Education Noticeboard

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

Included in this update:

Executive Director & Director update

Dear colleagues

By now the end of summer term 2023 is in sight and what a fantastic one it has been. We are lucky to have dedicated and enthusiastic education staff across the Telford & Wrekin schools and settings, and the children and young people of Telford reap the benefits of that on a daily basis.

Thanks need to be given to primary colleagues who have provided invaluable support to the 10 by 10 programme. Because of this support, registrations have risen, and the first year of the scheme has been a huge success. This is something that we know will be built on going forward!

As always, some provision will continue through the summer break and those efforts make a huge difference to the wellbeing of families across the borough. Leading on from this, a reminder that there is still space available for some of the summer holiday clubs which form the Happy Healthy and Active Holidays scheme. We do rely on your help to push the information out to the families who need it.

The big success story of the term is of course the fantastic feedback received following the recent OFSTED inspection, under the new SEND and CQC framework for local area arrangements.

Feedback was that arrangements put in place by Telford & Wrekin Council typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Many of you were involved in the inspection and are owed an enormous thank you!

A lot of progress has been made to meet recommendations resulting from the Child Exploitation Enquiry, with more than half having already been achieved. This will continue, and we are optimistic that all of them will have been met significantly ahead of schedule. The changes being implemented are all about making a real difference in our community.

As we move into summer 2023 the first Telford & Wrekin Family Hubs will open. This marks the first step in a roll out which will continue for the next three years. It was the outstanding rating achieved by the Council which secured a share of the national funding, to make this possible.

All in all this is an exciting time for the local community!

This is the last Education Noticeboard for a while, but we will return with all the usual news stories and updates in September. Whether you are taking six-weeks away from work, or working through, please all try to factor in some well-deserved rest!

Jo and Simon

Jo Britton
Executive Director Children’s Services

Simon Wellman
Director: Education and Skills

An end of school year message from Cllr Shaun Davies

As we come to the end of another school year, I would like to wish all children, teachers and education professionals who finish this week a fantastic summer break.

During the last year, I have visited many schools across the borough. I have really enjoyed these face-to-face sessions and I love answering the children’s questions and hearing first-hand about the fantastic work that goes on inside the classroom. I hope to visit more schools in the next school term too – I know there are already some dates in the diary.

You should ALL be extremely proud of everything you have achieved! As a parent myself I know just how ready our young people are for well-deserved break now and whatever your plans are, I hope you make it one to remember.

Finally, we want to help parents and carers to keep busy and active during the six weeks holidays. Be sure to take a look at our latest Kids for a £1 programme which includes some great discounts for in and around Southwater too.

Cllr Shaun Davies

Over half of Telford & Wrekin primary schools are trauma informed

Telford & Wrekin Council is helping schools across the borough become more aware of the impact of difficult experiences on children and young people. This approach, known as trauma informed, aims to provide extra support for social and emotional needs, making sure that all children and young people feel safe, secure and cared for.

To date, the council's Virtual School Team has provided trauma informed training sessions to 51% of the borough’s primary schools.This training enables staff members to better understand the challenges children and young people may face outside the classroom and to provide support for their emotional well-being and mental health within the school environment.

Councillor Eileen Callear (Lab), Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Visitor Economy said: “Our schools are working hard to provide the best education possible for children and young people and a high number of them are rated good or outstanding by Ofsted. However, emotional wellbeing and mental health, whether it is personal or pandemic related, continues to be a challenging issue among some of our children and young people. By working together with local partners from health and social care, we support schools to help children and young people with challenging situations so they can overcome them and reach their full potential.”

Michelle Salter, Telford & Wrekin Council’s Virtual School Head Teacher said: “By providing training sessions to schools, we want to embed a trauma informed culture in their work to help all children and young people feel safe, secure and that they belong.

"Our Virtual School Team has also assisted ten primary schools in the borough in a pilot project to become "relational schools” – that is, to develop positive relationships within their school community and with local partners, ultimately improving educational outcomes.

“All schools in the pilot project have been nominated for the ARC Attachment Award, a national award which recognises and celebrates best practices in attachment and trauma aware schools. “This is fantastic news for our schools taking part and an acknowledgement of their hard work and dedication in promoting mental health and wellbeing throughout their school community.

"Over the next year, we will be expanding our trauma informed training sessions and “relational schools” pilot project to more schools in Telford and Wrekin, including secondary schools. We are looking forward to seeing the positive impact these will make in meeting the emotional and wellbeing needs of our children and young people.”

Sally Sixsmith, Headteacher at St George’s CofE Primary and Nursery School, who recently completed the council’s trauma informed training, said: “St George’s has always been a school that is passionate about using a variety of ways to support children with trauma and attachment, for example Emotion Coaching. By receiving the excellent trauma-informed training from the Virtual School, we have been able to develop our approaches further. We believe it is essential to develop strong and positive relationships with children and their families to gain a sense of trust and belonging. This means we can work with individual children and personalise support packages in order for them to flourish in school and at home.

“Our staff have hugely benefitted from trauma training and recognise that some children need additional understanding and a different way of working to meet their needs. We have seen significant impact in this area with children successfully remaining in school having been at risk of exclusion, as well as seeing them contribute fully to school life and gaining strong, lasting friendships.”

The core mission of Telford and Wrekin Council’s Virtual School is to improve the educational experiences and outcomes of borough children, by working with partners in education, health and social care to ensure children’s opportunities in school are the best they can be.

To find out more about Telford & Wrekin Council’s Virtual School team, visit the council’s website

Thank you for supporting 10 by 10

As the academic year comes to a close, we would like to thank all our primary schools for their invaluable support in promoting the 10 by 10 programme within their school communities.

It is thanks to your dedication and commitment that over the last year, 10 by 10 has encouraged many children across the borough to discover new talents and opportunities before the age of ten. The 10 by 10 website has recorded over 1,600 registered accounts, with parents and carers seeking information on the ten activities, local offers and following their child's exciting adventures.

While the first year of 10 by 10 has been truly remarkable, we believe that by continuing to work together, we can achieve even greater success.

We are constantly expanding 10 by 10 with new offers and activities, accessible for children of all abilities. In September, we will be in touch to inform you about these updates as well as to confirm the delivery to your schools of adventure cards and letters to parents/carers, in both print and electronic formats.

Please watch this video that summarises all we have achieved together through 10 by 10 this year.

Kids for £1 activities available all summer

Telford & Wrekin Council have just launched their bumper School Holiday Activity programme ahead of children breaking up for their summer holidays later this month.

The latest edition includes all of the usual one-pound activities which will run 7 days a week between Monday 24 July and Sunday 3 September 2023. Sessions include archery taster sessions, fun and floats swimming, tobogganing, tots donuts, golf, tennis, badminton and soft play sessions.

As a part of the bumper holiday programme, there are also offers and discounts available at some of the main leisure attractions in and around Telford Town Park.

The programme is available on the Kids for a quid website.

Happy Healthy and Active Holidays: Summer 2023

There are still spaces available to book for summer holiday club activities!

Please visit the Happy Healthy Active Holidays page on the Telford.gov.uk website to register for HHAH and browse the activities available.

Eligibility Criteria:

Children in reception – year 11 who receive benefit related Free School Meals.
SEND Children.
Referral in by schools/services for vulnerable/at risk students that may benefit from the scheme.

If there is a child/children that you feel would benefit from this scheme who doesn’t qualify for FSM but can be included as part of the 15% allocated funding for our vulnerable and deprivation areas, please provide their details to the holidayactivityhub@telford.gov.uk email using Code SUMMER23.

Free Domestic Abuse Training

Workforce Development: Front Line Professionals – 2 hours

Aim: This event is designed to provide an overview of the Drive Model, the Perpetrator Panel and the local referral pathways. There is information about how Drive will map with the existing multi-agency domestic abuse response in the area and information sharing. The event also explores our understanding of individuals who perpetrate abuse, which includes content on typologies and psychology. There will be case examples shared to demonstrate how Drive works in practice

Target Audience: All frontline professionals who are likely to be engaging with families who may be suitable for the Drive programme. Managers of these teams who have not already attended the Drive stakeholder events may also benefit from attending.

6 Sep 2023 - 10am - 12pm (All Sites)

Sign up online

Shropshire BEAM summer workshops 2023

Shropshire BEAM are holding a range of workshops over the school summer holidays. There are different workshops suitable for all ages – download the flyer for a complete list.

All workshops are run on a drop-in basis and are held at the Wellington BEAM base: 9 Market Square, Wellington, TF1 1BP

They are first come first served, so please arrive promptly is you wish to join a session as there is always limited space available.

Please note that to use any of the BEAM services you must be registered with them. You can register online beforehand at or on arrival.

Length of the school day guidance

Following the expectations in the White Paper in March 2022 of the school week being lengthened to a minimum of 32.5 hours, the DfE have issued 2 documents to support schools:

Schools are urged to review the attached links and ensure that they are either delivering 32.5 hours or that they are clearly working towards this expectation and that they will be delivering 32.5 hours by September 2024.

Government confirmation of a new plan to boost quality and equal access to PE and sport

The Government’s two-year plan to improve access and quality of PE and sport provision in schools will be set out in the revised School Sport and Activity Action Plan. This is intended to support teachers and schools to deliver two hours of high-quality PE and provide competitive and extra-curricular opportunities to both girls and boys.

New guidance also published this week, alongside the action plan, includes details of the digital tool to help schools spend their allocation of the PE and Sport Premium to the best advantage of pupils. Leaders can use this funding to improve teacher training, offer more opportunities for pupils to take part in competition and expand the range of sports on offer at school.

Guidance will also be published later this year to support in the delivery of equal access and two hours of PE per week. Case-studies outlining examples of good practice from schools that offer equal access for girls to sport during the school day and examples of additional extra-curricular activities will be shared. This is intended to help support teachers and senior leaders to deliver good PE and sport in schools.

There will also be new resources and findings from targeted programmes that support children with special educational needs and disabilities and encourage competition and leadership opportunities for girls shared through this guidance.

Evaluations into the teaching of history and mathematics published by Ofsted

Ofsted have published evaluations into the common strengths and weaknesses of history and mathematics teaching taken from information provided by inspectors as part of routine inspections and research visits. The reports build on the research reviews for history and mathematics published in 2021.

The reports split content into recommendations for all schools, then primary and secondary settings. These reports provide information as to where areas of positive practice have been observed and highlights less effective practice in the teaching of history and mathematics. This includes school level systems such as policies, the curriculum design, how the subjects are taught and assessed, along with access to the curriculum for pupils with special educational needs (SEND).

School aged immunisation services in Telford & Wrekin

The Shropshire Immunisation Team would like to announce that Shropshire Community Health Trust (SCHT) has been successful in winning the new School Aged Immunisation Service (SAIS) contract with NHS England.

The contract commences in September 2023 and aims deliver this programme over the next 5 years. SCHT have been delivering the school’s programme since September 2014 and are delighted to be awarded the opportunity to continue the good work.

Children in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin are offered vaccinations in secondary schools with a programme to deliver School Leaver booster – Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio (DTP) and Meningitis ACW&Y, Human Papillomavirus Vaccine (HPV). We also offer the seasonal Flu vaccination from Reception class to Year 6 in primary schools and are awaiting a decision with regards the secondary school age group for this year’s programme.

The service also offers these vaccinations to Elective Home Educated school aged children, Travelling communities and pupils in referral units within community clinics.

SAIS Clinical Lead, Debbie Jones says: “Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust already have a dedicated School Aged Immunisation Team made up of professionals who are highly skilled and experienced in giving vaccinations to all school aged children living in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin. I have immense pleasure in sharing the wonderful news that we have successfully won the tender again.

It is important to protect our children and young people against dangerous infectious diseases. The National Immunisation Programme means that diseases like Polio have disappeared in the UK; this is only possible by maintaining the high vaccination rates for children and young people across our local communities”

A new addition to our programme is the Neonatal Hepatitis B programme where we will deliver the 2nd and 6th dose of Hepatitis B containing vaccine including Dried Blood Spot test (DBS) for eligible babies.

If you would like any further information please do not hesitate to contact Debbie Jones, SAIS Clinical Lead on 01743 730028 or shropcom.immunisationteam@nhs.net.

New Early Years funding rates 1 September 2023

You are probably aware that the government has announced an increase in funding for 2, 3 and 4 year old funded hours from September 2023. For Telford & Wrekin this increase is 30p per hour for 3 and 4 year olds and £1.70 per hour for 2 year olds.

For funding covering the period from 1 September 2023, we therefore propose to increase the hourly rates as follows:

Currently From 1 September

2 year olds £5.54 £7.24

3 and 4 year olds £4.57 £4.87

For PVIs, the first payment relating to the Autumn Term will be made over the first week in August and will be based on the new rates above.

National Professional Qualification for Early Years Leadership

Are you interested in enhancing your leadership skills? The new, Department for Education-funded, National Professional Qualification in Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL) will help you develop the knowledge and skills to meet today’s challenges, effectively lead your team and manage your setting, and boost early years development to ensure every child has the best start in life.

The course is free, flexible and designed by sector experts to help professionals across the sector to develop their career.

The NPQEYL has been developed to increase knowledge of leadership in early years settings, strengthen staff approaches to teaching and learning, and support children whose development has been impacted by the pandemic. Participants will gain skills and confidence so they can deliver high-quality education and care to support children’s development, become a better organisational leader and develop staff so they can reach their full potential. The course is free, flexible and designed by sector experts to help professionals across the sector to develop their career.

We are designing with our local, Manor Teaching School Hub, a bespoke programme starting in October 2023 (this year only) for settings and childminders with 6:30pm twilights and Saturday conferences.

Please note this is an 18 month National Professional Qualification for Leaders in EYFS.

Early Years & Childcare Newsletter: Summer 2023

The Summer 2023 issue of the Early Years & Childcare Newsletter is now available to download:

DOWNLOAD: Early Years & Childcare Newsletter

The 2023-24 CPD Booklet is available online

The 2023-24 CPD Booklet can be viewed on the Telford Education Services.

The courses will be uploaded onto Ollie over the summer holidays, but, as always, the majority of courses can be booked by completing and returning a CPD booking form to cpdschoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk

For courses run by the HR team, please either book via Ollie or by sending an email to HRhelpdesk@telford.gov.uk.

Please note that we are currently experiencing a small ‘gremlin’ in the system, which we are working to resolve, but when you log on to the TES site please click on the CPD Booklet which states ‘update’ at the end of the file name to ensure you are viewing the most up to date copy – thank you.

A sincere thanks to everyone who has participated in our courses during the last academic year. We would like to take this opportunity to wish you a relaxing and enjoyable summer break and we very much look forward to welcoming you back on to our CPD courses in the new academic year.

Record funding for schools in England

This is an update from the Department for Education

Schools in England are set to receive their highest ever funding in real terms, totalling almost £60 billion for 2024-25 as the government today announces the extra funding they will receive through the National Funding Formula (NFF).

Mainstream schools in England will receive an average of around £6,000 for each pupil from next year through the NFF, with additional funding for teacher pay coming on top of that. More money than ever before is being invested in schools, ensuring every child gets a world class education.

Overall, funding will be at its highest ever level in real terms per pupil in 2024-25, as measured by the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) – underlining the government’s commitment to education.

This money can be spent on staff salaries, school trips and classroom equipment which will help raise school standards and education outcomes. These increases form part of the additional £9.8 billion being invested in the schools core budget by 2024-25, compared to 2021-22.

This follows news last week that teachers in England have been given the highest pay award for 30 years of 6.5%, following government accepting in full the recommendations set out by the independent pay review body. In doing so, the Government will be delivering on its manifesto commitment to raise the minimum starting salary for teachers to £30,000 from September. This deal will allow teachers and school leaders to call off strike action.

This will support the Prime Minister’s plans to build a better future, where children are given the highest standard of education no matter where they grow up and have the skills they need for the future.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said:

Providing children with the best education sets them up for a better future, which is why we are funding our schools at record levels and have awarded our fantastic teachers with the highest pay award in 30 years.

This investment means every pupil in England will receive a world class education and our brilliant teachers will have the resources they need to continue to inspire the next generation.

Nationally, funding for mainstream schools through the schools NFF will increase by 2.7% per pupil in 2024-25 (compared to this year), as schools continue to benefit from the additional funding announced in the Autumn Statement.

For 2024-25, every mainstream school will attract at least £4,655 per pupil for primary schools and at least £6,050 per pupil in secondary schools through the NFF.

The schools NFF funding sits on top of the additional funding for teachers’ pay announced in July 2023. The Teachers Pay Additional Grant (TPAG) provides £482.5 million in 2023-24, and £827.5 million in 2024-25 for mainstream schools, special schools and alternative provision schools.

Today’s funding announcement confirms how the vast majority of school funding will be allocated next year, supporting headteachers to meet their day-to-day costs. Schools can use an online tool to see their notional allocations through the NFF, to help with their budget planning.

Funding allocations announced today are key to this government’s plans to raise school standards across the country and as of December 2022 88% of schools were rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, compared to just 68% in 2010.

The Department for Education has also published local authorities’ provisional high needs NFF allocations for 2024-25. This funding, to support children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities, is increasing by a further £440 million, or 4.3%, in 2024-25 compared to this year. This brings the total high needs budget to £10.54 billion in 2024-25 – an increase of over 60% in just five years. The additional funding for teachers’ pay in special schools and alternative provision schools is on top of this.

The high needs NFF will ensure that every local authority receives at least a 3% increase per head of their 2-18 population, with the majority of authorities seeing gains of more than 3%.

The latest data by the OECD shows that the UK invested more than any other G7 nation in schools and colleges as a share of GDP between 2010-11 and 2019-20, showing Government’s continued commitment to prioritise funding the education system.

Register for maths CPD starting September 2023

This is an update from the Department for Education

Maths hubs serve all state-funded schools in England and offer over 30 different maths-specific CPD opportunities to teachers in all phases.

This ranges from subject and pedagogical knowledge, to leadership and whole-school maths improvement. There are places available in 2023 to 2024, and all CPD is fully-funded.

Learn more about the opportunities online, then find and contact your local maths hub.

Guidance: Flu vaccination programme 2023 to 2024

This is an update from the Department for Education

As highlighted in the last edition of the sector email, this autumn term, secondary school children (years 7 through to 11) will be offered a flu vaccination in school.

We are now able to share guidance on the secondary school vaccination programme, and other school-based routine immunisations.

Secondary school resources to share with parents are also available.

A local school-age immunisation provider will contact your school to agree a date for the vaccination session and the best approach for implementing the programme.

Measles vaccination uptake

This is an update from the Department for Education

Measles can be very serious and spreads easily. Children and adults who contract measles can end up in hospital or suffer long term health consequences. In rare cases, it can be fatal.

Measles is completely preventable with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. The first dose is offered to children at 1 year of age and the second dose at 3 years and 4 months. Measles outbreaks happen when not enough children have been vaccinated and can be very disruptive in educational settings.

We are grateful for the support of early years settings, encouraging families to take up the vaccine.

Schools are also encouraged to remind parents to check that their children’s vaccines are up to date. You can catch up on your MMR vaccine through your GP whatever your age.

Information resources (including in different languages) are available to download and share, including:

Free financial education training for teachers and school leavers

This is an update from the Department for Education

The Money and Pensions Service is working with partners to offer free financial education training for teachers and school leaders between now and March 2024.

A range of options are available to help education settings deliver quality learning about money.

Follow the links to find out more about:

LifeSavers’ flexible financial education programme for primary schools
young money’s financial education professional learning for school leaders and teachers in primary and secondary schools
financial education training and resources for alternative provision settings from LifeSavers and the National Literacy Trust – for primary and for secondary ages

Access redesigned attendance reports in preparation for the new academic year

We have launched the redesigned attendance reports to support schools, trusts and local authorities to analyse attendance patterns and target support for the return to school period.

Access them now to familiarise yourself with your reports before September.

Data is to Monday 3 July and will be updated from September.

Improvements include:

indicators for termly trends in attendance
data visualisations for quick trend insight
weekly view of a pupil attendance and attendance codes
improved loading times to some pages
fixes to some data quality issues.

Please agree to share child in need (CIN), child protection plan (CPP) and pupil leaving date, even if you do not record them.

83% schools are sharing daily attendance data.

To share, log in to your Wonde portal and accept the request. Sharing data is voluntary. Read our data protection principles.

Register for a National Tutoring Programme webinar

This is an update from the Department for Education

We are delighted that over 500 school leaders attended our recent NTP webinars.

Due to demand, we are hosting additional sessions in the autumn to support schools to deliver tutoring in the new academic year.

We will discuss the 2023 to 2024 NTP guidance and advise schools how to make the most of NTP funding to support pupils. We will be joined by our delivery partners, Cognition Education and Education Development Trust.

Please register using one of the links below (both webinars will contain the same content, so you only need to attend one):

When registering, you’ll be asked to provide your school’s unique reference number (URN), which you can find on Get Information About Schools.

Throughout the webinar, there will be the chance to ask questions. If you would like to submit a question in advance, please email ntp.engagement@education.gov.uk.

Take action on mental health and wellbeing in preparation for the autumn term

This is an update from the Department for Education

If you haven’t already done so, please claim your grant to train your senior mental health lead.

The training develops your mental health lead’s knowledge and practical skills to embed an effective whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing in your setting, which supports attendance, behaviour and learning.

The training includes:

developing your universal and targeted support offer
identifying mental health and wellbeing needs and monitoring the impact of support
approaches to plan and lead change aligned to the work of your designated safeguarding lead/special educational needs co-ordinator
engaging students and developing positive relationships with parents, families and carers.

Take five minutes to claim a £1,200 training grant.

Choose from approximately 100 courses (beginner, intermediate and advanced levels), tailored to the needs of your setting and use the funding for supply cover if needed.

Pay award update

This is an update from the Department for Education

The government has fully accepted the independent pay review body’s recommendations. From September school teachers and leaders in England will receive a pay award of 6.5%.

Alongside this, we have announced we will invest £185 million in 2023 to 2024 and £285 million in 2024 to 2025 to drive forward skills delivery in the further education sector.

You can find out more in our Education Hub blog.

This entry was posted by Claire on Wednesday, 19 July 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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