Funding for Nuneaton & Bedworth Secondary Schools: Safeguarding, Mental Wellbeing and Relationships Programmes

Nuneaton & Bedworth Council is part-funding its secondary schools to have a choice of Loudmouth’s following theatre in education programmes (suitable for Year 8 upwards) between November and March:

 

Talking Heads - mental wellbeing (including social media, body image, ways to wellbeing)

Safe and Sound – peer on peer abuse (includes work on alcohol, sexting and domestic abuse)

Working For Marcus – Child Exploitation (includes work on alcohol, sexting, grooming, youth violence and county lines)

Trust Me – consent, contraception, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, pornography

 

If schools cannot have external visitors and/or year groups can only meet in class bubbles, then there are online, blended learning options available.

 

Please contact caroline@loudmouth.co.uk for further information or ring 0121 446 4880.

Make sure you understand the Fair Access Protocol

“Each local authority must have a Fair Access Protocol, agreed with the majority of schools in its area to ensure that – outside the normal admissions round - unplaced children, especially the most vulnerable, are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible.”   p30 School Admission Code December 2014

In June 2019, WCC's Fair Access Protocol was consulted and agreed on and this protocol has been operating since September 2019.

The “FAP and assessment gateway” for primary schools was introduced reflecting a similar model to the Area Behaviour Partnerships behaviour lead meetings (FAP and assessment gateway in secondary phase). The FAP and assessment gateways supporting both primary and secondary students convene monthly.  

During these meetings, we have identified several points relating to the Fair Access process that we would like to clarify for all headteachers:

1. A) Exceptional circumstances:

• All schools are in scope when it comes to admission of a child under the Fair Access Protocol unless a school has applied for an exemption using the approved process.
• To apply for an exemption, schools are required to submit an exceptional circumstances form to marierooney@warwickshire.gov.ukin advance of any FAP and assessment gateway panel meeting. If a form has not been submitted in advance of a FAP panel meeting then any requests for exemption made at the meeting will not be accepted.
• The exceptional circumstances form can be downloaded from here(downloads as Word doc).
• A school cannot cite they are above their PAN as an exceptional circumstance (except in the case of infant class sizes).

1. B) Exemption decisions:

• A decision will be made by WCC on whether to agree to the exemption under the exceptional circumstances submission.
• An exemption may be agreed for up to a period of 12 weeks, in which case the given school will not be in scope for admission, of any child under the Fair Access Protocol, within the granted time period.
• If the exemption is not agreed the school will be in scope for admission of a child under the Fair Access Protocol.

1. C) Primary FAP and Assessment Gateway 

• The dates and deadlines for the primary FAP and assessment gateway meetings can be found here.
• Any school in scope for a FAP child will be emailed by WCC officers in advance, to notify the head teacher that they are in scope and could be allocated a FAP child at the next FAP and assessment gateway meeting.
• At the FAP and assessment gateway, a final decision will be made on which of the schools in scope will admit the child.
• All decisions regarding the admission of any child made at the FAP and assessment gateway meetings are final and the child should be placed on the roll of the identified school within five school days, even if there is to be a phased integration.
• In the spirit of transparency, we will be maintaining a spreadsheet of how many FAP referrals have been admitted into primary schools and this will be shared with primary schools half termly (secondary schools already have access to this information).
• There is no duty to comply with parental preference when allocating places through the Protocol, but it is expected the wishes of the parents will be taken into account (DfE Fair Access Protocol Guidance).
• The Fair Access Protocol does not apply to a looked after child, a previously looked after child or a child with a statement of special educational needs or Education, Health and Care Plan.

Please download the Fair access protocol here for further details.

Key contacts

STS Area Managers should be your first port of call for advice for pupils at risk if exclusion

All referrals into the Assessment Gateway are to be made to at the following email address: fapassessmentgateway@warwickshire.gov.uk  using the Learner Information form which you can download here.

 

Significant Adult Provision

‘The Significant Adult (SA) will be an advocate for children and families they work with. They will support the child, parent/carer and school to develop effective relationships that promote positive development and ensure the child achieves their potential. Each SA will build capacity across the consortium of schools and facilitate sharing of best practice on Assess, Plan, Do, Review. ‘

We now have 8 Significant Adults in place in 8 consortia across the county.  5 other consortia are aiming to recruit this term.  The role of the Significant Adult is to support vulnerable children (without an EHCP), working with child, school, family and support agencies. Each consortium follows a referral process to the Significant Adult Provision (priority 3 children).  Children who come through the FAP & Assessment Gateway Panel (priority 1 & 2 children) are also referred to the consortium Significant Adult where the child is on roll.

Please download the Significant Adult leaflet here for further details.

A message from Angela Stanton Headteacher of Brookhurst Primary School

"We are thrilled to announce that we have been accredited with the Leading Parent Partnership Award. The 18-month process, which began in January 2019, ended this September.

The LPPA is a nationally recognised award achieved by schools that work closely with the parents/carers of their pupils.

You have all played an enormous part in this achievement. As we embedded the partnership between parents, children and staff into the ethos of our school, we of course relied on you to play your part. We firmly believe that parental engagement is an integral part allowing all children to achieve their full potential.

Of course, when we started this process we had no idea just how involved you would all become in your children’s learning! As we all adapted, parental feedback was at the heart of the process and continues to be crucial, as we return to school but plan for blended learning opportunities that meet our families’ needs.

For parents new to the school, our activities before lockdown offered events that drew on parents’ strengths, we welcomed parents into school and provided opportunities for families to work alongside their children, enjoying learning together.

We also focused on improving our communication, creating a genuine two-way dialogue that helped us gather parental feedback and ensure it was at the heart of all our future actions.

The award body reported that the parents it spoke to appreciate the staff and feel confident in approaching the school with any queries or worries. They value the regular contact with staff and school leaders. They feel that communication is a strength of the school and are extremely grateful to a school team who are very approachable and helpful. Because of the work of all staff, the school is held in high regard by the parents.

Having the opportunity to lead this project has been immensely fulfilling and rewarding on a personal level. Bringing our communities together and embracing our Brookhurst families has created a caring school environment that now thrives on building its future together as a team. This was reflected in the final report:

 ‘The school has a clear vision of how it wants to develop parental engagement in the future, with a determination to reach out and engage all parents. The governors are fully committed to developing parental partnership. They both support and challenge leaders to ensure strategies adopted by the school have the desired impact. This is a school where parent partnership is a core principle throughout.’ – Andy Taylor from Optimus Education Award Body

We would like to thank all of the many parents who offered their expertise, time and opinions. Those who completed invaluable questionnaires, attended trips, Parent Forums, volunteered their time, ran clubs, offered suggestions, engaged with the school and attended a virtual meeting for the final verification, you are all deeply appreciated by us here at Brookhurst. This award could only have been gained through the effort of the Brookhurst parents, staff and governors together as a team." 

Please find here the report.