11th December 2023

Dear Colleagues,

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

London Borough of Hillingdon Schools Forum - Election of Academy School Members

Please see letter from Chair of Schools Forum and nomination form.

Schools Forum Academy Membership Elections December 2023 (PDF) [109KB]

Academies - Elections Schools Nomination Form December 2023 (Word doc) [71KB]

Banded Funding Review

Following feedback, we are carrying out a review of the Banded Funding model across Hillingdon. The intended outcomes of this work are to support and inform:

• a shared understanding of the range and levels of needs across Hillingdon schools and how that compares with other areas
• a transparent and equitable system of resource allocation across Hillingdon with clear co-produced matrices of need, provision and then matching this to funding
• identification of potential changes to the current system
• improvement in the quality and clarity of EHCPs
• evidencing the impact of resourcing on children and young people's outcomes

As part of this we have commissioned an external consultant to carry out a desk top review and to work with us and partners on the next steps.  Attached below is a copy of the report on the initial phase, which includes recommendations to take forward. A working group has been set up to help identify and implement the actions needed.

Hillingdon Initial Report - Banding Review Phase 1 Desktop Analysis Final Nov 23 (PDF) [400KB]

If you would like to be part of this group or would like to nominate your SENDCo or someone else from your school, please contact Abi Preston APreston@hillingdon.gov.uk We currently have primary and special school representatives on the group, and are particularly keen to also have early years and secondary representatives.

Competition Time!

Please encourage your children and young people to enter our Design a Logo Competition for the Hillingdon Local Area Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Partnership.

The logo needs to represent the partnership between Education (schools and the Council), Health (e.g. Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy, GPs etc) and Social Care and Voluntary Sector (e.g. HACS, Centre for ADHD and Autism, Hillingdon Parent Carer Forum etc). We are looking for children and young people to design our logo and help to represent our partnership with children at the heart of everything!

The competition is open to all children and young people from 4- 19 (or up to 25 with SEND). Please encourage your young learners to get involved - perhaps a project before Christmas. The logo will be used on all partnership documents in relation to SEND.

The winner will receive a £50 Love to Shop voucher. Children and young people need parents' permission to share their name and the school on the winning entry. This is open to all children but it would be extra special if the winning entry came from one of our children or young people with SEND.

See the poster for more details:  Design a Logo Competition for Children in Hillingdon (PDF) [287KB]

SEND & Inclusion Newsletter

Please see latest newsletter here  to be shared with staff.

NASEN Training

Please see NASEN Training Information to share with your staff.

IMPORTANT: Please share this information with your parents / carers and Pastoral Leads

Household Support Fund 

This grant is to support low-income households with the cost of food, utilities and related costs (and essential goods, in exceptional circumstances).    Please see Household Support Fund - Hillingdon Council for full details.

Winter Holidays Activities & Food Programme

The HAF winter programme will be delivered from Tuesday 2nd to Friday 5th January 2024.  The programme is open to school-aged children (reception to year 11) who receive benefits-related free school meals.

Please see: HAF Information for parents - Hillingdon Council

Universal Free School Meals in London Primary Schools

Second Milestone Payment:  The LA have requested the second milestone payment of 25% of the total allocation. Once received, arrangements will be made to ensure the funding is included in the January 2024 cash advance payment to schools.

Claims above 90% take up: Funding for this scheme has been based on an assumed uptake rate of 90%. Schools that can evidence uptake above 90% will be able to claim additional funding.  

Schools will be required to submit evidence to the LA by 28^th March 2024 in the form of snapshot data of school meal uptake at two points of the year. Further information about how this will work can be found in the guidance document below and available on the resource hubs. The deadline for claims to be submitted to the GLA is 30^th April, after which the UFSM team will review, and aim to issue funding to successful boroughs before the end of May. 

Please note all submissions will need to be made to the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO) Nav Minhas, nminhas@hillingdon.gov.uk at Hillingdon by 28^th March.

UFSM Guidance for monitoring above 90 per cent (PDF) [258KB]

Restorative Justice Training for Schools

Restorative approaches enable those who have been harmed to convey the impact of the harm to those responsible, and for those responsible to acknowledge this impact and take steps to put it right.  It brings those harmed and those responsible into communication, enabling everyone affected by a particular incident to play a part in repairing the harm and finding a positive way forward.

It can be used to address a variety of issues such as bullying, classroom disruption, antisocial behaviour and disputes between pupils, their families, and members of staff.  Restorative justice can help to reduce the recurrence of these issues by facilitating communication and understanding between those affected and increasing levels of empathy.

Restorative justice is regularly used by Hillingdon Youth Justice Service to address harm caused between children and victims and they would very much like to be able to share these skills with schools across the borough, to assist them in addressing issues that may arise.  They would like to offer Restorative training to all schools and very much hope this will be of interest.

The training will be held at the Civic Centre and the dates are:

Thursday 11.01.2024 - 10am - 4pm

Thursday 01.02.2024 - 10am - 4pm

Here is the direct link to the course - Course: Restorative Justice Training for Schools (learningpool.com)

All bookings will need to be made via Learning Zone.

Learn Hillingdon - Can You Help with Volunteering Placements?

Here at Learn Hillingdon we offer learners qualifications that help them get into work. These qualifications require a practical placement, so that they can gain some experience. In the new year we will be looking for placements for:

• Supporting Teaching and Learning Level 2 Certificate - The learner must have a placement in a school for at least 6 hours per week working directly with children in year 1 or above for the duration of the qualification course (approximately 12 months).
• Business Administration Level 1 Certificate - The learner must have a placement in an admin office for at least 6 hours per week supporting the 'office team' including - answering phones, taking messages, producing documents and sending emails. The volunteering placement is required for the duration of the qualification course (approximately 12 months).

One of our qualified and experienced assessors will be coming into the workplace, at least twice to observe the 'learner' in the volunteering placement. You will benefit from having some extra support and the learner will benefit from having practical experience.

To offer a Teaching Assistant placement contact tdonnelly@hillingdon.gov.uk

To offer a Business Admin Assistant placement contact ffelton@hillingdon.gov.uk

Hillingdon Youth Council

As we prepare for the Christmas Holidays Hillingdon Youth Council is planning for events in the new year, most notably the Make Your Mark Ballot and the election of members to the UK Youth Parliament, MYP's.

MYP Elections - To run for election in Hillingdon the candidate must be aged 11 on the date of the election and up to 18 when their 2-year term of office finishes. To be eligible to stand they must live, work or volunteer for a minimum of 14 hours per week or be in education for more than the equivalent of three school days a week, in the London Borough of Hillingdon.

An application pack is attached with details for interested parties, it identifies the timeline from now until the election, all applications must be received by the 15^th December 2023. Candidates should also try to attend Hillingdon Youth Council meeting at the Civic Centre on Mondays from 4.30 - 6.30 pm to get a feel for what the role entails. I recommend only one candidate stands per school or the vote is split and reduces the chance of success.

The election will take place between the 12^th & 23^rd February 2024 and the MYP's 2-year term of office begins when they are registered on the 28^th March 2024.

Youth Conference -As part of the election and MYP ballot process we will be hosting a Youth Conference at Ruislip Young Peoples Centre on Thursday 25^th January from 1 - 3 pm. Candidates will have an opportunity to introduce themselves and their manifesto, delegates will also be able to discuss the topics which will feature on the MYM ballot, You are invited to bring up to 4 young people to represent your school at this event; an Eventbrite link will follow shortly.

Make Your Mark Ballot -This is a national poll of all 11-18 year olds in the UK as such it is the largest ballot  of young people in the country. All of your students are eligible to vote between 29th January - 8th March.  The ballot can be scheduled in school to suit your requirements, you can elect to vote on line, to record a show of hands as a tally or to have ballot papers. This can be done in conjunction with the MYP elections. I can provide ballot boxes for the votes and arrange to collect them after the event if you would like, this can provide. There are 10 topics on the ballot paper selected by national & regional steering groups made up of MYP's and debated at the annual conference, which took place in July, the ballot will inform the UK Youth Parliaments  you can see a promotional video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bq8OLreICA.

Some schools arrange for the votes to be counted in school, this is ok for Make Your Mark Votes although BYC/UKYP would recommend that for the purpose of secrecy that votes for MYP's are not counted by students, especially in establishments where there is a candidate. You may have former young people or staff that can help with vote counting alternatively you can return ballot boxes with the ballot papers in them, and we can do the count and notify you of the results.

Hillingdon Youth Council Members - Another way your school can get involved in the democratic life of young people in Hillingdon is to nominate 2 representatives to the Youth Council; they can be elected or selected for these posts, the important thing is that they have access to the student body and can represent their peers at Youth Council meetings. HYC meetings take place weekly through term time, with a formal meeting the 1^st Monday of the month being mandatory. Representatives from Youth Council can attend safer neighbourhood boards, the London Youth Assembly, & council select committees among others; they engage in consultations and social action projects on behalf of Hillingdon's young residents and attend a number of Youth Con events for London & the Southeast. Click  here  to a video of their most recent project. Also attached below is a membership application to HYC.

InformationforUKYPElections 2024 (Word doc) [5MB]

Membership form HYC (Word doc) [30KB]

Any queries can be directed to Maggie Ditchburn, Specialist & Accredited Programmes, Universal Youth Service. E-Mail: Mditchburn@hillingdon.gov.uk   

Giglets

Giglets are delighted to work in partnership with the children's charity Kids Out, which has purchased a number of subscriptions to support reading of children from disadvantaged backgrounds nationwide. The subscriptions are one-year pilots and to be distributed free of charge to schools, with a high proportion of EAL / SEND / PPG children, who would benefit from using Giglets but have no budget at present.

There are a limited number of these subscriptions available to offer Hillingdon schools, so please use this link to schedule a call or email alistair.munro@giglets.com, to register your interest or to find out more. Subscriptions are offered on a first come first serve basis.

The Council is not endorsing this product, we are sharing for your information.

Regards,

Abi Preston

Director of Education & SEND

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