DFE Update for schools on recording attendance for pupils with symptoms of COVID-19 - 04.04.22

The DfE has updated the guidance contained in the Addendum: recording attendance in relation to coronavirus (COVID-19) during the 2021 to 2022 academic year

 

• In line with our transition to living with COVID-19, we no longer advise schools to record pupils who do not attend for reasons related to COVID-19 using Code X.

 

• Pupils with symptoms of COVID-19 are no longer advised to get a test, and most of the scenarios that this category was brought in to record no longer apply.

 

• Pupils who have symptoms of COVID-19 should follow the latest government guidance about when they should stay at home.

 

• Where a pupil is not attending because they have symptoms of COVID-19 or have had a positive test, schools should record this using Code I (illness) unless another more appropriate code applies.

 

• Schools may continue to use the sub-code (I02) to record illness due to suspected COVID-19 although they are not required to.

 

• Schools should refer to the department’s emergency planning guidance and the latest UKHSA guidance for further information.

 

• If the school is not satisfied with the reason given for absence, they should record it as unauthorised."

 

Remote Education

• Schools and colleges should continue to provide remote education to allow children and young people, who are well enough to learn, to keep pace with their education when in-person attendance in school or college is either not possible or contrary to government guidance.

 

• Schools should keep a record of, and monitor engagement with, this activity, but this does not need to be tracked in the attendance register.

 

Predicted Impact on Absence levels

This could have a significant impact on attendance as the X code created an artificially higher attendance level.  This could also potentially create some challenging conversations with parents and it is advisable to deal with each case on its own merits.  

 

This applies to all schools and so any impact on whole school should reflected felt nationally. 

 

COVID-19 Attendance Advice

If you have any specific questions about COVID-19 related absence, please feel free to email the Warwickshire Attendance Service:

was@warwickshire.gov.uk

Time to talk conference - Supporting children with autism in EY

Download the posters here. 

Understanding Early Trauma

The Parent Infant Foundation are looking into professionals' knowledge and views about early development and trauma. If you work in an early years education or childcare setting, or the reception of a primary school, you are invited to complete this short survey.

Find the survey here. 

Time to rhyme

Book Trust has some great downloadable rhymes and song words. Why not make a little basket or bag with a prop or picture to represent familiar songs, so children can use these to ask for a song or rhyme? 

Kooth- Your online mental wellbeing community

April is Stress Awareness Month.

Visit Kooth, where young people can gain free, safe and anonymous support for their mental wellbeing 

Little Troopers

Little Troopers is a registered charity supporting all military children who have parent(s) serving in our British Armed Forces, regular or reserve.

These children often face unique challenges including frequent house and school moves, as well as regular periods of separation from their serving parent(s) for varying lengths of time due to exercises, training, operations and other service commitments.

Visit Little Troopers here. 

Resources for Families experiencing loss through a bereavement

A list of books and useful websites for young pupils and their families when experiencing loss through a bereavement. Age groups are also indicated to help you find the correct resource for your children.

Find the resources here.

Month of the Military Child.

Ideas to start the #MotMC April 2022 - Month of the Military Child.

Parents/carers in Nuneaton & Bedworth Child in reception to year 6

EY Network meeting 9th June 2022

Thousands of families in the West Midlands can receive help towards Easter childcare costs

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is reminding working parents in the West Midlands to not miss out on the opportunity to get up to £2,000 a year to pay for regulated childcare, including holiday clubs and other out-of-school activities, during the Easter holidays.
 
Tax-Free Childcare provides thousands of eligible working families with up to £500 every three months (or £1,000 if their child is disabled) towards the cost of holiday clubs, before and after-school clubs, childminders and nurseries, and other approved childcare schemes.
 
With recent research estimating that around 1.3 million families could be taking up this government support, parents and carers can check their eligibility and register for Tax-Free Childcare via GOV.UK.

Free Autism training

Free Autism training is available via the Autism Education Trust (AET), a not-for-profit organisation supported by the Department of Education.   

Warwickshire County Council is a training partner with AET and delivers quality assured training to make a difference to autistic pupils in our schools.  Making Sense of Autism training takes around 1.5 hours.  Once staff have completed this training, they can then access the Good Autism Practice module, providing guidance on processes and tools to support autistic pupils.  

We can now also offer an Anxiety Module, to help schools support autistic pupils to reduce and manage their anxiety, and an Exclusions Module to support the prevention of exclusions.  There are lots of free resources on the AET website to support with peer awareness, working with parents, evaluating practice to name just a few.   

Go to the website at https://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk  to have a look.   

For more information and to book training in for your school please contact evegodwin@warwickshire.gov.uk   

Local Offer feedback form is now live

We want to make sure that our Local Offer continues to develop to meet the needs of families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Warwickshire. Our Local Offer webpages provide information for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families to help them find the right help and support in Warwickshire. 

To help us to achieve this, we now have a live feedback form for parent carers, young people and professionals to provide feedback on their experiences of our services. The new feedback form can be found here https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/send  

The advantage of the live form is that you can provide feedback when you want to, to let us know what we are doing well or where we need to do better.  

All the feedback received will help us to learn and understand more about people’s experiences, so that we can develop shared solutions that work. It will also inform the work we are doing to develop SEND Services in Warwickshire, working towards the vision of becoming a Child Friendly County, where children and young people with SEND and their families feel heard, valued, and understood.  

The findings from the feedback will be shared with senior leaders in SEND, Social Care, Health partners and Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice. They will also contribute to the reporting to Ofsted, as well as providing updates to the parent carer community through our 'you said, we did' webpages - https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/get-involved-say 

A huge thank you goes to Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice and professionals working in SEND for helping to create the form. Now the form is live, we would love to receive any feedback you would like to give on the services we provide. To have your say visit https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/send or find the form directly using this link: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/sendfamilyfeedback

North Warwickshire Primary Science Curriculum Development Programme

The attached Primary Science Curriculum CPD, from the Science learning Partnership Curriculum Hub, is offered to all Primary Schools in North Warwickshire and Nuneaton & Bedworth (Coventry too).

Schools can access £150 of Teacher Release Payments too, and Park Lane Primary in Nuneaton have kindly offered to host this training for ease of access for local schools. 

Primary Consortia Update

Primary schools in Warwickshire are all invited to be part of local consortium groupings providing support and advice to each other. In total there are 14 primary consortia groups with between 8-22 schools. Please find attached the latest list of consortia groups.  

Each consortia nominates a chair, for your information below is an updated description of the role of consortia chairs. This role is supported with funding from the LA. If your consortia chair is changing from next September please let us know by emailing schoolimprovement@warwickshire.gov.uk

Secondary schools also work in groupings, these are called area networks. There are four across Warwickshire, details of those groups can also be found in the attached document.

School Improvement: Consortium Chair

The role of the Consortium Chair is to take responsibility for the co-ordination of a strategic school improvement plan for the schools within their consortium. This may include academies, free schools and maintained. The aim is to raise standards and challenge under - performance within our family of schools in accordance with WCC WE3 aim and the development of a school-led system.

• Each consortium will elect a chair and deputy. This should be reviewed bi-annually or as required

 

Eligibility

The Consortium Chair should:

·       be a headteacher with at least three years’ experience who is leading or has led a good or outstanding school;

·       have the full support of their school’s Governing Body;

·       be able to commit to the time expectation for the Consortium Chair role;

·       be leading or have led a school where there is continued improvement or consistently high levels of pupil performance.

Role

The role of the Consortia Chair:

1.       Convening and chairing consortium headteachers’ meetings, normally two per term, arranging for the production and dissemination of meeting records which note actions, agreements and timescales, and ensuring accurate records are kept of any delegated or contributed funds.

2.       Being the key point of contact for all headteachers within the consortium, and for WCC on any matters relating to consortium or individual schools

3.       Maintain regular check ins and contact with newly appointed Headteachers within the consortia and signposting to well-being support when appropriate. From September 2022 all Headteachers of maintained schools will be able to access free half termly sessions with a peer coach. This will provide mentor and coaching support. Academies may buy in to this as an option for their newly appointed Headteachers.

4.       Playing a full part as a member of the Primary Consortia Chairs Board representing the consortium, including ensuring that key messages from the LA are reported back to the consortium.

5.       Promoting a culture of full, open and professional dialogue within the consortium, so that schools share their strengths and concerns, and seek and offer challenge and support to each other.

6.       Strategically representing the consortium on the Area Analysis Group (AAG) identifying important consortium development issues that are common to a number of schools, and also individual schools that may have aspects vulnerable to adverse Ofsted judgements.

7.       Leading discussion on the consortium’s response to common development issues and to request assistance/finance from its members or from the AAG or Warwickshire School Improvement Partnership (WSIP).

8.       Ensuring that vulnerable schools in the consortium are identified and relevant support is brokered where it is not already in place.

9.       Reporting to the AAG on the view of progress of vulnerable schools and the effectiveness of any support they are receiving.

10.   Supporting the development of school to school support within the consortium such as learning walks, peer to peer reviews etc.

11.   Report to the AAG on the outcome of FAP and Assessment Gateway Panels held each month and convey AAG’s views/opinions on schools’ capacity to support vulnerable pupils to FAP AG Panel.

12.   Be able to speak to OFSTED regarding engagement in the Consortia, should a Local Authority Representative not be available.

13.  Provide a reference for Deputy Head Teachers within the consortia who are applying for Headship.

Any queries regarding the above can be emailed to schoolimprovment@warwickshire.gov.uk

Save the date - Summer Term Headteachers' Conference

Save the Date! 

Summer Term 2022 Headteachers' Conference 

Wednesday 25^th May 2022 (9.30am – 3.15pm) 

Venue to be confirmed 

Details of the conference will follow in due course.

School Admissions for Ukrainian Refugees - Message from Chris Foster, DfE

All children living in the UK have a right to access a school in England, irrespective of their nationality. This is made clear on this: website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/schools-admissions-applications-fromoverseas-children .

It says:

‘School admission authorities must not refuse to admit a child on the basis of their nationality or immigration status nor remove them from roll on this basis.’

The School Admissions Code applies to their (refugees from Ukraine) admission to school in exactly the same way as it does to all other children.

Local authorities have a duty under section 86(1A) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 to support local parents in choosing schools. We therefore look to LAs to support refugees with:

• info on where schools have vacancies; and
• how to apply; and
• to promulgate the advice in the Welcome Pack below to refugees.

Schools’ admission arrangements apply in the normal way. When parents apply for a school place, the School Admissions Code states that admission authorities should aim to notify parents of the outcome of an application for a school within 10 school days and that they must do so within 15 school days. Where there are no school places within a reasonable distance of the child’s home, the LA should use its fair access protocol to place them within 20 school days.

There is a Welcome Pack for refugees from the Ukraine and annex A to that pack provides advice for parents on navigating the English school admissions system. Please make refugee families aware of this advice and assist them in applying for a place.

Read here more information.  

Warwickshire Road Safety Partnership announces the return of The Adventures of Warwick Bear, 3rd – 13th May 2022

The Adventures of Warwick Bear, Warwickshire Road Safety Partnerships road safety initiative for nurseries and pre-schools is returning next month.

Warwickshire County Councils Road Safety Officers will be touring the County with their friendly mascot Warwick Bear, to deliver key road safety messages to some of Warwickshire's youngest road users and their families and friends. Through story, song and interactive activities this session teaches key road safety messages in a highly engaging and effective way.  The children are introduced to the safe behaviours of holding hands with a trusted adult, stopping before the kerb and looking and listening for traffic.

The Adventures of Warwick Bear will run from 3^rd May through to 13^th May 2022 and is delivered free to Warwickshire nurseries and pre-schools.

If you would like Warwick Bear to visit your nursery or pre-school, please contact Warwickshire Road Safety Education Team by email  roadsafetyeducation@warwickshire.gov.uk

Every Copy Counts Launches Copycat Challenge

The ‘Every Copy Counts’ campaign is urging teachers to play their part ensuring composers and songwriters receive the correct royalties for printed music used in schools. 

Currently, only two per cent of schools in the UK are correctly logging the music they are using, creating a huge deficit in data that results in hundreds of musicians suffering financial loss.

Printed Music Licensing Limited (PMLL) has now launched ‘Every Copy Counts’ to encourage teachers to take part in the simple process of logging the music they are using in order to distribute fees fairly and accurately.

Abigail D’Amore, music education consultant leading the ‘Every Copy Counts’ campaign, said: “The Schools Printed Music Licence is provided free of charge by Government to all State schools in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland and makes copying and arranging music for educational purposes in school free of charge. 

“This is hugely beneficial for schools but, in order to comply with the rules of the licence, teachers are required to log the music they are using. Unfortunately, due to a lack of awareness, this data simply isn’t being captured effectively. 

“We know that teachers are under a huge amount of pressure and don’t have a lot of time, so PMLL has created a simple digital platform that allows music copied and arranged to be logged online. Teachers reporting this information can now benefit from a range of free, exclusive teaching resources, including a set of multimedia teaching materials with composing and songwriting classroom ideas, devised by teachers for teachers.”

The Schools Printed Music Licence enables schools to copy and arrange published music in hard copy and digital form. Fees paid to the PMLL are then distributed to publishers, and in turn to the creators of that music.

As part of its campaign, Every Copy Counts is launching a special event - the Annual Copycat Challenge - to inspire teachers to accurately log their data. 

Abi continued: “The Annual Copycat Challenge is an online, end-of-term initiative designed to encourage the mass inputting of sheet music usage data from schools across the country, with the chance to win prizes for schools, including a ticket to the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards in 2023! 

“By logging their data, teachers will gain access to a week-long programme of online events and interactive content, engaging music creators, leading educators and industry experts to bring the world of printed music to life. The Every Copy Counts team will also be on hand all week to help teachers submit their data and answer any specific questions, and we’ll also be launching our free mixed-ensemble arrangement for schools by Bobbie-Jane Gardner.”

Taking part in the Annual Copycat Challenge is simple. Just sign up to the PMLL portal via the Every Copy Counts website (www.everycopycounts.co.uk/events/the-annual-copycat-challenge-2022); collect data in your school on ‘the Big Five’ sheet music essentials for each work used in school his year (Composer or arranger; Title of work; Title of book; Music publisher; and Print publisher); and submit your data between 20 and 24 June.

2022 Royal Institution Science in Schools grant scheme

The 2022 Science in Schools grant scheme will open on Tuesday 3 May

Ri Science in Schools grants are awarded annually and offer free visits from our professional presenters worth £800.

Our Science in Schools days are designed to support children’s science education, meet CPD requirements for teachers, engage families, and raise funds for your school.

Visits funded by the 2022 Ri Science in Schools grant scheme need to take place between 1 October 2022 and 30 September 2023.

This scheme is generously supported by the Gillespie Endowment, Bain Capital, The Kusuma Trust, Clothworkers' Foundation, and the JS Cohen Foundation.

Find more here.

Art for Wellbeing April to May courses and workshops