Growing Belonging & Compassion in our Schools & Communities

The Staff College has developed an innovative programme consisting of three 90-minute interconnected online workshops and a face-to-face Conference to help education leaders grow belonging and compassion in schools and communities.

Details can be found here.

Fire safety for the Home Educated Community

Family and Relationships Update

Please find attached the Family and Relationships Update.

The team would be more than happy to speak with your teams about the support they provide to both families and colleagues whenever it would be beneficial.

For more information you can contact Sam Wilkinson: samanthawilkinson@warwickshire.gov.uk (Team Leader for Family and Relationships Team)

Warwickshire Heritage Learning

It's time to book a workshop with Warwickshire Heritage Learning for the new school year! But be quick as we only have a few dates left for you to visit us at St John’s House before October half term! A range of our workshops can also be delivered at your school so please take a look.

The Stone Age – Iron Age and Egyptian workshops are always popular in the Autumn term so if you are teaching that this year take a look at these immersive and creative workshops.

Preparations at St John’s House are also underway for Christmas so bring along your class and experience a Victorian Christmas,(available from 27^th November – 21^st December). Learn Victorian Christmas traditions,meet our Victorian school ma'am Miss Roach and experience a Victorian lesson from 1888 and make a Christmas pudding in our Victorian kitchen. 

And don’t forget you can discover the Romans, Crime and Punishment, Toys and Games, Local History and more, we have your history curriculum covered.

For details on our range of workshops look at our digital brochure 

To make a booking or enquire further:

Call: 01926 412069 Email: heritagelearning@warwickshire.gov.uk

Website: heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk/heritagelearning

Applications open for 2024 Secondary School Places

The deadline for 2024 Secondary School places is 31 October 2023, so if you could please send out a reminder to your parents and carers to submit their application on time, that would be much appreciated.  

All applications received by the deadline of 31 October will receive a school offer on 1 March next year, which is National Offer Day. Any applications submitted after the deadline will only be considered after this, meaning the child is much less likely to be offered a place at a preferred school. 

Applications should be made online at: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/applying-secondary-school-place, where they can also find lots of useful information on school transport, priority school areas and admissions criteria. 

We’re also holding two free online events for parents and carers who will be applying for a secondary school place in 2024. The first will give families an overview of the process and offer advice on how to decide which schools to include on their application form. The second is specifically for those families with children who have taken the 11+ test and expect to be including a grammar school on their application form.  

Applying to Secondary School: Tuesday 26 September, 7-8pm. Families can book a place here.  

Applying to Secondary School with 11+ Results: Thursday 28 September, 7-8pm. Families can book a place here. 

Have your say- Health Visiting Partnership Consultation.

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) and South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT) have launched a joint public consultation regarding a proposal to enter into a partnership agreement.  

Health and Safety Update

Goal post standards across the UK have had an update recently and so our guidance available via the Health and Safety Documents for Schools page (for schools where Warwickshire County Council is the employer) has been reviewed and updated to align with the new changes.

The main changes are around the inspection and maintenance of the goal posts, as well as the initial procurement of any new goal posts. The new guidance also covers general Health and Safety advice, the lifetime management and use of the goals on your sites and has been put together using both BSI standards BS EN 748:2018 and BS EN 16579:2018. The document also includes an example goal post inspection checklist. 

Register for Leadership NPQs before 21st Sept!

Register for Specialist NPQs before 21st Sept!

Act on Energy - Invite to 'Winter Is Coming' event - 18 September 2023

Challenging Education Profession Learning Programme

A reminder that as part of WCCs increased focus on supporting disadvantaged learners the School Effectiveness and the Virtual School team jointly funded access to Challenging Education’s Professional Learning Programme up to 2030. The programme is called ‘Thinking Differently for Disadvantaged Learners’ and is accessible for all Warwickshire schools.

The programme is a web based recorded training course for staff in school (including teachers, office staff, classroom assistants, school leaders and governors) aimed at improving their ability to teach and support disadvantaged learners more effectively.

For any school who has not accessed this resource yet and would like more information Challenging Education are running a number of ‘find out more’ sessions to cover this in more detail and colleagues can book this directly from their webpage https://challengingeducation.co.uk Sessions last for 30 minutes and are planned for: 14th Sept 9.30 am; 5th Oct 12.30 pm; 15th Nov 12.30 pm; 13th Dec 4 pm; 17th Jan 8.30 am; 8th Feb 12.30 pm; 6th March 4 pm; 11th April 9.30 am; 8th May 4 pm; 5th June 8 am; 3rd July 12.30 pm

We would encourage all schools to take up this jointly funded opportunity to benefit all children who are vulnerable to poor outcomes.

Kellogg’s Breakfast Club Grants – Indices of Deprivation Information

Please see below a grant opportunity which provides breakfast clubs for schools via £1,000 of funding for each school which is classified as falling in the 10% of most deprived areas according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation

To check if your school is in an area which is classified as falling in the 10% of most deprived areas according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation, please click the appropriate link and follow the
instructions below.

If your school is in England:

• Follow this link http://dclgapps.communities.gov.uk/imd/iod_index.html 
• Enter your postcode into the box in the top right-hand corner and choose the correct
  postcode from the drop-down list (do not enter your postcode and click enter as this will not
  work).
• The map will zoom in to your location and bring up a series of data on the right. The top
  paragraph will tell you the ranking of your school’s postcode in the Indices of Deprivation. If
  it lies in the top 10% it will say ‘This is amongst the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in
  the country.’

For more information: https://www.kelloggs.co.uk/en_GB/our-story/feeding-people-in-need/support-for-school-breakfast-clubs/grants-for-schools.html 

Working together to improve school attendance

New

1. Letter to school leaders on mild illness and school attendance

On 5^th September 2023, the DfE issued a letter to school leaders providing guidance written by the Chief Medical Officer, Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, Royal Society for Public Health and Royal College of Psychiatrists.

The main points of the guidance are:

4. It is usually appropriate for parents and carers to send their children to school with mild respiratory illnesses. This would include general cold symptoms: a minor cough, runny nose or sore throat. However, children should not be sent to school if they have a temperature of 38°C or above
5. Schools are encouraged to share the NHS ‘Is my child too ill for school?’ guidance with parents and carers in your schools and communities which has further information.
6. More children may be absent from school due to symptoms of anxiety than before the pandemic. Worry and mild or moderate anxiety, whilst sometimes difficult emotions, can be a normal part of growing up for many children and young people. Being in school can often help alleviate the underlying issues. A prolonged period of absence is likely to heighten a child’s anxiety about attending in the future, rather than reduce it.
7. DfE has published useful guidance on mental health issues affecting a pupil’s attendance and those who are experiencing persistent symptoms can be encouraged to access additional support.
8. As we head into winter, encouraging high uptake of seasonal flu vaccination and routine immunisations for eligible children and young people will help to reduce absences and the disruption they cause.
9. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) recently approved 5 principles to promote school attendance. This should support GPs in having sensitive and reassuring conversations with parents, carers and pupils.

2. RAAC and school attendance

Schools that have RAAC will experience additional attendance related challenges.  Although we don’t yet know the full picture, a relatively small number of schools in Warwickshire have so far been identified.  The general rule is to follow the standard attendance procedures. Effected schools can contact the Attendance Service on the details below should they require specific support.

 

3. CME and EHE

We are currently reviewing and updating the CME/EHE processes and procedures. In the meantime, please continue to follow the current guidance.  If your school has a named Education Casework Officer from the Attendance Service, then please discuss any children who you are concerned may be CME or have suggested they may withdraw for EHE, prior to a referral to the CME/EHE department.  

 

Reminders

4. Update: DfE update on the progress of ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance

The DfE has written to all Directors of Children’s Services providing further update regarding progress of the working together guidance.  The pressures on the Parliamentary timetable remains and legislation to make the guidance statutory will not be in place before the beginning of the new academic year as planned and therefore the guidance will not be statutory from this September. During a briefing by the DfE on 22^nd July 2023, it was further stated that, ‘It remains top of the legislative priorities for the Department and will be pursued at the next available opportunity’.         

5. TES article.

Colleagues maybe interested to read the following article from TES. Nick Gibb, Minister for Schools stated to the Commons Education Select Committee that ‘we are in unchartered territory’ when talking about school attendance in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. Read the full article here.

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/school-attendance-nick-gibb-i-dont-know-absence

 

6. School Attendance Self- Evaluation Framework

All maintained schools across the county should have received the attendance self-evaluation framework.  This is the first stage in the free at the point of access offer to all schools by the local authority under Working together to improve school attendance. Please do return your SEF at the earliest opportunity, following receipt of the document your school will be linked with an Education Casework Officer who will then offer you the opportunity to have a termly targeted support meeting.

Academy schools will soon start receiving their attendance self-evaluation framework.  Once you receive yours, please complete as soon as possible. 

Contact Us:

If you wish to discuss any issues relating to school attendance, please contact your named worker if you have one.  Alternatively, please feel free to contact the Warwickshire Attendance Service and we will get back to you:

was@warwickshire.gov.uk