruitment agency.

With the recruitment of a school leader being arguably one of the most important tasks a board will undertake, the guidance aims to steer governing boards through the legal context and principles of recruitment.

Action for clerks / chair of governors

When a chair of governors at a local authority maintained school receives their headteacher’s written resignation, either the clerk or chair of governors must immediately inform Heather Imbush at Governor Services and, in the case of church schools, especially Voluntary Aided Schools, the relevant diocese.

Heather can be contacted by telephone: 01926 742632 or by email: heatherimbush@warwickshire.gov.uk Heather will then update our records and advise on the support available to the school and governing board.

Headteacher resignation dates and notice periods (maintained schools)

To leave their post at the end of the Summer Term a headteacher must give a minimum of 4 months’ notice. This means:

Term Date by which notice must be submitted Leaving Date
Autumn 30 September 31 December
Spring 31 January 30 April
Summer 30 April 31 August

 

Other Updates

2018 EASEE (Educational Advice & Support for Educational Establishments) package

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) recommends that all schools should have emergency and business continuity plans and procedures in place.

To assist in the development of your schools emergency and business continuity arrangements the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire (CSW) resilience team have reviewed and updated their EASEE guidance. These resources, together with general advice and support, are freely available to you and your school from the CSW resilience team and can be accessed via the website: www.cswprepared.org.uk/schools-support/

A letter will be sent to headteachers of all schools on Friday of this week with further important information about the resources available, how to access them and the contact numbers to call in the event of an emergency. (This has not been included in this bulletin as it contains information of a confidential nature).

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