Supporting Inclusion for SEND and Vulnerable Groups
Notification of Suspensions and Exclusions
A reminder to all schools about the Statutory Duty around notifying the Local Authority on Suspensions and Permanent Exclusions.
All schools MUST notify the Local Authority on all suspensions and exclusions, these notifications should be sent to the Exclusions Inbox (exclusions@warwickshire.gov.uk )
All permanent exclusions must be notified to the Local Authority on day 1 in order for 6th day provision to be organised. All permanent exclusions should be accompanied by a LIF detailing relevant and detailed information pertaining to the CYP in support of accurate information sharing. We advise that the LIF is completed by someone who knows the CYP well and all the relevant factual information is included.
All schools and WCC in line with guidance must inform parents/carers about the process of exclusion and where they can access free legal advice. To support schools, working alongside families, the following resource has been coproduced between Warwickshire Parent/Carer Voice, Warwick University Law Students, Bailey Wright and Co, and Warwickshire County Council We advise that schools send this film out to help support parents/carers through the process.
WCC will be sharing this film with any parent/carer whose child is suspended or excluded.
Integrated Disability Service 0-5 referral form has moved online
The Single Point of Access (SPA) referral form for requesting pre-school support from Warwickshire County Council’s Integrated Disability Service (IDS) has moved online.
It has been developed as part of a wider project looking to expand and improve access to early intervention in the early years for children with severe and complex long-term needs.
The new electronic single point of access (e-SPA) form will speed up the referral process when requesting support for children aged 0-5 years to access one of the following IDS services:
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Birth to 3 home learning and portage
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SEND childcare for children accessing childcare including childminders
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Specialist teachers for children accessing nursery and transitioning into school
Anyone making a referral will now need to use the e-SPA form, available online on the Local Offer.
Providing information in this way, instead of using the current paper form, will enable more accurate and consistent capturing of information, therefore reducing the chance of duplication or errors during the process. This will allow IDS to process referrals much more quickly and efficiently, meaning that the most appropriate support can be put in place for pre-school children sooner.
The form will also provide an immediate response to the person making the referral to let them know if the child does not meet the criteria for support and will signpost to alternative services wherever possible.
After completing the e-SPA form, the referrer will be able to print a copy for their records and will receive a confirmation email when this has been submitted successfully.
We would suggest gathering all the information needed to complete the form before starting as there is no option to save and come back to it later. It is also recommended that the person making the referral gets a parental signature to confirm the referral has been seen and agreed by parents or carers.
Over the coming months the paper-SPA (which you will find in your Early Years SEND ‘Green File’) will be phased out. We would therefore encourage anyone making a new referral to use the new e-SPA form (you will find the link at the bottom of the IDS page).
Views invited on proposed changes to services for children and young people with SEND in Warwickshire
Warwickshire County Council is currently running two public consultations around proposals to change the way that they provide support to children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in Warwickshire.
This includes changes to the SEND Home to School Transport Service and the SEND & Inclusion Service Offer, specifically the core and traded offer currently provided for education settings across the county.
To subscribe to receive the SEND Newsletter directly into your inbox click here.
Celebrating Warwickshire’s Family of Schools
Another opportunity to join a supportive group of fellow heads with HeadsUP4HTs
Strategic Advice and Support re ICT in schools available through WCC ICTDS
ICTDS are now pleased to say they are working with Sarah Fitzgerald (former eLearning Adviser ICTDS) to bring you a brand-new support package.
Sarah now works for Entrust, an education and skills support services business, that shares the same passion for technology. Many of you will have worked alongside Sarah previously and will know her well.
The service includes three hours of in-school support to be used for strategic advice and discussion with your computing/leadership team. Examples of in-school support include:
- Strategic overview of your current provision for Computing and ICT
- Purple Mash training (if you need extra support)
- J2E training and support
- Curriculum planning, training and support
- Using your IWB within your classroom
- Supporting you with your MDM solution with Warwickshire
- Annual Online safety training and briefings (staff, parents, or pupils) a statutory requirement for KCSiE
The support package costs £585 and also includes:
- Email and telephone support and advice
- A termly online safety newsletter
- Access to free weekly courses and events covering topics including cyber security, Google, online safety, J2E and much more.
Please read more here.
Gateway Alliance Primary Cognitive Science Programme - Cohort 2
Primary Cognitive Science
A modular programme for Primary practitioners, brought to you by Staffordshire Research School & Gateway Alliance.
Applied Cognitive Science: Evidence into Practice
Through this ONLINE programme, based on robust research & evidence, participants will explore…
- What does the research say?
- What are the implications for my planning?
- Examples, case studies & avoidances
- A chance for reflection – What do I need to do more of & less of to apply these principles of research?
- So how do I do strategically put this evidence to work to give it the best chance of success?
Programme Overview:
This modular programme is being run over 5 online sessions:
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Wednesday 1st March 2023
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15:45 – 17:15
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Memory – Research - ST, LT, capacity, retrieval and encoding, dual coding & misconceptions |
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Tuesday 14th March 2023
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15:45 – 17:15
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Explicit Instruction and Deliberate Practice |
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Thursday 30th March 2023
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15:45 – 17:15
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Retrieval, Spacing, Interleaving - Evidence and practical application |
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Monday 17th April 2023
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15:45 – 17:15
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Generative Learning & Schema and considerations for the curriculum, lesson structures and varied examples |
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Monday 15th May 2023
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15:45 – 17:15
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Implementation |
Facilitated by Evidence Leads in Education (Staffordshire Research School) – Jade Pearce & Jeremy Baker
With Primary Specialist Co-Facilitators:
- Bryony Harrison – Hillmorton Primary School
- Matt Tyler – Claverdon Primary School
- Jen Taylor – St John’s Primary School
Price: £180 per person
You can book through:https://gatewayalliance.co.uk/product/primary-cognitive-science-c2/
Start 2023 with a positive step to promote and support mental health & wellbeing
It only takes 5 minutes to reserve a £1,200 grant for DfE quality assured senior mental health lead training (beginner, intermediate & advanced level courses are available). Apply for your grant before the end of the financial year to include your setting in the list of 10,000 plus schools and colleges that have already benefitted from the training.
- Understanding and identifying mental health and wellbeing needs
- Approaches to plan and lead change to improve your approach
- Developing your setting’s universal and targeted support offer
- Strategies to listen to student/pupil voice and develop positive relationships with parents, families and carers
- Approaches to work effectively with community mental health services
The grant can also be used to pay for supply cover to backfill the individual undertaking training, or for further support to sustain your approach to mental health and wellbeing.
See links to blogs written by schools that have undertaken the training here and here and a short film from a primary school here.
Click here to claim a grant now.
Supporting all children with social & emotional learning
Origin Maths Hub - Primary and Secondary Opportunities starting January 2023!
Origin Maths Hub offer mathematics professional and school development opportunities from early years through to post 16 and ITT education that are fully funded by the government and therefore free for schools to attend.
To consider how your school could benefit and get involved please browse their website https://originmathshub.tgacademy.org.uk/ or take a look at our 2022 catalogue!
It's not too early to register your interest in opportunities starting in September 2023, and there is a limited number of spaces left for some opportunities starting in January and February.
Here's a spotlight on a few of our opportunities that still have spaces for this academic year:
- Specialist Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics - Primary Teachers Programmes: These free programmes are designed to support primary teachers with mathematics subject knowledge and pedagogy that can be taken straight into the classroom.
There are two pathways:
- Specialist Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics - Secondary Early Career Teacher Community: This free programme is designed to expand on the subject specialism teaching from Early Career Teachers’ (teachers in their first two years of teaching) training years and to further develop their specialist knowledge for teaching mathematics relating to number, drawing in associated pedagogy, and helping them include lesson analysis and lesson design in their practice. Find out more and register your interest
- Year 7-11 Coherence Work Group: This free Work Group gives participants the opportunity to work collaboratively to analyse, deconstruct and trace the topic of 'fractions' through the curriculum; developing a deeper understanding of the topic, common misconceptions, and how to build a more sustained understanding for pupils all the way into GCSE. This can support a whole school approach to the teaching of fractions from year 7-11. Find out more and register your interest
- Mathematical Thinking for GCSE Work Group: This free Work Group supports teachers in developing their understanding and skills in mathematical thinking, relating to problem-solving and reasoning in GCSE Maths. A very useful group for any maths teachers with KS4 year groups on their timetable. Find out more and register your interest
- Developing Core Maths Pedagogy Work Group: This free Work Group will give teachers the opportunity, through collaboration and experimentation, to develop improved teaching approaches that support the open-ended problem-solving skills Core Maths students need to develop in order to succeed. The group also focuses on how these approaches can be shared with departmental colleagues. Sign up here
- Supporting Post 16 GCSE Resit Work Group: This free Work Group will bring together teachers of post 16 GCSE resit to share what is working well in this area and look at other approaches to engage GCSE resit students. Sign up here
School survey - helping children with money management
As part of Warwickshire's Tackling Social Inequalities Strategy, we would like to understand more about the provision of financial education in primary school settings.
Research shows that an early introduction to financial education helps children develop more confidence in managing money. This early understanding and development of behavioural habits will help them to make better decisions in relation to spending and saving, and to make better financial choices as adults in the future.
We know that teachers and school staff play a key role in a child's learning and development, and we are therefore keen to explore what may already be happening in school settings with regard to finance, or whether there is a gap in this important provision. Completing our short form will only take a few minutes: https://forms.office.com/e/gb6jGJ9Kzt and is much appreciated. This form can be completed by headteachers or any school teaching staff familiar with the curriculum. We're particularly keen to hear if you think there are anything missing in the existing financial education provision in primary schools.
Depending on the results of this survey, we hope to work with local schools to co-produce supplementary education materials aimed at primary school-aged children. If you would be interested in working with us to produce these materials, please let us know in your answer to the last question in the survey.
The form will close on 23 January 2023. If you have any questions about this survey, please contact Asmaa Ahmedabadi, WCC Family Wellbeing Commissioner, via email: asmaaahmedabadi@warwickshire.gov.uk or phone: 01926 737765.
Have you heard of Warwickshire's Youth Council?
It allows young people growing up in the county to talk to adults who make big decisions. They can discuss changes that could improve the lives of children and young people living in the county and beyond.
If you know of a young person aged 11 to 18 who is interested in making a difference, and they live in or attend a school or college in Warwickshire, they could become a member of the Warwickshire Youth Council! Young people with additional needs may be able to join as a member up to the age of 25.
The Youth Council meet on the first Tuesday of each month, alternating monthly between virtual meetings 6pm – 7:30pm and face-to-face in-person meetings 6pm - 8pm.
If you know of young people that:
- have a passion for making their voice heard, and those of their peers
- would like to meet new people and make new friends
- would like to learn skills to benefit their future
- want to build their confidence
- are keen to find a purpose
Please visit the Child Friendly Warwickshire website to provide them with more information, and encourage them to complete the form to sign up. You or the young people you signpost to can email childfriendly@warwickshire.gov.uk with any questions or for more details.