Learning and Performance Restructure

Changes to the Admissions and Transport team

The Admissions and Transport team, which falls under Access and Organisation within the Education Business unit has also undergone significant changes. These changes are designed to meet the needs of our customers, (schools, families) and are designed to give schools a more focused support.

The team have introduced a designated school line to ensure less waiting time for school staff, whilst the In Year and Coordinated Scheme areas of our work have been reorganised to include senior manager posts for each area, in order to help focus on specific issues and gain resolutions swiftly.

• Cheryl Wild has been appointed as Senior Officer for In Year and Fair Access Admissions,
• Amy Taylor has been appointed as the Senior Officer for the Coordinated Admissions processes.
• Emily Sexon has been moved to head up the Senior Officer role within admissions supporting data and technology
• Nikki Daly has been appointed to Senior Officer for transport appeals.

Colette Naven Jones has been appointed as the overall Senior Manager for the whole area reporting directly to Sarah Mills Service Manager.

Changes in Children's Social Care and Early Help

Important information for headteachers, SENCOs, pastoral leads and CAF trained personnel so please share within your school

In April 2016, Early Help and Targeted Support and Children's Social Care combined to create a new business unit called Children and Families.

We used this opportunity to redesign some key elements of service delivery to all children, from early help to looked-after children. The key objectives of the changes are to provide a seamless service to children, young people and families and ensure that their needs are better met at the time they arise. Whilst some of the transformation is still ongoing, some will take effect imminently. We would like to give our partners and colleagues in schools an opportunity to hear what has been happening over what has been a very busy couple of months.

In order to both provide information and gain feedback, we have scheduled three days of workshops. Invitations will follow but in the meantime, please save the date. On each day, there will be three two-hour presentations (9.30am, 12.30pm and 3.00pm) to make it as easy as possible for our partners to attend. The workshops are open to all partners and any of them can be attended if your local one is not convenient.

East: Wednesday 21st September: The Conference Room, Bloxham Centre, 8 Somers Road, Rugby, CV22 7DE.

North: Thursday 22nd September: The Beaumont Room, Bulkington Village Hall, School Road, Bulkington, Bedworth, CV12 9JB.

South: Friday 23rd September: Pound Lane Learning Centre, Pound Lane, Leamington Spa, CV32 7RT.

For more information, please feel free to contact Marina Kitchen at marinakitchen@warwickshire.gov.uk.

New requirements on schools and key policy changes in 2016/17

 -FOR ALL SCHOOLS- 

Changes to statutory safeguarding guidance

The Department for Education (DfE) has published an updated version of its statutory safeguarding guidance for schools, Keeping Children Safe in Education, which takes effect from 5 September 2016.

The main changes are related to:

• The guidance that all staff working in schools are required to follow
• The role of the designated safeguarding lead
• Required safeguarding training for staff
• Safer recruitment
• The reporting of concerns
• Online safety
• Teaching pupils about safeguarding
• Specific safeguarding issues.

New school website requirements

The requirements for the information that schools must publish on their websites has been updated to take effect from September 2016. This is under The School Information (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2016.

The regulations introduce new requirements to publish the following online:

• The school's complaints procedures
• The school's 16-18 results including details of progress, attainment, English and mathematics progress, retention and destinations

The regulations also require schools to include their most recent Key Stage (KS) 2 and (KS) 4 results as published in the school performance tables. Schools must also ensure there is information published for the previous and current academic year on the allocation and impact of the pupil premium grant.

New requirements regarding the school roll

All schools are now required (as of 1 September 2016) to inform their LA when a pupil is added to or removed from the admission register (also known as the roll). This is detailed in the consultation on improving information in identifying children missing education.

Schools will also be required to:

• Record details of the pupil’s residence, the name of the person with whom he/she will reside, the date from which he/she will reside there, and the name of the destination school;
• Inform their LA of the pupil's destination school and home address if the pupil is moving to a new school;
• Inform their LA within five days of registering a new pupil of his/her address and previous school.

Changes to information on the school census

The DfE’s guide to the school census in 2016/17 sets out some changes to the data that schools will have to submit. Data items that are required in the 2016/17 academic year, but were not required in previous years, include:

• Proficiency in English
• Country of birth
• Pupil nationality
• Unique property reference number

Schools will no longer, however, have to record data for the school location module or the in-care indicator for exclusions.

There have also been changes made to other data items included in the census. For a full list and the details of each item, see pages 10-12 in the DfE’s census guide.

-EARLY YEARS SETTINGS ONLY-

New paediatric first aid requirements for Early Years settings

From 1 September 2016 (subject to parliamentary approval) all newly qualified early years staff will be required to hold a paediatric first aid (PFA) or emergency PFA certificate in order to be included in the staff-to-children ratios in an early years setting. This is set out in the consultation response paediatric first aid requirements in the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage

Safeguarding procedures checklist for schools

A recent internal audit of safeguarding procedures, controls and supporting documentation in schools found some areas of concern that should be highlighted to all headteachers so they can check their own schools’ procedures are robust and meet requirements.

CHECKLIST

• Schools should be carrying out robust pre-employment checks and ensuring there are no gaps in the Single Central Record. 

• Up to date whistleblowing and safeguarding policies should be easily accessible to all, for example on school websites.

• Schools must report safeguarding issues to their governing bodies, and to the Warwickshire Safeguarding Children Board (WSCB).

• Schools must ensure they have robust and safe physical and data protection, for example ensuring external gates are always kept locked during the day, and making sure network passwords are routinely changed.

• Storage of case files must comply with data protection principles.

• All school staff must have received the required Prevent Training, as detailed in the Warwickshire Prevent action plan. For further information please contact Helene Heath, the LA Prevent Officer, heleneheath@warwickshire.gov.uk

• Schools must ensure that safeguarding is a part of the everyday school culture, for example providing free and easy access to green forms, posters, subjects covered in school activities or curriculum, etc.

• All schools should have a designated lead officer (DSL) responsible for safeguarding.

• All DSLs should have received recent safeguarding training and refresher training (at least every two years).

• Green forms should be used for recording individual cases of concerns about pupils.

• Parents should be involved in the safeguarding process when deemed appropriate.

• Schools should be aware of the agreed procedure for making allegations against staff.

MASH update and referral procedure for concerns about someone in a Position of Trust

Safeguarding children and adults is a major priority for all agencies in Warwickshire. The issues and challenges it poses span far beyond the remit of any single organisation. 

In Warwickshire, the decision was taken to form a MASH which brings together practitioners from a range of backgrounds including Children and Adult Safeguarding Services, the Police, Health services and other partners involved in safeguarding, in order to respond to the challenges posed by safeguarding our most vulnerable residents. Warwickshire's MASH officially launched in June 2016.

In this article, John Coleman, MASH Service Manager provides an update on the referral process which should be followed relating to concerns about possible/suspected abuse by a person who works in a position of trust with children.

John explains: "These concerns should be referred to the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) using a new Position of Trust Multi-Agency Referral Form.

"The MASH in conjunction with the LADO, will share the information held by agencies and decide whether to offer advice or to convene a Position of Trust meeting.

"It is anticipated that this will support a more efficient means of determining the most appropriate way to address the concerns in a timely manner.  There is also one central contact telephone number and email address for the LADO which is 01926 742372 or email lado@warwickshire.gcsx.gov.uk."

LADO factfile

1. What is a LADO?
LADO stands for Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and the role was first introduced through the statutory guidance Working Together (2006) and strengthened in Working Together (2010).

2. What does the LADO do?
The guidance requires each Local Authority to identify a ‘Local Authority Designated Officer’ (LADO) with responsibility for the management and oversight of individual cases where there is concern in relation to a person who works in a position of trust with children – providing advice and guidance to employers and voluntary organisations, liaising with other agencies, and monitoring the progress of cases to ensure they are dealt with as quickly as possible, consistent with a thorough and fair process.

The guidance should be followed in respect of any allegation that a person who works with children or young people has:

a) behaved in a way that has harmed, or may have harmed, a child;
b) possibly committed a criminal offence against, or related to, a child; or
c) behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates that they may pose a risk of harm to children.

This is in connection with the person’s paid employment or voluntary activity but may also involve concerns arising about the person’s behaviour within their own family or home circumstances. In consideration of a concern or allegation, there may be three strands:

a) A Police investigation of a possible criminal offence;
b) Enquiries and assessment by Children’s Social Care about whether a child is in need of protection or in need  of services;
c) Consideration by an employer of disciplinary action in respect of the individual.

3. Why might I need to contact the LADO?
If you are an employer of people who work/volunteer in a position of trust with children e.g. nursery, bus driver, school, scouts, theatre group, you may need to speak to the LADO if you are concerned about the way in which a member of your staff is behaving towards a child.
Using the criteria outlined in 2, you should consider first whether your concerns are of this nature.

4. How do I refer concerns about someone in a Position of Trust to the LADO?
If you have immediate concerns that a child is at immediate risk of serious harm requiring immediate action, contact the MASH by calling 01926 414144. Follow up your concerns in writing to the MASH. 

If Named Senior Officers, Named Senior Managers within organisations and others have concerns regarding a person in a position of trust, they must complete the Position of Trust Multi-Agency Referral Form (POT MARF), which can be downloaded from the MASH website at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/MASH  or from the Warwickshire Safeguarding Board Website at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/wscb. The completed referral should then be emailed to the LADO at their direct email address which is LADO@warwickshire.gcsx.gov.uk.

5. How do I get advice about a Position of Trust Issue from the LADO?
Named Senior Officers, Named Senior Managers within organisations and others who may want advice about a potential position of trust issue should call the LADO on 01926 742372 or email the LADO at LADO@warwickshire.gcsx.gov.uk. This inbox can be checked regularly by the LADO and acts as a central LADO advice and referral point.

6. What next?
The MASH team in conjunction with the LADO, will share the information held by agencies and decide whether to offer advice to you or to convene a Position of Trust (POT) meeting.
If a POT meeting is held you are likely to be invited to attend as the employer. Children’s Social Care usually attend as do the Police. The LADO will provide advice and guidance and will oversee any investigations that are undertaken. A plan may be devised to address the concerns and you may be asked to contribute to this. The Children’s Team will also need to consider how any concerns against individual children are managed.

Further information
For further information please contact the LADO or visit the Warwickshire Safeguarding Board Website at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/wscb or the MASH website at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/MASH.

Alternatively contact:

Jenny Butlin-Moran, Service Manager – Service Development & Assurance (Children’s) jennybutlinmoran@warwickshire.gov.uk    or

John Coleman, MASH Service Manager johncoleman@warwickshire.gov.uk

Update from the School Planning team

Bern Timings has been appointed as Project Officer within the school planning area of Access and Organisation. Bern has moved from Admissions and Transport to broaden his knowledge and is a welcomed member of this team.

There are several new schools proposed for opening in the next few years with both Free School bids being discussed via the EFA and new school sponsors being sought via the LA. The School Planning team will keep schools updated of new opportunities via our website and briefings.

A new webpage will be up and running in the next term specifically aimed at school organisation and planning.

Two new schools due to open in September 2017 are already underway with planning consents. One will be situated on the Mast Site in Rugby, St Gabriel’s and sponsored by the CofE diocese and developer, with the second being located in Harbury Gardens area of Warwick and sponsored by Community Academy Trust.

Ashlawn have been approved as sponsors to open a new Free School in Rugby in September 2017, more news on this to follow. 

Marle Hall

Marle Hall is a residential outdoor education centre situated near Llandudno on the North Wales coast, on the edge of the Snowdonia National park. This facility became aligned within Access and Organisation back in June 2016.

The centre is very popular and is run by Martin Chesmer and his team.

Useful links

The online application for schools is now open please follow the below links

Primary Admissions

Secondary School

Sufficiency Strategy

Early Years Capital Bids/Section 106

Early Years Sufficiency

Diana Spragg Senior Manager for Early Years Sufficiency has been working hard with her team to enable bids to be placed for capital funds.

Deadline for submission of bids to DfE was 31 August 2016. Warwickshire was allowed to submit a maximum of 6 bids (classed as a high needs LA). Capital can only be used for schemes that will enable new nursery places for 30 Hours entitlement to be created. There is no guarantee that any schemes will be approved and DfE will notify LAs in December of the outcome of the bidding process.

The six bids submitted in order of priority were:

 The LA will be notified in due course if we have been successful in our bids.

National leader of education (NLE) application

The latest national leader of education (NLE) application round is now open until 23 September 2016. To become an NLE, you and your school need to meet specific criteria.

You need to:

• be judged an outstanding serving headteacher with at least 3 years’ headship experience
• expect to remain at your current school for at least 2 years after being selected
• be accountable for 1 or more schools that meet the NSS criteria
• have the full support of your school’s governing body and director of children’s services or senior educational professional.

For further information please see the the following link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-leaders-of-education-a-guide-for-potential-applicants

Provisional Headline Results for 2016

Primary Assessment Results

Congratulations to Warwickshire’s pupils and teachers on another successful year of assessment results.

EYFSP – The percentage of pupils achieving a good level of development increased again in 2016 with 71% of Warwickshire’s pupils achieving this measure. This is up 4 percentage points (ppts) on last years result for Warwickshire and 2ppts up on the National 2016 average currently standing at 69%.

Phonics Year 1 – A similar upwards trend has been seen with the percentage of Year 1 pupils in Warwickshire working at or above the required standard in the phonics recoding test. In 2016, this stands at 82%, up 5ppts on Warwickshire’s result last year and 1ppt up on the 2016 National result of 81%.

Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 – 2016 saw the first set of results based on the new KS1 and KS2 curriculums and provisional results show that Warwickshire pupils have achieved well compared to those nationally.

For KS1 – 62% of Warwickshire pupils achieved the expected standard or above in the combined Reading, Writing and Maths measure, 2ppts higher than the current provisional National result of 60%. 12% of Warwickshire pupils achieved the ‘working at greater depth’ standard compared to 9% of pupils nationally for the same Reading, Writing and Maths measure.

For KS2 – 57% of Warwickshire pupils achieved the expected standard or above in the combined Reading, Writing and Maths measure, 5ppts higher than the current provisional National result of 52%. 8% of Warwickshire pupils achieved the ‘working at greater depth/high’ standard compared to 5% of pupils nationally for the same Reading, Writing and Maths measure.

Progress data is not yet available to the Local Authority. You can view your schools progress data via the KS2 Performance Tables checking exercise website: https://tableschecking.education.gov.uk/

Please look out for an e-mail from our Business Intelligence team (businessintelligence@warwickshire.gov.uk) containing your school and consortium data position statements. These contain the latest 2016 results for your school.

Please note that all 2016 results are still provisional and could be subject to minor changes. Further analysis of individual subjects, published National and other benchmarking data will be made available by the DfE during the Autumn term.

Secondary Examination Results

Thank you to all secondary schools and academies that posted results on both examination result days in August. Congratulations go to all Warwickshire pupils and teachers for the success that was achieved.

Key Stage 4 - Based on an 89% response rate (31 school results), 68% of Warwickshire pupils achieved A*-C in English and Maths, up 5ppts on last years result. Warwickshire’s average Attainment 8 score currently stands at 51.1 equating to an average grade of C. The percentage of Warwickshire pupils achieving the EBacc stands at 28%, 1ppt up on the 2015 result.

Progress 8 data is not yet available to the Local Authority. These results will be made available by the DfE later in the Autumn term. They will also publish provisional KS4 results on their statistics website mid-October time.

Post 16 - Based on an 85% response rate (23 school and college results), 16% of Warwickshire students achieved the AAB or higher standard in at least 2 facilitating subjects up 3ppts on last years result. 95% of Warwickshire students achieved at least 2 A*-E grades, the same as last year. The average A Level grade achieved was a C.54% of Warwickshire students achieved at least 2 substantial vocational qualifications with an average grade of Distinction.

There is no national KS4 or Post 16 data available at this point.

Please note that all 2016 results are still very provisional and will be subject to change. Published National and other benchmarking data will be made available by the DfE during the Autumn term.

Launch of the Smart Start Strategy

Colleagues in Public Health would like to make schools aware of the new Smart Start Strategy setting out how we will help children in Warwickshire to have the best possible start in life.

They would also like to ask if schools can help to collect information on existing or emerging initiatives and projects that contribute to the delivery of the strategy and agreed work programmes such as:

•  parenting support
•  integrated early help model
•  mental health and wellbeing
•  improvement of early years education
•  community capacity
•  workforce development
•  information governance

These initiatives may range from the excellent work that schools are involved in as well as projects being delivered by others of which we should be aware. Future investment by the Smart Start Programme into larger strategic initiatives will be determined based on this valuable information.

Please could you forward all relevant information to smartstart@warwickshire.gov.uk by 27th September.

Small grants available to give Warwickshire children a smart start

The Smart Start programme is launching its community grant fund making £250,000 available to small local projects in Warwickshire. The fund will support and pilot local creative ideas and grass-roots activity which enables children to get the best start in life and prepares them for school.

The grant can be provided in a one-off payment of £2500 to each initiative or projects can join together in a joint bid to receive a larger amount. In order to bid for the funds, each project must meet one or more of the following priorities:

• Access to learning activities
• Access to play and learn areas and equipment
• Improving the health and wellbeing of children aged 0-5 and their families
• Activities helping to develop parent-child bonding and attachment
• Activities which help children to develop self-help and social skills
• Activities which help parents develop skills to interact with their children and support their development
• Initiatives that support most vulnerable families with 0-5s, including those with special needs, living in isolation and/or from poorer backgrounds

Bids will be considered from organisations and groups who directly support 0-5 families during any time from the moment of conception through to when the child reaches school age. This funding will not support applications to maintain or extend existing or core services provided by the applicant organisation.

For more information on the community grant fund and how to apply please visit the Smart Start website or email smartstart@warwickshire.gov.uk.

The closing date for applications is 5pm on Friday 11 November.

School grants for pupil emotional wellbeing

Warwickshire County Council (WCC) would like to offer all schools and educational settings within the Warwickshire area the opportunity to bid for a small grant for early help projects which support the emotional well-being of pupils. This is particularly directed at those which focus on prevention and early intervention and those which build the resilience of children and young people.

The funding is specifically aimed at all schools and educational settings across Warwickshire and is for a maximum of £1,500 per bid.

Please see the application form for further details and how to apply.

/assets/1/school_fundingapplicationfinal_1.doc

The closing date for funding applications is 5pm Friday 14th October.

Vulnerable Learners Update

The new arrangements for admission into our state funded specialist provision and special schools are starting this month.

They provide a streamlined front door approach rather than the 45 different special school panels that have operated up until now. With the increase in resourced based specialist provisions in Warwickshire, it made sense to pull together the information about criteria and process in one place. All of our special schools including DIscovery Academy and the enhanced resource provisions are included. We hope you find the information about the criteria and process helpful. The county admission panel will meet monthly and you will find the terms of reference in the guidance.  Special school heads are involved as members on a rolling programme and we would welcome volunteers from mainstream schools, especially those with an ERP.

Please contact julieliggett@warwickshire.gov.uk if you would like to be on the rolling membership programme of this or any of the panels. We have found that this usually requires your involvement only two to three times a year.

A copy of the guidance was circulated to all headteachers at the end of last term by email and an electronic version will be available shortly on the SEND Local Offer website. 

Specialist Teaching Services

During 2015/16 commissioning reviews took place across our specialist teaching teams. The SEND reform programme, vulnerable learners strategy and pressures on funding in schools and the local authority drove the change. They ensure that the model of delivering SEND specialist teaching services to schools meets the needs of our population and settings, provides value for money and is evidence based.

This work identified that historic ways of organising support services in specialist silos are no longer fit for purpose. The capacity of settings, schools and their SENCOs have increased significantly, enabling them to meet the needs of a far greater proportion of children and young people in-house.  

External specialist teaching services, on the other hand, are called upon to meet the needs of those with more complex, overlapping conditions, regardless of whether there are diagnoses.  Structures need to be more flexible and the staff equipped to meet this more complex profile. SENCOs value specialist support for their strategic role in ensuring identification, assessment, provision mapping, staff training and coaching, evidencing outcomes is in place in the school.

To ensure the WES delivery model meets the needs of schools, we are seeking head teachers and or SENCOs to join a reference group to guide this work this term. To register an interest or to find out more please contact pattate@warwickshire.gov.uk

Ill Health Team

A report was brought to Schools Forum in December 2015 outlining the need to consider the funding for this team. This was in light of the fact that the team cannot meet its statutory duty with the current DSG funding.  In May 2016 Schools Forum supported the local authority’s preferred option in line with the approach taken by most LAs which was for recouping AWPU if provision was made for the pupil by the Ill Health team for a period exceeding 6 weeks. Thus invoicing the school where the pupil is on roll for the AWPU beyond this time.

There was also a recommendation to implement a pilot of a post-16 service, not as an alternative to the current arrangements but instead an additional service that schools could buy into if they wish to.

During the autumn term the Lead for Ill Health will be writing to all schools with details about the new invoicing arrangements which will commence in 2017.

SEND Training Programme, conferences and SENCO network meetings

The complete menu of events for 2016 -17 have been brought together in the brochure “Training courses for working with vulnerable learners”. These will be hand delivered by VL staff working in your schools in the next couple of weeks.

An electronic version with easy access to booking is available on the WES portal and in future will be in the SENCO section of the SEND Local Offer.

Award winning relations with Warwickshire schools

Warwickshire County Council prides itself on being an innovative employer and has recently enjoyed some recognition of its great relationship with local schools. This includes being shortlisted for the Personnel Today Award for Talent Management in supporting Warwickshire Schools. This award recognises the success of Warwickshire schools in their approach to investment in staffing and development.

We have also been shortlisted for the CIPD (The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) Award for Best Employee Relations Initiative for the Warwickshire family of schools employee relations framework. This demonstrates the success of the consultation framework for academies in supporting positive employee relations and trade union representation.

Even our Apprenticeship Hub has enjoyed recognition. It is a finalist for the CIPD People Management Awards Best Apprenticeship Programme 2016, recognising the outstanding achievement of the organisation.

Previously, we also won the Personnel Today Award for Excellence in Employee Relations in November 2015 and received the judges' Highly Commended Award for Talent Management at the PPMA (Public Sector People Managers Association) Awards in June this year.

Eat well Warwickshire

Warwickshire Waste Management is offering free after-school cookery sessions to help both parents and children develop confidence in the kitchen. The lessons will teach them how to cook easy, healthy and affordable meals from scratch. 

The session will also cover good housekeeping practices including planning meals, sticking to a budget, storing food effectively, understanding food dates and using leftovers.  These simple strategies could save the average family £70 each month on their food bill. 

Sessions will run from 3.30-5.30pm and the meals cooked will be eaten at dinner time.  If you would be interested in running a session at your school or would like more information please contact Ruth Payne on ruthpayne@warwickshire.gov.uk; tel: 01926 418088, or Katey Stoneman on kateystoneman@warwickshire.gov.uk; tel: 01926 412724.

Water Market opens up for competition

The water market opens up for competition in April 2017 and schools may be approached by third party intermediaries looking to engage with the competitive market. Schools need to ensure they are still compliant with the Public Contract Regulations.

ESPO has published the following briefing:

“Third Party Intermediaries (TPIs)

Customers are likely to be approached by a number of Third Party Intermediaries who will look to be able to engage with the competitive market in a number of ways. In electricity and gas, many customers engage an intermediary to help them fully engage with the market in the hope they will get a better price. Public Sector customers however need to ensure their compliance with the Public Contract Regulations as the spend levels will in most cases exceed the threshold. This is an area where we have regularly seen private sector TPI’s carrying out non compliant tenders where only the companies who will pay them a commission are invited to tender and providing little or no transparency in the way they remunerated. Schools and Academies have been the most common victims of these organisations in the Gas & Electricity markets and have paid fees far in excess of those which will be levied by the Public Sector Buying Organisations.

What can customers expect from the Public Sector Water Group?

The group will put in place a framework for the water services, waste water services, and ancillary goods and services. The latter will include new connections and site-works, metering, demand side management, water conservation and Automatic Meter Reading. Customers will be able to conduct Further Competitions with those who are awarded a place on the framework to choose their future supplier.

What should we do now to prepare for Water Competition?

Customers need to collate a list of their sites and meters in readiness for a Further Competition to take place in early 2017 once suppliers have been awarded a place on the framework. Many organisations will already have concise details of their water portfolio; however some will want to engage with their current water providers to ensure that the list is complete and to ensure that all sites will be captured in the initial tender exercise.”

If you need any further information with regards to this new market please contact Andrew Stanford on 0116 294 4043 or email a.stanford@espo.org.

Fitter Futures Change Makers Course Information October - December 2016

Change Makers is a 9 week healthy eating, healthy lifestyles and physical activity programme. Sessions are delivered in schools, community and sports centres once a week after school.

Change Makers is for…Families with children aged between 4 and 12 years of age. There is an eligibility criteria.

For course dates and more information please click here

Alcester Academy win TES award for maths

Comedian Dara Ó Briain presents the award to Alcester Academy teachers Craig Groom, Melanie Muldowney, Christian Seager, Karen Evason, Ian Hollis, and Kayleigh Elliott with headteacher Paul Hyde.

The maths teachers at Alcester Academy have won Maths Team of the Year in the Times Education Supplement (TES) Schools Awards.

The team — Chris Seager, Mel Muldowney, Kayleigh Elliot, Ian Hollis, Craig Groom and Karen Evason — have transformed maths within the school and thoroughly deserve the recognition, according to headteacher, Paul Hyde.

He told the Herald: “We could not be more thrilled to have had our achievements recognised at such a prestigious event.

“We’re the only secondary school in Warwickshire to be shortlisted for the awards, which we’re so proud of.”

Mr Hyde said that Chris Seager and Mel Muldowney were recruited in September 2014.

He added: “They have gelled the team and lifted the performance of the maths team from around the national average to well above.

“I can assure you, there are not many maths teams who achieve an 88 per cent pass rate outside of the grammar school system.”

James Yarrington, who also teaches at Alcester Academy, was shortlisted for the Arts Teacher of the Year.

Mr Hyde said: “James Yarrington did not win, but we are amazingly proud of his performance, being shortlisted in the top eight of all nominations.

“He’s worked at the academy for 18 years and has always performed well above the national average. Recently, the AQA moderator described our GCSE Art work as being of A-Level standard.”

The winners were revealed at an awards ceremony and dinner in the Grosvenor House Hotel, in Park Lane, London, on Friday evening, 24th June.

Published: By the Stratford Herald, 9 July 2016 at http://www.stratford-herald.com/55306-good-teaching-equals-success.html

We would also like to give a special mention to Shrubland Street Primary School who made the shortlist in three of the categories in this year's TES awards including Primary School of the year. Well done to all of the staff and pupils at the school. 

A full list of the winners is available at: http://www.tesawards.co.uk/tessa2016/awardswinners/winners. You can also sign up to receive updates and details of how to apply for the 2017 awards by following the above link.

The Bilton Infant School has won the Anti-Bullying Quality Mark Award bronze award

RESPONSIBLE young pupils at Bilton Infant School have banded together to take a bold stand against bullying and create a ‘happier school’.

The school has won the Anti-Bullying Quality Mark Award bronze award, the only school in Warwickshire to do so, thanks to the hard work of staff, parents and governors – but most of all, pupils.

Even the school’s youngest children, from the age of four, were working hard to counter bullying in their classrooms and joining teachers to make sure the school was a safe environment for everyone.

The school children made sure their classmates were involved in games in the playground and worked with fellow pupils to solve any disputes.

Headteacher Sharon Harris said it was the school’s youngest pupils who led the campaign against bullying – creating their own position, “playground pals”, to be the first responders to troubled youngsters.

She told the Observer: “From the playgrounds to the classrooms, it really was the pupils who kick-started our work against bullying.

“As well as making sure everyone felt included and happy at the school, the pupils created their own steering group, working with our teachers and governors to turn it into a group effort against bullying.

“They didn’t even know there was an award waiting for them at the end of the year – they did this because they wanted a happier school and to make sure everyone felt they had a voice.”

The pupils were also taking a stand against cyber-bullying, welcoming Rugby FM’s Jason Moss to the school to help create their own ‘e-safety rap’. Together with the DJ the children wrote and recorded the song before performing it themselves.

Mrs Harris added: “We are incredibly proud of all the pupils for their hard work and really emphasising our school values. We are looking forward to working towards the next stage of the award over the next two years.”

An assessor of the award who visited the school said: “We have not encountered Key Stage 1 children take on this degree of responsibility before.

“We hope that the award recognizes their efforts and inspires them to continue to develop anti-bullying and achieve the ABQM-UK Silver award.”

Published: 8.54am, 4 August 2016 at http://rugbyobserver.co.uk/news/primary-school-pupils-rugby-take-lead-anti-bully-campaign/

Quality Mark awarded to Rugby Infant School

A quality mark has been awarded to Bilton Infant School in Rugby for recognition of its impressive commitment to Values-based Education.

Values-based Education is an initiative which underpins the life and work of the school. It is a concept based on extensive research, which demonstrates the positive effects on pupils. When educators model and teach about universal, positive human values, it has an impact on pupils, both socially and academically.

The purpose of adopting VbE is to inspire young people to adopt positive values in their lives so that they can be the best people that they can be. The schools involved encourage their pupils to actively demonstrate the values in their daily lives, thereby helping to create a sustainable world. The quality mark is awarded following an independent audit to assess the school’s practice of VbE.

Headteacher Sharon Harris says “We are all very proud knowing that Bilton Infant School has been recognised as a school which is passionate about VbE.” The report states that the school “embraces every aspect … which is a testament to the hard work and commitment of all stakeholders.”

The report goes on to recognise the effect that VbE has had on Bilton. “This is a fantastic school where children’s self-esteem, social and emotional development is seen as a priority and is developed within a fun, well taught framework. Bilton Infant School is a wonderful environment with happy children and staff. The children express themselves confidently and their behaviour reflects the school’s values.”

Park Lane Primary School and Nursery and Race Leys Junior School in Warwickshire have also received the VbE Quality Mark. The headteachers of all three schools would be happy to talk to anyone interested in finding out more. Further information is also available on the VbE website.

Head Teacher Induction Summary Programme

Headteacher Induction Programme Academic Year 2016-17

See link below for more information: 

/assets/1/headteacher_induction_summary_programme_2016-17.docx

National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership (NPQSL)

Training programme offered by The Griffin Teaching School Alliance

The National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership is a nationally accredited programme delivered by experienced facilitators. This stimulating and engaging programme uses high quality learning materials, offering the opportunity to consider your school leadership through discussion and debate with your peers and coach. The final assessment comprises one assessed task in which you lead, for an extended period, on a school improvement priority across your school, delivering real benefits for you and your school.

See link below for more information:

/assets/1/npqsl_cew1_flier.pdf

Primary Assessment Training Plan 2016/17

The attached document gives an overview of the courses on offer for assessment. For full course details and to book a place please click on the link and complete the booking form (please complete one form per delegate). STA recommend that we provide support for statutory moderation – these courses are the support Warwickshire Local Authority offers for statutory moderation.

See link below for more information: 

/assets/1/wcc_assessment_team_-_training_2016-17_-_issue_1_version_1_july_2016_.pdf

Child-centred outcomes and personalisation training

Outcome Training

Module Two

Previous attendance at module one is recommended.

Objectives:

At the end of this half-day workshop, everyone will:-

• Have a common understanding of what is meant by SMART child and young person centred outcomes
• Appreciate how to develop child and young person centred outcomes
• Have practised working in multi-disciplinary groups to identify needs and develop SMART outcomes

Workshop details:

Date: 20 Jan 2017

Time: 9:15 - 12:15pm

Venue: Pound Lane Learning Centre, Pound Lane, Leamington Spa, CV32 7RT

Date: 8 March 2017

Time: 9:15 - 12:15pm

Venue: Pound Lane Learning Centre, Pound Lane, Leamington Spa, CV32 7RT

Cost per module is £25.00 – cancellation at least 3 days in advance. Non attendance will be charged at full price & offered an alternative date.

To book a place please press click here.   If you have any questions please email: meltwells@warwickshire.gov.uk

Personalisation Training

An overview of the Personalisation Agenda and SEND Reform.

• The Personalisation agenda underpins the SEND reforms.
• This is ESSENTIAL information for ALL those involved with children and young people with additional needs.
• It is aimed at a varied audience including parents, health, education, social care and voluntary agencies etc.
  Two consecutive modules have been planned as follows:

Module One

Objectives:

At the end of this half-day workshop, everyone will:-

• Have a common understanding of what is meant by Personalisation
• Have the opportunity to reflect on the implications of this for their team or service through case studies and film.
• Have an audit tool to take back to use within their own team or setting

Workshop details:

Date: 26 Sept 2016

Time: 9:30 - 12:30pm

Venue: The Bloxham Centre, 8 Somers Road, Rugby, CV22 7ED

*The Bloxham Centre only opens at 9:20am

Date: 7 Nov 2016

Time: 9:15 - 12:15pm 

Venue: Pound Lane, Leamington Spa, CV32 7RT

Cost per module is £25.00 – cancellation at least 3 days in advance non attendance will charged at full price & offered an alternative date.

To book a place please click here or email

meltwels@warwickshire.gov.uk

Family and Parenting Support – Triple P training

Family and Parenting Support – Triple P training

The Closing the Gap project is working with the family and parenting support team to help promote the support and training the service provides. The service supports practitioners working with families through the Triple P parenting programme.

Triple P training is provided free of charge to practitioners working with Warwickshire families subject to an agreed training agreement. Participants training in group programmes will commit to running two per year.

Please find below details of forthcoming training available.

Clinical Supervision (Triple P trained staff only)

The sessions will be led by Clinical Psychologist Dr Jivan Culshaw, from the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust, and Warwickshire's Senior Parenting Practitioners.

These sessions are an excellent opportunity for parenting practitioners to explore the complex issues arising in parenting interventions; promote good practice and further enhance Warwickshire's success in improving outcomes for children. Please bring a case with you that you would like to discuss.

The sessions available are:

Thursday 20th October 2016 King’s House, 2nd Floor, Interview Room 11 

Monday 28th November 2016 Saltisford B3, 2nd Floor Conference Room 7 

January 2017 - TBC North 

February 2017 - TBC South

March 2017 North

Standard 0-12 Triple P Training 

Three day training course to train practitioners to deliver the following programme to parents:

Standard Triple P provides parents with broad focused parenting support and intervention on a one-to-one basis.

The programme supports parents who have concerns about their child’s behaviour or development across settings (e.g. disobedience in community settings, fighting and aggression, refusing to stay in bed, eating healthy meals). 

Over ten one-to-one sessions parents identify the causes of child behaviour problems and to set their own goals for change. They learn a range of parenting strategies to promote and develop positive behaviour for their child.  The practitioner focus is on generalisation-enhancement strategies to promote parental autonomy throughout the intervention process.

Group 0-12 Triple P Training

Overview

The Group Triple P Provider Training Course skills practitioners to deliver a broad focused parenting support programme to groups of parents with children (aged 0 to 12 years). Group Triple P is suitable for parents with concerns about their child’s behaviour or who wish to learn a variety of parenting skills that will promote their child’s development and potential. Group Triple P is ideal as a universal prevention strategy where all parents entering an early intervention or school age service participate. Group Triple P is delivered to parents over the course of 8 weeks.

The programme involves 5 (2 hour) group sessions that educate and actively train skills, and three (15 to 30 minute) individual telephone consultations that follow a self-regulatory format to facilitate independent problem solving. The Group Triple P Provider Training Course comprises of attendance at a 3-day training programme, followed some weeks later by demonstration of knowledge and competence in programme delivery through a skills-based accreditation process.

Triple P Training 

Standard 0-12 years September 2016

Group 0-12 years October 2016

Details available here: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/parentingtraining

For more information please contact the Parenting Development Team.

Telephone 01926 743062

Saltisford Office Park
Saltisford
Warwick
CV34 4UL

www.warwickshire.gov.uk/parentingtraining

www.warwickshire.gov.uk/parentingprogrammes

Gateway Alliance Primary Core Offer 16/17

The Gateway Alliance Core Offer is a subscription based programme which comprises a range of professional learning opportunities to support a number of key staff in school. Gateway have been offering a CPD programme to primary schools across Warwickshire since 2012 and are continually adapting and improving their provision based on feedback from schools.

This year they have continued to develop a comprehensive offer, which includes support for senior leaders, subject leaders, early years specialists and new or recently qualified teachers.

This document provides more information about the events that will be taking place during the 2016-17 academic year and provides the dates, times, venues and booking details for each.

See link below for more information:

/assets/1/primary_core_offer_2016-17_brochure_final_pdf.pdf

There are also more events on the Gateway Alliance website.

Free relationship and sex education training and resources

Public Health Warwickshire have funded support for secondary schools to develop their relationship and sex education (RSE) programmes

Doing It is a sex positive RSE programme for teachers and the young people they work with. The package covers work and campaigns suitable for years 7-13. It is a complete package of training and resources to be used in secondary schools across Warwickshire.

Comprehensive RSE covers much more than merely a condom demonstration and a brief explanation of where babies come from. Real sex education should be a full exploration of a person’s sexuality: who they are, how they feel, how their body works, their attitudes, values, behaviour, relationship and personal boundaries.

Indeed, young people now have to navigate issues around consent, sexting, the influence of pornography and peer to peer exploitation. Whilst many of these struggles take place outside of the school walls, it is often left to teachers to pick up the pieces and deal with the fallout. The Doing It programme is designed to help support schools’ safeguarding measures around these issues by not only tackling then in the classroom but also ensuring that you have the correct policies and procedures in place and are aware of the services that can support you.

Doing It is a blended learning programme. This means that some of the work will be self-supported study online, combined with online tutorials, discussion groups and forums, as well as four short, after school, face-to-face training sessions and in addition some time allocated for in-school teaching support. Our trainer is flexible and able to adjust delivery to suit school demands.

The course should be completed within a term (around 12 weeks). Schools should commit to training a member of the senior leadership team and at least 5 staff that will deliver the programme.

For more information please contact
Luke Carter
(Respect Yourself programme  manager)
e: lukecarter@warwickshire.gov.uk      
t: 01926 41 49 84

Warwickshire Road Safety Club

The Warwickshire Road Safety Club pulls together the best of our road safety educational interventions and targets children from 5 – 11 years through a wide range of activities and hands on experience.  The elements of the club are delivered by our team of dedicated road safety professionals with many years of teaching behind them.  

The aim of the club is to:

• Invest in the safety of future generations;
• Deliver consistent road safety messages;
• Disseminate new ideas and promote current legislation;
• Provide a local and holistic approach to road safety for your school;
• Save lives.

Once signed up to the club, you will also receive additional benefits such as road safety materials and resources, banners, visits from external organisations and road safety professionals such as the police, theatre in education presentations, regular newsletters, competitions and prizes.

Annual membership fees are:

• Infant school £325
• Junior School £225
• Primary School £550

For further information please contact Alison Williams, Road Safety Team at alisonwilliamspt@warwickshire.gov.uk or call 01926 418062

Food for Life Training Programme

We offer a range of free curriculum-linked training courses to support schools  in transforming their food culture and using food as a topic to inspire learning across the curriculum.

Aimed at teachers, support staff and regular volunteers, these popular sessions support the learning of range of subjects in the curriculum as well as learning practical life skills such cooking, growing, and a chance to learn about where food comes from including awareness raising visits and links and with farms and food producers .   There are usually two free places available on each course for all Warwickshire schools subject to availability. Please book early to avoid disappointment. 

They are designed to inform long term planning and underpin the changes to the Ofsted Common Inspection Framework (Sept 2015) in relation to “How children keep themselves healthy, including healthy eating.” These can be taken as stand-alone sessions or to achieve criteria for the excellent Food for Life Schools Awards at Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Please click here for more information about the programme and courses available

Event for Category A Schools

Event for Headteachers from Category A Schools:-

Developing School to School Support Models. Led by HMI Usha Devi, the session will equip headteachers to deliver school to school support activities. 

22nd September 2016, 9am- 1pm, Honiley Court Hotel, Contact Stephenheight@warwickshire.gov.uk

Newly Qualified Teachers Welcome to Warwickshire Event

This event is run by The Griffin Teaching School Alliance on behalf of Warwickshire LA and is free for NQTs registered with Warwickshire LA. 

Join us for this opportunity to meet and network with other Warwickshire NQTs, engage in a workshop and listen to recently qualified teachers to informally discuss their own experiences. There will also be a welcome address from Warwickshire Local Authority.

See link below for more information:

/assets/1/warwickshire_welcomes_2016_flier_1.pdf

“Warwickshire Sings” A Singing Workshop for Grown Ups

“Warwickshire Sings” A Singing Workshop for Grown Ups

A Singing Workshop for Grown Ups Directed by Sheila Russell & Garry Jones Saturday 24 September 2016 Coten End Workshop, Coten End Primary School, Coten End, Warwick, CV34 4NP 10 am— 3pm

To book your FREE place and for more information about the day go to www.warwickshiremusichub.org/events

An opportunity to enjoy the simple pleasure of singing directed by two absolute legends of vocal & choral direction

Please click here for more information

Ashlawn Teaching School

Ashlawn School is an 11-18 bilateral mixed secondary school in Rugby. Our strapline of ‘transforming lives through learning and leadership’ declares our commitment of offering outstanding educational provision for our students and staff.

Becoming a Teacher through Ashlawn Teaching School can occur through many routes: we support our universities (Warwick, Nottingham Trent, Leicester and Newman) through their core PGCE course; Schools Direct applicants train mostly at Ashlawn and are supported by our partners (Cambridge Partnerships and Leicester University); the School Experience Programme allows potential teachers to gain a 10-day work experience through Ashlawn. The strong partnerships that exist between Ashlawn and our schools ensure that trainee teachers are supported and developed in different contexts and benefit from a range of different experiences.

Training and Developing Teachers and Leaders is an area in which Ashlawn has specialised for many years. We have worked closely with the National College and other institutions as a provider of professional leadership training. We offer a range of training and developmental programmes to help teachers transition into leadership and for leaders to develop their expertise at different levels. Our bespoke programme of coaching, mentoring and teacher training ensures that teachers who train with us are equipped with the latest evidence-based research, pedagogy and skills-sets to maximise the learning, progress and achievement of young people.

Supporting Schools to Improve is a collaborative partnership process with sharing, learning and developing being at the heart of a culture of self-sustaining improvement. Support can come in many guises whether it be intensive support from an experienced NLE or specialist and targeted support from SLEs or just sharing what works in different contexts from teachers and leaders who have been successful in their area of expertise.

We are pleased to take enquires and these should be made directly to Ashlawn School by using the email dixonl@ashlawn.org.uk or by telephone on 01788 573425.

Southam Teaching Alliance

Southam College are proud to introduce the recently established Southam Teaching Alliance, based in Coventry and Warwickshire. We work closely as an alliance of secondary, primary and special schools and universities. Our vision is to use expertise and collaboration (both within and outside our alliance) to secure outstanding learning opportunities for students, through a practical, teacher-centred approach.

Networks
Our initial work will be in developing purposeful networks across schools, education phases and subject areas. These will provide educators opportunities to develop valuable links with other professionals to share ideas, strategies and resources. We feel this is especially important at a time of significant curriculum change.

CPD
We are building a collection of professional development opportunities that will suit a wide range of school contexts, time frames and staff (from trainee teachers and support staff through to experienced middle and senior leaders). These will include:
· Innovative twilight sessions and workshops, focussing on practical strategies.
· Experience days - offering practical elements of training within a school environment.
· Longer term CPD programmes – spanning a term or a year.
· Developing a team of Specialist Leaders in Education - to facilitate the sharing of excellent practice and work between schools, on a department / one-to-one / school need basis.

It is of upmost importance to us that all CPD opportunities are led by practicing teachers and leaders with a proven track record of excellence and we will be advertising most of our CPD offers in 2017.

School-to-school work
Bespoke school to school connections – both informal as well as more structured – are always mutually beneficial so please get in touch if you would like to link with any school to develop an area of interest. This might be just popping in for a morning to look at one aspect of learning, teaching, achievement or leadership or setting up a longer term relationship and programme. We pride ourselves on our links with others and our professional relationships, developed by getting to know needs and contexts fully in order to find the best CPD and school to school connection experiences to meet current and evolving needs.

We would love to hear from you, whether it’s about CPD opportunities you would like to see being offered, staff in your school who would like to be involved in extra opportunities or to discuss staff visiting another school to look at practice within a particular area of interest.

Laura Edmonds, Head of Teaching School: morris.l10@welearn365.com
Jo Gough, Teaching School Coordinator: gill.j1@welearn365.com
Karen Davies, Primary CPD Co-ordinator: davies.k6@welearn365.com

For further information you can also visit the website: http://www.southamcollege.com/teaching-school

The Community Academies Trust Teaching School

The CAT Teaching School is a unique blend of two Teaching Schools; The Polesworth School and Birchwood Primary. Covering a wide geographical area including Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Telford & Wrekin, we operate in a variety of contexts, bringing about continuous school improvement in our local areas across primary and secondary sectors.

Teacher Subject Specialism Training (TSST)
Working in partnership with Birmingham City University and the University of Plymouth, we offer FREE TSST Courses in Year 6/7 Maths, Secondary Maths, French and Physics to:

• Qualified teachers whose initial training was not in these subjects and who find themselves spending a considerable time teaching them
• Teachers who are returning to teaching after a career break;
• Teachers from a different phase of education.
• Initial Teacher Training – School Direct

Our Alliance offers both salaried and non-salaried training places in both primary and secondary settings and provides the opportunity for trainees to experience teaching in a wide variety of contexts. All of our training courses are supported by University of Warwick or University of Chester.

We strongly advocate school based ITT training to sustain and develop the teaching workforce in schools. The benefits of engaging with this route are:
You are more likely to recruit the right person for you;
You can customise the training to suit the needs of your school and trainee;
Your trainees get on board very quickly;
You will snap up the best new talent;

We represent our partners at national and regional Train to Teach events in Birmingham, Derby, Shrewsbury, Coventry and Nuneaton. Attendance at these events has led to a number of successful recruitment outcomes and we intend to maintain our presence at these high profile events in future.

Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE)

Bespoke Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses are available to trainees who receive a conditional offer of an ITT place. We deliver courses in Maths, Physics, Biology, Chemistry Geography, D&T and French. These can be from 8 to 36 weeks and can be completed by distance learning in some subjects. Bursaries are available for trainees and courses can be undertaken either before or during the ITT training course.

For further information please see our website http://catteachingschool.org.
Alternatively you can contact:

Michelle Borders, Teaching School Administrator at m.borders@thepolesworthschool.com; tel: 01827 702205.
Alexis Rickus, Deputy Headteacher The Polesworth School and Director of Teaching School A.Rickus@thepolesworthschool.com

The Griffin Teaching School Alliance

The Griffin Teaching School Alliance represents a group of schools drawn from a wide range of different contexts. Together we are committed to building a networked learning community which supports the development of the education system across our region. If you are interested in joining a Teaching School alliance we welcome schools who are happy to share their expertise with others in a cooperative.

As a Teaching School our offer is broad, from responsibility for CPD for Newly Qualified Teachers on behalf of the LA, to bespoke training for schools around specific issues. We support a team of Specialist Leaders of Education who can be deployed to assist in their defined areas of expertise.
We help to recruit and train graduates into teaching through the School Direct recruitment programme.

Our activities are cross-phase; we support a Primary Partnership group who run development sessions such as lesson observations and training for teaching assistants. This group has developed along the lines of the established Secondary Partnership Plus group which we now administer.
A recent innovation has been our Teaching and Learning Programme, aimed at teachers who want to improve their teaching practice, deliver consistently good lessons and have the capacity and commitment to improve. As part of this course delegates have the opportunity to observe outstanding teachers in action, as well as providing a range of teaching and learning methods to develop the skills and techniques to deliver in school.

Since 2012 we have held a license to deliver National Professional Qualifications for the National College. These courses, at Middle Leader, Senior Leader and Headship levels are helping to secure leadership succession for local schools.

This is only a snapshot – we aim to respond to need as it arises, and are not bound by a portfolio type offer.

Please contact us for more information.
Gwen Temple, Deputy Headteacher: gwen.temple@lawrencesheriffschool.com
Caroline Horne, Teaching School Manager: caroline.horne@lawrencesheriffschool.com

Or call direct: 01788 843789
http://www.lawrencesheriffschool.net/national-teaching-school

THE TEACHING SCHOOL ARE RUNNING TWO EVENTS THAT SCHOOLS MAY BE INTERESTED IN:

Newly Qualified Teachers Welcome to Warwickshire Event /assets/1/warwickshire_welcomes_2016_flier_1.pdf

National Professional Qualification for Senior Leadership programme /assets/1/npqsl_cew1_flier.pdf

Your guide to who's new and who's leaving

Sadly, we had to say farewell to a number of headteachers at the end of last term. We would like to thank them for all their hard work and commitment to Warwickshire over the years they have been working with us. We wish them every success in their future ventures.

These departures inevitably bring with them the arrival of many new headteachers.  We would like to welcome each of them to Warwickshire and look forward to working with them over the coming months:

Lisa Dodd, who joins Curdworth Primary School from Joseph Cash Primary, Coventry.

Michaela Eden, previously headteacher at Whitley Abbey Primary School, Coventry, who joins Dunnington CE Primary School.

Suki Edwards, who has left her post as Assistant Headteacher of Greet Primary School, Birmingham to join the staff at Eastlands Primary School.

Matt Fisher, who joins Milverton Primary School from Measham CE Primary School, Derbyshire.

Ricky Emms, who has moved to The Priors Free School, previously Deputy Head at Dunmore Primary, Abingdon.

Kaye Hunter, previously co-head at Krishna Avanti Primary, Leicester, who is joining Salford Priors CE Primary School as Interim Head.

George Smith, who has left his Deputy Principal role at The Meadows Sports College, Sandwell to take up the headship at Oak Wood Primary and Secondary Special Schools.

Harry French, who joins the staff at Ash Green School, leaving his post as Principal of Greenwood Academy, Birmingham.

We would also like to acknowledge some moves within the county and congratulate staff who have been promoted to a headship or acting headship from September 2016:

Dionne Hunter, promoted from Deputy to Acting Head at St Matthew’s Bloxham CE Primary.

Lisa Bernard has been appointed as substantive head at Clifton upon Dunsmore CE Primary School.

Juliet Jones has been appointed as substantive head at Cubbington CE Primary School, after a period as Acting Head.

Lesley Ritchie, promoted from Deputy to take on substantive headship at St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School.

Judy McCluskey who is stepping up from Deputy to become Acting Headteacher at Lapworth CE Primary School.

Carl Thornton has left Boughton Leigh Junior School to take up a new headship at St Paul’s CE Primary School, Nuneaton. Paula Dunystee, previously Deputy at Boughton Leigh Junior will take on the headship following Carl’s departure.

Sukie Owers has moved on from her headship at St Matthews Bloxham CE Primary School to take on the Executive Headship role of the Briar Hill/St Margarets Federation.

Jacqueline Cornell has been promoted from Deputy to take on the substantive headship at Stratford Girls Grammar School. The previous head Kate Barnett retired at the end of summer 2016.