4th September 2023
Dear Colleagues,
I hope you have had a good summer holiday and managed to have some downtime before the new academic year starts.
There have been a number of changes over the summer in relation to our staff team.
Senior Management Changes
The integration of SEND and Education back into wider Children's Services has resulted in a restructuring of Children's Services Senior Management Team. Julie Kelly is the Corporate Director for Children's Services (DCS) and, alongside myself, has 4 further direct reports that make up the senior management team.
Kat Wyatt is the Assistant Director for Prevention and Youth Justice, the most significant change to Kat's portfolio is the addition of Stronger Families Key Working Service. Kathryn Angelini is Assistant Director for Education for Vulnerable Children, which includes the extended Virtual School and additional responsibilities for Access to Education and Supporting Attendance (CME/EHE/NEET/AP/Exclusion). Alex Coman continues as Director of Safeguarding, Quality Assurance, Partnerships, though now has responsibility of Children's Residential Care Estate and finally, Tehseen Kauser (Taz) has been appointed as Director of Children's Social Care.
Education and SEND Changes
Dominika Michalik has taken on a new role for the next couple of years as the SEND Technical Specialist Lead where she will be focussing on the strategic aspects of SEND, such as the new strategy, partnership work across the local area, and the safety valve project. Sonal Sisodia has been appointed to the SEND Service Manager role for the same period, where she will take over from Dominika and manage the SEND team. Laura Stokes and Marie Holmes are stepping up to SEND team manager roles also.
The SEND Team management is as follows:
SEND Service Manager - Sonal Sisodia
- Primary Team Manager - Danielle Roberts
- Secondary Team Manager - Marie Holmes
- Post 16 & Tribunals Team Manager - Laura Stokes
New SEND officer allocations are available here on LEAP and will be shared with schools in due course in the SEND & Inclusion Newsletter as well as via email.
We have also recruited an expert commissioner to support us for the next 6 months whilst we recruit substantively, as Alison has now finished her role. We would like to thank Alison for her hard work on developing the commissioning functions over the last 16 months and wish her the best of luck for the future. Our new SEND commissioner is called Gary Binstead and he will be supported by a broker we have recruited for a few months for SEND, called Rita Chamber.
Melanie Adkins, Principal Educational Psychologist, will be leaving the Council at the end of October as she is relocating. Melanie will be missed by the Education and SEND teams but we wish her all the best for her next chapter. We are in the process of recruiting and will update you when we have confirmed who will be taking on the role.
For Education, we have appointed Michael Hawkins as the Head of Education and Lifelong Learning for the next few months whilst we finish reviewing the roles we have in the Education team. Michael will be leading on Education Improvement functions as well as the Adult Learning and Music Services, whilst continuing his work with Hillingdon Learning Partnership.
We have also welcomed back Laura Baldry, our School Admissions Manager, following her maternity leave.
A lot of work has taken place over the summer to review our processes and systems in SEND and we will keep you posted on the developments. We are working with an experienced SEND consultant called Helen Redding, who will be leading the review of SEND banding over the next few months. This work will be undertaken in partnership with schools so we will let you know soon how we propose to do this piece of work and how we will work with our schools to update this model.
The new SEND strategy is almost completed and this will form the basis for much of our work in SEND over the next few years. We will be reviewing our OAP document over the coming months as part of this work and looking at new ways we can support our schools and children to ensure we offer the right support at the right time.
We have an exciting year ahead and I am looking forward to working with you all to ensure we work in partnership to provide the best possible outcomes for the children of Hillingdon. I wish you all a fantastic start to the year.
Please find our weekly briefing below and share with colleagues who can respond on behalf of your school or setting.
Best wishes,
Abi Preston, Director of Education & SEND
Reminders: |
|
|---|---|
Schools can sign up to the SEND & Inclusion Induction Event for Newly Appointed Education Professionals here | On 11/09/2023 |
Education Contacts can be found on LEAP here | Ongoing |
The SEND & Inclusion Training Brochure can be viewed here | Ongoing |
Headteachers Conference
We are delighted to confirm our annual conference this year will be on Thursday 5th October 2023 at Oak Wood School. Programme for the day is currently being planned, we will confirm this with you as soon as we can. Please register to attend here by 22nd September: Conference Registration
New Headteacher Mentoring Opportunity
We have several new headteachers who have joined our schools this term. There is a mixture of new and experienced headteachers, some that have worked in Hillingdon and some that are completely new to the Borough.
As we did last year, we are looking for existing Hillingdon heads to volunteer to support these new headteachers during their first year of appointment as mentors. It is expected that the mentor and mentee will have weekly mentoring sessions for the first 2 months, moving to monthly thereafter. Mentoring discussions points, location (virtual/ face to face), timings and frequency can be agreed directly between the mentor and mentee and should be flexible and needs led.
If you would like to be listed as a Hillingdon mentor, or have any questions, then please email: education@hillingdon.gov.uk with 'New HT Mentor' in the title as soon as possible. Please indicate if you have a preference for the type of new headteacher you would like to mentor. For us to target the right support for our new headteachers, please could you share the key areas that you would have liked to be supported on when you became a new headteacher - who did you need to meet first, what areas were most difficult in your first year, what was your most valuable learning points, etc.
We look forward to hearing from you!
In Year Admissions Protocol 2023
This protocol is to provide best practice to schools and refers to all applications made during the academic year to age groups other than the normal years of entry, i.e., not at primary reception or secondary year 7 allocation or transfer into year 3 (junior schools) and year 10 (Studio Schools University Technical Colleges (UTC's).
Please be aware of the following expectations outlined below, which are set out in the School Admissions Code 2021.
Vacancy information
To ensure that the local authority can provide accurate information to applicants the local authority need to have accurate vacancy data.
All non-community schools must provide the local authority with details of the number of places available at their schools no later than 2 school days following receipt of a request from the local authority.
For all Secondary Schools, we ask you to provide the School Placement and Admissions team with school's vacancy information including numbers of Looked After Children, children receiving SEN upport and/or have an EHCP prior to every Fair Access Panel meeting. A spreadsheet template has been attached to this briefing, which is required to be completed by each secondary school it includes the dates this is required by each month.
It is vital to ensure that offers are being made as soon as possible where applicable, to prevent children from missing education.
Timeframes when processing in year applications
Once the local authority or a non-community school has received the application, both parties should aim to notify the parents of the outcome of their application in writing within 10 school days, but they must be notified in writing within 15 school days. If a place can be offered the school must send a letter to the applicant and a reasonable timescale given to when the applicant must respond.
Outcomes of an In Year Application
Notifying the Local Authority
Non-community schools must notify the local authority the outcome of the application which should either be:
- 'Offered and accepted' (where an offer has been accepted by a parent),
- 'Offered and declined' (where an offer has been made but the parent has declined it),
- 'Offered and no response' (where an offer has been made but the parent has yet to respond to the school to accept or decline),
- 'Rejected' (where an offer cannot be made)
Non-Community schools must notify the local authority of any changes to the outcome i.e., following an offer from the waiting list, including whether the child has started and has been placed on school's role. Instructions on how to do this are added within the notes section in the PAN London Document Exchange website on receipt of your applications that are uploaded on a Friday.
Waiting List
Non-community schools must notify the local authority if/once they have made an offer of a school place from a waiting list and the outcome of the offer I.e., accepted or refused by applicant.
Please ensure that you notify the LA of any direct applications received for children who are out of school. This is to ensure children are offered a school place as quickly as possible. If your school is unable to make an offer following an application submission, then the LA will look at alternative schools with current availability.
In Year Admissions Protocol 2023 - Leap (hillingdon.gov.uk)
Primary Vacancy Information Request Template (Word doc) [21KB]
Fair Access Pan's & Vacancies Data 2023-24 (Excel doc) [26KB]
Applications for the September 2024 School Intake
Applications for the September 2024 school intake will be open starting from 1st September 2023. Information on the application process, closing dates, and other essential details are available on our website Schools placements and admissions - Hillingdon Council.
Our School Admissions Brochure 2024 will be available on our website on or before 12th September 2023.
Children Missing Education-Updates to Stronger Families (SF) Form for CME Referrals
The CME team have made some changes to the SF referral process to ensure it is more robust and effective. Schools are reminded that accurate contact details are required, and it is essential that reasonable enquires are made within the first 10 school days of the child's absence from school. Following this and by day 11 if contact has been unsuccessful, a referral should be made to the CME team via the Stronger Families portal. Stronger Families - Hillingdon Council
The CME team will be delivering a session to discuss the process in September. Details of the date and time of the session will be shared shortly.
Further information and guidance can be found hwre on LEAP: Children Missing Education - Leap (hillingdon.gov.uk). Please also refer to the CME checklist below.
CHILDREN MISSING EDUCATION Check list (PDF) [115KB]
Autumn School Census
The autumn school census is about six weeks away. Key dates are:
· Census reference date: Thursday 05/10/2023
· Hillingdon Return Submission Deadline: Thursday 19/10/2023, this is the Thursday before half-term.
· Attendance data from: Easter Monday 10/04/2023 - 31/07/2023
· Summer second half-term attendance: 29/05/2023 to 31/07/2023.
· Exclusion's data: 01/01/2023 - 31/07/2023
· Leaner Funding and Monitoring: Any Learner FAM assigned and hours, where applicable since the beginning of the 2023 to 2024 academic year (from 01/08/2023) to students who are either on roll or off roll on census day (05/10/2023).
· Alternative provision placement data: 18/05/2023 - 04/10/2023 inclusive.
· Free school meal eligibility data: Periods of eligibility for free school meals with:
· an FSM eligibility start date and no FSM eligibility end date, or
· an FSM eligibility end date since the previous census, that is, on or after 19/05/2023 and up to and including the autumn census day (05/10/2023)
· Post-16 Learning Aims:
· For the current academic year covering the period from 01/08/2023 for pupils with a status of 'C' (current - single registration) or 'M' (current main - dual registration) who have been on roll and in actual national curriculum year group 12 or above,
· For the previous academic year covering the period from 01/08/2022 to 31/07/2023 inclusive for pupils who were on roll at any point during this period in actual national curriculum year group 12 or above. Learning aims are only required for those pupils with a pupil status of 'C' (current - single registration) or 'M' (current main - dual registration) at the time of the learning aims.
Guidance documents have been added to LEAP and can be found here: School Census
Marc Sherman, Data Analyst,Business Performance & Intelligence Team
Education Inclusion Toolkit
Hillingdon Council is committed to reducing suspensions and permanent exclusions locally for children displaying persistent disruptive behaviour due to unmet health, education, and social needs.
To support this the Education inclusion toolkit has been developed by the Hillingdon Safeguarding Partnership to support the reduction of suspensions and permanent exclusions by promoting the early identification of underpinning health, social or educational needs which may be detrimentally impacting a child's behaviour, learning experience, vulnerability to abuse and neglect, and development. The toolkit provides a range of support including, a three layer of intervention process, providing strategies and suggestions of process and an overview of existing support services available to children and families across education, health, and children and young people's services.
The toolkit should be used by teachers, support workers or year heads alongside SENCOs, and SLT to support all teachers and staff working directly with children displaying behaviour due to unmet health, education, and social needs.
Education Inclusion Toolkit - Leap (hillingdon.gov.uk)
Post-16 Update
On 8th August Hillingdon Council hosted a Careers Event targeted towards young people between the ages of 16-25 who are NEET or have no September Guarantee. 60 young people attended the event, even in the horrendous weather conditions! As part of the event 28 attendees completed a short survey which will help shape events in the future. In short, we have learned that 16/17 tends to be a key age in engaging young people back into education with a large proportion of this age group who are NEET wanting to return to education. If you would like to learn more about the data please drop an email to me at and I can share with you in-depth analysis.
We are nearing completion of the Post 16 Prospectus and thank you for those that have signed up for this year's version. The updated prospectus (which will be live next week) will include new features such as: pathway planning, work experience advice and support for young people who may wish to study further from 18 plus; through our Adult Education service, or through other industry led pathways.
During the Summer I have been busy planning for the academic year and hopefully as the weeks go on, I can further update you with some partnerships that we are looking to create to support Young People.
One scheme that I have discovered internally is a license that we hold with Young Enterprise in which Young People can be supported to create a business idea (see article below for more information). When meeting with the Universal Programme Co-ordinator it did get me thinking that maybe this could be a good aspirational programme to run for Young People who may be at risk of NEET, SEND, LAC or even create a pathway for those Young People who may want to go into employment Post 16/18. If you would like to express an interest please email me and I can set up a meeting with the Co-ordinator in order for you to understand the programme more and discuss who you would like the programme to be targeted towards, please also click on this link which provides detail around the programme à Introducing Company Programme and what's new for 2023-24! - YouTube
Mike Pearson, Post 16 Partnership Co-ordinator (MPearson@hillingdon.gov.uk)
Important - Changes to the EHM Portal
Please see below a briefing of changes to the EHM Portal for your information. Please cascade to the relevant staff in your schools.
Briefing of changes to Portal Referral form (PDF) [372KB]
New DSLs Meet & Greet Session - 12th September 2023
New DSLs are invited to a 30-minute online lunch 'meet and greet' on 12th September from 12 - 12.30 pm to meet the Education Safeguarding team. We will explain our roles and you will have a chance to ask any questions.
Please email Laura Clark to receive an MS Teams invite - lclarke@hillingdon.gov.uk
Hannah Ives - LADO
Nicole Diamond - Child Protection Lead for Education & Deputy LADO
Laura Clarke - Domestic Abuse Lead for Education
Development Day for DSLs - 13th October 2023
All DSLs are invited to a DSL Development Day on 13th October 2023. This day is aimed to support your work to evaluate how you meet statutory safeguarding obligations by working with DSLs from other Hillingdon schools and settings.
This one-day event will provide the opportunity for you to:
- Reflect on some of the key self-evaluation themes and questions with other DSLs
- Share examples of your practice that are effective to help other DSLs improve their practice
- To learn from how other schools & settings address safeguarding to support you in your work
- This will then help you self-evaluate your practice in an interactive, practice and resource sharing way
The event will take place at ACS Hillingdon International School, 108 Vine Lane, Hillingdon UB10 0BE.
There will be no cost to schools, academies or FE providers. Due to limits of space, one representative from each school or setting can attend.
Please register to attend here by 29th September.
Governor Training & Briefing Sessions for 2023/24
Governors and Clerks are invited to attend our training sessions planned for 2023/24. Briefing sessions will no longer be live sessions due to low attendance, instead we have put together information slides from services to read at your convenience.
Please use this link to access the information and to sign up to the training sessions: Governor Training Sessions & Service Briefing Information 2023/24
Finance Information Sharing & Networking Sessions
Thank you to everyone that attended the finance information sessions last term. For those who were unable to attend you can watch the session and access the slides used here: Finance Information Sharing & Networking Sessions July 2023 - Leap (hillingdon.gov.uk)
The next sessions are:
- Tuesday 12th September - Cost cutting whilst keeping the quality of provision as good as possible
- Wednesday 20th September - Grant / Procurement / Income generation
- Tuesday 26th September - Sharing resources / Marketing
Suitable for Headteachers/SLT, SBMs and governors, sessions will be held online via MS Teams from 4.30 - 5.30pm.
Please sign up HERE. MS Teams links to join will be sent by email shortly before each session.
Educational Visits Coordinator Training 2023/24
This year's Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC) training is being offered again to Hillingdon schools by Evolve Advice Ltd. This is an annual requirement for maintained schools but is open to academies to also attend.
On: Tuesday 14th November 2023
Time: 9.30 am - 12.30 pm
Full details and sign up information can be found here.
Please see this link to LEAP for further information on Evolve.
Head Teachers' Termly Meetings - dates for your diary
Autumn 2023 - Tuesday 7th November 10 am - 12 pm
Spring 2024 - Tuesday 12th March 10 am - 12 pm
Summer 2024 - Tuesday 18th June 10 am - 12 pm
Meetings will be held via MS Teams. Agendas and links to join the meetings will be shared nearer the time.
Universal Youth Services Accredited Programmes
We have had another successful year with Young Enterprise, and we will be looking to start another company this term. Participants will learn business skills as they set up and run their company everything from product design, marketing, sourcing materials & financial management alongside personal and life skills such as teamwork & communication. The company program runs from late September to July and we welcome participants who are school year 9+. There is an enrolment fee of £15 and participants need to put in an amount they agree as a group (£5.00 - £15.00 typically) to purchase initial materials, unless they wish to fund raise to get this seed money.
The group will meet weekly during term time on Tuesday from 5 - 7 pm at Uxbridge Family Hub. This venue is central in Hillingdon and has good transport links to the whole borough. Please watch Introducing Company Programme and what's new for 2023-24! - YouTube to find out more or get in touch if you have questions.
Duke of Edinburgh's Award is for anyone in year 9+ who would be interested in taking part in the Award outside of school. We run 3 sessions per week across the borough where you can enrol for the Award at Bronze, Silver, or Gold level. Anyone enrolled through your school can also attend these sessions and take part in a range of activities with other Award participants. We run our own expeditions at each level and welcome participants enrolled through schools who cannot take part in expeditions with them. We work with participants up to the age of 25.
In addition, we will be offering Sports, Dance & STEM Leaders Awards at Level 1. These are accredited programmes where participants gain personal and leadership skill through Sport, Dance or STEM projects. Participants should be year 9+ and would need to attend 1 session each week for a minimum of 12 weeks, day and venue to be decided for each course.
All programmes are open to students who live, educated or is LAC in Hillingdon. Please share this information with your students at the start of the new school term. Expressions of interest or any queries can be directed to myself.
Maggie Ditchburn, Program Coordinator,Universal Youth Service (Mditchburn@hillingdon.gov.uk)
Healthy Schools London
Please be aware the Healthy Schools London programme has been refreshed and the templates and standards are now replaced with a new framework.
Please contact Julia Heggie, Borough Lead for Healthy Schools at jheggie@hillingdon.gov.uk before starting or resuming any planning. This will ensure your approach can be aligned to the new framework.
Letter from NHS England and Ipsos Mori for Secondary Schools
Please see letter below from Gary Childs, Assistant Director of Data & Analytics of NHS England, and Sam Clemens, Research Director at Ipsos Mori, on the launch of the NHSE survey on drinking, drugs, and alcohol use amongst young people.
NHS England Ipsos Mori Letter Hillingdon (PDF) [147KB]
Team Teach Level 1 and Level 2 Courses
Team Teach Level 1 4th October 2023 at St Mary's Catholic School
Team Teach Level 1 17th January 2024 at St Mary's Catholic School
Team Teach Level 2 19th & 20th March 2024 (venue TBC)
Team Teach Level 1 23rd May 2024 at St Mary's Catholic School
Click here to view Team Teach Level 1 agenda.pdf
Click here to view Team Teach Level 2 agenda.pdf
To check availability and reserve your space, please email info@changing-behaviour.co.uk with the following details:
· Name, job title and email address of person/s wishing to attend
· Name and address of school
· Contact name and email address for invoicing
Hillingdon Parent Carers Forum Event - please share with parents / carers
Hillingdon Parent Carers Forum (PDF) [560KB]
Could You Foster a Child with Hillingdon Council? -please share with staff / parents / carers
Could you foster a child? If you have a spare bedroom and a caring heart, why not find out about fostering opportunities with Hillingdon Council?
The children we look after need different types of care; so we welcome carers from all backgrounds.
Attend a fostering information session where you can talk to a foster carer and we can help you work out the best type of care you could offer.
Find out more: www.hillingdon.gov.uk/fostering
Can Your School Support Fostering at Your Open Days/Evenings?
If you are able to support foster carer recruitment by way of an information table at your Autumn open day/evening, we would be grateful. We would need just a little space near the entrance to hand out leaflets or where parents/carers/ the community can stop by for more info.
If you can support, please contact sportic@hillingdon.gov.uk
School Invitation to Participate in Research - Social Media: Exploring the Perspectives of Adolescents aged 13 -15
Dear all,
My name is Stacy-Ann Williams, and I am on a two-year placement in Ealing Borough Council's Educational Psychology Service as a Trainee Educational and Child Psychologist completing a Doctorate in Educational and Child Psychology (DECPsy) at the University College of London (UCL).
I am emailing you with an exciting opportunity to participate in a research project to understand adolescents' perspectives on social media's benefits, associated risk factors, and how they mitigate these risks as they navigate these ever-evolving technologies.
I am looking for schools to support my research by helping me to locate participants for my study and providing room to carry out a focus group with 6-8 pupils. I am looking for pupils between the ages of 13-15 (but ideally in Year 9 or 10).
If this interests you, I would be happy to have a Microsoft Teams meeting with an appropriate staff member (SENCO, Designated Safeguarding Lead, Head of Year etc.) to briefly discuss the study or potential participants and all other details. Your SENCO may have already received an email from your school's link EP; if that is the case, this is a follow-up to that request, and I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this further.
In return for participation, I am offering free training, which will be tailored to the unique characteristics and needs of the school. The training content can be presented to staff, parents/ guardians or pupils based on the needs and requirements of the organisation regarding social media usage and online safety.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch to ask me any questions. I look forward to hearing from you and working with your school to undertake this exciting research.
Kindest regards,
Stacy-Ann Williams (she/her)
Trainee Educational Psychologist (Year 2), Ealing Educational Psychology Service, University College London
Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, 26 Bedford Way, London, WC1H 0AP
Contact Details of the Researcher: stacy-ann.williams.18@ucl.ac.uk
Contact Details of the Principal Researcher: Dr Jessica Dewey jessica.dewey@ucl.ac.uk
Thesis Recruitment flyer (PDF) [1MB]
MyHealth Asthma Workshops - please share with staff / parents / carers
MyHealth are running FREE Asthma workshops for parents who have children with Asthma. These sessions are run by the Hillingdon Hospital asthma nurses giving you the chance to learn from health professionals and to ask them questions directly. Some of the content included in these sessions is:
• Asthma attacks
• Asthma triggers
• Inhaler techniques
• Asthma action plans
The workshop is run online using ZOOM you can register your FREE place HERE.
All sessions are from 4 - 5 pm and current dates are:
- Monday 2nd October
- Monday 6th November
You can also contact the MyHealth team on tel: 01895 543 437 or nhsnwlccg.myhealth@nhs.net.
Brilliant Parents Fundraising Quiz Night - please share with staff / parents / carers
British Dyslexia Association - Assessment Bursaries
From time to time, and subject to available funding, the British Dyslexia Association can offer bursaries to individuals to support with the cost of accessing diagnostic assessments.
Eligible individuals can benefit from bursaries covering up to 90 percent of the assessment costs. Applications for bursaries for individuals aged 12 and up from low-income households are now open for a limited period.
If you feel someone you know could benefit from an assessment bursary, you can find more information here about eligibility criteria and how to make an application.
Regards,
Abi Preston
Director of Education & SEND
Children's Services, London Borough of Hillingdon, 4E/07, Civic Centre, Uxbridge UB8 1UW
