LA Education Weekly Update

3rd February 2025

This email can also be viewed online here

Dear Colleagues,

Please forward this email to the leads in your settings or team members who might be interested in the content, so they can follow up the relevant offers. Thank you in advance.

Reminders:
Primaries should sign up for the Benefits of a Nutritious Breakfast Webinar for Hillingdon Schools HERE	on 06/02/25 4-5 pm
Year 6 teachers can sign up to KS2 Writing Assessment and Moderation Briefing Session 2 HERE	on 13/02/25
DSLs can sign up to attend 'Strengthening Safeguarding: Best Practices for School Leaders' HERE	on 04/04/25
Schools' Forum meeting papers can be accessed here	Ongoing
Emergency closures of all schools must be reported to education@hillingdon.gov.uk	Ongoing
Notification of Critical Incident can be found here	Ongoing
Education Services contacts can be found here	Ongoing
Hillingdon LEAP can be accessed for information and guidance for all settings	Ongoing
HLP Course Booking	Ongoing

For Action All Schools:
Head Teachers' Termly - Spring 2025 The next meeting is on Tuesday 11^th March at 10 am - 12 pm via MS Teams. Agenda and link to join will be shared shortly.
Safeguarding Partnership New Practice Briefings To mark this year's Safer Internet Day and the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM the Safeguarding Partnership have published briefings to raise awareness of key resources and best practice. Access them here: International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM Safer Internet Day 2025 Please circulate widely to anyone you think may be interested.
Reviewed Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) We are pleased to share the reviewed version of the Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) Guidance below. This review was conducted by a multi-agency team across the SEND Local Area Partnership, incorporating the latest amendments based on feedback from school professionals during the consultation process. These revisions aim to enhance our support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and ensure that all children and young people receive the necessary resources and interventions to succeed. We believe that these updates will significantly enhance our ability to support every child in our schools. We appreciate everyone's involvement and commitment to implementing this framework effectively. As with all guidance, we hope that this framework will remain under ongoing review as we learn from best practices across Hillingdon. We will be collating further feedback and questions, which will then be addressed by the OAP working group at the stage of the review. Hillingdon-Ordinarily-Available-Provision-2025/pdf OAP- Consultation Feedback (PDF, 294 KB)
Early Support Funding Guidance We are delighted to announce the successful completion of the Early Support Funding review by the working group. This funding is designed to provide short-term additional support, helping to bridge the gap for statutory school-aged children whose needs exceed what would ordinarily be expected at SEND support. Key changes in the guidance include: Funding is designated for statutory school-aged children, while Early Years Inclusion Funding is available for children in school nurseries and PVIs. Two funding levels will be available, allocated based on need and evidence on required provision. Funding will be provided for up to six months (two terms). For the final term, an evaluation form (Microsoft form) must be completed and submitted, accompanied with an updated 'My Support Plan' to detail how funding can be used to close the gap. Applications submitted from September to December are currently being processed. Payments for these applications will be issued in the coming months and will be backdated accordingly. These applications will adhere to the new guidance. January panel has taken place, and decision letters will be processed next week. For any queries, please contact SASadmin@hillingdon.gov.uk ESF Guidance
New Family Hub Network Training We are excited to announce that Family Hub Network training is now available on the Hillingdon Council Learning Zone for staff and community partners working with children, young people and families in Hillingdon.  This free training will help you gain an understanding of what support services are available across Hillingdon for children and young people from birth to 19-years-old - and up to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities - and identify need early. All training is available via Learning Zone Hillingdon Learning Zone: Log in to the site if you need help accessing this website, please email us. Upcoming training: Aimed at professionals who work with young families: 5th February, 9am to 12:30pm - Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Training - Staff will gain further support with recognising and detecting signs and symptoms of various mental health illnesses and the red flags to look out for. Along with information on the referral pathway and support that can be sort. 25th February, 9:30am to 11am- Brushing for Life & Bottle to cup - Provides staff with the key information that is needed to promote good oral health Aimed at professionals who work across the 0-19 age range (and up to 25 years with SEND): 7th February, 10am to 11am - FIS- Family in need funding (& other funding schemes for families with children 0-11yrs or 0-16 if disabled)  14th February, 11am to 12:30am - Introduction to the Family Hub Network - This session will increase your awareness of what services are available across Hillingdon. We look at a range of case scenarios across the age range, to see how to best support children, young people and families holistically. 26th February 3-4pm - Green Doctors - The session will cover fuel poverty, the energy crisis, behavioural change, cade studies and how Green Doctors can help eligible residents. 28th February, 9:30am to 12pm - Five to Thrive - Why people need people - For staff working with children and families who want to understand about brain development, attachment and the Five to Thrive evidence-based model. Please share within your teams and if you have any questions or need help with anything then please do not hesitate to contact us via email: familyhubtraining@hillingdon.gov.uk
National School Governors' Awareness Day - Thursday 13^th February 2025 To celebrate the work of school governors, Governors for Schools are running a free online event for governors to attend. They will be delivering seven live sessions throughout the day, each focussing on key governance topics for 2025. The informative webinars will look at a range of issues that are currently impacting school governance including regulatory challenges as well as practical advice for your role as a governor. Please do take advantage of this opportunity and to further develop your governance knowledge. Please click HERE for more details and to sign up for as many workshops as you wish.
SEND Post 16 School Travel Policy Consultation 2025 As part of our commitment to supporting young people, the Council has a responsibility to publish the annual Post 16 travel policy. This year, we are taking the opportunity to review and consult on this policy to ensure it provides greater flexibility and promotes independence for young people. The consultation on potential changes will start on 17th January 2025 and will be concluded 28th February 2025. For more information about the policy, proposal and how to respond to the consultation please use the following link: www.hillingdon.gov.uk/send-travel-consultation
Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) Programme As with the first year of the scheme, allocations for the Mayor's Universal Free School Meals in the second year were based on an uptake rate of 90% and provision is again being made for any schools that exceed 90%. The process will be like that used last year. In order to apply for this additional funding, you will need to complete this form here during the week commencing 3^rd March 2025. Schools with a high proportion of children practising Ramadan may wish to choose the week before to collect data, i.e. the week commencing 24^th February 2025. The form should be submitted by email to Nav Minhas nminhas@hillingdon.gov.uk by Friday 14^th March 2025. Please ensure that the data form is checked by your head teacher prior to submission. Submitting the form to the GLA through the local authority will be taken by the GLA as confirmation that the return has been authorised by the head teacher. As part of the GLA's checking procedure, schools may be asked to provide further information before any funding is issued, particularly if data is missing or incomplete in forms. Please note that the additional funding will directly reflect the percentage uptake above 90 per cent. For example, for a claim showing 96 per cent meal uptake, the school will receive 6 per cent more funding than their original allocation. This additional funding will initially be issued to the borough, and then to the school in July 2025. If schools have experienced an increase in pupil intake during this academic year, they should contact their borough to notify the GLA via a separate process. Please note that claiming this additional funding is optional and only schools where the pupil meal uptake rate is over 90 per cent are eligible. Further information can be found in the guidance attached or at Claiming additional funding for meals uptake above 90 per cent \| London City Hall. Please contact Nav Minhas nminhas@hillingdon.gov.uk with any enquiries.
South Hillingdon School Sports Network Please see pdf below for the South Hillingdon School Sports Network (SHSSN) packages. SHSSN Packages 2025-27 (PDF, 2 MB) We are reaching out to a wider of network of schools to offer you the opportunity to become a SHSSN schools for the either a one-year commitment 2025-26 or for two years 2025-27. However, we currently only have staffing available to recruit either three silver schools or one gold school or you can join at a bronze level. The following schools are current members: Gold schools: John Locke, Silver schools: Yeading Infants, Oak Farm, Highfield Bronze Schools: Hayes Park, Wood End Park, Pinkwell, Hillingdon, Colham Manor, St Andrews, St Bernadettes, Ryefield, Yeading Junior, Grange Park Minet Infants Please reach out to anyone you know in these schools for testimonies or let me know if you would like me to provide a connection for you. Please remember. SHSSN runs as a non-profit organisation, with a Trustee Board made up of Primary Headteachers to whom the budget is presented. The current government spending review does include the PE and Sports Premium and SGO funding. Sport England have indicated that this will hopefully be completed for the SGO Funding by the end of February when the DHSC's standard finances are completed. Due to some of the PE and Sports Premium funding coming from the same source, hopefully it will also be confirmed at this point. We hope that any announcement will again be for at least 2 years, as it was for 2023-2025. Therefore, we are looking to also run our SLA for 2 years. If you sign up now for two years, we will also freeze the same annual cost of 2026-27. However, if you do not want this and only want to sign up for a year, please let us know. As always, this SLA agreement is subject to confirmed continued funding for the PE and Sport Premium. Please can you confirm if you are planning to sign up by Friday 14^th February. This is so that we can secure staffing and start planning timetable for schools, thus also providing schools with enough time to react to any potential impacts. Whilst we will try to ensure that all schools get the package/timetable they would like, it will be done on a first come first serve basis. Any queries can be directed to Becci Cooke, School Games Organiser, Barnhill Community High & South Hillingdon School Sports Network at bcooke@barnhill.school.
*Please share with parents / carers* Learn Hillingdon Spring Activities WFL Flyer Spring 25 Sessions (PDF, 126 KB)

For Action All Schools:

Head Teachers' Termly - Spring 2025

The next meeting is on Tuesday 11^th March at 10 am - 12 pm via MS Teams. Agenda and link to join will be shared shortly.

Safeguarding Partnership New Practice Briefings

To mark this year's Safer Internet Day and the International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM the Safeguarding Partnership have published briefings to raise awareness of key resources and best practice.

Access them here:

International Day of Zero Tolerance for FGM

Safer Internet Day 2025

Please circulate widely to anyone you think may be interested.

Reviewed Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP)

We are pleased to share the reviewed version of the Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) Guidance below. This review was conducted by a multi-agency team across the SEND Local Area Partnership, incorporating the latest amendments based on feedback from school professionals during the consultation process. These revisions aim to enhance our support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and ensure that all children and young people receive the necessary resources and interventions to succeed.

We believe that these updates will significantly enhance our ability to support every child in our schools. We appreciate everyone's involvement and commitment to implementing this framework effectively.

As with all guidance, we hope that this framework will remain under ongoing review as we learn from best practices across Hillingdon. We will be collating further feedback and questions, which will then be addressed by the OAP working group at the stage of the review.

Hillingdon-Ordinarily-Available-Provision-2025/pdf

OAP- Consultation Feedback (PDF, 294 KB)

Early Support Funding Guidance

We are delighted to announce the successful completion of the Early Support Funding review by the working group. This funding is designed to provide short-term additional support, helping to bridge the gap for statutory school-aged children whose needs exceed what would ordinarily be expected at SEND support.

Key changes in the guidance include:

Funding is designated for statutory school-aged children, while Early Years Inclusion Funding is available for children in school nurseries and PVIs.
Two funding levels will be available, allocated based on need and evidence on required provision.
Funding will be provided for up to six months (two terms).
For the final term, an evaluation form (Microsoft form) must be completed and submitted, accompanied with an updated 'My Support Plan' to detail how funding can be used to close the gap.

Applications submitted from September to December are currently being processed. Payments for these applications will be issued in the coming months and will be backdated accordingly. These applications will adhere to the new guidance. January panel has taken place, and decision letters will be processed next week.

For any queries, please contact SASadmin@hillingdon.gov.uk

ESF Guidance

New Family Hub Network Training

We are excited to announce that Family Hub Network training is now available on the Hillingdon Council Learning Zone for staff and community partners working with children, young people and families in Hillingdon. 

This free training will help you gain an understanding of what support services are available across Hillingdon for children and young people from birth to 19-years-old - and up to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities - and identify need early. All training is available via Learning Zone Hillingdon Learning Zone: Log in to the site if you need help accessing this website, please email us.

Upcoming training:

Aimed at professionals who work with young families:

5th February, 9am to 12:30pm - Perinatal & Infant Mental Health Training - Staff will gain further support with recognising and detecting signs and symptoms of various mental health illnesses and the red flags to look out for. Along with information on the referral pathway and support that can be sort.
25th February, 9:30am to 11am- Brushing for Life & Bottle to cup - Provides staff with the key information that is needed to promote good oral health

Aimed at professionals who work across the 0-19 age range (and up to 25 years with SEND):

7th February, 10am to 11am - FIS- Family in need funding (& other funding schemes for families with children 0-11yrs or 0-16 if disabled) 
14th February, 11am to 12:30am - Introduction to the Family Hub Network - This session will increase your awareness of what services are available across Hillingdon. We look at a range of case scenarios across the age range, to see how to best support children, young people and families holistically.
26th February 3-4pm - Green Doctors - The session will cover fuel poverty, the energy crisis, behavioural change, cade studies and how Green Doctors can help eligible residents.
28th February, 9:30am to 12pm - Five to Thrive - Why people need people - For staff working with children and families who want to understand about brain development, attachment and the Five to Thrive evidence-based model.

Please share within your teams and if you have any questions or need help with anything then please do not hesitate to contact us via email: familyhubtraining@hillingdon.gov.uk

National School Governors' Awareness Day - Thursday 13^th February 2025

To celebrate the work of school governors, Governors for Schools are running a free online event for governors to attend. They will be delivering seven live sessions throughout the day, each focussing on key governance topics for 2025. The informative webinars will look at a range of issues that are currently impacting school governance including regulatory challenges as well as practical advice for your role as a governor. Please do take advantage of this opportunity and to further develop your governance knowledge.

Please click HERE for more details and to sign up for as many workshops as you wish.

SEND Post 16 School Travel Policy Consultation 2025

As part of our commitment to supporting young people, the Council has a responsibility to publish the annual Post 16 travel policy. This year, we are taking the opportunity to review and consult on this policy to ensure it provides greater flexibility and promotes independence for young people.

The consultation on potential changes will start on 17th January 2025 and will be concluded 28th February 2025.

For more information about the policy, proposal and how to respond to the consultation please use the following link: www.hillingdon.gov.uk/send-travel-consultation

Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) Programme

As with the first year of the scheme, allocations for the Mayor's Universal Free School Meals in the second year were based on an uptake rate of 90% and provision is again being made for any schools that exceed 90%.

The process will be like that used last year. In order to apply for this additional funding, you will need to complete this form here during the week commencing 3^rd March 2025.

Schools with a high proportion of children practising Ramadan may wish to choose the week before to collect data, i.e. the week commencing 24^th February 2025.

The form should be submitted by email to Nav Minhas nminhas@hillingdon.gov.uk by Friday 14^th March 2025. Please ensure that the data form is checked by your head teacher prior to submission. Submitting the form to the GLA through the local authority will be taken by the GLA as confirmation that the return has been authorised by the head teacher. As part of the GLA's checking procedure, schools may be asked to provide further information before any funding is issued, particularly if data is missing or incomplete in forms.

Please note that the additional funding will directly reflect the percentage uptake above 90 per cent. For example, for a claim showing 96 per cent meal uptake, the school will receive 6 per cent more funding than their original allocation. This additional funding will initially be issued to the borough, and then to the school in July 2025.

If schools have experienced an increase in pupil intake during this academic year, they should contact their borough to notify the GLA via a separate process.

Please note that claiming this additional funding is optional and only schools where the pupil meal uptake rate is over 90 per cent are eligible.

Further information can be found in the guidance attached or at Claiming additional funding for meals uptake above 90 per cent | London City Hall.

Please contact Nav Minhas nminhas@hillingdon.gov.uk with any enquiries.

South Hillingdon School Sports Network

Please see pdf below for the South Hillingdon School Sports Network (SHSSN) packages.

SHSSN Packages 2025-27 (PDF, 2 MB)

We are reaching out to a wider of network of schools to offer you the opportunity to become a SHSSN schools for the either a one-year commitment 2025-26 or for two years 2025-27. However, we currently only have staffing available to recruit either three silver schools or one gold school or you can join at a bronze level.

The following schools are current members:

Gold schools: John Locke,
Silver schools: Yeading Infants, Oak Farm, Highfield
Bronze Schools: Hayes Park, Wood End Park, Pinkwell, Hillingdon, Colham Manor, St Andrews, St Bernadettes, Ryefield, Yeading Junior, Grange Park Minet Infants

Please reach out to anyone you know in these schools for testimonies or let me know if you would like me to provide a connection for you.

Please remember. SHSSN runs as a non-profit organisation, with a Trustee Board made up of Primary Headteachers to whom the budget is presented.

The current government spending review does include the PE and Sports Premium and SGO funding. Sport England have indicated that this will hopefully be completed for the SGO Funding by the end of February when the DHSC's standard finances are completed. Due to some of the PE and Sports Premium funding coming from the same source, hopefully it will also be confirmed at this point. We hope that any announcement will again be for at least 2 years, as it was for 2023-2025.

Therefore, we are looking to also run our SLA for 2 years. If you sign up now for two years, we will also freeze the same annual cost of 2026-27. However, if you do not want this and only want to sign up for a year, please let us know. As always, this SLA agreement is subject to confirmed continued funding for the PE and Sport Premium.

Please can you confirm if you are planning to sign up by Friday 14^th February. This is so that we can secure staffing and start planning timetable for schools, thus also providing schools with enough time to react to any potential impacts. Whilst we will try to ensure that all schools get the package/timetable they would like, it will be done on a first come first serve basis.

Any queries can be directed to Becci Cooke, School Games Organiser, Barnhill Community High & South Hillingdon School Sports Network at bcooke@barnhill.school.

Please share with parents / carers

Learn Hillingdon Spring Activities

WFL Flyer Spring 25 Sessions (PDF, 126 KB)

For Action Secondary Schools:
Post 16 Update In partnership with Uxbridge College and Amazon Services an opportunity was provided for 90 young people (girls) to take part in a industry insight day at Uxbridge College to learn about coding, building robots and using virtual reality headsets. For some young people who attended (from underrepresented groups) this experience provided a valuable exposure to the idea of work and hopefully can play a part in transforming lives. This was all made possible through the excellent links with HRUC and the participation from Amazon at the last Careers Leaders Meeting. Some views were captured from some of the young people and staff who attended: 'As a Douay student, this opportunity has been incredibly exciting and fun. We get to experience a community that has the same interests as us. We would love to do this again and so grateful for this day and has made me see another side of technology. Food is yummy'. 'As a Bishopshalt student, I really enjoyed the activities. The food was good, and the day has been fun'. 'As Swakeleys students we really enjoyed the activities, and we enjoyed the food. The atmosphere was good! The teachers are nice and kind to us. All the activities are awesome and entertaining. The coding was awesome, and we have learned a lot at this memorable visit. It's been amazing it has been a pleasure to be here thankyou food all the goods'. 'We were fortunate enough to be selected as a school to participate in the first ever Girls in Tech Day in the UK at Uxbridge College.' 'Today has been an incredible day and experience for our pupils. The girls participated in 4 different interactive and engaging workshops to demonstrate the types of skills and qualities required to pursue careers in STEAM. They learnt how to code a Lego car to make it move, played classic retro games like Giant Operation & Whac-a-Mole, played with VR headsets to immerse themselves into the digital gaming world. All the workshops were educational but most importantly, engaging and fun. They also heard from an all-female panel currently employed in Tech about their jobs and career journeys.' 'The event was organised by Amazon Web Services and hosted by Uxbridge College. Throughout the day, we were very well looked after and treated to some amazing corporate hospitality. Lunch was a big hit with girls and consisted of a delicious pizza, waffle chips, sandwiches, fruit and even a lovely, personalised cupcake.' 'This has been an excellent event, reaching out to our younger generation of girls and opening their eyes to the world of Tech. Hopefully, today has exposed them to all the various skills and jobs opportunities that exist in the tech world for girls. Today, will for sure inspire the future generation to consider careers in Technology.' 'Experiencing these types of events really can change the lives and course of pupils as they start to consider their options and pathways for the future. We are so very grateful that we have been offered this opportunity, would like to thank Uxbridge College and Amazon Web Services for such a brilliant day, enjoyable and fantastic experience for everyone who attended.'

For Action Secondary Schools:

Post 16 Update

In partnership with Uxbridge College and Amazon Services an opportunity was provided for 90 young people (girls) to take part in a industry insight day at Uxbridge College to learn about coding, building robots and using virtual reality headsets. For some young people who attended (from underrepresented groups) this experience provided a valuable exposure to the idea of work and hopefully can play a part in transforming lives. This was all made possible through the excellent links with HRUC and the participation from Amazon at the last Careers Leaders Meeting.

Some views were captured from some of the young people and staff who attended:

'As a Douay student, this opportunity has been incredibly exciting and fun. We get to experience a community that has the same interests as us. We would love to do this again and so grateful for this day and has made me see another side of technology. Food is yummy'.

'As a Bishopshalt student, I really enjoyed the activities. The food was good, and the day has been fun'.

'As Swakeleys students we really enjoyed the activities, and we enjoyed the food. The atmosphere was good! The teachers are nice and kind to us. All the activities are awesome and entertaining. The coding was awesome, and we have learned a lot at this memorable visit. It's been amazing it has been a pleasure to be here thankyou food all the goods'.

'We were fortunate enough to be selected as a school to participate in the first ever Girls in Tech Day in the UK at Uxbridge College.'

'Today has been an incredible day and experience for our pupils. The girls participated in 4 different interactive and engaging workshops to demonstrate the types of skills and qualities required to pursue careers in STEAM. They learnt how to code a Lego car to make it move, played classic retro games like Giant Operation & Whac-a-Mole, played with VR headsets to immerse themselves into the digital gaming world. All the workshops were educational but most importantly, engaging and fun. They also heard from an all-female panel currently employed in Tech about their jobs and career journeys.'

'The event was organised by Amazon Web Services and hosted by Uxbridge College. Throughout the day, we were very well looked after and treated to some amazing corporate hospitality. Lunch was a big hit with girls and consisted of a delicious pizza, waffle chips, sandwiches, fruit and even a lovely, personalised cupcake.'

'This has been an excellent event, reaching out to our younger generation of girls and opening their eyes to the world of Tech. Hopefully, today has exposed them to all the various skills and jobs opportunities that exist in the tech world for girls. Today, will for sure inspire the future generation to consider careers in Technology.'

'Experiencing these types of events really can change the lives and course of pupils as they start to consider their options and pathways for the future. We are so very grateful that we have been offered this opportunity, would like to thank Uxbridge College and Amazon Web Services for such a brilliant day, enjoyable and fantastic experience for everyone who attended.'

Warm regards,

Abi Preston

Director of Education & SEND

Children's Services, London Borough of Hillingdon, Civic Centre, Uxbridge UB8 1UW

For previous LA Education Weekly Updates please click here