27th November 2023

Dear Colleagues,

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

Primary Language Link

Thank you to all the schools who responded to the offer of a free subscription to Language Link. All schools who already use Language Link but whose subscriptions have, or will expire in this Autumn term, have initially been extended to the 31^st of December. This will ensure there is no disruption to access. Details on new subscriptions will be shared shortly.

Reporting Serious Incidents to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE)

All work-related incidents mist be recorded on Assure at the earliest opportunity, ideally within 48 hours of occurrence. The Health & Safety Team monitor these reports to identify those that may be reportable to the HSE. If one is identified, we will contact the school for more information and the Health & Safety Team will make the report to the HSE on your behalf to ensure all relevant/appropriate information is provided.

Schools should always aim to complete their investigations within 10 days of the incident as this helps the team write the report to the HSE and ensure the Council complies with the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013

Guidance on how to report incidents on Assure and investigate them can be found at the bottom of the school's portal for Assure.

Census - Errors & Queries Identified in COLLECT

During the school census a few schools came perilously close to losing their Post-16 Funding because they did not address their Errors and especially Queries in their returns.  Both errors and queries must be addressed otherwise the DfE will not Authorise your return.

Errors occur when data validation rules are broken.  In previous weekly updates the validation rules have been sent to you.  Examples of data issues causing errors are the return contains an 'illegal character', a value may be out of range, or data is missing.  You must correct all errors.

A Query is where the data is unusual or unexpected which could mean an inaccuracy or omission in the data, for example, where: no pupils are reported as having special educational needs, or there is a probability of data being omitted such as suspensions or permanent exclusions.  You must investigate all queries and either amend the data or provide suitable notepad explanations in COLLECT.

Please take the time to read the DfE's guidance: Complete the school census - Check your data - Guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

It is not Hillingdon's responsibility to fix your errors or queries, once you have submitted your return please check COLLECT for errors and queries.  This is your data, your funding, and your pupils, please do not expect Hillingdon to know your school and data better than you.

The Workforce census opened on Thursday 02/11/2023, it closes on 01/12/2023.  As of Thursday 23^rd November; 10 schools have not submitted their return, 20 have submitted but have errors/queries that must be addressed, and 21 are either Approved or DfE Authorised.

Please log into COLLECT to check your errors and address the following.  The two errors prevalent are 7240Q and 6560Q.

• 7240Q - no teacher vacancy records.  If this is correct, please add this return level note "7240Q - We confirm there are no vacancies in this school".  If these exact words on not used this error will not be auto-OKed.
• 6560Q - The school has School Business Professionals, but none are on the SLT. Please check and confirm this is correct.  If correct, please add this return level note "6560Q - Checked and correct". Once again please use this exact wording.

Attached below are some documents that can assist you. 

Viewing your errors and queries in COLLECT (PDF) [547KB]

Adding Notes for Queries in COLLECT (PDF) [362KB]

Collect Guide for schools July-2019 (PDF) [2MB]

SWF_Minimum_Notepad_Entries_Guide_2023 (PDF) [172KB]

Thank you to all the schools that have uploaded.

Please contact schoolcensus@hillingdon.gov.uk with any other questions.

The Data Team

Learn Hillingdon - Professional Development Qualification Courses

Learn Hillingdon have a great offer for all your support staff. These qualification courses will underpin staff knowledge and ensure they have the most up to date information and skills to support children and young people.

Please contact tdonnelly@hae-acl.ac.uk or lflannery@hae-acl.ac.uk for more information and to enrol.  Other courses can be found at Learn Hillingdon - Hillingdon Council.

Hillingdon Parents and Carers Forum

Hillingdon Parents and Carers Forum are hoping to attract parents and carers to join the group to support families and children with SEND. Please share the attached information with your parents and carers. Their work is vital and supports change and improvement of services in the LA for children and families with SEND.

HPCF 2023 (PDF) [73KB]

Regards,

Abi Preston

Director of Education & SEND

Children's Services, London Borough of Hillingdon, 4E/07, Civic Centre, Uxbridge UB8 1UW