Heads Up 31 March 2023

Supporting Inclusion for SEND and Vulnerable Groups

Share your experiences of SEND services

Did you know that you can share anonymous feedback at any time about Warwickshire's SEND services?

We want you to tell us about what works well to ensure this is not lost, as well as what needs to improve.

Listening to and understanding your experiences of SEND services is very important, so that we can work together to create better services.

We would also like to encourage families and children and young people to share their feedback, so please feel free to share this link with your parents and carers too.

You can provide feedback using the online form here.

WEYH Conference - Exploring Neurodiversity

Autism Acceptance Week 2023: Understanding Autism – free resources for schools

Together with our partners across Coventry and Warwickshire, this week Warwickshire County Council has been celebrating Autism Acceptance Week (27 March – 2 April), highlighting the importance of understanding more about autism and aiming to inspire others to take steps to build kinder, more inclusive communities.

The week has been an opportunity to encourage everyone to develop a better understanding of autism and how it affects individuals and their families. With more than 700,000 autistic people in the UK, it’s important that we work together to build more autism-friendly communities.

Here are some helpful links for education settings to training and resources available to support a better understanding of autism:

Autism Education Trust training for schools

You can find details of training provided through Autism Educaton Trust, as well as other SEND-specific training for Warwickshire schools in the recently launched online training catalogue here.

Learning About Neurodiversity at Schools (LEANS)

The University of Edinburgh has developed a free programme for primary schools to help introduce pupils aged 8-11 yrs to the concept of neurodiversity and help them explore how it impacts experiences at school.

It is a teacher-delivered resource for the whole class and was developed with reference to school contexts in the UK and Ireland.

Find out more about the LEANS programme here.

Free ‘Lets Learn About Autism’ packs

The Autism Education Trust is working in partnership with The National Autistic Society to provide free ‘Let’s Learn About Autism’ packs to education settings. Request your pack to raise peer awareness in your education setting here.

Spring neurodiversity stakeholder newsletter

The latest edition of the Neurodiversity Stakeholder newsletter is out and has all the latest updates on the work taking place with partners across Coventry and Warwickshire to improve the lives of austistic children and adults. Read and share the Spring edition.

Additional autism resources

There are also lots of other organisations providing information about autism relevant for people with or without a diagnosis:

BBC Two’s recent Inside our Autistic Minds series helps autistic people illustrate how their minds work, helping them connect with their friends and family in a new, more authentic way.

Share your experience of involvement in LA processes for resolving disagreements around SEND support

Professionals working in schools that have been involved with mediation and/or through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) appeals process during the last two years are invited to share feedback.

At Warwickshire County Council, we are committed to improving services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), with a strong focus on early intervention to give them the best start in life.

We understand there may be occasions when families won’t agree with the decisions that we make about education health and care (EHC) plans or EHC needs assessments and recognise the importance of being able to have open and honest discussions with families to resolve any issues.

As part of a wider programme of work focused on improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND, we are reviewing the process for resolving disagreements following a decision about an EHC plan or EHC needs assessment.

To help improve the process, we would like to encourage professionals working in schools who have been involved with local authority processes for resolving disagreements within the past two years to share their experiences by responding to a short survey. This involvement may have been through mediation and/or through the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) appeals process.

All feedback is welcome and anyone who has recently been through the process is being encouraged to respond. Parents, carers and young people aged 16-24, and other professionals working with families, are also being invited to share their views as part of this review.

To share your feedback, you can complete the survey online here.

Information provided by those responding will be strictly confidential and handled according to the County Council’s privacy policy.

You can find more information about the complaints and appeals process for SEND in Warwickshire here.

Celebrating Warwickshire’s Family of Schools

Attendance presentation slides from the Headteacher Conference 23rd March 2023

Please find here to the presentation ‘Think Attendance’ from last week’s Headteacher conference.

We would be grateful for feedback from colleagues who attended the conference, if you haven’t do so already please do complete the evaluation form available from this QR code:

Consultation on Scheme for Financing of Schools. Consultation Deadline on Tuesday 2nd May 2023

A consultation regarding Warwickshire County Council’s Scheme for Financing of Schools.

The Council is required to publish a Scheme for Financing of Schools setting out the financial relationship between the Council and Warwickshire Maintained schools. The Department for Education (DfE) periodically revise their guidance to Local Authorities and as such, the Council also periodically revises its Scheme.

The proposed revisions to Warwickshire’s Scheme are in purple for ease of reference within the attachment to this email. In summary, the revisions are:

Section 3.6 Borrowing by Schools - In line with the DfE update of 31 March 2022, the reference to the Salix Scheme has been removed, as this scheme has now closed. The proposed paragraph now also better reflects the DfE guidance. For reference, the changes can be seen in purple on Page 15 of the attachment.
Section 4.9 Licenced Deficit Scheme - A review of the section within the Scheme that relates to Licenced Deficits has also been carried out to provide additional clarity around the process, and proposes narrative that better reflects current practice, and the importance of a Deficit Recovery Plan to bring schools back into balance. For reference, the changes can be seen in purple on Pages 16-17 of the attachment.
The list of maintained schools has also been updated on Pages 32-24 of the attachment

Please respond to this consultation by providing your comments on the proposed changes by 5pm on Tuesday 2^nd May 2023 to schoolfunding@warwickshire.gov.uk.

De-escalation and Behaviour Management with Vanessa Gilbert

Parents and carers waiting for primary school offers invited to meet school admissions team online

Parents and carers of children who will be starting school for the first time in September are invited to join an online webinar on Wednesday 12 April with WCC's school admissions team.

The webinar is to give parents and carers an opportunity to understand more about the school offer that they will receive on National Offer Day, which is 17 April. This is the day when every child across England who is either starting school in Reception for the first time, or moving into Year 3 at a Junior School, will find out which school place they have been offered.

School is one of the most important parts of a child’s life and this event is there to give parents and carers as much support as possible in deciding how to respond to their school offer.

The webinar, called “Getting Your Primary School Offer: Guidance for Parents and Carers” will be held on Wednesday 12 April at 7pm. Parents and carers will hear from the education team who manage the applications process, who will share advice and guidance as well as answer any questions. Places should be booked online at: http://bit.ly/3Jv2e6m

Any parents and carers not able to join on the evening will still be able to watch a recording of the event a few days later, when it will be available on Warwickshire County Council’s YouTube channel.

Teaching for Mastery 2023

Primary Teaching for Mastery: Readiness and Development Work Groups available

Readiness - Programme will prepare schools for implementing a teaching for mastery approach across their maths teaching, ready to join the Development programme next year to begin implementing Teaching for Mastery approaches.

Development - Work Group will support schools to develop a teaching for mastery approach for their school, working with a Mastery Specialist that will lead work groups and make a termly bespoke visit to each school. Schools will also receive a £1000 grant to support full engagement with the programme.

More info on both programmes - https://mailchi.mp/tgacademy/funded-teaching-for-mastery-primary-work-groups-15567428?e=[UNIQID]

Secondary Teaching for Mastery: Development Work Group

This Work Group will give participants the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of teaching for mastery and for them to try out approaches in their own classroom. Two teachers from the maths department will act as Mastery Advocates and will attend work groups and be supported by a Mastery Specialist on bespoke visits. Schools will also receive a £2000 grant to support full engagement with the programme.

More info here - https://mailchi.mp/tgacademy/funded-teaching-for-mastery-secondary-work-groups-15567432?e=[UNIQID]

Challenging Education: free online RadioRADY event on 20th April

When? 20th April 4pm - 5pm;

Where? Online - book your place to get the meeting link

https://calendly.com/louisejblackburn/radiorady-20th-april-4pm

This #RadioRADY event will focus on the "Three P’s of Attendance", a slight adaptation of our profile, predict, prevent model

Position of knowledge (profile),

Predict who's affected

Purposeful action (prevent)

We are delighted that Dave Hollomby will be joining us for this 1 hour session and sharing outcomes of some research he has been carrying out into attendance.

In addition, we hope that members of our RADY family will be prepared to share the equitable steps they are taking in school to try and improve attendance of disadvantaged youngsters.

Visit Warwickshire Libraries this Easter for plenty of activities for children and grown-ups to enjoy!

Warwickshire County Council’s libraries are encouraging children and families to get involved in all the fun events and activities available to Warwickshire’s local communities this Easter.

The activities include Storytime with Waterstones Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho, Kate’s Storytree event that celebrates the start of spring, as well as opportunities to get involved in creative spring crafts, fabric bowl making for adults, and family learning sessions with Dogs Trust.

Waterstones Children’s Laureate (2022-2024) and award-winning performance poet, playwright, and children’s author, Joseph Coelho, is visiting Nuneaton Library on Wednesday 12 April as part of his nationwide ‘Library Marathon’. During his visit Joseph will read and perform to children in the library as well as register for a library card and borrow a book. His tour is championing local libraries, the vital role they play within their communities, and helping to inspire a love of reading in young people. To enjoy a children’s Storytime session with Joseph Coelho, book your free place on Eventbrite.

Kate’s Storytree session, ‘Jumping into Spring’, will be taking place at Rugby Library on 6 April. The session is all about celebrating the start of the new spring season with stories of cunning foxes and curious birds, followed by children creating and making their own birds to take home afterwards. To book your free place, visit the Eventbrite webpage.

Ideal for families with children aged 4-11 years, join actors from theatre company Highly Sprung to explore libraries through the immersive adventure story “Storm”. Children are encouraged to think creatively whilst making new discoveries about our beautiful planet, from oceans and seas to the forests and trees, which is shared through a funny but thought-provoking piece of children’s theatre. Available at Atherstone Library on 11 April, Southam Library on 13 April, and Kenilworth Library on 14 April, performances begin at 10am, 12 noon, and 2pm and will be available to drop-in with no pre-booking required. Find out more on the Eventbrite webpage.

Suitable for children aged 7+ years, join Dogs Trust Education and Community Officer, Sarah Saunders, at multiple library locations for a free family fun workshop! Each session will teach attendees about safe behaviour with dogs and how to act responsibly around our four-pawed friends. Please note there will be no dogs in attendance, but booking for these events is essential. To find out more and book your place, visit the Eventbrite webpage.

Warwickshire Libraries will also be hosting a number of fun spring craft activities where children can create decorative spring-themed pieces to take home. To find which spring craft sessions are near you, visit the Eventbrite webpage.

Regular children’s activities will also continue throughout the Easter holidays including Rhyme Time, Story Stomp, and Lego Club. Visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/childrensactivities to find out which activities are happening at your local library this Easter, or you can keep up-to-date by signing up to the Warwickshire Libraries newsletter.

For adults, there is the opportunity to come along to your local library and make a beautiful fabric bowl – idea for holding Easter eggs, keys, trinkets, or for display at home. The fabric bowls are easy to make, and attendees will be guided by a member of library staff. There will be multiple free sessions taking place at libraries across the county, to book your place visit the Eventbrite webpage.