Free Maths Professional Development Opportunity for Teachers of KS4

Origin Maths Hub are offering secondary schools in Solihull, Coventry and Warwickshire the opportunity to participate in a free work group.

 work collaboratively to analyse, deconstruct and trace a challenging GCSE topic through the curriculum.

develop a deeper understanding of topics, common misconceptions and how to build a more sustained understanding for pupils.

explore strategies to improve GCSE teaching in the short term, but also consider impact on longer term curriculum design and teaching.

All of the above will also include exploration of  online/remote learning strategies and ideas.

Origin Maths Hub are also offering a Challenging Topics Work Group which will be spotlighting the topic of 'Trigonometry': how to make it meaningful and explore problem-solving strategies.

Participants and their schools will:
Identify misconceptions and plan a series of lessons to support students in the topic area.

Use and evaluate appropriate pedagogies to teach the topic area.
Work with their departments to unpick and analyse topics to inform collaborative planning and development of schemes of work.

Please note, this isn't a subject knowledge enhancement programme but instead focuses on development of pedagogy in the topic area. 

 Who can apply?
This Work Group is suitable for all secondary school teachers of GCSE Mathematics.

 When will the Work Group sessions take place?
Sessions will be starting soon and dates will be confirmed shortly.

Message from Ofsted - IDSR release

An update on Team Teach training

Due to the latest lockdown, a significant amount of Team Teach training courses have been postponed. Following advice taken from Team Teach National the following catch-up plan has now been released. If circumstances change again Team Teach are in a position to respond accordingly. We are building capacity with new tutor training which will enable us to catch up on all postponed courses from Summer 2021 onwards.

All 6 hour foundation training booked in Spring and Summer term will be postponed to Autumn term 2021.

Spring term 2021

Priority will be for those schools which are due to refresh. We have developed the training programme so that we are able to deliver refresher training on Teams, on the theory aspects only. There is no requirement to deliver the physical elements of the training for refreshers. The training on Teams will cover everything your staff need in order to maintain their accreditation. We will pick up any physical requirements for individual schools as soon as we are able to.

Schools will be contacted.

Summer 2021

Priority will be for those schools which are due to refresh. We hope that we will be able to resume COVID secure face to face training. Schools which this affects will be contacted.

Vanessa Gilbert (Strategic Lead for Team Teach Warwickshire) has been in touch:

"We appreciate that you and your staff may be anxious about undertaking this training in the future. We have taken advice from Team Teach National and please be reassured that all training will be delivered adhering to all COVID secure requirements. Thank you for your patience and understanding."

Please contact Julia Jessup (juliajessup@warwickshire.gov.uk) for further information

RSHE - Relationships and Health Education Train the Trainer Programme Secondary

Tudor Grange Teaching School is one of the three schools in the West Midlands region commissioned by DfE to provide free teacher training to support secondary schools in preparing for the statutory changes to the RSHE curriculum from September 2020.

This programme will be delivered through an introductory webinar with access provided to digital resources and is aimed at PSHE/ RSHE Lead teachers in the primary phase.

Cohort 4:
Spring term 2021

• Introductory Session - Thursday 4th February 2021 at 1:30 pm or 4:00 pm
• Access enabled to downloadable digital resources.
• Follow up Q & A session – Thursday 4th March 2021 at 4.00 pm

Delivered via TEAMs, the live introductory session will last approximately 1.5 hours and will support schools with implementation of the statutory guidance. Following attendance at this introductory session, access will be enabled to a library of PowerPoint presentations which cover the modules
identified by the DfE. A further Q&A session will be held on Thursday 4th March 2021 to answer key questions and enable networking opportunities amongst participants. You will be sent an on-line evaluation form to complete at the end of the course.

More information can be found here.

Please click here to reserve your place.

Next phase of £1.5bn college capital funding programme launched

Colleges have been told how they can now apply for the next phase of the government’s £1.5 billion capital funding scheme, with applications for the fund due in by 15 March.

The Department for Education has today reopened applications for the Further Education Capital Transformation Fund, first announced by the chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak at his March budget.

To access the full article please click here.

For full guidance and the application form - click here 

New School Emergency Planning Guidance

The CSW Resilience Team has updated the guidance and templates available to support schools with emergency planning and business continuity. The updated documents encourage schools to use the resources released by the Department for Education, along with updated local guidance and templates produced by the CSW Resilience Team.

The new documents can be found on our website: Resilience Team - Schools Support

The release of the new national resources and updated local guidance and templates means that the CSW Resilience Team will no longer support and update the EASEE package.

Learn from home with our HS2 educational content.

With many parents supporting children who are learning at home during the current time, HS2 has developed a range of interesting curriculum-linked projects to work on at home. These include shorter activities ideal for families supporting younger children with learning at home and pre-planned lessons that secondary school teachers could set students as part of their curriculum learning.

The online resources were created as a result of us being unable to visit schools to deliver our regular programme of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) workshops because of Covid-19 restrictions and also schools being less able to take students 'off-curriculum' for career-themed activities due to the disruption caused by the pandemic.

For more information and to download guides and worksheets please click here to access the educational content web page.

Community Equipment – we need your help

Warwickshire is looking for any spare community equipment that you may have had from hospital or your GP. Nationally there appears to be shortage of this equipment – so we just want to ensure we have enough to go to those people who need it.

It could be anything from walking frames through to crutches. The complete list of equipment we are looking for includes:

· Wheeled trollies

· Wheeled or mobile tables

· Perching stools

· Crutches

· Walking Frames (with or without wheels)

What to do

If you have had any of the above then we are asking that you or a friend or family member bring them to one of the local drop off points below.

Health and Social Care staff

If you are a key worker who visits people in their own homes – then please check to see if they have any unused equipment that they no longer need.

Where to take equipment

The unused equipment can be dropped off at any Fire and Rescue Service station in Warwickshire