Reminder – Headteacher Vacancies/Appointments – New Heads

If your school has appointed a new headteacher or acting headteacher, please notify heatherimbush@warwickshire.gov.uk

We will then notify all concerned, update our records and invite the successful candidate to join the Warwickshire Headteacher Induction Programme for 2018-19.

Details of the programme will be sent out to delegates later this term. In the meantime, please register your interest.

Thank you

Revised edition of WCC's Toileting Guidance.

WCC has just revised its "Guidance on Special Toileting Needs in Schools and Early Years' Settings". Approximately three quarters of a million children in the UK aged between 5 and 16 will need some support with their toileting; this equates to two or three pupils in every primary class and one pupil in every two classes at secondary. Incontinence is not uncommon.

Childcare and Education Providers have a duty to meet the needs of children with delayed personal development in the same way as a child with delayed language or any other delay. Admission policies and practices that require a child to be toilet trained are discriminatory and potentially unlawful; under the Equality Act issues should be dealt with on an individual basis and Settings and Schools are required to make “reasonable adjustments” accordingly. It is, therefore, inappropriate for any Setting or School to delay or refuse admission to children who have not achieved this milestone.

The LA's guidance provides practical advice and support for schools and settings, including advice on staffing, health and safety, risk assessment and SEND.

For further information please contact Jane Carter in the Integrated Disability Service on 01926 413737.

Reporting Prejudice Related Incidents

https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/equalityanddiversityforschools

www.reporthatenow.com/schools

With the impending GDPR on the horizon we have been reviewing the information that Warwickshire County Council holds. Part of this work has been reviewing the reporting of Prejudice Related Incidents.

We now only require information related to these incidents in an anonymised way. Any personal data that has been provided when reporting previous incidents has now been deleted. We will also be amending the form to reflect these changes so you will no longer be asked to provide information about the individual.

Please continue to inform us using the Prejudice Related Incident Form on our website: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/equalityanddiversityforschools

We would like to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have reported incidents to us over the years.

Talkingshop – FREE Consumer Rights, Financial Literacy and Cybercrime education for Warwickshire schools and colleges

Are you interested in helping your year 12 and year 13 students prepare for life beyond school or college, either at University or in employment?

Consumer education, financial literacy and cyber-crime awareness sessions are being offered free of charge by Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards.

The educational sessions, which run under the umbrella programme ‘Talkingshop’ are delivered on-line and in real time by Trading Standards consumer, financial literacy and cyber-crime experts.

Over 5000 Warwickshire students have already participated in the Talkingshop educational programme.

The programme can be amended to fit a school or college’s particular requirements.

The programmes cover:

Financial Literacy, including:

• Opening a bank account
• Payday and other high interest loans
• Budgeting
• Moving into rented accommodation
• Credit and debt
• Buying a used car
• Contracts (for example for mobile phones)
• Store cards
• Priority loans

Consumer Rights, including:

• Your statutory consumer rights
• Returning damaged and mis-described items
• Your rights in a sale
• Shopping from home
• Buying on auction websites

Cyber Crime, including:

• Safe shopping online
• Online banking
• Social media safety
• Protecting your PC

Salvation Army Housing Association PHSE Homeless Prevention Workshops for year 11 and 12

The Salvation Army Housing Association (SAHA) currently delivers Homeless Support Services across Warwickshire to young people aged 16-25. As part of this support SAHA delivers Homeless Prevention programmes to young people in schools across the county to try and prevent young people becoming homeless in the first place and to develop early intervention.

The Homeless Prevention workshops are aimed at PSHE students in Year 11 and 12 to create an awareness of Young People and Homelessness. The idea is to prevent/reduce Young People from becoming homeless in the future and to give them the skills and knowledge of where they can go for help.

The workshops involve group discussions and challenge stereotypes about Young People and homelessness, addressing the following:

Information on our Young People services in Warwickshire
The law on homelessness
A 5 minute fun brainstorm - what does a homeless young person look like?
What are the different types of homelessness?
What are the reasons young people are homeless?
How it might feel to become homeless?
What are the risks and consequences of becoming homeless?
How does it feel to have a home?
Where to go for help if you become homeless

New Hotel Management Training School for the Midlands

Moreton Hall Hotel Training School wins National Lottery support WCG (Warwickshire College Group) has just received initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for its project to create a Hotel Training School based at Moreton Morrell College.

Made possible by National Lottery players, the project aims to bring Moreton Hall, a much loved regional landmark, back to life following a devastating fire in 2008 and make it a centre of excellence for Hospitality and Tourism training.

The Moreton Hall Hotel Training School is an important development in the region and has been designed to supply the region’s visitor economy with the skilled workforce it very much needs.

Neil Coker, Group Vice Principal Curriculum at WCG, commented on curriculum plans: “Our new Diploma in Hotel, Tourism and Destination Management, which starts this September, is designed to train young people to meet the current and growing skills demand in this vast industry.

The programme will be truly responsive and link directly with industry and employers. We want to give students a rich and challenging programme that results in them being fully prepared to enter employment and having the skills needed to fulfill skills gaps in the near and longer term future.

Our course will be innovative and a leading example of excellent practice in employer linked training and learning. Any students or careers advisors interested in finding our more should visit www.wcg.ac.uk.”

The Hotel itself will be designed as a high quality boutique hotel, providing students with a commercial hotel setting in which to develop their skills and to ensure they are work-ready for the many jobs, from chef to hotel manager, tour guide to events manager, available in this industry.

Anyone wishing to offer support or insights should contact moretonhall@wcg.ac.uk

The Commonwealth Youth Forum

The Commonwealth Youth Forum took place in London from 16th to 18th April. The event comprised of around 500 young people from 53 Commonwealth Nations and took place alongside the Commonwealth Business Women’s and People’s Forum. The objective of the forum was to discuss issues facing citizens of the 53 Nations, the results of which have set the agenda for the Commonwealth Heads of Governments meeting which took place immediately afterwards.

Nick Andrews, a previous member of Warwickshire's Youth Parliament attended the event. Nick attended sessions covering the four pillars of the forum, which support the overriding theme 'Towards a Common Future':
1. Security
2. Sustainability
3. Fairness
4. Prosperity

Speeches were made to the forum by: Theresa May, Jamaican PM Andrew Holness, Bill Gates, Baroness Scotland and Princes William and Harry.

One session looked at the youth-led accountability mechanism run by Restless Development’s Youth Power, which gave examples and tips of how to ensure young people can play a crucial role in holding their leaders to account on the issues that mean most to them.

Aside from the forum work, Nick also attended a joint forum reception to celebrate Great Britain and Northern Ireland, as well as meeting several inspirational young people who have gained recognition as the Commonwealth’s young people of the year.

Nick has been involved in Warwickshire Youth Parliament for 5 years; he has held the office of both VOX (Warwickshire's Youth Council) and MYP (Member of Youth Parliament). He was nominated for the Commonwealth forum by Cheryl Jones in recognition of his tireless work and commitment on behalf of young people in Warwickshire and the region.

For more information about Warwickshire's Youth Parliament please contact: cheryljones@warwickshire.gov.uk

Warwick Poppy Appeal Update

In September 2017 St Mary's Church in Warwick launched an exciting campaign to mount a huge display of handcrafted poppies in St Mary's Church Warwick, as part of the centenary commemoration of the end of World War 1. The poppies will be on display in the church during October /November 2018.

The Warwick Poppy Appeal is delighted to report that they are well over two thirds of the way towards meeting their minimum target of 11,610 Poppies - one for every life lost from the Royal Warwickshire Regiment alone in WW1.

There has been a lot of activity since the campaign was launched in September, with a Fish and Chip supper at the Lord Leycester Hospital raising money to fund the campaign, as well as a poppy-making workshop for Warwickshire Young Carers sponsored by the Arts Society of Royal Leamington Spa (formerly RLSDFAS). The Warwick Poppy Appeal will also be holding a "poppy swap" with Australia, who are also arranging a huge display of poppies later this year in Canberra. Warwick, UK and Warwick, Australia will each contribute 100 poppies towards each other's display.

Making poppies
Details of knitting patterns, craft templates and much more information on how you can create poppies for use in the display, can be found on the website: www.warwickpoppies.org.uk.

"Poppy Drop" Stations are located across the Warwick and Leamington area, with one also in Coventry, where you can pick up more information and deliver your contributions. For a list of these locations please visit the website above and look under the 'FAQ' section. You can also arrange for poppies to be collected if you are unable to take them to one of the drop off stations. Please ensure that all poppies are delivered by the end of the Summer school term or sooner.

Schools' Service of Remembrance

All schools will receive an invitation to apply to send youngsters to the Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire’s Schools’ Service of Remembrance. It will be held on Friday 23rd November 2018 at 10.30am in St Mary’s Church, Warwick, and the poppy display will be in full swing.This Service will be child-friendly, but with an element of ceremony - it will be something for the children to hopefully remember for a very long time. 

Further information:

www.warwickpoppies.org.uk
Phone: 01926 403940
Email: contact@warwickpoppies.org.uk
Facebook: WarwickPoppies2018
Twitter: @WarwickPoppies