Accessibility toolkit
Since 2002 all state funded schools have been required to publish an Accessibility Plan.
pdnet - a network for those supporting learners with physical disability - was commissioned by Whole School SEND to develop an Accessibility Toolkit to support schools in reviewing and producing an updated plan.
The interactive Toolkit is £30 to purchase and includes access to a zipped folder of templates and resources.
Secondary Admissions National offer day
This week saw National offer day for all children due to transfer to secondary school in September 2021 on Monday 1st March 2021.
This year Warwickshire School Admissions Service received a total of 6352 applications from Warwickshire families, out of a total of 8398 applications processed by the team. Families may apply to any secondary school and Warwickshire schools are popular with families living outside of the county.
Parents were encouraged to apply online via the County Councils website and 6170 applications were made using this facility, this equated to 97% of all applications received this year. All parents that applied this way can view their child’s offer online from Monday 1st March and all other parents will receive an offer letter in the post.
The national closing date was applications is 31st October 2020 and any applications received after this time will not receive an offer on national offer day. All Warwickshire children that applied on time have been offered a secondary school place for September 2021.
4999 Warwickshire children have been offered a place at their preferred secondary school for September 2021. This equates to over 78% of Warwickshire families that applied on time receiving their first choice of secondary school.
Looking at all the applications received from Warwickshire families by the closing date, this increases to 93.3% of applications or 5943 children receiving an offer for one of their top three choice secondary schools.
Unfortunately, it is not always possible to meet every family’s preference and for 2021 entry 243 children have not been offered a school of their choosing. This equates to 3.9% of all applications received on time and all of these children have been offered a place at a local Warwickshire secondary school.
Grammar School offers
Offers for Warwickshire Grammar schools are made alongside all other Secondary schools on national offer day.
Due to COVID and in line with Central Government guidance, the 11+ testing for 2021 entry took place after the national closing date to apply for a school place. Results of the test were sent to parents in mid-December 2020.
To compensate Warwickshire families for the delay in receiving 11+ results, all parents were able to make an additional 7th preference for a secondary school place for this year only. Parents of children sitting the 11+ test were clearly advised to include their preferred grammar school alongside any other secondary schools and submit their applications prior to the closing date on 31st October 2020.
After an offer is received
Once the offer has been made Warwickshire parents are required to confirm whether they accept or decline their child’s secondary school offer. Acceptances can be submitted online for those families that originally applied via the website.
Parents wishing to decline the offer will be advised to contact the Admissions Service to formally decline the offer and to confirm their child’s alternative education provider. No places will be recorded as declined without knowledge of the child’s future school destination as it is not always possible to accept that place again later should the family change their mind.
Any families who have yet to make an application have been sent multiple correspondence and will be written to again advising them of the process to apply and will be encouraged to make their application through the online facility. Primary and Junior schools will also be asked to confirm the destinations of their current year 6 children for September 2021 and signpost any families that have not applied to the Admissions Team to discuss their options.
Any late applications or changes to existing applications received by the 10th March will be considered for the first reallocation which begins from 15th March 2021.
The Admission Team are available to answer phone calls and emails and provide support to families where needed.
Waiting Lists and Reallocation Rounds
For this year of entry, Warwickshire Admissions Service will be operating specified reallocation rounds as part of the re-offer process. Any late applications will be considered and offered a school place as part of this process.
The first reallocation round will commence from Monday 15th March 2021, with re-offers from the waiting lists made over the next 2 weeks. During this time the waiting lists will be frozen and re-offers will be made to fill any places which have become available since 1st March.
In order to be considered in the first reallocation round, the Admissions Service must have received a late or amended application by no later than Wednesday 10th March 2021.
A second reallocation round will then commence from 26th April 2021. If there are any further re-offers to make after this time, then applicants will be considered as and when vacancies become available.
Further Information
Further information, including a full breakdown of the offers made on 1st March 2021, confirmation of the qualifying scores for each of Warwickshire’s grammar schools, and guidance on the appeal process, can be found online at: warwickshire.gov.uk/admissions
Guidance on home to school transport options, including how to apply and eligibility for free transport, are available online at: warwickshire.gov.uk/schooltransport
National offer day for children starting school in reception, or transferring to a junior school, in September 2021 is Friday 16th April 2021.
Updated Attendance Guidance
The DfE issued updated school attendance guidance on 2 March 2021. A link to a new set of sub-codes and clarifying information in the data collection section has been added. The main guidance remains the same.
Sub-Codes
The sub-codes relate to COVID-19 absence and are optional but can be used to support the DfE data submission. As the subcodes have been issued by the DfE, they will not impact on census data unlike the previous codes 7, 8 and 9.
Capita SIMS
Patch 26311 will be automatically deployed to Primary/Nursery/Infant and Junior schools. Secondary schools will be able to deploy these patches via Solus. Once patch 26311 is installed, schools will be able to use the new sub codes.
If you have any questions on how to access the patch, please contact your ICT support.
Other Management Information Systems
Schools may wish to contact their provider to establish how their MIS system will be updated.
Data Collection
This year the census will collect attendance codes in addition to absence codes.
Attendance Coding Advice
If you have any questions regarding the use of sub-codes, please feel free to contact the Warwickshire Attendance Service:
was@warwickshire.gov.uk
Links:
School Attendance Guidance
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-attendance
Sub codes: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/965878/Recording_non-attendance_related_to_coronavirus.pdf
Message from Warwickshire School Admissions Service
On the 1 March secondary school offers were made to children due to start secondary school in September 2021. Whilst many children will be happy with the offers they have received, we are mindful of the small number of children whose parents or carer have not yet applied for a place. To ensure we do everything we can to secure a school place for all children due to commence secondary school in September, we ask you please to remind all parents and carers of children in year 6 that they should apply for a school place through Warwickshire CC Admissions service, or alternatively confirm inform the Admissions Service of any alternative plans that have been made for the provision of a child's secondary education.
Senior Leaders’ Webinar – Developing “Expert” School Leadership led by Tom Rees
As outlined in Heads Up at the beginning of the year, we have partnered with Gateway Alliance to offer you access to a series of educational leadership webinars. These webinars have been running throughout the year and have featured a range of prominent inspirational speakers who have addressed key leadership themes through the current context in which schools are operating.
The next webinar is coming up on Wednesday 17th March (10:00-11:00am), is entitled “What is “expert” school leadership and how can we develop it?” and is being led by Tom Rees – Executive Director for School Leadership at Ambition Institute.
OVERVIEW:
Successful school leaders have a positive impact on pupil outcomes as well as teacher quality, retention and job satisfaction. But what is it that they do which leads to this impact?
In this session, Tom will explore the expert mental models that sit behind the work of successful school leaders, the role of knowledge in this and draw on insights from evidence to suggest how we can better develop school leaders in the future.
This is the 6th in a series of 7 webinars which form part of Gateway Alliance’s Senior Leaders’ Network - CPD Programme. The Local Authority have funded schools’ access to 3 of these 7 webinars. Schools can choose which 3 are most relevant to them and, if schools wish to access more of the sessions, these can be purchased through Gateway Alliance.
HOW TO BOOK
You can book your place at these webinars by visiting the Gateway Alliance website: www.gatewayalliance.co.uk/finder/ just search subject ‘Senior Leaders’. In order to access your 3 FREE sessions you will need to use voucher code: SLweb3! when making your booking. If you already subscribe to Gateway programmes please remember to log-in before booking your places.
To browse Gateway’s full CPD programme for 2020-21 please visit: www.gatewayalliance.co.uk/finder/.
If you have any questions or queries please contact Gateway Alliance on 02476 347697 or email: info@gatewayalliance.co.uk