Education Noticeboard: 9 September 2021

A round-up of news, guidance and key updates for education settings.

Director Update

Dear colleagues,

I hope you have all had a very restful summer break and had the opportunity to take time to refresh and recharge, including those of you that have continued to work over the summer to provide provisions, holiday clubs and activities for our young people. I know many children have been looking forward to the start of the Autumn Term and fingers crossed they have settled well. Over the holiday period we have sent out a few special education notices to keep you abreast of updated guidance particularly around COVID. This week a few scenarios have presented themselves and we have been working with schools, settings and the HPH to work through the new guidance. We will learn from these experiences and share updates as and when necessary through notices and during our network meetings.

Many thanks to schools who are completing the daily education attendance survey. This information is used by the DfE to ascertain what is happening across our local area, as it is nationally and it is really useful information for us to track, support and where necessary promote children’s attendance.

A really big thank you to those schools who have contacted us, following the special education notice that we sent out earlier in the week, about the Afghanistan evacuees that are temporarily staying in Telford. Your offers of support are greatly appreciated and I know we are currently in contact with a number of schools to find placements for the children and young people involved. It is very humbling to hear their stories whereby families have been separated, belongings left behind and lives turned upside down in an instant.

Finally apologies for the length of the noticeboard this week but we just have so much to let you know!

Best wishes to you all and I hope to see you soon

Simon

Simon Wellman
Director of Education and Skills

Borough’s schools and colleges look forward to welcoming students back

After a challenging academic year last year, schools and colleges across Telford and Wrekin are looking forward to welcoming children and young people back.

Students are eager to return to classrooms and are preparing for this.

Theo, aged 4 from Telford, already has his school uniform sorted for the beginning of the primary school year. Theo, said: “I’ve got new school shoes. They feel nice and have dinosaur footprints on them. I wish I could wear any clothes because I don’t like grey. I am looking forward to going and meeting my teacher - Aunty Lou and Mama are going to take me.”

Need a school uniform or want to donate one?

Telford & Wrekin Council is funding the school uniform project delivered by Telford Crisis Support, to ensure all families in the borough have access to this essential item.

You can find out how to access or donate uniforms on Telford Crisis Support website.

Oliver, aged 11, from Telford is getting ready to make the move to Thomas Telford School in September. Oliver, said: “I am nervous about going to a new school in September but I am also excited; I can’t wait to get started and make new friends. To get ready for school I have done some homework, had some taster days, got my uniform, pencil case and bag.”

Do you know the latest on testing & face covering in secondary schools?

Students in secondary schools will be required to take two Covid-19 tests at existing school testing facilities when they return in September.

They will afterwards be provided with two rapid tests to use each week at home.

When going on public transport, all children are advised to wear a face covering.

Councillor Shirley Reynolds, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, said:

“After such a difficult academic year last year, our schools and colleges are now excited to be preparing themselves to welcome back their children and young people in September.

“Students are also really enthusiastic to go back, they’ve all been amazing in dealing with the challenges that the pandemic unfortunately brought.

“It remains so important that we all do what we can, together with families, schools and colleges to ensure our children continue their education, for their wellbeing and development.

“We hope this academic year is going to be a great one for them, with more normality returning to their lives.

“We will continue to work with all our education settings to support them with their return but also throughout the year, to make sure our young people thrive.

“It cannot be said enough how hard school work to support young people across the borough in their Education, safety and wellbeing – I’d like to thank them all for their hard work.”

Afghanistan Situation - Supporting the Home Office in Afghan Crisis

As you will be aware from the news, the UK is currently supporting Afghan refugees to resettle across the UK.

Telford & Wrekin Council had previously agreed to a Home Office request to provide permanent accommodation for 25 Afghan interpreters and those who have supported UK troops.

To date we have resettled a total of eight of the 25 people. All of the costs are covered by the Home Office.

In a separate agreement, the Home Office has also commissioned a hotel located in Telford to temporarily house over 100 refugees, whilst their longer term arrangements are finalised.

Telford & Wrekin Council were not involved in this decision but have been asked to support the Home Office and provide links to appropriate services locally for those staying at the hotel.

Many Afghan families at the hotel include children and young people and so we are asked to consider placements in early years settings, schools and post 16 providers.

Over the coming days we will begin to make contact with settings and schools directly to discuss how we can collectively support the families temporarily placed within Telford and Wrekin.

Reminder to complete the educational setting attendance form for schools and colleges

Schools and colleges are asked to resume completing the educational setting status form from the start of the autumn term. Please complete the form each day by 2pm.

The DfE are asking you to continue to submit your attendance data daily throughout September, to support attendance in schools and colleges after the summer break.

They have made some changes to the form to align with the latest guidance for schools and colleges, however this does not impact the way that you complete the form.

They have updated the questions on COVID-19 related absence and have added a new set of questions about managing COVID-19 in your school or college.

Further information on completing the educational setting status form, including an updated set of attendance sub-codes, can be found in our guidance

Home to school transport applications

Please be informed that our Council’s school transport team has recently received a high amount of applications for transport services.

Our team is currently working at full speed to process these and provide a response by Monday 13 September to anyone who has submitted a request.

If there are any opportunities, can you please include in your communication to parents/carers this week the following lines:

“If you have recently submitted a request for home-to-school transport to Telford & Wrekin Council, please note the Council will provide you with a response by Monday 13 September.

There has been a high amount of applications for transport assistance and the Council’s team is working hard to process them.

Thank you.”

Updated Guidance from the Department for Education

The Department for Education (DfE) published the latest coronavirus guidance for schools on 7 September 2021 on the following:

CO2 monitor delivery schedules for state-funded special schools
Planned maintenance for all education settings using the COVID-19 test kit ordering online portal
COVID-19 test kit deliveries for all schools and colleges

CO2 monitor delivery schedules for state-funded special schools

On Saturday 21 August 2021 we announced that CO2 monitors will be provided this term to state-funded education settings, including early years, schools and further education providers, backed by £25 million in government funding.

The new monitors will enable staff to identify areas where ventilation needs to be improved and provide reassurance that existing ventilation measures are working, helping balance the need for good ventilation with keeping classrooms warm.

The first deliveries to state-funded special schools will start this week. Special schools, alternative provision and residential schools have been prioritised to receive their monitors first, given their higher-than-average numbers of vulnerable pupils.

The delivery schedule for these schools, across weeks commencing Monday 6, 13 and 20 September 2021, is now available on the ventilation document sharing platform. The delivery schedule also includes the number of monitors settings should receive.

If you have any queries about your expected delivery date or the number of monitors received, please check the delivery schedule in the first instance. As deliveries will take place throughout the week, please wait until the following week to query a missed delivery, which you can do by contacting the supplier (details of your supplier are available on the delivery schedule):

Rexel: 0330 0450 606
CEF (Flamefast): 01926 350 018

For any further queries about your DfE issued CO2 monitor(s) you can call the DfE COVID-19 helpline on 0800 046 8687.

A ‘how to’ guide on using CO2 monitors in education and childcare settings is now available on the ventilation document sharing platform.

Information on planned maintenance for all education settings using the COVID-19 test kit ordering online portal

The online portal for ordering COVID-19 test kits will be undergoing scheduled maintenance between 3pm and midnight on Wednesday 8 September 2021. During this time, the portal will be unavailable for any organisation ordering testing kits. The online portal will be available again from 1am on Thursday 9 September 2021.

COVID-19 test kit deliveries for all schools and colleges

Since Monday 16 August 2021, schools and colleges should have been receiving deliveries of at home and onsite test kits that were ordered prior to the end of the summer term.

The latest delivery schedules for secondary schools and colleges are available on the secondary schools and colleges document sharing platform.

The latest delivery schedules for primary schools and maintained nurseries are available on the primary schools and nurseries document sharing platform.

Please check the delivery schedule to find out when you should be receiving any orders that you placed prior to the end of the summer term. If you are expecting a delivery that hasn’t arrived, please contact NHS Test and Trace on 119. Please wait 48 hours after the scheduled delivery date before contacting 119.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in Educational Settings in Telford & Wrekin – COVID 19

Most staff in education, childcare and children’s social care settings will not require PPE in response to COVID-19 beyond what they would normally need for their work, as these are non-symptomatic children in a non-healthcare setting and so the risk of viral transmission is very low.

If a child, young person, or student already has routine intimate care needs that involve the use of PPE, the same PPE should continue to be used.

Additional PPE for COVID-19 is only required in a very limited number of scenarios:

1. PPE requirements - COVID 19 in Educational Settings
A summary of the PPE requirements in response to COVID 19 in educational settings:

Setting	Context	Hand hygiene	Disposable Gloves	Disposable Plastic Apron	Fluid-resistant (IIR) surgical mask	Eye protection
Any Educational setting	General contact	Yes	No	No	No	No
	Symptomatic child and close contact is necessary	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Giving First Aid	Yes	If a pupil or student needs first aid hat involve the use of PPE, the same PPE should continue to be used but no additional PPE is required to manage COVID Transmission.
	Direct care*	Yes	If a pupil or student already has routine care needs that involve the use of PPE, the same PPE should continue to be used but no additional PPE is required to manage COVID transmission
	Performing Aerosol Generating procedures (AGPs)	Yes	a FFP2/3 respirator gloves a long-sleeved fluid repellent gown eye protection See further advice and guidance on the aerosol generating procedure.

*Direct Care – hands-on care activities such as help with washing, toileting, dressing, nappy changing, oral care and feeding, assistance with medication or walking, and non-symptomatic children that present behaviours such as: biting, licking, kissing or spitting.

For further details and advice on PPE see the PPE in Education, Childcare or Children's Social Care Settings page on the GOV.UK website.

When PPE is used, it is essential that it is used properly. This includes scrupulous hand hygiene and following guidance on how to put PPE on and take it off safely in order to reduce self-contamination.

Face masks should:

cover both the nose and mouth
not be allowed to dangle around the neck
not be touched once put on, except when carefully removed before disposal
be changed when they become moist or damaged
be worn once and then discarded - hands should be cleaned after disposal.

2. Process for requesting PPE in Schools
PPE supplies should be procured from your usual sources where possible.

In addition to existing procurement routes, settings and local authorities can source PPE and cleaning products through the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) safer working supplies website. Suppliers and products listed on this website meet standards set out by the Department of Health and Social Care. Products purchased through this route will not detract from supply available to medical settings. In addition, public sector buying organisations have pre-existing experience and relationships across the education, childcare and children’s social care sectors. Some of these organisations have e-catalogues offering PPE and cleaning products.

They include:

All Telford & Wrekin Council schools, educational settings and early years’ settings have been issued with an emergency PPE supply.

It has been agreed that if schools cannot source their PPE requirements from their usual supplier they can request access for a supply of PPE via an established request process.

Granville House (a Telford & Wrekin Council Core Building) is the central store and is the main supply route for PPE currently for Telford & Wrekin Council.

The Internal Health and Safety team oversees the PPE guidance and supply of PPE. Schools will need to complete the PPE request form and send it by email to coronavirus@telford.gov.uk.

For further information on the control measures that should be implemented in each setting, read the:

People aged 16 and over are eligible to have a Pfizer (or Moderna) vaccination

The clinics are open for walk-in appointments for anyone 16 or over. Booking is not necessary, you do not need to be registered with a GP, proof of address, immigration status, ID or an NHS number. A few personal details may be taken so that we have a record of who has been vaccinated.

Some clinics aren’t open to everyone – for instance, some are open just for people within a certain age group – so please read the clinic details carefully before you decide to go. Please do not turn up to a walk-in clinic site for a vaccination if a clinic is NOT being advertised.

Visit stwics.org.uk website for more information and available times on COVID-19 vaccination walk-in and pop-up clinics

You can also find your nearest walk-in coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination site using the nhs.uk website.

Recovery Premium Funding - COVID 19

Additional funding in the 2021 to 2022 academic year to support schools with education recovery following COVID-19. The full guidance on Recovery premium funding can be found on the GOV.UK website.

This guidance is for:

school leaders and teachers
governors and academy trustees
virtual school heads

It applies to:

local-authority-maintained schools
academies
non-maintained special schools
independent special schools

The recovery premium funding is additional funding for eligible schools in the 2021 to 2022 academic year. It is based on pupil premium eligibility to provide further support to disadvantaged pupils.

This guidance outlines:

eligibility criteria
funding details
how you should use the funding
reporting and accountability requirements

Online HMI Briefing for T&W Secondary School Leaders – Monday 20 September 2021 - Inspecting the Quality of Education in Secondary Schools

HMI Jo Evans will lead an online briefing for T&W secondary school leaders on Monday 20 September 2021 from 4pm to 5pm. This briefing is being provided free of charge using Microsoft Teams and the number of places per school is unlimited.

Monday 20 September 2021 from 4pm to 5pm

The briefing will provide an opportunity for secondary leaders to hear about OFSTED’s approach to inspecting the Quality of Education from the Autumn Term 2021 - including how OFSTED will evaluate the intent, implementation and impact of the curriculum, and the implications for secondary subject leadership.

To book your place/s, please send an email to cpdschoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk stating your name, email address and school name.

Recording Absence in relation to coronavirus during 2021-22 academic year

School attendance is mandatory for all pupils including those pupils who were previously clinically extremely vulnerable. Please view the additional guidance for recording absence related to the coronavirus in 2021-2022 that's available to download.

Download: Additional Guidance for Recording Absence Related to coronavirus 2021-2022

If you have any queries relating to the additional guidance please contact attendancesupportteam@telford.gov.uk.

School Attendance Toolkit

School attendance is mandatory for all pupils from September 2021 including those pupils who were previously clinically extremely vulnerable. The DfE published their attendance toolkit last term which has now been adapted very slightly to meet Telford & Wrekin processes. Please find the additional toolkit for schools to consider to improve school attendance.

Download: School Attendance Toolkit

For any queries relating to the toolkit, please contact the attendancesupportteam@telford.gov.uk.

Telford & Wrekin Leave in Term Time Policy

The Attendance Support Team have reviewed the LA Leave in Term Time policy. Schools will find samples of all the letters to support their own policy and documentation to manage leave in term time requests.

These letter samples included in the policy contain the necessary legislative language that needs to be included so that school letters can be used as part of the process for the LA to be able to proceed with any Penalty Notices. Some of these copies have highlighted areas where school will need to add text/content.

Download: Updated policy with samples/copies of all additional documentation for schools.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Attendance Support Team if you need any advice by email attendancesupportteam@telford.gov.uk

Become an Admission Appeal/Review Panel Member

School Admission Appeal and Exclusion Review panel members
Telford & Wrekin Council is advertising for more volunteers to join the Independent Appeal Panel, dealing with primary and secondary school admission appeals and exclusion reviews. It is a requirement that the Local Authority’s School Admission Authority provides arrangements for appeals against decisions not to allow a child to attend a school or regarding a decision to exclude a child from a school within Telford & Wrekin.

The role
Admission panels comprise of three members to hear and determine appeals by parents who are not happy with the decision made about their child’s school placement. The panel is independent of the education authority and draws on a pool of lay and independent members to sit on particular appeals.

This is an essential role that provides impartiality of decisions for parents and children in Telford and Wrekin.

Skills and experience

Ability to communicate effectively with a wide range of people.
Assess information and identify key points of the case.
Ask questions to obtain information.
Analyse information to form conclusions.
To be impartial and sensitive.
Ability to respect the need for appropriate confidentiality.
Form decisions in compliance with law and procedure in relation to school admission and school exclusion reviews.

Membership of the panel comprises of:

people who have experience in education, who are acquainted with educational conditions in the local authority area, or who are parents of registered pupils in school. This can include current or previous head teachers, teachers, governors or parents
lay people, someone without personal experience in the management of any school or provision of education in any school except as a school governor or in another voluntary capacity.

Unfortunately applications cannot be accepted from a local authority officer or a person who has at any time been connected with the Local Authority Admission Authority.

There are no qualifications required to become a panel member however appointed panel members will need to attend a one day training course to understand the law and procedure in relation to school admission and school admission appeals in order to be able to sit on the panel.

A panel member cannot sit on an appeal panel for any school that they have been involved with in the past.

How often does the panel sit?

The panel sits in the day during school term time, panels sit more frequently during the months of May, June and July. As part of a group of panel members you will be contacted in advance to confirm your availability for the forthcoming months.

Appeals take place during working hours. Members would normally be asked to sit on the panel for part of the day or a whole day each individual appeal lasts approximately 40 minutes.

Pay
This is an unpaid role for volunteers however they will receive reimbursement for travel expenses.

Support
A clerk attends all panel meetings and is present throughout and can provide advice to the panel.

Application process
We welcome applications anytime throughout the year, please follow the link below and the application form can be found at the bottom of the page.

School admission review panel members - Telford & Wrekin Council

Enquiries
Please contact Hannah Gorman or Rachel English in Legal Services at Telford & Wrekin Council if you have any enquiries about the role. Email: legal.safeguarding@telford.gov.uk

Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and Safeguarding Audit - Education

The 2021-2022 Telford and Wrekin Safeguarding Partnership (TWSP) template Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy and updated annual Safeguarding Audit - Education are now available. Please note that the Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) is expected to be published with minor revisions on or around 1 September 2021. This may result in further changes to the policy and audit. However, the decision has been taken to publish these now, to provide as much time as possible to implement the policy in a timely manner.

To provide further information on the changes to KCSIE 2021 a one-hour webinar will be provided on:

Thursday 9 September 2021
3.30 - 4.30pm

and

Thursday 16 September 2021
1pm - 2pm.

The cost is £85 per delegate, with a 10% discount for multiple bookings from the same school.
To book please email cpdschool.improvement@telford.gov.uk.
This webinar is open to all DSL’s, governors and senior leaders.

Key points of change to the template Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy:

The policy has been updated to reflect changes to KCSIE 2021.
The policy has been reorganised in some parts to synchronise with KCSIE.
The policy has been written as a template for all education settings and it is therefore your responsibility to edit it appropriately to reflect your own setting. To assist you in this a key to the changes you need to make has been provided.
All key points for change in KCSIE, previously shared at the DSL and Safeguarding Governor update in the Summer Term, have now been included in the template policy.
Please follow the cover notes at the beginning of the policy to assist you further.
The cover notes include the list of policies and procedures that need to be read alongside the Child Protection and Safeguarding policy. It is recommended that all settings have a mental health and well-being policy. Please refer to the Mentally Healthy Schools website for a recommended template. It is also recommended that you put in place, if you don’t already have one, a separate peer on peer abuse policy. This is in addition to the new sections on peer on peer abuse included in the template Child Protection and Safeguarding policy. The Farrer & Co peer on peer abuse toolkit is due to be revised. It is recommended that this as a template is used to write or update your own peer on peer policy. All supplementary safeguarding policies should be published on your website alongside your Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy.
Included is a significant change to the Telford & Wrekin Prevent pathway. The most notable change is that Prevent referrals are no longer sent to Family Connect, and only go to the police. The new Prevent pathway is provided below for your reference, and is also included in the template policy.
Your new policy must be signed off by your governing body/management committee/proprietor. However, while you are waiting for this to happen we recommend publishing it on your setting website with a note to this effect to ensure compliance from the 1 September 2021.

Download: TWSP Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy

Download: TWSP Safeguarding Audit

Download: Prevent Flowchart

SEND Tribunal: single route of redress national trial

Information from the DfE.

On the 20 July 2021, the DfE confirmed that they would be continuing the extended powers given to the SEND Tribunal to hear appeals and make non-binding recommendations about health and social care aspects of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans, provided those appeals also include education elements. These extended powers were being tested under a National Trial, which ended on 31 August 2021.

The DfE have now updated the guidance ‘SEND tribunal: single route of redress national trial’ to remove references to the National Trial and explain that the extended powers will continue, providing details on how appeals which include health and social care aspects (now known as extended appeals) work.

This guidance is intended for all local authorities, health commissioning bodies and parents and young people in England.

Educational Psychology Team

There are some changes in the growing and developing Educational Psychology Team:

Emily Williamson is a new educational psychologist joining the team and Luke Nicholls is also joining as an assistant psychologist.

Additionally, three of the existing educational psychologists have taken on specialist practitioner roles within the service which will allow development of the service delivery in these areas:

Dr Meryl Newton is the specialist practitioner for early years.
Dr Jane Parks is the specialist practitioner for post 16.
Dr Severine Thompson is the specialist practitioner for social, emotional and mental health.

SEND Local Offer - Educational Psychology Team

Autism Spectrum Condition Training

Currently underway is a huge drive on increasing the understanding of Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) within Telford & Wrekin schools, to increase inclusion. We would like all schools to co-work with us to achieve this whole-borough vision. To support this co-work, and make achieving this vision a reality, funding is being provided for a free place for one member of senior staff from each setting to attend the ASC Lead training, during the forthcoming Autumn Term.

Why does my schools need an ASC Lead?
A lead autism practitioner is needed in every school in Telford. The ASC Lead can then drive planning the support and provision for children with social communication needs, across the school.

What impact will the ASC Lead have in my school?
Having an ASC Lead will enable all young people to have an increased sense of belonging to their school and promote inclusion. This is essential because it will increase the holistic development of each young person identified with ASC.

In addition, if requests are made for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), schools will be able to demonstrate levels of interventions linked to the graduated response. Furthermore, the acquired skills across all school staff will assist with the presentation of young people to the emotional health and wellbeing panel for consideration to be placed on the ASC pathway. The content of the AET links to the Ofsted framework for inspection, and therefore will support each school when engaging with Ofsted Inspectors.

Next Steps
Schools are asked to sign up one member of staff for the ASC Lead training. Please identify the member of staff who is, or will be, the autism lead in your school and ask them to sign up to just one of the dates below. The autism lead will need to be a senior member of your team who is able to oversee the development of policy and practice.

The dates are as follows:

13 October 2021
3 November 2021
10 November 2021
17 November 2021
24 November 2021
1 December 2021
8 December 2021

To book a place on a course, please send a completed CPD booking form to CPDschoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk.
The booking form is available online.

Once your member of staff has received the ASC lead (Leading Good Autism Practice, or LGAP for short) training, I would encourage them to then begin to organise the delivery of whole school training. This can be achieved by contacting Michael Lane (Senior Educational Psychologist and ASC Lead) who will co-ordinate the allocation of training staff to schools.

SENco Network Meetings - Save the Dates

We are pleased to announce a new programme of SENCo Network Meetings for the next academic year. All SENCo’s will be sent an invitation to the virtual meeting a week before it's due to take place, please save the dates in your diaries.

If you didn’t receive an invitation to the last meeting, are new to your role or would like to be added to the invite list, please contact us with your name, position and school by email at: SENDandInclusion@telford.gov.uk.

Following the feedback received at the last SENCo Network Meetings we are working on making all the sessions as interactive as possible, including themed sessions, workshops and briefings.

SENCo Network Meetings – Save the Dates

Annual Review Workshop

Thursday 16 September 2021

4pm-5.30pm

Primary Schools

Secondary Schools

Special Schools

Early Years Settings

Post 16 Settings

Fair share Briefing

Tuesday 28 September 2021

4pm – 5pm

Secondary Schools

SENCo Network Meeting – Briefing

Thursday 14 October 2021

4pm – 5.30pm

Primary Schools

Secondary Schools

Special Schools

Early Years Settings

Post 16 Settings

SENCo Network Meeting – Workshop/Interactive

Thursday 9 December 2021

4pm-5.30pm

Primary Schools

Secondary Schools

Special Schools

Early Years Settings

Post 16 Settings

SENCo Network Meeting – Briefing

Thursday 3 February 2022

4pm-5.30pm

Primary Schools

Secondary Schools

Special Schools

Early Years Settings

Post 16 Settings

SENCo Network Meeting – Transition Workshop

Thursday 7 April 2022

4pm-5.30pm

Primary Schools

Secondary Schools

Special Schools

Early Years Settings

Post 16 Settings

SENCo Network Meeting – Briefing

Thursday 26 May 2022

4pm-5.30pm

Primary Schools

Secondary Schools

Special Schools

Early Years Settings

Post 16 Settings

Emotional Health and Wellbeing Panel – save the Dates

The Emotional Health and Wellbeing Panel (EHWP) supports schools and young people, it provides advice to schools, signposts to services and ensures the students with the appropriate level of need are referred to BeeU.

The panel meets on the first Wednesday of each month, at 9am until 12:30pm. Schools will need to complete the referral form and submit this at least a week in advance of the meeting. The panel will hear cases in groups of four so that the presenters from each school can gain the experience of hearing about other young people with different needs.

The panel is led by representatives from schools and provides support from a range of professionals including Social Care, Specialist Nurses, Educational Psychology, BeeU, Beam, Behaviour Support, Student Engagement Programme and the Clinical Commissioning Group.

Panel dates for the Academic Year 2021-2022:

Wednesday 15 September 2021
Wednesday 6 October 2021
Wednesday 3 November 2021
Wednesday 1 December 2021
Wednesday 6 January 2022
Wednesday 2 February 2022
Wednesday 2 March 2022
Wednesday 6 April 2022
Wednesday 4 May 2022
Wednesday 8 June 2022
Wednesday 6 July 2022

SEND Local Offer – Emotional Health and Wellbeing Panel

Inclusive School Forum – save the Dates

The Inclusive School Forum (ISF) is a school led forum within Telford and Wrekin that provides support and challenge to mainstream schools regarding the provision and practice they deliver for children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND). It aims to provide an opportunity to network and deliver peer to peer guidance. The focus is, through sharing best practice, to develop an inclusive education system within Telford and Wrekin whereby children with increasingly complex needs achieve and succeed within mainstream schools.

A key function of the forum is to support a school’s delivery of its graduated approach, through assess, plan, do and review cycles. To enable schools to intervene early and with pace the forum has an allocation of high need top up funding (to be known as Additional Inclusion Funding or AIF) from the Local Authority which can be accessed where criteria is met and documentation required has been completed. An Education Health and Care Plan will not be required to access AIF funding.

Forum will meet on the first Tuesday of every month during term time. Where this is not possible, due to a school holiday for example, forum will meet on the first Tuesday of the new term/half term.

Dates for the Autumn Term:

Tuesday 14 September 2021
Tuesday 12 October 2021
Tuesday 9 November 2021
Tuesday 7 December 2021

SEND Local Offer – Inclusive School Forum

Updated Fair Access Panel forms

The Fair Access Panel (FAP) referral forms have been updated for 2021-2022. The content is largely the same, it’s mainly the layout that has changed.
Please download and use the forms relevant to your setting.

Download: Primary FAP Referral Form - September 2021

Download Secondary FAP Referral Form - September 2021

Virtual School Key Documents

Welcome back! It is hoped that you had a restful summer and are refreshed for the academic year ahead. Please find, available to download, key documents to support your work with our children in care.

Colleagues in secondary schools are reminded that they may have young people who have been invited to the exciting Young Person’s conference on Friday 1 October 2021. Please speak to the young people who attend your setting and ensure that they have returned their consent forms.

Children with a Social Worker - VSHT extended duties
As you are probably aware the DFE has extended the role of the VSHT to encompass Children with a Social Worker, commencing this academic year. This is a strategic role, supporting all stakeholders with advice, support and guidance. This will also include a focus on improving attainment to diminish the difference, improving attendance and reducing exclusions for this vulnerable group.

One of the two available roles has been appointed, with an advert currently out on WM jobs for an Educational Advisor role.

Zoe Mclaughlin who has recent experience as a Designated Teacher for CIC has been appointed an Education Adviser CWSW, and will be joining the team soon. In the first instance if you have any enquires relating to education for Children with a Social Worker please contact the VSHT.

Attachment Research Community (ARC) are preparing for the upcoming events in our busy calendar, with a Parliamentary launch scheduled for November to present our Call to Action campaign. They would like to thank you all for your continued support in bringing the importance of inclusive behaviour politics and relational teaching strategies to the forefront. If you haven't, and would like to show your support please visit the ARC website.

The newly developed ARC offer, that includes a three tiered award pathway to compliment the ARC Matrix, has been launched and aligns with Ofsted framework and supporting schools in their journey to attachment and trauma awareness and outstanding ratings. Members will also benefit from complementary regional training workshops, conferences and panel discussions, as well a discounted rate to attend ARC’s National Annual Conference. To find out more about ARC’s new membership offer and to enquire about becoming a member please contact them by sending an email to admin@the-arc.org.uk.

Preparations are well underway for ARC annual virtual conference ‘Relationships, Resilience and Returning to School’. There is a tremendous keynote line-up including Dr Bessel van der Kolk and Dr Mona Delahooke. Delegates will get the opportunity to attend a day of inspiring keynote presentations, workshops hosted by previous Timpson Award Winners, sharing their journey to becoming an attachment and trauma aware school; together with a thought provoking panel discussion between school leaders and academics. The 2021 conference will be available on demand to delegates for 14 days following the conference.

Wednesday 24 November 2021 9am-5pm
‘Relationships, Resilience and Returning to School’
Members £99+VAT Non Member £149+VAT
ARC Conference Booking

In addition to this event, live classroom events with Professor Richard Rose are now available for booking.

Sign up with Blue Cabin-for the series of live classroom sessions and the chance to learn from one of the world’s leading experts on working with care-experienced children and young people. Professor Richard Rose will host user-friendly and welcoming sessions on Zoom which are practical, inspiring and evidence-based, helping you to improve outcomes for the young people you work with. One previous participant has said that is the "best training I have been to in years! After being in the sector for some time it’s sometimes hard to find training which is relevant and interesting. I absolutely LOVED it!”

The sessions that are available are:

Monday 27 September 2021
Attachment
Develop an understanding of current theory around attachment, and how it relates to the children and young people you engage with.
To find out more and book, please visit Eventbrite: Attachment Session Booking

Monday 8 November 2021
Trauma
Learn about the impact of trauma on the brain, body and emotions.
To find out more and book, please visit Eventbrite: Trauma Session Booking

Monday 13 December 2021
Recovery
Trauma is not a life sentence - learn how we can help children and young people to recover from early life challenges and enjoy their future without being defined by their past.
To find out more and book, please visit Eventbrite: Recovery Session Booking

Thank you all, and in the meantime please do get in touch with the Virtual School if they can support and assist with our vulnerable children.

Private Fostering - Information and Training for Professionals

Following the Laming report in to the death of Victoria Climbie, regulations relating to private fostering were amended and strengthened by Section 44 of the Children Act 2004.

The Children (private arrangements for fostering) Regulation 2005 clearly sets out the role of the Local Authority, the parent and private foster carer and related professionals. Private fostering arrangements can be a positive response from within the community to difficulties experienced by families. Nonetheless, privately fostered children remain a diverse and potentially vulnerable group of children.

The Local Authority has a legal duty to satisfy itself that the arrangement is satisfactory and that the welfare of these children is being promoted and safeguarded.

Raising awareness training is provided via Microsoft Teams, and is available for professionals to book on the following dates:

19 November 2021
11am - 12:00noon

12 January 2022
10am - 11am

These are mini briefings which will provide you with information to help identify children who may be in a private fostering arrangement. It is essential to raise awareness to all partner agencies.

Please send an email to connected.fostering@telford.gov.uk with your preferred training date and agency details. A link inviting you to the training will be emailed to you.

Early Years Foundation Stage Updates

Several updates have been released over the summer period with regards to implementing the revised Early Years Foundation Stage which became statutory on the 1 September 2021.

New vodcast on implementing the revised EYFS

The DfE and the National Children’s Bureau are pleased to share with you a new vodcast on implementing the EYFS reforms that has been published on the Foundation Years website. The vodcast shares messages from the DfE and early adopter schools talk about their experiences in delivering the reforms and how they have changed their approach to assessment under the new EYFS. This vodcast delivers important messages about the new EYFSP assessment, including discouraging an overreliance on data collection or the creation of tick lists to track progress against each distinct ELG throughout the reception year, as well as on the importance of professional judgement and discussion when making assessments and basing this on knowledge of each individual child’s overall development. This vodcast will be helpful for schools as they prepare to adopt the reformed EYFS from September.

A PDF summary document to accompany the vodcast is available.

Additional documents have been released to support implementation of the EYFS and are available for download:

The Development Matters Non –statutory guidance was updated on July 23rd Development Matters - Non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Conference 1 October 2021

Our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) conference returns on Friday 1 October 2021 with workshops led by Pete Moorhouse and Nicola Burke.

Pete’s workshop will focus on nurturing creative and critical thinking in early childhood education and the enabling environment.

Nicola’s workshop will discuss the innate musicality of children and how music is threaded throughout communication and language as well as other areas of learning and development.

Both workshops will support delivery of the EYFS 2021.

A little about Pete:-
Pete Moorhouse is an early years creative consultant and artist educator. He is an honorary research fellow at the Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol researching creative and critical thinking in Early Years, regularly presenting research at international conferences. Pete is an associate trainer for Early Education and deliverers training both nationally and overseas. His work in school is centred around developing children's creativity and his practice is inspired by Froebelian principles and practice in Reggio Emilia. Pete is a Froebel Tutor for the Froebel Trust. Pete is the UKs leading authority on woodwork in Early Years education and has written several books and journal articles, including ‘Learning Through Woodwork’ (Routledge) and Outdoor Learning. He is currently working his latest book – ‘Creativity in Practice: Nurturing creative and critical thinking in early childhood education’. Pete won the national award (2019) from the Creative Learning Guild for his work promoting creativity in education. He was awarded a Churchill Fellowship and is a Follow of the Royal Society of Arts.

A little about Nicola:-
Nicola is an author, strategic leader, researcher and consultant based in the UK. She is currently the strategic leader of large workforce development projects taking place across London and Birmingham, involving a range of arts and music organisations and Early Childhood services. She created the award-winning Tune into Listening free online resource and in 2018 wrote Musical Development Matters in the Early Years, a free downloadable resource to complement the EYFS guidance material, Development Matters in the EYFS. Nicola is currently the Subject Matter Expert for the Saudi Arabian Music Commission and works nationally and internationally to strategically support organisations to develop their Early Childhood music programmes and initiatives. She is passionate about creating enabling, meaningful experiences for young children and works with others to develop worthwhile musical opportunities for children and families.

Download: Talking Early Years Conference Flyer 2021

Primary & Secondary Music Network new dates released

The sessions are aimed at both Primary and Secondary and will include:

Wednesday 15 September 2021
4.30pm to 5.30pm

The meeting will provide an opportunity for colleagues to receive updates on the latest COVID guidance for music teaching, forthcoming opportunities to work with the music hub, and a summary of the key points of the OFSTED Music research review, published just before the summer holiday.

Tuesday 21 September 2021
4.30pm to 5.30pm

The meeting will provide opportunity to explore and assimilate some of the detail contained in the OFSTED Music Research review, and to refresh understanding of the place of Deep Dives in forthcoming OFSTED inspections. This session will be led by Graeme Rudland.

To book your space please email musicservice@entrust-ed.co.uk

For up to date information about our events and future network meetings please go to our Facebook page, Telford Music.

Head Teacher Impersonation Fraud

A member authority has reported receipt of a phishing email by one of the schools in its area. An email was sent to the school’s finance assistant; purporting to be from the Head Teacher; requesting that a same day payment be made to discharge an invoice in the sum of £9,850.

The email advised the invoice would be provided once payment confirmation had been received. This type of fraud relies on social engineering to manipulate the recipient to take action, given the level of seniority of the requesting individual. Although the email appeared to be from the Head teachers account, closer inspection revealed that the sending email address was not the Head Teacher’s official email address.

The domain name for the school ends in sch.uk. The Fraudulent email address was headteacher7054@gmail.com. The banking details provided were:

An extract from the email received appears below.

Head Teacher Impersonation Fraud Example Email

All settings are asked to continue to be vigilant when dealing with any emails requesting payments or changes to bank accounts, irrespective of who is requesting the change to be made.

If you would like to report any instances of the above information being used in similar fraud attempts please email them to intel@nafn.gov.uk and the details will be forwarded to the relevant teams. Please also report to Action Fraud.

Copyright Licencing Agency – Data Collection

The Copyright Licensing Agency is intending to conduct a data collection exercise in selected Telford & Wrekin Council schools and academies during the Spring Term 2022.

This will enable CLA to establish what is being photocopied/scanned and/or digitally re-used so that the licence fee can be fairly re-distributed as royalty payments to the authors, artists and publishers of the licensed material being used. All state-funded schools, including academies, hold a CLA Education Licence through central agreements or regional education bodies.

It should be noted that your CLA Licence includes enhanced rights; in addition to the existing photocopying and scanning permissions, it now provides all schools with the permission to re-use digital material, such as e-books and certain website content.

Further to this, the latest NLA Licence for newspaper copying, which is managed by CLA, similarly provides many schools with permission to copy/re-use printed and digital content from NLA licensed material. Information on the NLA licence, responsibility for which rests with individual schools in some regions, can be found on the CLA website.

In accordance with the current terms and conditions of the Licence you are required, when requested, to participate fully in any such data collection exercises.

If your school or academy is selected, you will receive an explanatory letter from CLA followed by contact from a CLA Royalties Officer who will explain the procedures involved. CLA is aware of teacher workload issues affecting all schools and have refined their procedures accordingly.

At the current time, this exercise is expected to be conducted remotely and will begin just after the start of the term, lasting no more than 11 weeks. All schools are required to start and finish the exercise at the same time to ensure robust sampling.

It should be noted that this is not a policing operation (although schools will want to ensure they have the appropriate licences). The re-distribution of licence fees as royalty payments is the reason for the exercise.

The purpose of this article is to give you advance notice of the data collection. Selected schools/academies should direct any questions to Jules Millington (Jules.millington@telford.gov.uk) or to the CLA Royalties Officer.

Smash Life Motivational Talk

Smash Life are running a virtual motivational talk, led by Tim Allin on 5 October 2021. Please see flyer below for details and how to access the link for MS Teams.

Smash Life motivational Talk - Join Tim Allin as he shares his real life story, who his role models were and what lessons he learnt from his failures and mistakes. 5th October 2021. Email info@smashlifeuk.com to get the MS Teams link

Birmingham 2022 x School Learning Programme

Supporting youth engagement

In July 2022, Birmingham will host the XXII Commonwealth Games, the largest multi-sport event to be held in England in 10 years. Using the Games as a catalyst for youth development, the Organising Committee for Birmingham 2022 is investing in Games-wide youth engagement activity, putting young people at the heart of the games, to ensure the social benefits from Birmingham 2022 are experienced by all children and young people across the West Midlands.

The learning programme will see the introduction of an array of exciting opportunities that your pupils and teachers can engage with, starting with:

Soft Programme Launch - Autumn Term 2021
Starting the academic year with a soft launch, this will include some light touch engagement activities, including digital and physical resources, mascot visits to schools and engagement with the launch of the Queen’s Baton Relay as it sets off on an epic journey across the Commonwealth. Towards the end of the Autumn Term, further clarity will be provided around the specific activities that schools can engage with during the Spring and Summer Terms in 2022.

Official Programme Launch - January to July 2022
From January 2022, the Learning Programme will officially launch with a full programme of engagement activity. This will continue throughout the Spring and Summer Terms taking us right through into the Games.

Available to download is a poster which provides an outline of engagement activity with some top line information to support you to better engage across the next academic year. The team can be contacted by sending an email to Youth@Birmingham2022.com.

Critical Mass Launch

Critical Mass is a creative, ambitious dance and movement project for up to 300 young people aged 16-30 who will make up a collective to perform at many exciting events in 2022. Sign up is open now, for a unique opportunity to be a part of some of 2022’s biggest events including the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games opening and closing ceremonies.

There’s no need to have any previous dance experience and we are particularly keen to hear from participants who self-identify as disabled and/or from Black, Asian, mixed and non-white ethnicities.

Please share with your networks & help promote this participant call and visit the Critical Mass website.

Anti-bullying week: 15 – 19 November 2021

The Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) are the official organisers of Anti-Bullying Week and Odd Socks Day. Anti-Bullying Week 2021 will be taking place from Monday 15 to Friday 19 November 2021, and the theme this year is ‘One Kind Word’.

Anti-Bullying Week 2021: One Kind Word

Odd Socks Day- Monday 15 November

School Resources: Anti-Bullying Week

Anti-Bullying Alliance Social Media

Pledge Your Support

For more information on the Anti-bullying Alliance, and Anti-Bullying Week, please visit their website.

The Lilyjo Project: The Online Mental Health Resource

The Lilyjo Project is an online mental health resource, providing information and help on common mental health issues including: depression, anxiety, self-harm, eating disorders, childhood trauma, self-esteem, and grief.

There are online resources available which can be purchased to support mental health.

The site includes practical advice, top tips, as well as interviews from brave individuals who share how they overcame their issues. Some names have been changed to protect confidentiality. You will also find links to national services for further help at the bottom of every page, links to recommended resources, plus much more.

The Lily JO Project: Your Online Mental Health Resource

This entry was posted by Marianne on Thursday, 09 September 2021.

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Every week during term time we publish a new update for the education community. It includes essential briefings and specialist information about education.

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