Education Noticeboard - 20 July 2022
Welcome to the Education Noticeboard. A round-up of news, guidance and key updates for education settings.
Included in this update:
- Director update
- Child exploitation guidance for parents and carers
- In Harmony concert at Telford International Centre
- SkyReach Telford is open for the summer
- Happy Healthy and Active Holidays – activities open for booking
- Bumper programme of activities planned for families this summer
- Advice note for schools on the management of hire agreements and leases
- Summer virtual workshops for parents and professionals
- Become an Admission Appeal / Review Panel Member
- CPD Booklet 2022-23
Director update
Dear colleagues
I know I said we wouldn’t have a noticeboard this week, but we have a few pieces of last minute information for you.
Hopefully you have all managed to get through the last few days of extremely hot weather! A special thanks to you all dealing with overheated children and keeping the various parts of your setting/school moving behind the scenes!
Firstly some guidance for parents and carers, for settings to share, following the release of the report which details the independent inquiry into CSE. This information was first sent out via a Special Education Notice earlier this week, and I know that many of you have already shared via email or social media. For those who haven’t, we would be grateful if you could. Keeping our children and young people safe is the most important thing we can do. A huge thank you for everything you already do.
As the holidays approach we have included detail again about the vast array of activities in our local area for you to pass onto your families. We are sharing a lovely new video of Telford SkyReach. Based in the Town Park, this will be open seven days a week over the summer break. We have also repeated information about the summer activity programme and Happy Health Active Holiday scheme.
There are also articles that give information about free emotional wellbeing courses taking place over the coming weeks, how to express an interest in becoming an appeal panel member, a safeguarding update and a link to the new CPD booklet for 2022-23.
Wishing you all a great (and hopefully slightly cooler) rest of the week!
Simon
Simon Wellman
Director: Education & Skills
Child exploitation guidance for parents and carers
You are requested to pass the provided guidance onto your parents/carers as you feel is appropriate.
Keeping children and young people safe from harm is the most important thing we can all do.
Child sexual exploitation is vile crime that disgusts all right thinking people. Sadly it takes place all over the country.
We all have a part to play in looking out for signs of child sexual exploitation and reporting any concerns. Further information is available in the guidance leaflet, provided here for download:
Child Sexual Exploitation A Guide for Parents and Carers
If you have any worries about a child or young person then contact Family Connect who are there to offer free confidential advice and guidance.
You can email them at familyconnect@telford.gov.uk or call 01952 385385 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm) or use the text back service, the number is 07537 453177.
In Harmony concert at Telford International Centre
You might have heard of the 'In Harmony' Telford & Stoke-on-Trent community music programme, developed by Telford & Wrekin Music Service. It first began at Old Park Primary School in Malinslee.
The programme, which provides instrumental and orchestral tuition for primary school children, has been running in the borough for ten years. It has been celebrated with a jaw-dropping anniversary concert at Telford International Centre, which took place on Wednesday 13 July 2022.
The performance brought over 1,000 children together in a gigantic orchestra to perform music they had created alongside a beautiful narrative and stunning visuals.
The children worked with professional musicians, a visual artist, an author and a film-maker to produce a stunning concert on a vast scale.
In Harmony places a strong emphasis on inclusion and access, with a focus on helping children to develop confidence, resilience, creativity, empathy and communication skills.
More details about the programme are available on the In Harmony website.
SkyReach Telford is open for the summer
SkyReach Telford is open seven days a week during the summer school holidays. Have fun outdoors make route choices to set your own level of challenge and adventure way up above the ground!
The four main activities are:
- The high ropes course.
- The tree top course.
- The climbing wall.
- The quick jump.
Find out more on the SkyReach website.
Happy Healthy and Active Holidays – activities open for booking
The Happy Healthy and Active Holiday’s (HHAH) scheme will be running through the Summer holidays (Saturday 23 July – Sunday 4 September 2022). Holiday activities will be available for children and young people who are receiving income-based free school meals.
If you’d like to see and show a parent or child an example of what children/ parents can expect from participating in these FREE holiday clubs, please look at this short video:
Happy Healthy and Active Holidays Film
There will be a range of activities on offer at Holiday clubs for children in reception to Year 11. Every day that a child attends they will be provided with a nutritious meal and at least 4 hours of enrichment activities, including 60 minutes of physical activity, arts, crafts and nature walks. In order to access the scheme parents and carers of children who are eligible must register on the HHAH website. Video tutorials on how to register, manage and cancel bookings are all available on the website.
Parents and carers who are eligible for income-related FSM have been directly notified of the scheme and how to sign up by letter.
If you are able to further promote the HHAH scheme to eligible families then that would be greatly appreciated. We know some families will need your support to help them to register for the scheme, so we have created an paper registration form to help any that are finding it difficult to apply online, please can we ask that schools support these families in completing the form and returning this so that contact can be made between them and the holiday club.
Happy Healthy and Active Holiday's Registration Form
There are undoubtedly families who miss out on this opportunity because they are not registered / not eligible for free school meals. If you could ask families who come to you if they have heard of the HHAH (holiday club scheme) and if they interested in taking up the offer for their children to attend a free holiday club as there is some flexibility for other children, not eligible for FSM to access the scheme. This may include children and families living in areas of deprivation, those known to children services and those that have SEND as examples. If you feel a child would benefit from the HHAH programme, please get in touch so that we can provide information and a code so that they can register.
If there is any child/children that you feel would benefit from this scheme and who does not qualify for FSM but can be included as part of the 15% allocated funding for our vulnerable and deprivation areas, please provide us with their detailsby emailing holidayactivityhub@telford.gov.uk.
What’s Happening in Telford & Wrekin
The 'What’s near me – Summer 2022' information is available to download.
We have a range of free fun activities during the school holidays for Telford & Wrekin families to take part in for children from reception to year 11 for families receiving income-related free school meals. They’ll be able to have a healthy meal and join in on sports, arts, crafts and much more! Check out the HHAH Website for full details of what’s running over Summer.
Bumper programme of activities planned for families this summer
Telford & Wrekin Council Leisure have just launched their biggest ever school holiday activity brochure to help keep families busy and active during the upcoming six weeks break.
The bumper programme includes family favourite kids-4-£1 activities like tobogganing, tennis and swimming – plus some brand new additions like £1 bike hire, soft play and archery.
Activities are scheduled to take place every day, between Monday 25 July and Monday 5 September 2022.
Telford Ice Rink are also offering 2-4-1 on ice skating tickets during the school holidays and, for those who find themselves venturing to Telford Town Park, Sky Reach is offering a combo deal for the climbing wall and quick flight wall.
Find out more and start planning on the Telford & Wrekin Leisure website.
Advice note for schools on the management of hire agreements and leases
Education Safeguarding have provided an advice note, developed to assist schools in the management of hire agreements and leases for the use of school premises for non-school activities for children.
Keeping Children Safe in Education 2021, issued by Department for Education, sets out the following requirements:
155. Where governing bodies or proprietors hire or rent out school or college facilities/premises to organisations or individuals (for example to community groups, sports associations, and service providers to run community or extra-curricular activities) they should ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place to keep children safe.
156. When services or activities are provided by the governing body or proprietor, under the direct supervision or management of their school or college staff, their arrangements for child protection will apply. However, where services or activities are provided separately by another body this is not necessarily the case. The governing body or proprietor should therefore seek assurance that the body concerned has appropriate safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures in place (including inspecting these as needed); and ensure that there are arrangements in place to liaise with the school or college on these matters where appropriate. The governing body or proprietor should also ensure safeguarding requirements are included in any transfer of control agreement (i.e. lease or hire agreement), as a condition of use and occupation of the premises; and that failure to comply with this would lead to termination of the agreement.
This advice note has been developed to assist schools in the management of hire agreements and leases for the use of school premises for non-school activities for children. Queries can be directed to Scott Thomas-White, Education Safeguarding Coordinator, via email to Educationsafeguarding@telford.gov.uk.
Summer virtual workshops for parents and professionals
Shopshire BEAM are pleased to provide virtual workshops for parents and professionals over the summer, starting on Wednesday 27 July 2022 for six weeks.
To attend all you need to do is click on the link at the appropriate time of your chosen workshop. All workshops will be done via MS Teams, but unfortunately will not be recorded. The Workshops will be informative and engaging, requiring active participation.
There are three Workshops which will be rolled out to the end of August 2022 at midday, to enable more people to attend – the content of these is as follows:
- Managing Anxiety – aims to provide an overview of the topic, followed by practical suggestions of methods and techniques to help support youth experiencing issues with anxiety.
- Wellbeing Planning – a workshop which explains and provides a tool for children and young people to support their general emotional health and wellbeing. It recognises triggers and promotes self-awareness, and can also be used as a relapse tool to support resilience.
- Sleep Support - aims to provide an overview the topic followed by practical suggestions and advice, with discussion around methods and techniques to help support children and young people having difficulties with getting to sleep and staying asleep. This workshop will be rolled out twice over the four weeks, due to popular demand.
The dates and times of the sessions are:
|
Wednesday 27 July 2022 |
12 noon | Managing Anxiety |
Click here to join the Microsoft Teams meeting or join by entering a meeting ID |
|
Wednesday 3 August 2022 |
12 noon | Sleep Support |
Click here to join the Microsoft Teams meeting or join by entering a meeting ID |
|
Wednesday 10 August 2022 |
12 noon | Wellbeing Planning |
Click here to join the Microsoft Teams meeting or join by entering a meeting ID |
|
Wednesday 17 August 2022 |
12 noon | Managing Anxiety |
Click here to join the Microsoft Teams meeting or join by entering a meeting ID |
|
Wednesday 24 August 2022 |
12 noon | Sleep Support |
Click here to join the Microsoft Teams meeting or join by entering a meeting ID |
|
Wednesday 31 August 2022 |
12 noon | Wellbeing Planning |
Click here to join the Microsoft Teams meeting or join by entering a meeting ID |
Become an Admission Appeal / Review Panel Member
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 and Wrekin.
The role:
Admission panels comprise of three members to hear and determine appeals by parents/carers who are not happy with the decision made about their child’s school placement or the decision to exclude a child from school. 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 the Telford and Wrekin area.
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 we cannot accept applications from a local authority officer or a person who has at any time been connected with the Local Authority Admission Authority apart from as a teacher of governor.
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. You 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 you 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
Enquiries:
Please contact Hannah Gorman or Rachel English, in Legal Services at Telford & Wrekin Council, via email to legal.safeguarding@telford.gov.uk with any queries.
CPD Booklet 2022-23
We are pleased to confirm that the new CPD Booklet is now available on the Telford Education Services site, together with the course booking form.
Please send your bookings to cpdschoolimprovement@telford.gov.uk attaching a completed booking form.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for participating in our courses this year and for your patience when we have had to make any last minute changes. We hope to be able to return to much more face to face training in the new academic year, although some courses will remain online where this has proven to be successful and preferred by delegates.
In the meantime, very best wishes for a peaceful, relaxing and enjoyable summer break and we look forward to seeing you in September!