WE3 Family of schools
Fair Workload Charter Survey
Warwickshire schools were invited last year to participate in the Fair Workload Charter Survey which recognises the positive work undertaken in managing teacher workload.
We are pleased to let you know that the opportunity for applying for the Fair Workload Charter will re-open in November 2020 and schools interested in participating are invited to email at the earliest opportunity: fairworkloadcharter@warwickshire.gov.uk
The charter status will last for 24 months from the date awarded.
This initiative was developed by a working party in partnership with headteachers, WCC and the teacher trade unions to allow schools to enable their teaching staff to comment on the following workload areas:
- general working conditions
- planning and marking expectations
- data collection and communications
- school policies and access to training
Based on the results of the above survey, schools reaching a 90% threshold will be awarded the Fair Workload Charter status. This is a kite mark that can be used in recruitment materials and general communication and promotion of the school.
The Fair Workload Charter was originally introduced to address the continuing national focus on the effects the management of workload is having on schools and staff sickness absence and turnover. There is now the further challenge of Covid related workload and many schools are additionally focussing on the impact of this on staff wellbeing. In these circumstances, the Fair Workload Charter continues to be a very powerful recruitment and retention tool for your school or academy trust to use to tackle these challenging issues.
You will receive detailed feedback after submitting your survey results in order to allow you to action plan accordingly to address those areas which may have prevented you receiving the award upon first attempt.
More information is available (including the survey questions used) at the following link to Frequently Asked Questions
Teaching RE Vocabulary CPD January 28th 2021
This online session will focus on ‘Teaching RE Vocabulary’ and is one of the ongoing CPD sessions focusing on RE Curriculum. This session will
be led by Jennifer Jenkins, RE Facilitator for Coventry and Warwickshire. The CPD will take place on Microsoft Teams.
The date of the online CPD has now changed to Thursday 28th January 2021 4.00-5.30pm (previously scheduled for Thursday 21st January
2021).
For more information download here the poster.
A creative response to climate change
Warwickshire Climate Alliance and Warwickshire Open studios invite you and your school to take part in a creative response to climate change competition for schools in Warwick District, to draw, paint, photograph or write something that expresses your views and feelings about Climate Change.
Find here more details about the competition.
And here you can download the competition's rule.
Remote Learning
The Department for Education (DfE) is working with schools to understand how they are adapting their teaching practice for remote education. Schools have shared a range of lesson plans annotated with tips and ideas they have found useful when teaching remotely.
The purpose of the lesson plans is to help teachers consider how they might adapt their teaching practice for the remote context.
This week further guidance was published by DFE:
Example lessons for remote teaching
Lesson plans shared by schools to help teachers adapt their practice for remote education following the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19).
Remote Learning: Support for Primary Consortia
Consortia Expert Users
All consortia now have named expert users. Names and contact details were shared in the chat at the Thursday lunchtime Chairs Consortia 5.11.20 and will be shared in the chat for Tuesday lunchtime’s headteacher meeting 10.11.20. The subject users will be available for half a day per week to support schools in their consortia. Their work is coordinated by sarahfitzgerald@warwickshire.gov.uk and harveywoodall@warwickshire.gov.uk. Schools are invited to contact their subject user, Sarah or Harvey to organise the support they require.
Four training sessions have been made available for expert users and all are signed up.
Training open to all schools:
SAS are also offering four training sessions open to all. If you have missed them, recordings are available at https://sites.google.com/welearn365.com/wccblendedlearning/further-support
Peer Coaching Training for Headteachers
There are two elements to this training.
- We have commissioned Gateway Allianceto provide 3 webinars led by expert leadership coaches (see below). These webinars are for Headteachers and are FREE to Warwickshire schools. The webinars will explore different aspects of leadership coaching and will provide excellent CPD for headteachers who are interested in finding out more about this approach, whether they wish to become a peer coach themselves or not.
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Date
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Time
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Speaker
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Session Title
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10.11.20
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10-11am
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Andy Vass
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Coaching Through Conversational Influence
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BOOK NOW
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28.01.21
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10-11am
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Jackie Beere
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State of Mind – Coaching as a Leadership and Communication Style
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BOOK NOW
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20.04.21
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10-11am
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Julie Rees
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Using Perspectives in Coaching to Encourage a Different Mindset
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BOOK NOW
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You can book your place at these webinars through the Gateway Alliance website: www.gatewayalliance.co.uk/finder/ just search subject ‘Coaching’.
NB All heads are welcome to attend the webinars – this does not commit you to become a peer coach, however if you wish to become a peer coach and join the Warwickshire register, we ask that you attend the webinars AND the training below.
- We would like to develop a register of Warwickshire headteacher peer coaches which could be shared with schools for an individual arrangement, or may be brokered by the LA school improvement team. In view of the current situation for all heads, we would not expect to draw from this register until summer 2021 at the earliest.
If you are interested in joining this team, we would like you to attend the webinars above and three sessions to be delivered by Catherine Nyman, an experienced professional coach, who many primary colleagues will know through her school improvement and coaching work.
Most headteachers who would like to undertake the training would be those from schools in categories A and B (from 2019 categorisation) and with good senior leadership capacity in their own schools, but we know that there will be colleagues in category C schools who will also feel in a secure position and would be happy to discuss this further.
Session One: 25.11.20
What is coaching and its place at work and at play
The richness of our landscape and effective leadership using coaching
Coaching tools and coaching models (Part i)
Session Two 13.1.21
Coaching tools and coaching models (Part ii)
Coaching for performance – long term leadership
Making a difference at a critical moment!
Session Three 28.4.21
Coaching tools and coaching models ( Part iii)
Using coaching with all our stakeholders
Coaching for resolution
Catherine is hoping to hold the later two sessions as face to face opportunities at Pound Lane Learning Centre in Leamington but this will be kept under review.
To express an interest or for further discussion, please contact:
margotbrown@warwickshire.gov.uk 07917 505157 or catherinenyman@warwickshire.gov.uk 07980 552963
Free Training for Mental Health Leads
IF YOU HAVE MISSED YOUR CONSORTIUM DATES FOR TRAINING YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR OTHER DATES.
The DfE has released additional funding for local authorities to support children and young peoples' well-being and mental health as they return to full-time education this autumn.
The Wellbeing for Education Return Grant seeks to better equip schools and colleges to promote children and young people’s well-being, resilience, and recovery in response to Covid-19. As well as strengthening and building well-being and resilience, it aims to prevent the onset of mental health problems and ensure those with pre-existing or emerging difficulties access the right support.
There are two elements to the project:
- A new national training package providing guidance and resources for education staff on responding to the impact of Covid-19 on the well-being of their students and pupils.
- Funding to local authorities to help put local experts in place to work with partners to adapt this training, deliver it to nominated staff in education settings, and provide ongoing advice and support until March 2021.
Please note the training that will be available as part of this project is in addition to the training that will eventually be provided for Mental Health Leads in Trailblazer schools and therefore Trailblazer schools should also sign up.
Please nominate your chosen member of staff to attend two free twilight sessions of training. DFE commissioned the training from the Anna Freud Centre, with local adaptations. The training will be delivered by Educational Psychology Service and Compass in partnership. The training comprises two twilight webinars of 90 minutes each. Each consortia/secondary area network has their own set of dates.
Our mailing address is:
Teacher pay policy for 2020
The Teacher pay policy for 2020 is available and posted on the WES website, along with the accompanying guidance document which includes updated pay scales reflecting the 2020 pay award. The pay award is due to be implemented in the November payroll run and backdated to 1 September 2020.
School Teachers Review Body pay remit 2021
In past years the government has issued the pay remit to the STRB in September. We therefore wanted to confirm that the pay remit for 2021 has not been issued yet. We will provide updates as they become available.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme has been extended to March 2021
The Job Support Scheme, (JSS) which was scheduled to come in on 1 November 2020, has been postponed. The Government has announced that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (also known as the furlough scheme) will remain open until 31 March 2021. For claim periods running to January 2021, employees will receive 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month, therefore the scheme is more generous than the scheme running in September and October. The percentage may be reviewed for February and March.
Full guidance is due to be published next week, on 10 November 2020 and we will provide further updates on receipt of this guidance. In the meantime, if you would like any advice please use the following contact details:
For queries on the scheme and to register your interest in the scheme: WES HR Advice 01926 418614 or weshrandpayroll@warwickshire.gov.uk
For queries around school run provision, early education funding payment impact or any wider early years and childcare business information that may impact the delivery of services please contact: earlyyears@warwickshire.gov.uk
Education Finance will issue separate guidance and instructions on how to process and record any income transactions on your financial system and the contact details for Education Finance will be issued at that time.
Encouraging EU workers to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme
As part of the changes resulting from the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, EU, EEA or Swiss citizens and their family members who are living on the UK before 1 January 2021 need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to continue living in the UK after 30 June 2021.
If you have any staff within your school who are EU nationals, then they will need to apply to the Scheme before the deadline of 30 June 2021.
At this stage we recommend schools engage with any EU staff to promote their ongoing commitment and support, whilst encouraging them to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme as soon as possible. This should be handled in a sensitive and positive manner. There is no requirement for employers to do retrospective checks so please be careful not to demand to see evidence or to require staff who are EU citizens to inform you if they have applied yet.
A range of support is available online, by email and over the telephone to help EU, EEA and Swiss citizens and their family members to apply:
A toolkit for employers is available on the Government's EU Settlement Scheme: employer toolkit web page.
Prepare for the new immigration system – recruiting teachers and other skilled workers from overseas
The new points-based immigration system will apply to all overseas nationals who arrive in the United Kingdom on or after 1 January 2021. These overseas nationals, including those from the European Economic Area and Switzerland, will need to apply for a visa.
Schools and other employers may need to prepare for this change by becoming visa sponsors if they want to recruit teachers or other skilled workers who are not UK or Irish nationals. If you’re already a licensed Tier 2 (General) visa sponsor, you’ll be automatically granted a new Skilled Worker licence.
To help schools prepare for the new immigration system, the Department for Education have published guidance about recruiting teachers from overseas.
Further information on the points-based immigration system can be found in the guidance on the new immigration system: what you need to know
Public Sector Exit Payments Cap
You may be aware that for the last few years, the Government has been discussing capping the level of payments made to people leaving employment in the Public Sector. You may have heard this referred to as the “exit cap”.
We can confirm that the Government has now passed the legislation which caps certain exit payments to public sector employees and this is effective from 4 November 2020.
These payments include redundancy payments and pension strain costs (i.e. the cost paid by the employer to the pension fund to allow early release of an employee’s pension). Going forward this is most likely to be a consideration in restructuring programmes where people over 55 leave on the grounds of redundancy and a pension strain cost (i.e. the cost paid by the employer to the pension fund to allow early release of an employee’s pension) to the employer is incurred, as is most likely to incur for those employees in the Local Government Pension Scheme.
It’s important to note that pension strain costs arising from death in service, flexible retirement and ill health retirement payments are excluded from the cap.
As you can imagine this is quite a complicated area and we are still waiting for further advice and guidance, particularly in relation to how pensions will be affected by the cap and any possible impact in the event of restructuring programmes. As a result of this Pensions Services are currently unable to provide any estimates for ‘pension strain cost’ relating to employees leaving on the grounds of redundancy. We will keep you updated on any future developments.
If you have any questions, please contact your WES HR Advisor via weshradvice@warwickshire.gov.uk
#Notalone- National Children's Grief Awareness week (19th-26th November)
The Coventry and Warwickshire Children's Bereavement network are offering a range of activities to recognise National Children's Grief Awareness week (19th-26th November). The theme this year is 'Isolation' and it has never been more critical that we reach out to children so that they don't feel alone in their grief, particularly when their normal support networks may not be available to them.
It is estimated that 1 child in every UK classroom under the age of 16 has been bereaved of a parent or a sibling. 44,000 children are bereaved of a parent annually in the UK. These numbers sadly have the potential to be significantly higher this year.
For 2020’s Child Grief Awareness Week, The Laura Centre is hosting an event for teachers and schools to help guide them in best practices when supporting grieving children on Nov 25th 4-5pm. Join our 1-hour seminar to learn how to help ensure children are not isolated in their grief. Please register for this seminar via eventbrite.co.uk 'You're #Notalone: Supporting Grieving Children'
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/youre-notalone-supporting-grieving-children-tickets-126851902455?aff=ebdssbonlinesearch&keep_tld=1
As part of the week, the team wants to try and connect children by encouraging them to share their pictures, poems or just a few words, to represent what they would do if they had 'one more moment'.
Families will be able to access resources in the hope that it will encourage conversation and the children will not feel alone. (www.mytonhospice.org/notalone)
This event is a collaboration between The Laura Centre, Myton Hospices, Mary Ann Evans Hospice, Shakespeare’s Day Hospice and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.
Evaluation Form - Autumn Term 2020 Headteachers' Conference
May we take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended our virtual Headteachers' Conference before half-term.
Thank you.