WE1 Early Years
Free activity box loan service to help teach fire safety
Did you know? Over 3,900 children across 96 early years settings benefited from the Big Red Activity boxes in 2019.
The good news? The children in your setting can also benefit from this free, fun activity box aimed at teaching nursery and pre-school age children fire safety.
Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service offer the Big Red Activity boxes on loan to early years settings across the county giving them free access to a range of age-appropriate resources that will help them to teach young children basic fire safety messages.
The contents of the box includes firefighters tunics, helmets, torches and toy fire extinguishers as well as jigsaws, a Fireman Sam video, lots of exciting stories, information books and fun activities. There is also an added activity to encourage healthy eating using firefighters as role models.
Parents will also receive safety information on how to keep their children safe at home and have the opportunity to request a Safe and Well check on their property.
The boxes are so popular that they are already fully-booked for January, however there is availability from February onwards. All boxes are delivered to settings at the start of the month and collected three weeks later.
If you would like to book a box for your setting please contact Gemma Childs at cfs@warwickshire.gov.uk
WE2 An empowering curriculum
Helping schools to support young carers
Yesterday (30 January) was Young Carers Awareness Day and Warwickshire County Council in partnership with Warwickshire Young Carers has been running a joint initiative in the run up to the day to raise the profile of young carers and the duties that they undertake on a daily basis.
This has also highlighted the ‘Count Me In’ campaign – led by the Carers Trust - the aim of the campaign is to encourage education providers to do more to proactively identify young carers and to ensure that they receive the recognition and support they deserve.
For more information about Young Carers in Schools, a free initiative run by Carers Trust to make it easier for schools to support young carers, have a look at the Carers Trust website.
Free training to help schools to support young carers
Warwickshire Young Carers offers a number of free training sessions to schools and other partners working with young carers to help raise awareness of the role that young carers play and the support available to them.
Dates for Young Carer Awareness Training and School Lead Training are available throughout the year - please check the Eventbrite page for details and to book your place.
Warwickshire Young Carers School Award Consultation
Warwickshire Young Carers is currently undertaking a consultation to understand how they might work better with education providers to further support young carers in schools and to develop their offer. They would therefore be grateful if you would take five minutes to fill in their short questionnaire:
Warwickshire Young Carers Schools Work Consultation Questionnaire
You can find more information on the Warwickshire Young Carers website.
Also follow them on Twitter @WarksYC and Facebook @warwickshireyoungcarers
Fully-funded training - Leading a Mentally Healthy School
Funded by the Warwickshire Improving SEND and SEMH in Schools Project (WISSSP)
A two-session fully-funded CPD programme for SLT members to lead their school to become mentally healthy.
The programme aims to enable and empower senior leaders to put mental health at the heart of strategic school improvement and to equip senior leaders with practical and sustainable approaches that can be implemented on return to school.
Various dates and venues are available to book onto, with courses starting early February.
Please see the attached flyer for more details and a link to the online booking form.
This training is run in partnership between WCC, The Griffin Teaching School Alliance and Hillmorton Teaching School Alliance.
For any queries please email gwen.temple@lawrencesheriffschool.com
SEND and Inclusion Training Brochure Spring 2020
The Spring 2020 SEND and Inclusion Training Brochure includes a range of training opportunities that have been designed and collated in response to requests from schools and other partners and provides a menu from strategic planning for the whole school to personalised programmes to meet specific needs.
One of the recommendations as set out in the brochure is for schools to prioritise SENCos attendance at the termly SENCos network meetings as this is the key forum for sharing best practice, ensuring they are fully informed and influencing policy development. You can find the dates for the primary SENCo spring term network meetings here.
Primary SENCo Network Meetings Spring 2020
Various venues around the county - 3 Feb, 6 Feb, 11 Feb and 13 Feb
The local SENCo network meetings provide an excellent opportunity for your SEN lead to benefit from professional development and to share evidence-based good practice.
The meetings are also a valuable opportunity for SENCos who may be new to the area or new to the role to seek reassurance and advice on situations that they have not faced before, helping them to feel less isolated and more supported.
Network meetings are FREE to attend and usually take place termly, with separate meetings for primary and secondary SENCos.
Primary SENCo Network Meetings Spring 2020
The agenda for the spring term meetings will include:
- Education Entitlement Team and the Fair Access Protocol
- Mental Health First Aid
- The Local Offer
- Working as a team to provide SEN provision
- Local and national SEN news
There will be four meetings taking place across the county throughout February.
For more details please see the attached flyer.
Upcoming training to support pupils with additional needs
A number of Warwickshire's traded education services provide training and development to help schools to build capacity and skills to better support pupils with additional needs.
Please see a list below of upcoming courses provided by the Specialist Teaching Service (STS) and Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS).
For details of all training provided by WES traded services visit the WES website.
Inference Training
A group intervention for pupils in KS2 and KS3 who decode adequately but fail to get full meaning and enjoyment from their reading.
When/Where: 6 Feb 2020 at Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa
Book this course
Assessing EAL New Arrivals
Two free funded places for all Local Authority primary schools.
Aims to build EAL capacity in schools.
When/Where: 28 Feb 2020 at Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa
Book this course
EAL SEND Training
For teachers, teaching assistants, SEND & EAL Coordinators requiring support in identifying and assessing SEND in children or young people whose first language is not English.
When/Where: 27 Mar 2020 at Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa
Book this course
Opportunities to involve pupils in Safer Internet Day 2020
Warwickshire ICTDS competition for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 pupils
Warwickshire ICT Development Service has launched their annual competition to coincide with Safer Internet Day 2020 (11 February), a global campaign aiming to promote the safe, responsible and positive use of digital technology for children and young people.
The competition is open to Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 pupils. Both cohorts are invited to submit entries that address the theme 'Free to be Me' but with different criteria for each key stage (see details below on the flyers). This year the competition closely follows the teaching materials produced by the Safer Internet Centre for key stage 1 and 2 and links to these can be found in the information below.
The deadline for entries is Friday 28 February with the winner being announced on 20 March 2020.
Please see the flyers below for further details (you can click on each image for the full information).
Key Stage 1 Flyer
Key Stage 2 Flyer
Safe in Warwickshire #BeCyberKind competition
For the third successive year, the Safe In Warwickshire team, Warwickshire Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner are joining forces to ask young people of Warwickshire to create a written piece of writing to mark Safer Internet Day, around the theme of #BeCyberKind and sharing with respect online.
Using their creative writing skills, they are asking young people to tell others their age how they can be kinder online. The advice can come in the form of a poem or rhyme, the words to a song or rap, a blog post or a short story. The competition is now open and closes at 5pm on Friday 14th February 2020.
See the Safe in Warwickshire website for more details.
Additional drop-in session for parent carer strategy consultation
We would like as many eligible families as possible to give their views on the Parent Carer Support Pathway to help us to re-shape and improve the support we offer parent carers of a child (under the age of 18) with a disability.
We also hope to gather feedback from professionals who support parent carers on the proposed changes.
Responses can be submitted via the online consultation up until Sunday 9 February 2020.
An additional drop-in session has also been arranged to be held in Nuneaton. This will include a short presentation followed by a Q&A session. Details below:
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3 February, 6pm to 7.30pm at Chess Centre, Nuneaton
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Further information
An overview of the proposed process and other supporting documents can be accessed online at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/ask.
A paper copy of the online survey can be requested by telephone (01926 415106) or by emailing parentcarerconsult@warwickshire.gov.uk.
Enhancing long-term memory for modern languages
Secondary schools are invited to attend this free course funded by the Education Challenge Board School Improvement Fund for North Warwickshire that will turn everything you thought you knew about language teaching on it's head.
'Enhancing long-term memory for modern languages' is a one-day course led by Fadila Bettahar, a former Michaela Community School French teacher and now a consultant, who will explain and model the concept of CUDDLES - a truly immersive experience that encompasses all of the elements of the written and spoken language that we want pupils to remember and internalise.
Date: Tuesday 11 February 2020
Time: 9am to 3.30pm
Venue: Higham Lane School, Nuneaton
Due to the nature of the course numbers will be limited. Please book with the CAT Teaching School by emailing catts@thepolesworthschool.com.
Please see the attached flyer for further information.
Bring learning outside the classroom to life!
Warwick District Council is offering free workshops for trainee and established teachers to help build confidence to take students out of the classroom and to develop curriculum-linked school trips.
There are two workshops being offered, subject to availability, focusing on Nature, Science & Geography and Local History & Art.
Click on the image below to view the flyer in full screen for more details.
WE3 Family of schools
Key national updates
Ofsted launches consultation on changes to inspecting Initial Teacher Education (ITE)
Earlier this week Ofsted published a consultaton on their new approach to inspecting initial teacher education. Ofsted is seeking views from a wide range of respondents on the draft framework and inspection handbook, including trainee and newly qualified teachers, ITE partnerships, headteachers and other employers. The consultation is open for 10 weeks and will close on 3 April 2020.
Read the press release here
View the draft handbook and respond to the consultation here
DfE announces replacement for P scales 1-4
A new 'engagement model' has been announced by the DfE to assess pupils working below the standard of the national curriculum tests and not engaged in subject-specific study. The new model, which replaces P scales 1-4, will assess pupils across five key areas - exploration, realisation, anticipation, persistence and initiation - and subject to consultation and a final decision by ministers will become statutory from September 2020.
Read the draft guidance and view the engagement model information video here.
Period product scheme for schools and colleges in England
The DfE has introduced a new scheme to provide free period products for all learners who attend state-maintained schools or who are in 16-19 education in England.
Education providers will be able to order a range of products including tampons and sanitary pads at any point during the year through the contracted supplier, Personnel Hygiene Services (phs), which are then delivered free of charge.
Providers have an allocated amount that they can spend on products between January 2020 and December 2020 that has been calculated based on numbers of students whose legal gender is female and who, based on age, are likely to have started their periods.
You can find out more about the scheme on the DfE website here.
Government proposals to increase teacher starting salaries from September 2020
The DfE has announced proposals to introduce salary rises of 6.7% for early-career teachers and 2.5% for experienced teachers and school leaders in England.
Changes would only apply to teachers employed under the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) and would come into force from September 2020. The government says that schools will receive additional funding to help them cover the costs of the pay awards however the amount is yet to be confirmed.
See more detail on the proposals here.
2019 primary inspection data summary reports
The DfE has updated the 2019 primary inspection data summary reports (IDSR) with revised key stage 2 data, final 2019 EYFS and data for disadvantaged pupils. They are available through the new Ofsted IDSR service.
You can also access this from the DfE’s Analyse School Performance (ASP). When logged into ASP, click on ‘All reports’ and then ‘Ofsted inspection data summary reports’.
Schools are advised to ensure they download the latest version dated 27 January 2020.
Where applicable, the IDSRs hold:
- final 2019 EYFS
- revised 2019 KS2
- data for disadvantaged pupils
- two term absence
- provisional 2019 KS5, KS4, KS1, phonics and context data.
A new and improved guidance document for the IDSR has also been published. This includes example reports and supporting data tables used for the 2019 IDSR which show national figures and quintile boundaries used to determine whether areas of interest sentences are triggered.
Newly added links are now located throughout the IDSR, which take you directly to the relevant section of the full guidance.
Should you have any IDSR or Ofsted IDSR service queries, please contact either:
Support for new or aspiring female senior leaders
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) is pleased to be offering a re-run of the fully accredited Women's National Professional Qualification for School Leadership (NPQSL) programme for new and aspiring female senior leaders.
The programme aims to support and encourage female leaders from all types of school and college to develop their knowledge, leadership qualities and skills to be effective senior leaders and achieve the NPQSL qualification.
The course encourages women to develop confidence, resilience, and network with other female leaders within a nurturing and challenging peer-learning programme, led by a partnership team of experienced female senior leaders.
Applications opened on 1 January 2020 and will close on 30 April 2020.
Training to support HR in schools
Warwickshire's HR and Payroll Services offers training to support schools with a range of areas in relation to HR and payroll.
Some of the upcoming training courses are highlighted below. Full details of all courses and bespoke training are available on the WES website.
| Course title / Description |
Date |
Venue |
Booking Link |
Pre-employment training
The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the pre employment checks required as part of the conditional offer. The course will provide an understanding of how to complete the necessary pre employment checks.
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5 Feb 2020 |
Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa |
Book this course |
DBS training
The Objectives of the course are:
- to build your confidence in processing DBS applications
- raise awareness and provide background to DBS
- confirmation of documents that are required
|
5 Feb 2020 |
Pound Lane Learning Centre, Leamington Spa |
Book this course |