Education Noticeboard

Welcome to the Education Noticeboard. A round-up of news, guidance and key updates for education settings.

Included in this update:

Director update

Dear colleagues

As we move ever closer to the end of the summer term, a shorter Education Noticeboard for you, but still full of important information.

Telford & Wrekin Council have teamed up with Shropshire Wildlife trust to offer free activity sessions over the summer months, and all of the information you need is included below. Do share this with your pupils and families/carers so they can make the most of this.

There is information from the Attendance Support Team, including the dates to be aware of for authorised absence around Eid-ul-Adha. The Education Business Links team have provided an update around their work experience planning and the usual list of all CPD opportunities that are on the horizon.

Articles also include items from the Early Years and SEND teams, a form to return to ensure all school warning lights are set correctly ready for September 2023 and information from the DfE.

Wishing you all a good rest of your week.

Simon

Simon Wellman
Director: Education & Skills

‘Buzzing’ summer ahead for residents

Residents are in for a ‘buzzing’ summer, as Telford and Wrekin Council teams up with Shropshire Wildlife Trust to offer free activity sessions during the summer. Some 15 sites will see sessions from 11-2.30, hosted by the trust and will include activities like bug hunting/hotel making, den building and insect spotting to name a few.

The sessions are aimed at introducing more people to the town’s green spaces, encouraging an active lifestyle, and helping young people to develop an understanding of the world around them.

Read more on the Telford & Wrekin Newsroom website or book your place by searching ‘Wild Telford’ in Eventbrite.

Free sports coaching programme for children aged 8+

The school summer holidays will be here before we know it!

Check out the Telford & Wrekin Urban Games, a free sports coaching programme for children aged 8+.

Cricket, hockey, netball, biking and football sessions are held at local MUGAs across the holidays and the summer programme is soon to be announced!

For more information visit the Telford & Wrekin Newsroom website.

Authorised Absence from school due religious observance for Eid-ul-Adha

Many pupils will be celebrating Eid-ul-Adha in June 2023.

Eid-ul-Adha: Wednesday, 28 June and Thursday, 29 June 2023 (Telford Mosques).

Eid ul-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) is one of the most important festivals in the Islamic calendar. This is also called ‘Eid al-Kabir’, ‘Greater Eid’ or ‘Big Eid’. The day of Eid ul-Adha falls on the tenth day in the twelfth month of the Islamic Lunar Calendar. The festival usually lasts for three days. In Telford, Eid ul-Adha will begin on Wednesday, 28 June 2023. Muslim parents may request a day for religious observance either on Wednesday 28 June or Thursday 29 June 2023.

Queries can be directed to the Attendance Support Team by calling 01952 385220 or by sending an email to attendancesupportteam@telford.gov.uk.

Using the National Data dashboard to support your attendance analysis

Within Telford and Wrekin, the vast majority of schools are now signed up to Wonde which enables their attendance information to be fed into the national data dashboard.

Schools have worked hard to support pupils in returning to school following the pandemic. We know there are a small number who have found it difficult to return, and that a much greater number have found it hard to return to the good attendance habit that they may have previously had. It is therefore vital that schools are now regularly tracking how their attendance data compares to national on a live and ongoing basis.

On a fortnightly basis the Department for Education (DfE) is now published the data extracted from Wonde in a national data dashboard which enables schools to compare their data to that of the emerging national.

The data dashboard enables schools to compare the data for the most recently published week, (particularly helpful in weeks where there may have been significant absence due to illness), and for the year to date.

Within the data it is possible to identify figures for your type of school, (Primary, Secondary, Special) and separate data for authorised and unauthorised absences. It also enables schools to identify the current level of persistent absence nationally, and again compare their data to that of national. If your school is not currently doing so, we would urge that you regularly compare this level of data.

In comparing your data, remember that the national data is for statutory school aged pupils, and you will need to ensure that you are comparing like for like.

On the 15 June 2023 the site published attendance data for the week commencing 15th May 2023.

Education business links work experience update

Many of your students will be out this month completing their work experience placements and getting a feel for the future world of work. We hope they have a great experience.

The Education Business Links (EBL) team are now working hard on looking at plans for the next academic year. This past year, for those of you that buy into the service, we have been looking at alternative options for improving it for work experience with a view to broadening the support we can offer to you and your students. This has included looking to procure a new system that is easier to use and meets the additional needs you identified and shared with us.

Alongside this we have been reviewing our offer and our costings to ensure that we give you good value for money as well as a useful system. There will be a small increase in costs and a new funding model, but we have secured some initial funding to get a new system in place and to cover the initial set up costs for the first year.

We will be in touch to share more details on this with you soon but in the meantime our Education Business Links (EBL) team will be sending you details to help you launch your next year’s work experience programme.

Thank you for your support this year. Please email Mark Purcell mark.purcell@telford.gov.uk with any queries that you may have.

SENCo Drop In – Speak to your SEND Officer

Following feedback from the SENCo Network Meeting the team have arranged three drop-in sessions for SENCo’s to meet with their SEND Officer.

To provide everyone with an opportunity to ask questions we are offering 10 minutes slots that can be booked in advance.The dates and times that are available are as follows:

Lakeside
Thursday 6 July 2023
11am – 12noon

Wrekin
Thursday 7 July 2023
1.30pm – 2.30pm

Hadley
Friday 7 July 2023
1pm – 2pm

To book your place please contact the team via an email to SENDandInclusion@telford.gov.uk.

Invites to the drop ins and additional information about your timeslot will be sent a week before the sessions are due to take place.

For more information visit the Locality Teams page on the SEND Local Offer website.

Annual health checks

Annual health checks are available for young people aged 14 or over with a learning disability.

An annual health check gives people time to talk about anything that is worrying them and means they can get used to going to visit the doctor.

To help explain what is involved in an annual health check, a group of inspiring young people from Derwen College have created a video to raise awareness of the importance of annual health checks. The video is aimed to help young people with learning disabilities to understand the process of an annual health check in a simple, easy to understand format.

WATCH: Annual Health Checks video

Find out more online about Annual Health Checks - NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.

Today’s near miss – Tomorrow’s accident

Where near misses are identified, they should always be reported using your Schools reporting system. For those schools that have access to MyView, this is the system where the Telford &Wrekin council’s Near Miss reporting form is located.

Reporting near misses helps us to take steps to address them now and prevent them from becoming a serious incident in the future.

Hindsight, as they say, is a wonderful thing. It’s easy to look back and investigate incidents after things have gone wrong. Whilst looking back is a necessary part of understanding their cause, it can never reverse an accident, an injury, or a fatality.

What if we could use foresight to prevent things from going wrong in the first place?
What if we could identify and avoid the red flags before they become serious incidents?

Head teacher and school leaders are requested to share the following information with staff and to encourage the reporting of near misses wherever they occur.

Put simply, a near miss can be defined as any unplanned event that occurred which did not cause injury or harm, but had the potential to do so.

Common examples of near misses are;

Where a worker slips on a wet floor but does not fall or sustain any injury.
Where equipment or structures fall nearby to a worker without actually hitting or harming them.
Where workplace vehicles almost collide with workers due to poorly planned traffic routes.

Near misses are often an indicator of where we aren’t doing enough to control risks and where workplace safety measures can be improved. They can highlight where risks exist but are not widely recognised.

This is the purpose and objective of reporting near misses.

Early Years and Childcare ‘Inspiring our workforce’

There a fantastic CPD event on offer from The University of Wolverhampton for Early Years and Childcare.

During this twilight session you will experience bitesize CPD opportunities that will inspire and promote quality practice in the Early Childhood Sector. The event will be held at the University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus, on Tuesday 11 July 2023 between 5.30 – 7.30pm.

This is a free event, and we encourage you to share this opportunity with colleagues, friends or any others that have an interest in this CPD opportunity.

You can come along individually or as a team to join in our bitesize sessions please ensure you register using the Forms link: https://forms.office.com/e/CLRyHSeWc1

Early Years Information Day at Telford Town Centre

The Early Years Team spent a day in Telford Town Centre talking to families about all things Childcare.

They informed parents about what is available to them, including Tax Free Childcare, Talking 2s funding for 2 year olds, as well as funding for 3 and 4 year olds.

A number number of people interested in working in the childcare sector were able to ask for advice, and were signposted to available support. This includes the starting out or working in early years and childcare webpage.

It was a really useful day and the team hope to repeat the event during the summer holidays.

Request for support: Telford Park mock interviews

On 26 June 2023, Telford Park School will be hosting their Year 10 Mock Interviews. This will be a great opportunity for students to experience interviews and develop their communication and interview skills.

The school are currently seeking a range of employers to support in interviewing students (all resources will be provided) and the information is as follows:

Date: 26 June 2023
Time: 8:20am – 12noon
Location: Telford Park School, Grange Avenue, Stirchley, Telford TF3 1FA

If you can support with this, or know someone who can, please let Andriané Usherwood-Brown, Strategic Careers Hub Lead, know via an email to andriane.usherwood-brown@marcheslep.org.uk.

School Pulsa Lights

To ensure that our school flashing warning signs (Pulsa’s) are set to the correct times for September 2023, please can the school opening/closing times document be downloaded, completed and returned via email to neighbourhood.support@telford.gov.uk .

DOWNLOAD: school opening/closing times document

Children’s Art Weeks: 29 June – 19 July 2023

Children's Art Week’s is run by Engage: the National Association for Gallery Education. During this time, schools, art galleries, museums and community groups are encouraged to plan and provide art activities and events with the goal of providing opportunities for children, young people and families to take part in practical activities with artists and art educators.

Children's Art Week 2023 will take place across 3 weeks from 29th June to 19th July. Creative activities will take place across the country both online, at home and in schools. Venues of all kinds, and capacities will play host to this wonderful celebration of the arts. From libraries to heritage venues and even country parks, there will be a range of opportunities for young people to get inspired, engaged and entertained.

Each week has a different theme. This year’s themes are listed below:-:

Week 1 - The Natural World
Week 2 - Connecting across generations
Week 3 - Literacy and creative writing

Let us know what you are doing to celebrate art week. Please send your stories, pictures and photos to education.noticeboardboard@telford.gov.uk or tag us (@Telfordwrekin) in your Twitter posts.

Further information and free resources are available online:

Twinkl

Engage

An opportunity to place your CPD course bookings for courses to the end of the Summer Term 2023

An opportunity to place your CPD course bookings for courses to the end of the Summer Term 2023.

The CPD Booklet continues to be available on the Telford Education Services site to the end of the academic year 2023.

The CPD Booklet for 2023-24 is currently in production and will be available shortly.

Course bookings with a course code are made by sending a completed CPD booking form via email to cpdschoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk.

Other courses and briefings without a course code are usually booked by sending your email address name and school name to cpdschoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk (unless stated otherwise).

Establishing Yourself as a SEND leader, for new and returning SENCOs (LSAT 302)	Wednesday, June 28, 2023	4pm to 5pm
Early Years Coordinators’ Termly Update (EY 007)	Wednesday, June 28, 2023	4pm to 5.30pm
Safety Intervention Training (formerly MAPA training) - Part 2 - CPI accredited (BST 201)	Thursday, June 29, 2023	8.30am to 12.30pm
Meeting the OFSTED requirements for Equalities and Diversity in the Secondary School (CPD 719)	Thursday, June 29, 2023	1pm to 4pm
Talk Boost KS2 (LSAT 511)	Thursday, June 29, 2023	TBC
Designated Safeguarding Leads Refresher (SG 107)	Thursday, June 29, 2023	9.15am to 4pm
Behaviour Support Intervention Training - Non-accredited (BSAT 301)	Wednesday, July 05, 2023	8.30am to 4pm
Safeguarding Training for Newly Appointed Governors (part 2) (SG 103)	Wednesday, July 05, 2023	5.30pm to 7.30pm
Safety Intervention Refresher Training (formerly MAPA Refresher Training) - CPI accredited (BSAT 212)	Thursday, July 06, 2023	8.45am to 12.30pm
Child Protection Supervision (SG 203)	Thursday, July 06, 2023	9.15am to 12.15pm
Effective Circle Times in the EYFS (EY 302)	Thursday, July 06, 2023	1.15pm to 4pm
Pupil Premium Network Meeting (CPD 712)	Monday, July 10, 2023	4pm to 5.30pm

Working Together to Safeguard Children: changes to statutory guidance

This is an update from the Department for Education

Working Together to Safeguard Children is the multi-agency statutory guidance that sets out expectations for the system that provides help, support and protection for children and their families. Working Together applies at every level from senior leaders to those in direct practice with families, and across all agencies and organisations that come into contact with children. It gives practitioners clarity about what is required of them individually and how they need to work in partnership with each other to deliver effective services. It was last revised in 2018, with a limited factual update in 2020.

In February 2023, the government published Stable Homes, Built on Love, which set out an ambitious plan to transform children’s social care, committing to support every child to grow up in a safe, stable and loving home. Updating Working Together is central to delivering on the first phase of this transformation journey, implementing strengthened multi-agency working across the whole system of help, support and protection for children and their families, re-balancing the system towards help at an early point, and ensuring strong, effective and consistent child protection practice.

We encourage you to read the consultation document before responding to the corresponding questions in the survey. Children and young people are encouraged to consider the questions in our children and young people’s guide.

This consultation is being held on another website.

This consultation closes at 11:59pm on 6 September 2023.

This entry was posted by Claire on Wednesday, 21 June 2023.

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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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