NHS England funding made available to schools to support the in-school 12-15 year old vaccinations

In recognition of the ongoing work undertaken by SAIS teams and schools for the children aged 12-15 years old COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, NHS England is making £8 million of national funding available to schools to help them support SAIS teams, and other contractors who deliver the in-school programme with the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.

Feedback from systems shows that the programme is most successful when SAIS teams and schools work together. The second phase of the vaccinations for 12–15-year-olds not only gives an opportunity for children to receive a 2nd dose but also ensures that those who have not yet received a 1st dose can do so. This will help to protect children against the Omicron variant and to ensure that there is limited disruption to their education.

While the accountability of delivering the COVID-19 vaccination programme is with the NHS and SAIS teams in this instance, and not schools, this second phase will require schools to put in place operational and administrative processes to support the programme.

Further information on the funding arrangements and how funding should be utilised, with specific examples of support schools can provide can be found in the attached Questions & Answers document.

Help for early years providers

To support the changes to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) new guidance and practical support has been produced by the DfE. These resources are for childminders, nursery leaders and pre-school practitioners and cover all of the areas of learning and development. 

Please find more details here.

Early Years Aspiration Networks & Childminder Network Consent Form

Warwickshire Early Years Hub (WEYH) is a partner to the three teaching schools which serve Warwickshire, as well as a delivery partner with Warwickshire LA Early Years service. 

They provide access to early years statutory training, for example first aid and safeguarding training, as well courses related to leadership, curriculum, assessment, and learning. 

WEYH also lead and manage the 14 Early Years Aspiration Networks, free early years networking and development groups and facilitate deployment of 10 specialist leaders of education. 

These are open to all early years providers and schools who are in receipt of early education funding. There is also a free childminder network. 

To receive information, course updates and subsidised training offers alongside the dates of your local Aspiration Network and Childminder network meetings, you must be signed up to WEYH.  

A recent audit showed that many Warwickshire Schools and early years settings have not signed up. 

Sign up here  

#FiftyThingsFriday

Every Friday we 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 ‘Make your Mark’

#Activity 4

Children love to be able to make their mark, as babies, toddlers and pre-school children their growing skill with paint, pens, crayons and chalk supports them to be strong writers and makers of art!

Playing with paint provides a perfect opportunity for children to explore, be curious and get creative in a fun and positive way. Let them use their fingers, hands and feet to make their own special prints. Everyday objects can be used to discover different shapes, patterns and prints.

Let your child enjoy printing on paper, card, cloth or whatever else they can imagine. What is the most unusual object or pattern print they can find?

Download the app and find out more! 

https://warwickshire.50thingstodo.org/

Look, Say, Sing, Play - Brain-building tips

During your child's earliest years, their brain makes 1 million neural connections every single second. Positive, supportive experiences with parents and other adults are important to their brain development.

But it’s not about just singing or talking at your baby. Brain-building happens when you and your little one are interacting with each other. It’s about taking a cue from them and reacting to what they’re doing. You could think of it like a game of tennis – going back and forth between the two of you.

Read more here.

National Storytelling Week

National Storytelling Week takes place from 30 January - 6 February 2022.  

Stories provide a great opportunity to teach children about the world, encourage empathy and help to develop essential literacy skills. Celebrate with a range of free resources from the National Literacy Trust.

Find more here.

Choking in the Under 5's.

Due to a recent incident in a setting in Warwickshire, please see some useful information below. 

• Making sure food is prepared appropriately for children under 5 years old see here. 
• It is also advisable that care givers are familiar with how to respond to a choking incident, see: How to stop a child from choking  & How to resuscitate a child. 

Joint local area SEND (Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities) Written Statement of Action published

Following the Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) local area inspection of Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) in July 2021, Warwickshire County Council and Coventry and Warwickshire Clinical Commissioning Group in conjunction with Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice are pleased to publish the Written Statement of Action for the county on behalf of all partners. 

Co-produced with health, education partners, and parents and carers, the Written Statement of Action (WSoA) focusses on several priorities to help drive through improvements and long-term sustainable change across SEND services for our children and young people and parent carers. The WSoA has been approved by Ofsted and CQC, and the ongoing collaborative work across all partner organisations will continue. 

The WSoA focuses on five key themes:  

• The waiting times for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) assessments, and weaknesses in the support for children and young people awaiting assessment and following diagnosis of ASD.  

• The fractured relationships with parent carers and lack of clear communication and co-production at a strategic level.  

• The incorrect placement of some children and young people with Education Health and Care plans in specialist settings, and mainstream school leaders’ understanding of why this needs to be addressed.  

• The lack of uptake of staff training for mainstream primary and secondary school staff to help them understand and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND.  

• The quality of the online local offer. 

Read more here. 

Reminder: Warwickshire has new Local Offer Facebook page

Warwickshire’s Local Offer for SEND now has a Facebook page and you can find it at this address: https://www.facebook.com/WarksLocalOffer

The Local Offer on Warwickshire County Council’s website brings together information about the local services and support available across education, health and social care for families with children and young people aged 0 to 25, who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

You can find the Local Offer here: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/send

Invite to parent carer webinar in February on Graduated Approach

Warwickshire County Council hosting a SEND webinar with Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice where we will be exploring the graduated approach. We’ll look at what it means and how it is used to support children and young people.

 

The webinar continues a series that has taken place across previous month and explored important topics. The webinars tie in to Warwickshire’s ongoing SEND and Inclusion Change Programme and the county’s commitment to improve support detailed in the recent Written Statement of Action.

Register to attend the webinar here: https://bit.ly/SENDwebinarFeb

Chimp Management: Extra training opportunity available due to popular demand

Due to popular demand, 2 more cohorts of the Chimp Management: Mind Management Skills for Life programme will be funded by Warwickshire County Council. 

The programme is a tailor-made ‘CPD accredited’ online course that enables you to enhance your resilience, improve your communication skills, establish more productive relationships and gain insight into your mind, using The Chimp Model.

The programme provides practical support to understand The Chimp Model and to help improve individual mental and psychological well-being; is research based and has been developed by Professor Steve Peters (author of The Chimp Paradox). It explains and simplifies the neuroscience of the mind, helping participants to understand how their mind works, offering practical guidance and helping individuals better manage their mind.

There will be a cohort for staff from maintained schools and another specifically from colleagues from our special schools. Both cohorts will commence in March 2022 and will be FULLY FUNDED by Warwickshire LA (RRP £400pp) for Warwickshire school staff.

Please read more here. 

Stop & Think – EEF funded study of a new primary maths and science programme

State funded primary schools in Warwickshire are being invited to take part in a study testing a new maths and science programme called ‘Stop and Think’. The study is being funded by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). Three Warwickshire schools have already expressed an interest in taking part and we are looking for more to join them.

What is ‘Stop and Think’?
Stop and Think is a software programme developed by neuroscientists at Birkbeck University which uses quizzes and games to help pupils learn counterintuitive concepts in science and maths. In a previous study, pupils who used the programme had higher attainment in science (+2 months progress) and in maths (+ 1 months progress). 

Next steps
Want to be involved? You can either:

1. Book in a 15-minute phone call with us to run through the project and what is involved for schools. To choose a time for this call, click here, 
2. Find out more here information sheet . You can sign up by emailing stopandthink@bi.team or booking in a call using the link above. 

School Governance Professional (part time)

Warwickshire Governor Services runs a successful clerking service for schools in the county and surrounding area. We wish to recruit additional School Governance Professionals (formerly known as clerk to the governing board) to deliver a high-quality clerking service to schools, to meet demand.

The main duties are:

• providing advice to the governing body on governance, constitutional, and procedural matters.
• providing effective administrative support to the governing body and its committees, including minuting meetings to a high standard.
• ensuring the governing body is properly constituted.
• managing information effectively in accordance with legal requirements.

School Governance Professionals will be employed by Warwickshire County Council but will usually be allocated to specific schools. Day to day accountability is to the governing body.

This is a flexible part-time role, and the hours can be agreed with candidates on an individual basis. Pay (including holiday enhancement) is £12.85 per hour.

You will mainly work from home, with some attendance of meetings at times convenient to the governing body, typically early evening. These are both on-line and in-person meetings (when covid restrictions allow).

We are looking for someone who:

• has good numeracy and excellent written skills, including being able to identify relevant information, take accurate notes at meetings and summarise information to prepare high quality minutes
• is computer literate, especially with Word, web, and email, and has access to equipment for working from home
• is an efficient administrator, able to use initiative and able to work under pressure including meeting deadlines
• can research and manage advice from a variety of sources
• is able to work with detailed information, such as DfE governance regulations and provide detailed and accurate advice
• can support volunteers and lay people in a professional way
• has excellent communications skills, including the ability to liaise, and build effective relationships with senior school staff and support them in a professional way
• understands the importance of confidentiality and integrity
• is willing to work in the evenings
• will undertake CPD and an accreditation programme

School Governance Professionals will receive support, full induction and will be expected to attend the Induction training course, held termly, after appointment. You will also be expected to attend the follow-on Effective Clerking course within the first or second term. Continuing professional development is provided. The role is subject to a DBS check.

If you would like to have a conversation about the role, please email catherinechatterton@warwickshire.gov.uk

or alternatively, you can apply via the WCC website. The closing date is 28^th February 2022.

https://www.wmjobs.co.uk/searchjobs/?Keywords=school+governance+professional&radialtown=Warwickshire&LocationId=292&RadialLocation=5&LocationId=None

What is the Workpays RONI initiative?

The Child Friendly Warwickshire programme

The Child Friendly Warwickshire programme, which is bringing the county together in a collective mission to create opportunities and lasting and positive change for young people, is gathering pace – and it needs your help to keep that going! 

The key to the success of Child Friendly Warwickshire is for all members of the community to ask themselves what they can do to help make the county the best place for children and young people to grow up and learn. The council is looking to businesses, organisations and individuals for ideas, no matter how small, which will nurture the next generation. 

To help, please consider putting in the below article in your newsletters to parents and carers. It would also be helpful to share the following survey to gauge current awareness of the campaign: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=BqqwiCdZu0uok4nMJxOsggNlk5w8gwZFqfwqJcuopd9UNFNNMTdQWk9CSTJNVlZaUFBOQTdLOUZBNS4u    

 

Make a difference to the lives of children and young people 

Warwickshire County Council is looking to all members of the community to ask them what they can do to help make the county the best place for children and young people to grow up and learn. The council is looking to businesses, organisations and individuals for ideas, no matter how small, which will nurture the next generation.  

This will be key to the success of Child Friendly Warwickshire, an exciting programme bringing the county together in a collective mission to create opportunities and lasting and positive change for young people. It will ensure their voices are heard, that they are safe, happy and healthy and equipped with the skills to lead the best lives they can. 

Having the best start in life does not happen by accident and every person or experience in a child’s world will have an influence. The programme needs the support of everyone in the community so that every child and young person, no matter their background, has every chance to flourish in all aspects of their lives.  

From small ideas like keeping our parks clean so children have a safe environment to play in or supporting a local young person’s football team, to bigger contributions like fostering a child or providing education and employment opportunities, everyone can play a part. Working together to put the future of Warwickshire at the heart of the activities will have an enormous impact. 

 

Watch the brand-new Child Friendly Warwickshire video here which introduces the campaign to the wider community through the voices of young people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAko_AL6Z7Y  

 

For all the latest updates from Child Friendly Warwickshire, visit https://www.childfriendlywarwickshire.co.uk/ and follow the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ChildFriendlyWarwickshire  

Send ideas and updates about any good news across the county related to children and young people to childfriendly@warwickshire.gov.uk.  

Local businesses, charities or other third sector organisations are being asked to sign up as a Child Friendly Warwickshire friend. Friends of the programme are committed to putting children and young people at the heart of what they do and setting inspiring examples that make a positive difference to their lives. Find out how to get involved at www.childfriendlywarwickshire.co.uk/our-friends    

This is a future we can all believe in. This is Child Friendly Warwickshire. 

Join the new Health Equity Group

Would you like to volunteer some of your time to work with Warwickshire County Council  to help improve public health outcomes across Warwickshire?

Are you committed to the principle of all people being able to enjoy longer, healthier lives?

Are you willing to share your constructive ideas and thoughts about how we can achieve this?

If your answer is yes to these questions, then you may be interested in stepping forward to apply to become a member of the Health Equity Group – a new Warwickshire-wide panel of citizens who will be advisors and champions coming from a community perspective, who will be working with the Council to improve health equity.

If you are interested and want to find out more about becoming a Health Equity Group member, please contact Michelle Gravatt by email at michellegravatt@warwickshire.gov.uk. Further details are also available in the attached flyer.

Nuneaton Jobs and Apprenticeship Fair