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Welcome to the Education Noticeboard.

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

Included in this update:

• Directors Update

• School Attendance Surgeries

• Children Missing Education

• Winter Illnesses

• Department for Education Incentive funding to recruit new members of EYFS staff

• Literacy Phonological Awareness Through Stories and Rhymes Network Communication

• Language and Literacy - Meaningful Mark Making Network

• School Swimming Charges Update

• Adoption Supporting Commissioning

• CPD courses to the end of the Autumn Term 2024

• Youth Survey

• School Closures

• Christmas Smile

 

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School Attendance Surgery

The next School Attendance Surgery is on  Friday 29th November

Don’t forget to book a free place on our next School Attendance Surgery on Friday 29th November. These Surgeries are an opportunity to discuss all matters relating to School Attendance and hear what other schools are doing. 

Schools will be aware that the DfE guidance ‘Working Together to Improve School Attendance’ expects the LA to be sharing good practice and also have a responsibility for communication and advice.

Therefore, following the success of the Attendance Briefings and Attendance Surgeries last academic year we are continuing with these ‘Teams’ sessions for schools where school attendance can be discussed, questions can be raised by schools in the briefings and individual cases can be discussed (anonymised) in the surgeries

I have attached a timetable of the scheduled sessions, and we invite you to attend these TEAMS sessions for free by requesting a place via the CPD booklet. Please see the briefing and surgeries details attached.

Download Attendance Surgeries Information

Here is a link to the CPD booklet:

Telford Education Services Website

           

Children Missing Education Guide to Referrals November 2024

If you are unsure of the whereabouts of a child or you believe they have left the area, please refer them to CME immediately. You do not need to wait 10 days.

If you are worried about a child, please contact us by telephone to ensure the referral is dealt with promptly.

If you have safeguarding concerns, please refer to Family Connect 01952 385385

All Referrals must be made via AM portal (Synergy).

Referrals will no longer be accepted via email.

To enable checks to be completed please provide as much information as you can on the referral;

• Home visit completed, date and outcome
• Outcome of ‘reasonable enquires’ (see below for examples)
• Parents names, first and last name
• Parents contact details phone and email
• Names and school of any siblings
• Current address in Telford
• New address if they have shared this
• New school if this has been shared

If you are given notice that a child is going abroad it is helpful to get the information above, also flight details, including date/flight number/airport. If they are able to share the plane ticket, this is even better.

What will CME do?

Complete local checks to ensure the child has left the area

Complete wider checks to see if the child is living at another address in UK

Complete Boarder Force checks to see if child has left UK

Contact new Local Authority/School to ensure they are in education

When can school remove from roll?

If you have reported a child as CME please check with me before removing from roll. We want to ensure that the child has left the area.

Working Together to Improve Attendance states that “reasonable enquiries” should be completed by the school to ascertain the whereabouts of a child. It is helpful for a home visit to be completed at the time of referral as this speeds up the process. Some checks cannot be completed without a home visit being done first. If a parent informs you they are moving, you still need to complete a home visit to verify this.

Other enquiries schools could complete may include;

• Calling ALL known contacts the school holds
• Emailing ALL known contacts the school holds
• Speak to neighbours
• Speak to friends of the child who may know where they are

Checks cannot be completed without parents details

If confirmation is obtained that the child is living elsewhere you can remove from roll.

If no new address is found but during the home visit you have been able to establish the family have moved, and all enquiries above have been completed the child can be removed from roll. They will then remain open to CME for tracking.

Please chase up referrals if you have not had a response.

Synergy has functionality to receive forms from schools electronically so we will be asking all schools to use the School Access Module (SAM) Portal (link below) to complete CME Referrals.

SAM Portal:

This is the link to the SAM Portal: https://education.telford.gov.uk/live/SynergyWeb/schools

Existing SAM Portal Users:

If you already have an account on the SAM Portal to complete FAP and Student Engagement Referrals you will be able to complete an AST Referral in the same way and will not need your account to be updated.

If you already have an account on the SAM Portal in respect of Admissions only, and will also need to use the Portal to AST Referrals, you will need to have you permissions updated. Please either email educationsystemssupport@telford.gov.uk or log a call with IDT Self Service, with the SAM Portal New User Form attached for this to be set up. Once set up, the SAM Portal should look like this (new “Online Forms” button):

New SAM Portal Users:

If you are going to need access to the SAM Portal, please either email educationsystemssupport@telford.gov.uk or log a call with IDT Self Service, with the SAM Portal New User Form attached for this to be set up.

Please do not click the “Create Account” button

There is also a user guide for the SAM Portal should you need any further support.

SAM Portal User Guide

Other useful documents

Education for children with health needs who cannot attend school - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Working together to improve school attendance

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/attendance-hubs

Major national drive to improve school attendance

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Health Protection Hub

Winter Illness

The Health Protection Hub ask that you share the information in italics below with parents/carers in your newsletters and other communications channels with parents to help keep everyone well as we head into winter:

Teaching good hygiene habits

Parents/carers are urged to encourage good hygiene habits in their families, such as handwashing and using a tissue to catch coughs and sneezes. Regularly washing hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds or using hand sanitiser when convenient, is one of the most effective ways to stop the spread of germs.

Knowing when to keep your child at home and when to send them to school

Children are encouraged to stay in school or nursery with symptoms such as a runny nose, sore throat or slight cough (if otherwise well and do not have a high temperature), but should stay at home if they feel too unwell to attend and/or if they have a fever.  They should stay home until the fever has passed and they are well enough to attend.  If they have diarrhoea and/or vomiting they should stay home for at least 48 hours after these symptoms clear up.  Let the school know if your child is diagnosed with other illnesses such as scarlet fever and they can advise you how for long your child should stay off school.

Stopping the spread of stomach bugs

Stomach bugs spread easily in schools and nurseries. If you or your child have diarrhoea and/or vomiting, washing hands with soap and warm water and using bleach-based products to clean surfaces will help stop infections from spreading. Don’t prepare food for others if you have such symptoms or for 48 hours after symptoms stop. If you are unwell, you should also avoid visiting people in hospitals and care homes to avoid passing on the infection to those more vulnerable. It’s important not to return to school, nursery or work until 48 hours after symptoms have stopped.

Getting vaccinated

Infections such as flu, which see a seasonal increase in winter, are easily protected against with vaccination. All primary school age children, those aged 2 years (who have turned 2 years old before the  1 September 2024) all 3 year olds and secondary school children from Year 7 to Year 11 are eligible for the flu vaccine.  This will protect the children themselves, the school community and elderly relatives.

It’s also important to ensure your children are up-to-date with their routine vaccinations, which protect against diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria and polio. If you are unsure of your child’s vaccination status, you can check their “red book” or contact their GP.  

NHS UK also provides easily accessible guidance for parents to help manage winter illness at home.

Department for Education Incentive funding to recruit new members of EYFS staff

You will have recently received an email from the department of education announcing Telford and Wrekin’s involvement in this exciting recruitment  incentive.

We are offering 3 briefings to support your knowledge of this on the 25th and 27th November, please see attached flier for dates and booking details.

Subject: The Department for Education (DfE) is testing a new digital approach to support nurseries to recruit early years practitioners.

The Department for Education (DfE) is testing a new digital approach to support nurseries to recruit early years practitioners.

The scheme will enable you to offer £1000 payments to recruit new and returning staff. These can be attached to job adverts for eligible permanent roles. DfE will make the payment directly to the new staff and will also pay their Income Tax and National Insurance. It will involve you (as the employer) filling in a short online form when a new eligible worker starts and then confirming 6 months later that they are still in post so that DfE can make the payment.

DfE has been building the new system over the summer and the next stage in its development is to test it with real claimants in a live environment. Our test will involve awarding incentives to new and returning eligible staff via a new online digital portal. The portal is quick and easy to use, and it is this usability that we are testing, rather than the effectiveness of the incentives themselves.

Your local authority is aware of the scheme and has provided your contact information so that you can be included in it. There are 6 local authorities (including yours) in the test.

The portal will open on 25th November 2024 and closes on 31 March 2025 – to be eligible to receive an incentive new staff must have started between 11th November 2024 and 15 March 2025.

We will send you another email on 25 November. This will contain a link to the online portal and give you more information about who is eligible to receive an incentive and how the scheme will work.

Download the Early Years Staff Recruitment Information

Literacy Phonological Awareness Through Stories and Rhymes Network

On Wednesday 22nd January 2025 4-5pm

We will explore a research-based approach to delivering high quality early Phonological awareness through stories and rhymes

Focusing on:

-The crucial role of EY Adults 

-Intentional Interactions

-Motivating opportunities to develop phonological development during adult-guided learning and through the Continuous provision

Online Via Zoom

Open to all EY providers

Register your attendance here

Communication, Language and Literacy - Meaningful Mark Making Network

On Wednesday 5th February 2025 4-5pm

We will explore a research-based approach to delivering high quality early communication, language and literacy

Focusing on:

-The crucial role of EY Adults 

-Intentional Interactions

-Language and Vocabulary Learning

-Developing children’s capability and motivation to make their mark

Online via Zoom

Open to all EY providers

Register your attendance here

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School Swimming Charges Update

School Swimming Charges Update

In response to the EFSA removing funding for joint use of swimming pools, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA, an arm of the DfE) has confirmed that it will be removing the ‘exceptional funding factor’ for joint use swimming pools from the LAs Designated Schools Grant allocation from April 2025, amounting to £245,000.

TWC used this funding to provide schools with free access to swimming pools. TWC will therefore need to start charging schools for pool use from April 2025 – likely to be roughly £65 per hour for smaller 30-pupil capacity pools and £100 per hour for larger 60-pupil capacity pools.

Please complete the short 5-min survey so we can assess impact of charges and see what we can do to support schools e.g. transport: https://forms.office.com/e/SjNUus37uL

EFSA are also considering cutting the £400,000 TWC receives for joint use of other leisure facilities, not swimming pools. TWC have made strong representations to the ESFA on the impact of reducing or removing this funding and that we do not have the financial resources to replace any lost funding.

Further updates will be provided at Primary Heads Forum and on the noticeboard.

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Virtual School

Adoption Support Commission

Find out more about how we can meet the needs of adoptive families through this online webinar on Monday 25th November 11am to 1pm.

Join us to hear how regional adoption agencies are working together to better understand and support the needs of adoptive families, now and in the future, through the Adoption England Commissioning Programme. Hear from expert speakers as they share their insights and experiences

For further inforamtion contact virtualschool@telford.gov.uk

Download the Adoption Support Commissioning Document

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CPD courses to the end of the Autumn Term 2024

Further details of these and all other courses are available in the 2024-25 CPD booklet on the Telford Education Services website and on the Ollie website

The CPD Booklet for the remainder of the 2024-15 academic year can be viewed via Telford Education Services.

As always, courses can be booked by completing and returning a CPD booking form to cpdschoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk (unless denoted differently)

 

Supporting Behaviour and Learning - Children with ADHD / Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD) & Conduct Disorder (CD) (PSS 104)	Tuesday, November 26, 2024	4pm to 5.30pm
Induction Training for New Governors (GO 502)	Wednesday, November 27, 2024	9.30am to 3.30pm
Raising Awareness of Prevent (SG 101)	Wednesday, November 27, 2024	9.30am to 11am
Managing English as an Additional Language in Early Years Settings (CPD 710)	Thursday, November 28, 2024	1.15pm to 3.30pm
Early Years Coordinators – Termly Update (EY 007)	Thursday, November 28, 2024	4pm to 5.30pm
The Role of the Key Person in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EY 106)	Thursday, November 28, 2024	1.15pm to 4pm
School Attendance Surgery (AST 005)	Friday, November 29, 2024	10am to 12noon
Literacy Pathway - part 3	Monday, December 02, 2024	9.15am to 12.30pm
Webinar session: Ensuring the quality of safeguarding records (SG 110)	Monday, December 02, 2024	3.30pm to 5pm
Supporting pupils with down syndrome and behaviour challenges (PSS 023)	Tuesday, December 03, 2024	9.15am to 12noon
School Attendance Briefing Updates - additional date re DfE Guidance (AST 004)	Wednesday, December 04, 2024	4pm to 5.30pm
EAL & Maths (CPD 603)	Wednesday, December 04, 2024	1.15pm to 3.30pm
Accredited Safer Recruitment Training (HR course)	Thursday, December 05, 2024	9am to 4.30pm
Governors' Responsibilities for Exclusions (SG 104)	Thursday, December 05, 2024	5pm to 7pm
Behaviour as Communication (PSS 013)	Friday, December 06, 2024	1pm to 4pm
PROTECT Professional Campaign Launch	Monday, December 09, 2024	9.30am to 1pm
SEND and AP Change Programme Learning Lunch	Tuesday, December 17, 2024	12.30pm to 1pm

 

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Other Information & Resources

Youth Survey

We’ve launched a survey for young people aged 11 to 18 to comment on their experiences of living within Telford and Wrekin.

We’re asking young people to tell us about what they like to do, what may stop them taking part in activities, how safe they feel, how they stay healthy and well, what they like about living in the borough and what they would change.

We hope you are able to support us in this important piece of work and encourage the young people you are working with to take a few minutes to complete the survey.

The survey is open from now until Monday December 16.

Link to survey https://online1.snapsurveys.com/j4qey1

School Closure Line

As we move into the Autumn and Winter terms, just a gentle reminder to use the School and Setting Closure Line to report whether your school or setting is closed for any reason (e.g. adverse weather conditions, maintenance issues etc.).

Each school/setting will be responsible for keeping the information up to date about their respective school/setting. 

Your School or Setting will need to be registered to be able to access and use the system. You will need to ensure that you have nominated /designated persons who will be given administration rights and be responsible for keeping the closure line for your school or setting up to date (this can be either a general admin person/email address,  head teachers, PA’s or a mix of).

Please complete the form below if there has been any changes to the designated persons for your schools and settings. 

Schools Closure Line (Data Collection Form)

All the information reported on the school closures line automatically updates the Telford & Wrekin website this is used to keep staff, pupils, parents and the residents in Telford & Wrekin aware of the latest school /settings closures

If you have any issues with accessing the closure line or require any further information please email schoolclosures@telford.gov.uk

Christmas Smile

Christmas Smile collects and distributes donated gifts to some of the most vulnerable children and adults across the Telford & Wrekin community each year.

If you would like to make a donation there are collection points at Darby House (ground floor near to the lifts) SW1 (2nd floor) and Granville House where you can drop off any gifts you would like to donate.

You can also access the Christmas Smile website to view public donation points across Telford if they are more convenient.

Christmas Smile is very grateful for all the donations they receive.  Here are a few gift suggestions:

Adults and senior citizens: Bath/shower sets, aftershave, books, gloves, scarf, puzzle books and colouring pencils, hand-warmers, bed socks, nail varnish, chocolates, biscuits

Children 0-2:  Cuddly toys, baby clothes, puzzles, soft balls, baby books, bath toys, rattles baby lotions/bubble bath/shampoo etc

Children 3-6:  Colouring books and pencils, books, hats, gloves, scarves, early board games, toy cars, dolls, arts & crafts, bath toys

Children 7-10:  Footballs, sports items, hats, gloves, scarves, pencil cases, jewellery, craft kits, books, puzzles

Teens 11-16:  Sports items, hats, gloves, scarves, toiletry sets, jewellery, makeup, nail varnish, purses, wallets, bags

Generic - Board Games, Selection boxes, biscuits, chocolates, sweet treats

Donations need to be in by Wednesday 4 December please!

Christmas Smile is very grateful for all the donations they receive.  Their website provides further information including other donations points across Telford.

http://www.christmassmile.org.uk/

Be kind this Christmas and give someone a

Christmas Smile!

Thank you