24th April 2023

Dear Colleagues,

Please find our weekly briefing below and share with colleagues who can respond on behalf of your school or setting.  Many thanks.

New LADO Consultation Form

We have been working on improving some of our communication and record keeping within the LADO service and therefore have developed a Consultation Form for the LADO process.

LADO Consultation Form (Word doc) [82KB]

This form is to allow you to record as much detail about a concern so we can determine if it meets LADO threshold but if not, we both have a clear record of our discussions and decisions.  You can record the concerns without having to give any identifying details. This will then be reviewed, and we can record the outcome on the bottom of the same form for both our records. It has drop down boxes in some fields to hopefully make completing it quicker for you.

If the consultation needs further clarification, then Hannah Ives or myself will give you a call to discuss. If it meets threshold, we will ask you to just add their identifying details to the LADO Referral Form and then we can add the information provided on the Consultation Form and arrange next steps.

Please complete the Consultation Form with as much detail as you can as this again helps speed up the process for everyone.  Once completed please send the consultation form to:  lado@hillingdon.gov.uk 

Any questions please ask and we always welcome feedback.

Nicole Diamond, Lead Child Protection Advisor for Schools/Deputy LADO

Head Teachers' Termly

The next meeting is on Thursday 15^th June 2023 at 2 - 4 pm via MS Teams.  The Agenda and link to join the meeting will be shared nearer the time.

Gypsy, Roma, Traveller Awareness Training

To support our schools, we are offering staff an online training course on cultural awareness of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers in the UK. This course is free of charge and is designed to develop your knowledge and understanding of these communities.

This comprehensive learning package on cultural awareness of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers in the UK was written and developed with national charity, Friends Families and Travellers. 

Informative and interactive, it is comprised of four modules covering Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history and culture, the main challenges for these communities, what can be done to help these groups access services, such as those in healthcare, and how to improve their participation in other areas such as education.

This should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. 

Learning Zone accounts:

School staff should already have access to our learning portal - Learning Zone. Learning Zone usernames are your school email address and forgotten passwords can be reset on the login page.

If a member of staff has not registered for a Learning Zone account previously, please complete this form to request an account (Learning Zone Access Request for Schools (office.com)). Please check with your school administrator if you already have a Learning Zone account.

Click here to log in and access Gypsy and Traveller Cultural Awareness eLearning module. 

Once you have completed and passed the programme, you will be able to download your certificate for your own records.

Message from DfE:Launch of Attendance Hub Expansion Registration 

Please see the email below from the DfE which may be of interest to your school.

Dear all,

We wanted to inform you that today the Department for Education is announcing the launch of new sector-led school attendance hubs.  

Primary, secondary, special schools and Alternative Provision providers who wish to register their interest in joining a hub and receiving free school attendance support should complete the short application form:  https://forms.office.com/e/7zab5E9STa by 08.05.2023.  

Attendance hubs will be led by senior leaders in schools with strong attendance practice, who will share the strategies and resources they use for improving attendance.  

Participating schools will be expected to revisit and revise their systems and protocols for managing attendance, join half termly virtual hub meetings to share practice and discuss progress and challenges.  

This programme builds on a pilot hub established last year led by North Shore Academy, which saw some participating schools achieve significant reductions in their absence and persistent absence rates.

We would be grateful if you could share this message with as many schools in your area as possible, who may be interested in receiving support from a hub.  

REMINDER - Climate Action Plan for Schools  

Thank you to those schools that have already shared their Climate Action Plans.    It is great to hear you are already working on climate action and confirm the following key benefits for schools to be engaged in this area:     

• Curriculum development in Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE), Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC), British Values, Citizenship, Geography and Science  
• Links through Ofsted's inspection framework  
• Overall financial reduction in running costs    
• Being part of a world change  

The Council requires maintained schools to submit their Climate Action Plan by 28^th April. Academy schools are recommended to also submit their plans to the Council.   Please send this to: education@hillingdon.gov.uk. Plans will be reviewed and themes identified to help shape our funding offer for 2023/24.   

You will find our Climate Action Plan short template, along with a variety of resources here - Climate Action for Schools - Leap (hillingdon.gov.uk).     

Please share with pupils/parents/carers 

Universal Youth Service - What's on for Young People in Hillingdon

Come along and find out what happening in the Universal Youth Service with your local youth offer in Hillingdon, from Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Young Enterprise, Youth Clubs, holiday programmes plus much more.

Youth Offer in Hillingdon (PDF) [130KB]

Summer Reading Challenge

Hillingdon Libraries will once again be running the Summer Reading Challenge this summer. This year The Reading Agency have partnered with the Youth Sport Trust to deliver this year's challenge - Ready, Set, Read!

This year's challenge aims to keep children's minds and bodies active over the summer break, empowering young people to forge new connections with others and unleash the power of play, sport and physical activity through reading.

Children are challenged to get reading over the summer holidays. From July to September, through taking in part in the free Challenge, children will be able to join a superstar team and their marvellous mascots as they navigate a fictional summer obstacle course brought to life with illustrations by children's illustrator Loretta Schauer, rewarded by free incentives including stickers. 

We are pleased to announce that we will be joined virtually by Loretta Schauer on Friday 7^th July who will be running 2 interactive sessions for children with a live draw along element and children will get an insight into how Loretta created this year's illustrations. Sessions are:

• 9.30 am - KS1
• 10.45 am - KS2

Please get in touch with Sam Everett, severett@hillingdon.gov.uk if you would like to book your classes onto one of the sessions.

The challenges launches in Hillingdon on Saturday 8^th July so we are hoping Loretta's sessions will engage children and encourage them to pop along to their local library to join.

Encourage Your School to Take the Water Only Pledge

Recently the 'Drinking fountains for London schools programme' pilot was launched. The programme, which is a partnership with Thames Water and the Mayor of London, has seen 20 water fountains already donated to London schools, with an additional 20 drinking fountains being gifted by the end of April 2023. It aims to increase access free high-quality drinking water and encourages schools to take the pledge to become a 'water only school.'

In London, schools that take the 'water only' pledge ensure that water, alongside plain milk, are available for pupils to drink. By doing so, they're making a commitment to support their pupil's health well into the future, instilling healthy habits that will stay with them throughout their lives. But becoming a water only school is about more than just the benefits to people - it's about the good it does for our planet. The UK uses nearly 13million plastic bottles every year. Access to free, and safe drinking water means we can reduce single-use plastic even more.

Since 2019, Thames Water and the Mayor have opened 110 fountains across London's boroughs to reduce plastic waste. In fact, data collected from smart meters show that many of the fountains are dispensing an average of 76 litres per day. That's the equivalent of around 55,000 500ml single-use bottles saved from landfill per year, from one fountain!

Taking Teaching Further (TTF)

The next round of Taking Teaching Further (TTF) is now open.  TTF provides funding to support you to recruit and provide early career support to those with the relevant knowledge and industry experience to retrain as FE teachers. Subject to eligibility, up to £18,200 is available for recruits who will teach one of the 15 technical routes, English or maths GCSE resits or Level 2 functional skills, or who have been recruited to a SEND specialist teaching role. 

For TTF 2023, a financial incentive for recruits is being piloted, which is available in addition to the TTF support offer, for TTF recruits who are recruited to teach in some of the most hard-to-fill subjects (digital; construction and the built environment; engineering and manufacturing; and maths). Eligible recruits will receive a £6,000 incentive payment: £3,000 at the end of year one of the programme and £3,000 at the end of year two of the programme.  

All information can be found on the TTF gov.uk page, including registration to the programme. You can register to the programme until 30^th November 2023. After successfully registering to the programme, you can notify us of recruits until 31^st January 2024. 

If you have any questions after reading the guidance document, then please contact the Taking Teaching Further team on TTF.Enquiries@education.gov.uk

Level 1 and Level 2 Team-Teach Positive Handling and Physical Intervention Course

This course covers: personal safety, team building, nonverbal and verbal de-escalation communication strategies, positive handling techniques, together with documentation and legal guidance, listening and learning, recording, reporting and reviewing. The level 2 course covers more physical intervention techniques than a level 1 course.

Date: 16^th and 17^th May 2023

Venue: Cherry Lane Primary School, Sipson Road, West Drayton, UB7 9DL

Level 1: 16/05/23: £100 + VAT per person.

Level 2: 16/05/23 and 17/05/23: £200 + VAT per person

Times: 9.00am - 3.45pm

Click here for more information and bookings

Level 1Team-Teach Positive Handling and Physical Intervention Course

This course covers: personal safety, team building, nonverbal and verbal de-escalation communication strategies, positive handling techniques, together with documentation and legal guidance, listening and learning, recording, reporting and reviewing.

Date: 13^th June 2023

Venue: St Mary's Catholic School, Rockingham Close, Uxbridge UB8 2UA

Cost: £100 per person + VAT

Times: 9.00am - 3.45pm

Click for more information and bookings