Securing the Best Start to Life
We need the views of your parents and carers
Our School Admissions Service are keen to get feedback from those parents and carers who have used the service recently, so that their feedback can be used to improve how they work. Please can you include the following request in your next newsletter to parents and carers?
Warwickshire County Council want to know what you think about the schools' admissions service, so that they can improve what is on offer to future users.
So if your child has started at a new school in the last year or so, please take 10 minutes to tell them about your experience. Click below to access the survey that closes on 23 May 2021: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=BqqwiCdZu0uok4nMJxOsgi7KD53qT9JGnlqgD-3zm7BURDU1SkdERTRRM043ME1XUTJQMzM4Q09DSS4u
Free resources from Early Education
Early Education offer a number of free downloadable resources on their website for anyone interested in the early years. They have leaflets and articles, as well as a few older publications that are now out of print, but still contain valuable tips, tricks and information about the sector.
These are all available in PDF format (viewable using Acrobat Reader), to download or print.
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For the latest safeguarding training information please visit:
https://www.warwickshireearlyyears.co.uk/
https://www.safeguardingwarwickshire.co.uk/.../education
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50 Things to do before you're five - Warwickshire
Have you seen Warwickshire’s '50 Things to do before you’re five' App? Please take a look at this fantastic resource to use with your parents.
https://warwickshire.50thingstodo.org/app/os#!/welcome
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Training
Adult and Community Learning are offering Free Training sessions on the '50 Things to do before you're five' App. The training will explore research and initiatives on the Home Learning Environment. Information on the background of '50 Things' and what is happening in Warwickshire. This session will allow you to explore the app and discuss how it can be used with parents.
Celebrating Warwickshire’s Family of Schools
Notice for parents of Year 5 children about secondary school application processes
Parents of Year 5 children will be contacted next week to give them early notice of the process for applying for a secondary school place for 2022. Whilst the formal process won’t start till September, parents can register for their online parent portal account from Monday 10th May, and those wanting to apply for a grammar school place will be told that they need to use the portal to register their child for the 11+ test by 30th June.
Parents should be directed to www.warwickshire.gov.uk/admissions to create an account and further information about the 11+ can be found at: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/grammar-schools-11-test.
Help take care of the countryside
As lockdown measures continue to lift, our children, young people and families are out and about using green spaces and visiting the countryside.
We would appreciate your support in reinforcing messages around respecting rural areas, using them responsibly and not leaving litter.
To support our rural areas, people are being asked to take a bag with them to take their rubbish and food waste home, use public bins or, if possible, recycle.
Not only does litter spoil the beauty of our countryside, it can also cause harm to wildlife and livestock in these areas.
The plea comes as part of the new Countryside Code, encouraging everyone to respect one another and protect the environment while enjoying the outdoors.
You can share a copy of the new Countryside Code using this link.
Free West Midlands Maths Hub Online Secondary Conference
FREE ONLINE EVENT FOR SECONDARY MATHEMATICS TEACHERS AND LEADERS
The West Midlands Maths Hubs are leading a FREE online conference for Secondary colleagues, featuring keynote speeches from Pete Griffin and Richard Perring, as well as an extensive workshop programme. The conference will take place across two afternoons in the summer term.
The events are taking place on Thursday 24th June and Thursday 8th July 2021.
Find out more and book here.
Thursday 24th June 2021
Pete Griffin - Keynote Speaker
Thursday 8th July 2021
Richard Perring - Keynote Speaker
Public health Covid-19 toolkit available for schools and early years settings
Please find some useful resources below.
For Private, Voluntary and Independent providers - https://schools.warwickshire.gov.uk/coronavirus/covid-19-toolkit-schools-early-years-settings
For Schools - https://schools.warwickshire.gov.uk/coronavirus
Providers can update the public facing details on their childcare records any time by following this link: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/childcareupdateform if you can't remember your username and/or password please contact Family Information Service on 01926 742274 or email fis@warwickshire.gov.uk
Useful COVID links:
https://schools.warwickshire.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://schools.warwickshire.gov.uk/coronavirus/covid-19-toolkit-schools-early-years-settings
Schools celebrate achieving ‘Food for Life’ awards again thanks to Educaterers!
Brownsover Community Infant School in Rugby is just one of a number of Warwickshire schools that is celebrating retaining its ‘Food for Life’ award from the Soil Association, after another successful inspection of the menu offered to pupils by school caterers, Educaterers.
The school retained its Gold Award from the ‘Food for Life’ scheme in recognition of the fantastic work they do to provide healthy school meals, great lunchtimes, and food education.
Following inspection by the Soil Association, the Educaterers menu offered to all infant, junior and primary schools retained its Silver Award status and the menu offered to all secondary schools retained Bronze Award, in recognition of the fact that Educaterers’ school catering teams serve local, fresh food made with quality ingredients, prepared and served in a way that takes school pupils’ health and well-being seriously.
This means that if schools have signed themselves up to achieve ‘Food for Life’ accreditation and Educaterers provide their meals, they automatically meet the criteria for the menu element of the Bronze or Silver standards – and Educaterers can work with schools to meet the Gold Award standard, as they have done with Brownsover Community Infant School.
Educaterers work with ‘Food for Life’ accredited suppliers, such as Lower Hurst Farm in Derbyshire, who supply the catering company with organic beef.
Terry Tredget, Managing Director of Educaterers, said: “’Food for Life’ is a brilliant scheme that recognises those schools, caterers and their suppliers that go the extra mile to provide healthy school meals and give pupils a great lunchtime experience.
“We’re delighted that Educaterers and our schools have been recognised by the Soil Association once again and offer our huge congratulations to the management and teaching staff, pupils and our catering team at Brownsover Community Infant School for retaining their Gold Award.
“When we source our ingredients, we seek out trusted suppliers to provide the freshest, most nutritious and highest quality produce available.”
The ‘Food for Life’ scheme rewards schools and their caterers for using locally sourced and ethical ingredients, that support the local economy and protect the environment for the future.
‘Food for Life’ standards are set by an independent Standards Committee, which is made up of industry experts from a wide range of sectors, and the award is inspected annually, during a visit from one of the Soil Association’s inspection team.
For more information on how your school can become ‘Food for Life’ certified, visit https://www.foodforlife.org.uk/catering/food-for-life-served-here/schools and email contactus@educaterers.co.uk to find out how Educaterers could support you.
Carers Week is coming - June 7th 2021
Carers Week 2021 is a month away. We want to celebrate all those who have a caring responsibility for a family member or friend during the week. Join in the conversation from 7th June 2021. For information go to https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/carers #makecaringvisible
Domestic Abuse Bill - Training open to all providers
Refuge has been commissioned by Warwickshire County Council to deliver a series of twenty webinars on the forthcoming Domestic Abuse Bill, to embed a holistic approach to domestic abuse across the county and send a message that domestic abuse is everyone’s business. These webinars will be delivered across April, May and June using Microsoft Teams.
The webinars have been designed to give a brief overview of each element of the Bill to enable Warwickshire County Council and partners to prepare for the new measures and duties associated with the Domestic Abuse Bill. This will be an interesting and engaging training, designed to ensure that participants:
- Understand the key features of the DA Bill
- Understand the intentions behind the Bill
- Understand the changes to practice that the Bill will engender
- Understand how the measures incorporated in the Bill will impact victims
- Understand how Warwickshire specifically is responding to the DA Bill
To book onto a session please go to the following website: https://www.talk2someone.org.uk/latest/domesticabusebill/
New Managing Director of Educaterers appointed
Caroline Alexander has been appointed as the new Managing Director of Warwickshire-based school catering company, Educaterers, which provides meals to may pupils in our Warwickshire family of schools.
It follows the decision by Terry Tredget to take early retirement. Terry will be retiring back home to be closer to his family on the Essex / Suffolk coast, having decided to retire during the Covid-19 pandemic which, Terry says, has put several things into perspective. As such, Terry and his wife have decided the time is right for them both to retire.
Caroline will start her new role at the company this month and Terry’s last day with Educaterers will be 28th May, enabling a handover period to take place to ensure a smooth transition.
Educaterers serve up over 120,000 nutritious tasty meals a week in over 200 schools, not only in Warwickshire, but also in Coventry, Birmingham, Leicestershire, and Oxfordshire.
Caroline’s many years of experience in education catering, having previous employment with Elior, Compass and a number of other organisations, makes her an ideal person for the role.
The past 12 months have been challenging for all those involved in education service provision and, throughout the pandemic lockdowns, dedicated Educaterers staff continued to serve up meals to those children that attended school and to the staff supporting and caring for them.
Caroline brings skills and experience to the Managing Director role that will ensure that Educaterers customers will be in good hands and the company’s excellent delivery will continue.
If you are an Educaterers customer and have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your Contract Manager or email contactus@educaterers.co.uk.
Community provision market testing Phase 2
Warwickshire County Council and NHS Coventry and Warwickshire CCG are inviting organisations delivering or interested in delivering community support to contribute to the redesign of the community support model through the market testing activities taking place between 26th April 2021 to 14th May 2021. The market testing will inform the understanding of the potential of the local market to provide the required support offer and to explore innovative ways of delivering the community support services. More information is available in the Market testing information pack that can be found in the CSW JETS website.
To access this opportunity simply log into CSW-JETS, hover over the "Tenders" Tab at the top of the page, select "Current”, using the search functionality on the left hand side of the page, insert the name “WCC Market Testing - Community provision for adults with disabilities, neurodevelopmental conditions and/or mental health needs” or reference “WCC 10529” in the search, find the opportunity and Click on "View Details".
We hope this opportunity is of interest to you. Here is the market testing process and key dates that are also found in the market testing information pack in greater detail:
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Phase two
Market testing to get feedback on proposed community support model developed following the first phase of engagement activities.
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Market testing pack sent out to providers through CSW Jets
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26th April 2021
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Market engagement online workshops for providers to further explore the proposed models and survey questions with commissioners.
CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE
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29th April 2021 – 11th May 2021
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Deadline for phase two market testing response returns.
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14th May 2021
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If you need any further assistance please feel free to email us on disabilitiescommissioning@warwickshire.gov.uk.