HEADS UP

WE1 Early Years

Become a Mental Health Champion

Warwickshire Early Years Bringing Quality to LifeWarwickshire school alliance

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is an internationally recognised training course which teaches people how to spot the signs and symptoms of mental ill health and provide help on a first aid basis. MHFA won't teach you to be a therapist , but just like physical first aid, it will teach you to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis.

Date Course Venue Time Cost
Thursday 10 October 2019 Become a Mental Health Champion Inspirational Learning Space, corner Heath Road/Smarts Road,Bedworth, CV12 0BN 9am to 5pm £200 includes MFHA certification, manuals and workbooks

You will learn how to:

  • Identify the early stages of a mental health problem
  • Help someone who's dealing with a mental health issue
  • Help stop someone from self-harming or hurting others
  • Help stop mental ill health from worsening
  • Help someone have a quicker recovery
  • Guide someone towards proper professional help
  • Break the stigma of a mental health problem

Everyone who attends the course will be provided with complimentary resources, including a mental health first aid manual containing a wealth of information, a workbook and lanyard that can be used to identify mental health champions in the workplace.

To book and pay for your place please visit www.warwickshireearlyyears.co.uk

WE2 An empowering curriculum

SEND Aspiring Leadership Programme

Following the success of last year’s Aspiring Leadership Programme we are delighted to offer this opportunity again.

The programme includes practical sessions focusing on:

  • Leadership styles - identifying your skills and attributes and how these can inform interactions with your team
  • Adapting your leadership style to create personalised approaches
  • School evaluation and development planning – solutions focused
  • Effective use of funding including budget management and financial forecasting
  • Resilience – doing more with less and maintaining positivity
  • A culture of change improves outcomes for pupils – stop doing the same and expecting different results
  • Dealing with difficult situations – identifying strategies to enable you to channel emotional responses

Opportunities will be provided to enable colleagues to share good practice and to seek advice and solutions to current challenges. The sessions are very practical and do not require attendees to complete coursework or assignments, although they are encouraged to complete small school-based projects.

Schools are invited to send up to two colleagues but who must be committed to completing the full training programme. Sessions will be held from 1.30pm to 3.30pm at Oak Wood Primary School, Nuneaton.

Positive feedback

Feedback from previous attendees has been very positive and many of these colleagues have successfully sought promotion to senior leadership roles.

“The training provided me with great practical advice to develop my leadership skills and shared innovative ways to motivate and engage staff when leading change. It helped me in preparing for promotion by gaining self-awareness of my leadership characteristics and how to deploy appropriate leadership tools for specific situations.” (Middle leader)

Dates for the programme

18 October 2019

15 November 2019

13 December 2019

17 January 2020

14 February 2020

13 March 2020

24 April 2020

22 May 2020

12 June 2020

10 July 2020

How do I enrol?

Please send your name email address and current role to Jenny Roberts - jroberts@oakwoodschools.co.uk by Friday 11 October at the latest. Jenny is also happy to answer any questions you may have about the programme. 

Change to provider of interpretation services

Following the contract commencement from 1 October 2019, Communication Plus will now deliver British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation services on behalf of Warwickshire County Council. 

There is no change to this service and customers will still receive the same level of support.

How to book

If you would like to book interpretation services, please call 0121 707 8685 or email: bookings@commplus.org.uk or Office@commplus.org.uk. 

For further information please visit https://www.commplus.org.uk/

Please feel free to share this with your contacts as appropriate.

Place-based Joint Strategic Needs Assessments

JSNA logo

The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) aims to establish a shared, evidence-based consensus on the key local priorities across health and social care.

In 2017 a new approach was agreed by Warwickshire Health and Wellbeing Board, with the focus of the JSNA moving from a theme-based to a place-based approach. This has resulted in the approval of a two-year programme of work to produce needs assessments for 22 new JSNA geographies. This work was split into three waves, with wave one and two complete and wave three due for completion in April 2020. The table below provides more detail about the areas included in each wave.

Wave Geographies Status
1 Polesworth,Atherstone & Hartshill
Kingsbury, Coleshill & Arley
Nuneaton Central
Polesworth/Atherstone/Hartshill
Kingsbury/Coleshill/Arley
Nuneaton Central
Complete - March 2019
2 Bedworth West
Bedworth Central & Bulkington
Hillmorton
Bilton & Town Centre (Rugby)
Stratford-upon-Avon
Cubbington, Lillington & Warwick District East
Complete - September 2019
3 Nuneaton Common West
Weddington, Horeston Grange & Whitestone
Rugby Rural North
Rugby Rural South
Wellesbourne, Kineton & Shipston
Southam
Warwick & Warwick District West
Kenilworth
Due for completion April 2020

The needs assessments include evidence from a number of sources:

  • published national data e.g population data, census data;
  • data collected by WCC e.g. education data, social care data;
  • local data e.g foodbanks, Citizen’s Advice;
  • feedback from residents and professionals collected through surveys and stakeholder events.

There is a real emphasis on ensuring resident’s views are considered alongside the “hard” data.

The findings of waves one and two are published on the JSNA pages of Warwickshire County Council’s website. You can also access the residents and professionals survey from the JSNA website.

We encourage you to take a look at the completed needs assessments and where relevant use the findings to inform your work.

Alongside the needs assessment, a tool has been developed to provide data on the JSNA geographies and other areas in Warwickshire which can be found at: https://data.warwickshire.gov.uk/

Pupil Premium Information

On 17th July 2019 the DfE released updated guidance on the pupil premium - how much pupil premium funding schools receive, how they should spend it, and how the government holds them to account. The guidance says 'Some of the most effective spending will be on whole school strategies, including improving the quality of teaching, which have the potential to impact positively on all pupils'.

From September 2019 schools are being encouraged to move away from annual reviews and consider a longer-term strategy for pupil premium use. The Teaching Schools Council has produced templates to help schools present their strategy.

The DfE guidance reflects information contained in the recent guidance published by the Education Endowment Foundation on the pupil premium, recommending a tiered approach that balances spend across:

  • supporting training and continuous development to improve the quality of all teaching
  • targeting support for disadvantaged pupils through evidence-based interventions
  • supporting whole-school strategies to improve attendance, behaviour and readiness to learn

Commenting on the pupil premium in this news story, Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman said:

 'The Pupil Premium provides welcome additional funding for schools, recognising those with some of the biggest challenges. The EEF's new guidance on how to spend it rightly emphasises recruiting, retaining and developing great teachers. In order to be effective, the Pupil Premium must not become a cause of unnecessary work for teachers.

Ofsted does not require any school-generated data on the Pupil Premium beyond the school's Pupil Premium strategy and does not require schools to track eligible pupils or provide evidence of closing within school attainment gaps.'

KS1 and phonics screening check interim results published

Provisional information on the 2019 phonics screening check and national curriculum assessments at key stage 1 is now available

Phonics and KS1 national provisional results for 2019

Looking to develop your whole school curriculum provision?

Please click image below for larger version of the flyer.Developing the Primary Curriculum Oct 2019

Primary SENCo Network Meetings

Free to all Warwickshire schools. Interest in these meetings is already high so please confirm your place via the link below:

BOOK YOUR PLACE HERE

Click on the image for a larger version of the flyerPrimary SENCo Autumn Flyer 2019

Secondary EAL Network Meetings

Secondary EAL Network Meetings

WE3 Family of schools

Working for Wellbeing in Warwickshire – Director of Public Health Annual Report

Public Health Annual Review

Released on 16th September, the Director of Public Health’s report informs local people about the health of their community, as well as providing necessary information for decision makers in the local public sector on health gaps, health inequalities and priorities that need to be addressed.

The theme of this year’s report is the relationship between work, health and wellbeing.

The report also includes an overview of the health and wellbeing of Warwickshire’s population along with information about the progress made following the 2018 recommendations resulting in improvements in core areas of public health and some of the wider determinants that affect health:

  • The rate of teenage conceptions continues to fall from 18.7 per 1,000 in 2016 to 17.5 per 1,000 in 2017.
  • Hospital admissions as a result of self-harm in 10-24 year olds in Warwickshire have reduced from 502.9 per 100,000 in 2016/17 to 477.1 per 100,000 in 2017/18.
  • The percentage of people aged 16-64 who are in employment has increased from 79.5% in 2017 to 80.2% in 2018.

You can read the full report at: warwickshire.gov.uk/publichealthannualreport 

Autumn Term Headteachers Conference

HTs conf autumn 2019

Register Now

We hope you will join us at our Autumn Term Headteachers Conference, which is taking place at Stoneleigh Park on Tuesday 22 October 2019, 9am to 3.30pm.

In the afternoon, we will launch our renewed approach to Early Help in support of the safeguarding and wellbeing of children and young people. There will be practical advice and support, together with sharing of great family support practice.

We will also be hearing from Ivan Humble whose fascinating story shows how restorative narratives have the power to transform lives: not only supporting people to move on from harm or trauma, but also building a climate of tolerance, resilience, hope and empathy.

Cost

This is a free CPD and networking opportunity.

How to register

Please confirm your attendance using the online booking form.

Further information

Please email schoolpartnerships@warwickshire.gov.uk with any queries or for further information.

Teachers pay award update

Please see important update from HR regarding the implementation of the teachers pay award this year, in view of the timing of the government's consultation.

As you will probably be aware, the consultation for a 2.75% increase to all school teachers' pay ranges and allowances from 1 September 2019 began on 22 July and ended on 13 September. The final version of the STPCD was then released on Friday 20 September and has now been laid before parliament for 21 days until 11 October. 

Consultation is currently taking place with the trade unions, and a meeting for approval of the pay award by the Council's elected members is on 15 October, following which the updated pay policy and guidance will be sent out to schools. For relevant schools, the award will be implemented in the next payroll run in November and backdated to 1 September 2019.

WE4 Employability

Hear how groundbreaking digital programme could benefit your school

Digital Schoolhouse logo

Thousands of school pupils across Warwickshire are enjoying a head start in digital skills thanks to a groundbreaking programme and we are inviting schools to find out more about how they could also benefit.

The Digital Schoolhouse initiative, of which Warwickshire County Council is a national sponsor, offers computing and digital skills training to secondary school teachers which they then pass on to local primary school staff and children. The focus is very much on fun-based learning with a range of inventive ways to engage youngsters in the subject.

Four schools are currently receiving support from the programme locally - Coleshill, Kineton, Campion and King Edward VI in Stratford upon Avon - but we would love to see this number increase.

Join us on 17 October to hear directly from the organisers of the programme as well as a first-hand account of the benefits from one of the current schoolhouses. Also find out how you can get involved in the national Esports programme.

WHEN: Thursday 17 October from 10am  - 12pm (registration open from 9.30am)

VENUE: University of Warwick, Scarman Conference Centre, Gibbet Hill Rd, CV4 7SH (free parking will be provided)

Please confirm your attendance by emailing stacyoconnor@warwickshire.gov.uk.

If you are unable to attend please feel free to register another colleague.

For more information about Digital Schoolhouse visit their website at https://www.digitalschoolhouse.org.uk/

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