Securing the Best Start to Life
‘time to talk’ – Warwickshire
Time to Talk Warwickshire has information for families on what to expect at different ages and stages, advice on dummies, bilingual support and information videos. The site also lists the main organisations to contact for support.
Click the following link for lots more information…https://timetotalkwarwickshire.co.uk/families/?fbclid=IwAR0f08umRz0_PSJ8TMxh61JeBorXkZ7k5wErRxMMfrVNBZG4WOmDB7OKsZc
Makaton Library
Makaton Library – did you know that you can access the Makaton Library via their hub?
Find downloadable free resources that are stored in the Makaton Library..
Free membership is available and will provide access to Topics covered such as Vocabulary (health, animals, food and places, events and special days, religion and festivals, wordlists), Songs and stories, Activities and games (special days, people and characters, life skills, food and transport, nature) as well as Reports and guides.
Early Education Centenary Festival
Join Early Education on 16-18 May for three days of free CPD sessions on the theme of play to celebrate 100 years of Early Education’s pioneering role in advocating for high quality, play-based early childhood education for all.
To view the programme and book sessions, please visit the Early Education website.
Updated guidance on EYFSP 2023
As the 2023 Early Years Foundation Stage profile (EYFSP) assessment period approaches, the Department for Education want to provide teachers and school and Multi Academy Trust leaders with important information on completing the EYFSP this year. The new webpage on the Foundation Years website includes:
- An overview of the EYFSP
- Guidance on administering the EYFSP
- An update on exemptions and exceptions from the EYFSP
Frequently asked questions on the EYFSP
Read more on the Foundation Years website.
New research on child development from A Better Start
A new report on improving child development outcomes in times of uncertainty has been published on the National Children’s Bureau’s website.
The report provides insights from The National Lottery Community Fund’s five A Better Start (ABS) partnerships based in Blackpool, Bradford, Lambeth, Nottingham and Southend.
In the report, partnerships provide a summary of emerging evidence across child development outcome areas including, improving children’s diet and nutrition, social and emotional development, and speech, language and communication.
Read the full ABS report here.
Foundation Years Events
On Monday 24 April, members of the Foundation Years community gathered together for there first face-to-face event of the year. They heard from expert speakers, including Jason O’Rourke on sensory food education, Jan Dubiel on curriculum progression and James Hempsall on workforce recruitment and retention.
Delegates had the opportunity to share thoughts and expertise on putting new ideas into practice in breakout sessions, and most importantly network with each other. It was an opportunity to engage, connect and share best practice.
The next Foundation Years event will be online on Thursday 11 May 10am – 11.30am. At this event you will be able to hear from TastEd about sensory food education and from the Department for Education about choking prevention.
These events are free and open to all. They are popular and get booked to capacity quickly, so please only book if you are confident you will attend. To book, please register on Eventbrite here.
The Early Years Development Programme: Registration now open
The Early Years Development Programme (EYPDP) is part of the DfE’s Early Years Recovery Programme to help address the impact of the pandemic on the youngest and most disadvantaged children. Delivering high-quality, evidence informed professional development to early years practitioners, the EYPDP is available to up to 10,000 eligible practitioners across England.
The programme is being delivered by Education Development Trust (EDT) and the next cohort of learners are due to start this September, with registration now open. The programme has been designed to fit flexibly around busy lifestyles, covering 3 tailored modules in:
- Communication and Language (with content from Speech and Language UK)
- Early Mathematics (with content from early years mathematics experts Dr Sue Gifford and Dr Cath Gripton)
Personal, Social and Emotional Development (with content from the Anna Freud Centre)
Further eligibility criteria details can be found here. Registration for cohort 2 starting this September is now open and places are limited. Find out more and register your interest by visiting www.earlyyearspdp.com
Education Endowment Evaluations
Early Years Settings can now register to take part in a range of new EEF evaluations of early years programmes, co-funded by the Department for Education’s Stronger Practice Hubs.
These fully funded projects will test the impact of interventions which aim to support young children’s (2-5 year olds) early language and numeracy skills
Early Years Conversation Project
Concept Cat
Early Talk Boost
Talk with Tales for Children (TWiTCH)
Tales Toolkit
The One Project
These projects include the first ever EEF-funded evaluation involving childminders. The pilot of Communication Friendly Home-Based Settings, developed by Elkan, will give childminders training to improve their provision and practice to support their children’s language skills.
Explore the programmes available in your area and express your interest in taking part on the EEF website here.
Supporting Inclusion for SEND and Vulnerable Groups
Preparing children and young people for moving schools
Last week, Warwickshire County Council in partnership with Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice, hosted a SEND parent carer webinar providing an overview of the advice and guidance available to support positive transitions from early years to primary school, and primary to secondary school.
For any parents or carers with a child or young person moving to a new school in September, or in the near future, the webinar provides information to help them understand what they can do, along with their child's current and new school or setting, to help prepare their child for this change.
For anyone who missed the webinar, the recording is now available to watch back below.
Improving outcomes for children and young people dealing with Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA)
The impact of Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) - when a child or young person has severe difficulty attending school due to emotional factors, often for prolonged periods of time - can be far reaching. In the longer-term, EBSA has been shown to negatively impact academic development, limit social and employment opportunities, and increase the chances of mental health difficulties in later life.
Most recent government figures suggest that there are approximately 770,000 persistent school absentees in England and local data highlights an increase in the number of children absent from school because of their emotional needs, with this number continuing to rise.
In response to this, Warwickshire County Council’s SEND and Inclusion Change Programme has recently launched a project to develop an improved offer of support for those children and young people experiencing EBSA, with a focus on early identification and intervention.
The project will develop new guidance, including an EBSA Pathway and toolkit, to support schools and settings, and health and social care colleagues, to identify children and young people at risk of EBSA. Underpinning this guidance there will also be a training and development offer to equip practitioners with the knowledge and skills required to be able to spot the early warning signs and work with families to provide support.
In addition, a suite of guidance will be developed to provide information, advice and guidance for parents and carers.
The project team includes multi-agency representation from schools and settings, parents and carers, social care and health.
For more information or to get involved in the project please contact sendchange@warwickshire.gov.uk
Celebrating Warwickshire’s Family of Schools
Update to DfE targeted support fund offer to support teachers and leaders participating in national professional qualifications (NPQs) from the 2023 to 2024 academic year
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DfE have updated the targeted support fund offer for the 2023 to 2024 academic year to further incentivise state-funded schools and state-funded 16 to 19 educational settings in England to participate in NPQs.
For each state-funded school and 16 to 19 organisation that employs a teacher or leader who takes a NPQ in the 2023 to 2024 academic year, the following funding will apply:
- state-funded primary schools with 1 to 150 pupils will receive a grant payment of £800
- state-funded primary schools with more than 150 pupils will receive a grant payment of £200
- state-funded secondary schools and state-funded 16 to 19 educational settings with 1 to 600 pupils will receive a grant payment of £200
You can read the targeted support funding grant conditions of grant and view the NPQs currently available in our course prospectus.
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Transitions Guidance webpages
The new and improved Transitions Guidance webpages are located within Warwickshire's Local Offer. The pages feature a comprehensive bank of resources for parents, carers, children and young people and education settings, to help support positive and successful transitions.
Take a look at the new Transitions webpages
Origin Maths Hub HT Contact Details
Following on from the HT Briefing on 18th April, Hannah from Origin Maths Hub, who presented some information about the Teaching for Mastery programmes available in 23/24 for Warwickshire schools, has sent contact details below.
These are the contacts of three Headteachers and one Trust CEO who are passionate about the work that Origin does and are happy to talk about their experiences with other Headteachers:
Lorraine Stanton, Headteacher at SS Peter & Paul Catholic School in Coventry. School is currently in Teaching for Mastery Sustaining.
Lynn Clark, Headteacher at Marston Green Juniors in Solihull. School is currently in Teaching for Mastery Sustaining.
James Higham, CEO of Transforming Lives Educational Trust. The Trust has primary and Secondary schools involved in TfM at various stages.
Diane Compton-Belcher, Headteacher at Michael Drayton Junior School in Nuneaton. School is currently in Teaching for Mastery Sustaining.
Working together to improve school attendance
1. Upcoming webinar on responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance
Many children will experience normal but difficult emotions that make them nervous about attending school, such as worries about friendships, schoolwork, exams or variable moods.
The DfE are hosting a webinar, with an opportunity for Q&A, to support the publication of the summary of responsibilities where a mental health issue is affecting attendance guidance.
This will include best practice examples for:
- steps to overcome barriers to attendance
- staff and parent engagement
- intervention options
- impact for the child
- monitoring progress
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The webinar will be on Wednesday 10 May, 4pm to 5:15pm. To register your interest, please complete our short form.
If you have any questions regarding the webinar, please email contact attendance.webinar@education.gov.uk.
- You may still register your interest in the new sector-led school attendance hubs
The DfE are launching new sector-led school attendance hubs.
Primary, secondary, special schools and alternative provision providers who wish to register their interest in joining a hub and receiving free school attendance support should complete the short application form by Monday 8 May.
Attendance hubs will be led by senior leaders in schools with strong attendance practice, who will share the strategies and resources they use for improving attendance.
Participating schools will be expected to revisit and revise their systems and protocols for managing attendance and join half termly virtual hub meetings to share practice and discuss progress and challenges.
This programme builds on a pilot hub established last year, led by North Shore Academy, which saw some participating schools achieve significant reductions in their absence and persistent absence rates.
- Compare pupil attendance with other schools in your local authority
80% of schools nationally have opted in to sharing daily attendance data with the DfE. Response rates nationally across school types this was: 82% of state-funded primary schools, 75% of state-funded secondary schools and 70% of state-funded special schools.
The figure in Warwickshire is 82%.
The DfE are now rolling out new functionality to allow mainstream schools that are sharing data to compare attendance with other schools within their local authority area. The tool will help schools to identify strengths and priorities and signpost to additional guidance and support. To share daily attendance data and get access to these tools, please email Wonde. If you already use Wonde, please accept the request in your Wonde portal.
Contact Us:
If you wish to discuss any issues relating to school attendance, please feel free to contact the Warwickshire Attendance Service: was@warwickshire.gov.uk
Save the date - Summer Term 2023 Headteachers' Conference
Save the Date!
Summer Term 2023 Headteachers' Conference
Tuesday 6th June 2023 (9.15am – 1.30pm)
Venue
Stareton Hall, Stoneleigh Park (NAEC), Stoneleigh, Kenilworth, CV8 2LZ
Agenda to follow shortly.
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month
The annual GRTHM (Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller History Month) will be held in June, as it is every year. This year, there will be a competition for all primary schools in Warwickshire, organized by the GRT (Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller) team. The team has produced a short video about the competition, showing details of the event. Additionally, Travellers' Times has created a video about the history of Travellers.
If you are interested in participating in the competition, please note that the deadline is May 12th. This will allow the team to estimate the number of participating schools before the event, which will take place at the Police Headquarters in Leek Wootton at the end of June.
For more information, please read this letter (that you may have already received).
Please find below the video produced by the team and "Roads from the Past" by Travellers' Times.
Behaviour Strategies with Moat House School
The Healthy Start scheme special edition from Warwickshire Family and Information service
This month’s special edition focuses on the Healthy Start scheme. Research shows that over 1/3 of all eligible households are not signed up to the scheme.
Leamington, Nuneaton, and Rugby Libraries introduce new digital Hublets for e-reading
Digital Hublet tablets are available at Leamington, Nuneaton, and Rugby libraries, and allow users to enjoy eMagazines, eNewspapers, eBooks, and other online eResources without the need to have or bring their own digital devices.
The Hublets are housed in docking stations at each library, and users can borrow them for a defined period by inserting their library card into the barcode reader. The devices are free to use and work within each library building by utilising the existing library Wi-Fi.
The Hublets are designed to be user-friendly and accessible to all, and library staff will be on hand to provide any necessary support or assistance so that customers can enjoy using the Hublet tablets in the friendly surroundings of each public library environment.
The Hublets service is part of a wider initiative by Warwickshire Libraries to make their e-reading resources more accessible to all, and the libraries hope that the service will prove popular with their customers.
Warwickshire Libraries already provide a great range of digital services to support local communities, including:
- Books which are available to borrow for library members through the online library catalogue, or by browsing the BorrowBox collection which includes a great range of eBooks and eAudiobooks. Newspapers and magazines are also available through Pressreader & Libby.
- The County Council’s Cyber Security Team deliver regular sessions in Warwickshire Libraries to raise awareness of how to protect yourself online. Find out more at Cyber Safe Warwickshire.
- All physical libraries offer free Wi-Fi and free time on public computers, and staff can help you to find trustworthy online sources for facts, news, and other information.
- IT Help and support sessions which take place regularly at libraries across the county.
- Nuneaton, Rugby, and Leamington libraries offer Let’s Make sessions to get hands-on with the latest technology from 3D printing and virtual reality to robotics.
- Warwickshire Libraries also have a Code Club and lend out Micro:bit kits so that younger library customers can develop coding skills at home as well as through sessions in the library.
For more information about the Hublets and other services provided by Warwickshire Libraries, please ask a member of staff in your local library, or visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/libraries
To join your local library for free so that you can use the new Hublets service, visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/jointhelibrary
Young Volunteering Opportunities with Warwickshire Libraries this Summer
Warwickshire Libraries are looking for young people, 13-19 years old to volunteer this summer to help with the annual Summer Reading Challenge.
The Summer Reading Challenge is the UK’s biggest free reading for pleasure programme for children, run by The Reading Agency. Taking place annually, the Challenge encourages children aged 4 to 11 to keep reading during the summer holidays.
Warwickshire County Council are looking for schools that celebrated the Coronation!
Did your school celebrate the Coronation of King Charles III?
If so, we want to see! We will be putting out some posts on social media next week, and we want to showcase as many schools from the county as possible.
If you celebrated in any way and would be interested in being featured, please let us know by emailing lucywright@warwickshirecountycouncil.gov.uk. If you have any photos you can share, please send those too!
National Week of Play 2023: Creating connections through play
This year's National Week of Play, which will run from 19 - 25 June, will focus on how play can
help us build positive connections and break down barriers, whether cultural, generational, societal or otherwise.
From examining different approaches to play from around the world to exploring play for all ages, this year’s event is all about celebrating the unifying nature of play.
All providers and parents/ carers are welcome to join this year’s event and can sign up for free to receive a range of free resources, materials, blogs and activity ideas.
Find out more & sign up here:
https://bit.ly/3njMBaI