COVID-19 News and Information
Vaccination Q&A session for young people
Warwickshire County Council and the NHS are inviting you to join a Virtual Q&A session about the COVID-19 Vaccine on:
Tuesday 14th December 2021 on Microsoft Teams at 5.00pm until 6.00pm.
Take the opportunity to ask questions and speak to staff from Public Health and Primary Care to address any concerns you may have about having the vaccine.
The event is open to anyone who wishes to join in, please join online
Click here to join the meeting
Coronavirus (COVID-19) workforce fund for schools
Funding to support schools facing significant staff absences and financial pressures with the costs of staff cover for the period from 22 November to 31 December 2021.
Guidance setting out the eligibility criteria and claims process for the COVID-19 workforce fund for schools. It applies to:
- primary, secondary and all through maintained schools, academies and free schools
- 16 to 19 academies and maintained schools
- maintained special schools, and special academies and free schools
- non-maintained special schools
- pupil referral units
- alternative provision academies and free schools
- maintained and academy hospital schools
Registered independent special schools and independent schools delivering alternative provision are also eligible to claim for staff they employ to support pupils whose placements are funded from local authorities’ high needs budgets.
Read here more.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) workforce fund for colleges
Funding to support colleges and special post-16 institutions with the costs of staff absences from 22 November to 31 December 2021.
The guidance sets out the eligibility criteria and claims process for the COVID-19 workforce fund for colleges. It applies to:
- general FE colleges
- sixth form colleges
- special post-16 institutions
Read here more.
Fake NHS email asking to order ‘Omicron PCR test kits’.
The DfE has warned that there is a fake NHS email being sent to education and childcare settings asking you to order ‘Omicron PCR test kits’.
The NHS will NEVER ask for bank details so please be aware of these suspicious emails or similar text messages.
Further information on how to spot and report scam emails, text messages and phone calls is available through the National Cyber Security Centre:
Supporting Inclusion for SEND and Vulnerable Groups
Parents and carers invited to webinar discussion on Autism support
Warwickshire County Council and the local Clinical Commissioning Group are hosting a webinar on Tuesday 14 December at 1pm where there will be a discussion on the plans for services and support around Autism.
Parents and carers from across the county are encouraged to attend and take part in the discussion. This topic comes in response to our recent Ofsted/CQC inspection and the views of parents and carers in a recent survey by Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice.
The speakers from Warwickshire County Council will include Matt Gilks, Director of Commissioning (CCG), Heather Kelly, Senior Transformation Manager, CCG, and Ali Cole, Senior Joint Commissioner Disabilities and Autism, WCC and CCG. Questions can be submitted in advance to sendchange@warwickshire.gov.uk. Click here to attend the meeting: https://bit.ly/SENDwebinarDec Feel free to pass on this information to anyone who you think might be interested in attending. We look forward to seeing you at the event.
Latest edition of Warwickshire SEND published
The second edition of Warwickshire SEND was published on 1st December and you can sign-up to the mailing list here.
It’s a dedicated monthly newsletter for Special Educational Needs and Disability news in Warwickshire and we are working closely with Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice to feed their input into its creation and content. Please do take the time to read it, share with your networks and submit your ideas for future articles to sendchange@warwickshire.gov.uk.
Still time to give your opinion on SEND support
Warwickshire County Council would like to understand how people in Warwickshire requiring information on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) would like to be communicated with. As a result, the council has produced a survey for parents and carers on the topic of SEND support in Warwickshire. Feel free to give your opinion and share the survey here.
Also, the recent Warwickshire Area SEND identified five areas of weakness and the council now needs to develop a plan - a Written Statement of Action (WSoA) to improve them. You can share your thoughts on these priorities, and your experiences, in this ongoing survey.
Thanks to Heads for attendance
On 25 November, over 70 Head Teachers signed up to a follow up event to the Autumn Head Teachers conference to discuss the SEND inspection and action plan.
There was very constructive feedback to inform our Written Statement of Action which is going (in draft) to Cabinet next Tuesday 7th December LINK: Public Cabinet Papers only via the Website
Thanks to all those who attended and we look forward to working with you to deliver improvements for our children and young people with SEND across Warwickshire.
Celebrating Warwickshire’s Family of Schools
Senior mental health lead training
Find out how to apply for a grant and access DfE quality assured training to help develop a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing.
The Department for Education (DfE) is offering a £1,200 grant for a senior member of school or college staff to access quality assured training to implement an effective whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing in your setting. Grants of £1,200 will be available to around a third of all eligible state schools and colleges in England in the 2021 to 2022 financial year. This is part of the government’s commitment to offer this training to all eligible schools and colleges by 2025.
The grant is provided to cover (or contribute to) the cost of attending a quality assured course and may also be used to hire supply staff whilst leads are engaged in learning.
Find out more here.
EEF’s ‘A Tiered Approach’ Primary Programme for Spring 2022
Following the presentation by EEF on their Tiered Approach the summer term headteacher conference we have worked with Staffordshire Research School and EEF to develope the attached programme. We are inviting senior leaders from two schools per primary consortia group to a short modular course focusing on:
-
- The EEF’s Tiered Approach to School Planning (Updated Oct 2021)
- Disadvantaged and Post-Covid gaps
- The Updated EEF toolkit (Updated Sept 2021)
- ‘Putting Evidence to Work’ and effective implementation
The course is being fully funded by the LA with support for cover costs included. Represented schools will be asked to cascade the key programme content within consortia meetings.
Please find further details here with information on how to sign up.
HT Wellbeing: Free 30-minute webinar with James Pope of Headsup4HTs
By popular demand, James is returning (online!) to Warwickshire just before Christmas to share some reflections on the current educational landscape for headteachers and to share further tips to support headteacher wellbeing. Some Warwickshire headteachers who have taken up the network support opportunities with James offered last summer will also share their experiences.
For further detail of the event please click
here.
If you would like to attend this free 30-minute session on Thursday 9th December 9.30 - 10.00, please email schoolimprovement@warwickshire.gov.uk and you will be sent an invitation to the webinar which will be held on Teams.
Primary Mathematics Early Career Teacher Community
Are you in your first or second year of teaching?
Would you like to develop mathematical subject knowledge and deepen your understanding of the pedagogy that underpins the teaching of it?
This new, free community is designed to support primary early career teachers (teachers in their first two years of teaching) in developing their understanding of teaching mathematics, including lesson analysis and lesson design, thus supporting them to better understand, teach and respond to students in maths lessons.
Managing Complex Complaints
At the end of November, Sue Casey and Julia Kenny from Governor Services, supported by Jane Carter from SEND and Debbie Hibberd from School Improvement held an event for headteachers about dealing with complex complaints.
The volume of complaints that schools are facing has increased this year and the session looked at the concerns that school leaders have when dealing with difficult situations, considered the challenges that they face and worked together to identify strategies that can help in terms of resolution and managing wellbeing.
The feedback was very positive; Sukie Owers, Executive Head at Briar Hill Infants and St Margaret’s CE Juniors Schools in Leamington Spa said “This was an excellent session. The support and guidance have been a real support for mine and my staff's wellbeing. This is just what us heads need right now in the most challenging of times. Thank you.”
So, if you are struggling with a complex situation, can identify with the experiences of these school leaders or just feel overwhelmed, maybe you would like to join our next session. This will take place on Wednesday 26 January from 9.30 – 11.30 am via Teams and is free of charge to all Warwickshire headteachers. If you would like to book a place, please email governors@warwickshire.gov.uk or call 01926 745120.
More 18- to 24-year-olds and people from Nuneaton & Bedworth borough needed to be the ‘Voice of Warwickshire’!
Warwickshire County Council has had a fantastic response to its new residents’ panel, called ‘Voice of Warwickshire’, with over 830 residents already signed up to share their views.
But the Council wants more people aged 18 to 24 years old from across the county to sign up.
The Council also wants to be able to listen to the voices of more people in Nuneaton & Bedworth borough, who are also currently under-represented on the panel.
‘Voice of Warwickshire’ has been formed to give people an opportunity to share their views, so the County Council can listen to the voices of as many people as possible.
Warwickshire County Council wants their decisions and priorities to be informed by the views of a representative group of residents, to help them to understand their needs and improve how they work with communities in tackling the huge challenges that Warwickshire faces in a world that has been changed by COVID-19.
Read here more.
Human Rights Day 2021
Friday 10th December 7.00pm - 21.30
University of Warwick Arts Centre
The event will aim to look into the position of Human Rights within our education system and society, and how we can make human rights more prominent in paving the way for future generations.
Please click here for more information.
KOOTH Update - December 2021
Download here the poster.
Download here the poster.
Find here "Handy Resource List for Services".
Bring joy to vulnerable children this Christmas by donating with the Family Information Service
Christmas, a time for giving, is very nearly upon us, and the Family Information Service (FIS) are continuing their tradition of working in partnership with the Salvation Army to deliver presents.
Each year, the Salvation Army run their Christmas Present Appeal, asking the public to donate new, unwrapped toys and gifts for children which are then distributed to children who might not otherwise receive a Christmas present.
The FIS team inform local Salvation Army centres of families that need support and help to distribute the presents to the family homes in time for Christmas. In December 2020, they referred 56 families and delivered presents to 148 children across the county – making Christmas day special and full of joy for children who may not otherwise receive a Christmas present.
The FIS team are the embodiment of Child Friendly Warwickshire, making sure families and their children are heard, safe, healthy, skilled and happy. This year, help the FIS team by donating new, unwrapped gifts for children aged between 0-16. Salvation Army will be collecting presents until mid-December.
Read here more.
Avon Valley School Donates Over 70 Shoe Boxes
Kind hearted Year 7 students at The Avon Valley School and Performing Arts College have shown their generous nature by creating gift boxes which will be sent to disadvantaged youngsters many miles away.
Students from the school’s four Houses, Apollo, Fortune, Garrick and Phoenix, brought in items such as toys, toiletries, school equipment and other goodies for the boxes which will be sent to disadvantaged children across the globe.
In total seventy seven filled boxes were picked up by a representative from Samaritan’s Purse the organisation behind Operation Christmas Child an initiative which has sent millions of boxes to children is 130 countries since beginning back in 1990.
Read here more.
Thrive at work
The Thrive at Work team is running a thrive networking event for schools on 7 December. The event is open to those doing thrive and those who may be considering registering.
The event is on Tuesday 7 December on Teams from 4pm-5pm.
Anyone interested in joining please contact Jenny Duggan: jenny.duggan@coventry.gov.uk