LA Education Weekly Update

7th July 2025

This email can also be viewed online here

Dear Colleagues,

This bulletin is for all settings that educate Hillingdon children; maintained, academies and independent.

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:
Schools should register for the AfA Conference - Every Child Present: Addressing Attendance Gaps in Key Groups at Oak Wood School on 24^th September. Programme for the day will be shared soon. Registration Form	By 10/09/2025
Hillingdon LEAP can be accessed for information and guidance for all settings	Ongoing
Education Services contacts can be found here	Ongoing
Schools' Forum meeting papers can be accessed here. If anyone would like to attend meetings, they are welcome to do so.	Ongoing
Governors can access LA training here	Ongoing
EYES information can be found here. Training videos have now been added for schools & settings.	Ongoing
Emergency closures of all schools must be reported to education@hillingdon.gov.uk	Ongoing
Notification of Critical Incident can be found here	Ongoing
HLP Course Booking	Ongoing

For All Schools & Settings:
Complaints We have been receiving a higher-than-average number of complaints from parents about schools in Hillingdon. These complaints can be quite detailed and have been sent to a wide variety of council staff. We would like to remind schools of the following: Please make sure your complaint policy is visible to everyone; this includes on display within the reception area of the school and clearly communicated at different times throughout the school year. You may find it useful to have a one-page summary of the process that makes it clear for parents how to complaint to you as a school. This is important as parents must follow the schools' complaints policy, rather than straight to the local authority. Your complaints policy should be current and if on the website, all links should be checked regularly to ensure they are in full working order. All complaints should be logged, including verbal complaints. A governor and member of the senior leadership team should meet regularly to review all levels of complaints and identify any themes or common occurrences, feeding back to the governing body should further exploration be required. Thank you for your cooperation.
LA Schools' Governance Service Newsletter Please click here: School Governors Update Summer Issue 3
Hillingdon Prevent & Hate Crime Awareness Training Programme Please see Prevent training sessions schedule for the Autumn term. It is recommended all staff and governors complete Prevent training. Prevent Training Sessions Autumn 2025 (PDF, 130 KB)
DSL Development Day - Strengthening Safeguarding: Best Practices for School Leaders This event was held at ACS International School in April. Slides used during the day can be found here: 4th April 2025 - Leap
Hillingdon Transition Paper File Transfer Day Secondary Headteachers are asked to complete this FORM to indicate whether they will be sending colleagues to the paper file transfer day which will be taking place on Thursday 21st August at Vyners School between 10.00 and 11.30 am. Deadline is Tuesday 15th July 2025. Colleagues are also reminded to disseminate the guidance for the day that is attached below to all relevant staff. Hillingdon Schools Year 6 to 7 Paper File Transfer 2025 (PDF, 69 KB) Gary Mullings, Headteacher, Vyners School
Diversity Role Models Schools can book student workshops, staff training, and other services now with up to 55% discount, and receive FREE bespoke stakeholder surveys, data report, action plan and consultation covering anti-bullying and inclusion at the school. Please see leaflet here for more details: embracing-difference-package-flyer (PDF, 3 MB) Please contact Luis.LaFauci@diversityrolemodels.org to sign up.
National Smile Month - Competition Update We would just like to say a huge 'THANK YOU' for sharing our National Smile Month 'Feed Your Smile' Poster Competition. We received a fantastic 52 entries from several different schools across Hillingdon. The entries were all a very high standard. We were very impressed and would like to congratulate the children for their dedication, and hard work in producing high quality posters with some great oral health messaging. Well done! Our Community Dental Team in Hillingdon had the difficult task of choosing the winning posters and after much discussion, I am pleased to announce the winning entries came from the below three schools. Congratulations to: Pentland Field School St Mary's Catholic Primary School West Drayton Academy School The schools have been notified, and arrangements made for the prizes to be presented to the children in the schools before the summer break. We would be very grateful if you would be able to share the above on your newsletters for parents/carers/children. Sally McGregor, Oral Health Promoter, Hillingdon Community Dental Service

For All Schools & Settings:

Complaints

We have been receiving a higher-than-average number of complaints from parents about schools in Hillingdon. These complaints can be quite detailed and have been sent to a wide variety of council staff. We would like to remind schools of the following:

Please make sure your complaint policy is visible to everyone; this includes on display within the reception area of the school and clearly communicated at different times throughout the school year.
You may find it useful to have a one-page summary of the process that makes it clear for parents how to complaint to you as a school. This is important as parents must follow the schools' complaints policy, rather than straight to the local authority.
Your complaints policy should be current and if on the website, all links should be checked regularly to ensure they are in full working order.
All complaints should be logged, including verbal complaints.
A governor and member of the senior leadership team should meet regularly to review all levels of complaints and identify any themes or common occurrences, feeding back to the governing body should further exploration be required.

Thank you for your cooperation.

LA Schools' Governance Service Newsletter

Please click here: School Governors Update Summer Issue 3

Hillingdon Prevent & Hate Crime Awareness Training Programme

Please see Prevent training sessions schedule for the Autumn term. It is recommended all staff and governors complete Prevent training.

Prevent Training Sessions Autumn 2025 (PDF, 130 KB)

DSL Development Day - Strengthening Safeguarding: Best Practices for School Leaders

This event was held at ACS International School in April. Slides used during the day can be found here: 4th April 2025 - Leap

Hillingdon Transition Paper File Transfer Day

Secondary Headteachers are asked to complete this FORM to indicate whether they will be sending colleagues to the paper file transfer day which will be taking place on Thursday 21st August at Vyners School between 10.00 and 11.30 am. Deadline is Tuesday 15th July 2025.

Colleagues are also reminded to disseminate the guidance for the day that is attached below to all relevant staff.

Hillingdon Schools Year 6 to 7 Paper File Transfer 2025 (PDF, 69 KB)

Gary Mullings, Headteacher, Vyners School

Diversity Role Models

Schools can book student workshops, staff training, and other services now with up to 55% discount, and receive FREE bespoke stakeholder surveys, data report, action plan and consultation covering anti-bullying and inclusion at the school. Please see leaflet here for more details: embracing-difference-package-flyer (PDF, 3 MB)

Please contact Luis.LaFauci@diversityrolemodels.org to sign up.

National Smile Month - Competition Update

We would just like to say a huge 'THANK YOU' for sharing our National Smile Month 'Feed Your Smile' Poster Competition.

We received a fantastic 52 entries from several different schools across Hillingdon. The entries were all a very high standard. We were very impressed and would like to congratulate the children for their dedication, and hard work in producing high quality posters with some great oral health messaging. Well done!

Our Community Dental Team in Hillingdon had the difficult task of choosing the winning posters and after much discussion, I am pleased to announce the winning entries came from the below three schools. Congratulations to:

Pentland Field School
St Mary's Catholic Primary School
West Drayton Academy School

The schools have been notified, and arrangements made for the prizes to be presented to the children in the schools before the summer break. We would be very grateful if you would be able to share the above on your newsletters for parents/carers/children.

Sally McGregor, Oral Health Promoter, Hillingdon Community Dental Service

For Secondary Schools /FE:
New Careers Statutory Guidance New careers statutory guidance confirms that, from September 2025, all secondary schools and colleges should use the updated Gatsby Benchmarks to develop their careers programmes. Following extensive research and engagement with careers practitioners in schools and colleges, the benchmarks have been updated to future-proof them as the standard for world-class careers guidance for young people. The guidance also supports schools to prepare for multiple, meaningful workplace experiences, in line with Gatsby Benchmark 6 and the government's commitment of two weeks' worth of work experience for every young person. Work experience should build across secondary education, focusing on key skills.
Post 16 Update - Celebrating Collaboration & Commitment In June, the West London Careers Hub held an inspiring employer event. Objectives for the day were around reinventing work experience and exploring innovative ways to increase the number of employers offering meaningful, modern experiences that align with national goals, and strategising on how to ensure every young person, especially those currently missing out, can access high-quality experiences of the workplace. During the event an award was presented to Mike Pearson, LA's Post 16 Coordinator, for individual contributions to West London. "Mike has represented Hillingdon Council in the West London Careers Hub Cornerstone Employer Group since 2023. He actively supports careers initiatives in the borough, collaborates with stakeholders, and brings innovative ideas, making him a valuable asset to our group. He has recently led on a primary pilot that the hub, Careers and Enterprise Company and GLA are keen to see the impact of the work. His award was true recognition of his hard work, dedication and unwavering support he has shown over the last few years. Thank you, Mike, for supporting the hub and I look forward to continuing our partnership"". Aarti Jaswal, Strategic Hub Lead. West London Careers Hub, funded by the Mayor of London and The Careers & Enterprise Company delivered by Education Development Trust, bridges the gap between education and employers. The programme aligns with the Gatsby Benchmarks, raising the quality of careers education in each institution across the 7 West London Boroughs to enhance educational outcomes to help every young person find their best next step. https://wlcareershub.com/
'Let's Chat Sexual Health' From July 2025 London Northwest Healthcare University NHS Trust is introducing ChatHealth to provide sexual health advice [contraception, emergency contraception, pregnancy concerns, abortion signposting, STI symptoms, STI concerns and routine testing, PEP or PREP and signposting to clinics] to 13-19 year olds across Brent, Ealing, Harrow and Hillingdon. ChatHealth is an award winning, risk managed messaging helpline platform providing a way for service users to easily and anonymously get in touch with a healthcare professional. Incoming messages are delivered to a centrally managed inbox. Staff simply respond via the web-based application to send a message back to the service user. ChatHealth is used by a wide variety of NHS Services to communicate with their users - School Nursing Services, Mental Health Teams, Public Health Nursing, Health Visiting teams, Autism teams, families of children living with disabilities as well as Sexual Health Services. Evidence supporting the effectiveness of ChatHealth messaging services including case studies, evaluation and media reports can be found at ChatHealth Please see presentation slides which could be used in assemblies to introduce the service before the end of term: ChatHealth Presentation for Schools LNWH ISRH (PDF, 1 MB) If you have any questions please contact: lnwh-tr.familyplanning@nhs.net

For Secondary Schools /FE:

New Careers Statutory Guidance

New careers statutory guidance confirms that, from September 2025, all secondary schools and colleges should use the updated Gatsby Benchmarks to develop their careers programmes.

Following extensive research and engagement with careers practitioners in schools and colleges, the benchmarks have been updated to future-proof them as the standard for world-class careers guidance for young people.

The guidance also supports schools to prepare for multiple, meaningful workplace experiences, in line with Gatsby Benchmark 6 and the government's commitment of two weeks' worth of work experience for every young person. Work experience should build across secondary education, focusing on key skills.

Post 16 Update - Celebrating Collaboration & Commitment

In June, the West London Careers Hub held an inspiring employer event. Objectives for the day were around reinventing work experience and exploring innovative ways to increase the number of employers offering meaningful, modern experiences that align with national goals, and strategising on how to ensure every young person, especially those currently missing out, can access high-quality experiences of the workplace.

During the event an award was presented to Mike Pearson, LA's Post 16 Coordinator, for individual contributions to West London.

"Mike has represented Hillingdon Council in the West London Careers Hub Cornerstone Employer Group since 2023. He actively supports careers initiatives in the borough, collaborates with stakeholders, and brings innovative ideas, making him a valuable asset to our group. He has recently led on a primary pilot that the hub, Careers and Enterprise Company and GLA are keen to see the impact of the work. His award was true recognition of his hard work, dedication and unwavering support he has shown over the last few years. Thank you, Mike, for supporting the hub and I look forward to continuing our partnership"". Aarti Jaswal, Strategic Hub Lead.

West London Careers Hub, funded by the Mayor of London and The Careers & Enterprise Company delivered by Education Development Trust, bridges the gap between education and employers. The programme aligns with the Gatsby Benchmarks, raising the quality of careers education in each institution across the 7 West London Boroughs to enhance educational outcomes to help every young person find their best next step.

https://wlcareershub.com/

'Let's Chat Sexual Health'

From July 2025 London Northwest Healthcare University NHS Trust is introducing ChatHealth to provide sexual health advice [contraception, emergency contraception, pregnancy concerns, abortion signposting, STI symptoms, STI concerns and routine testing, PEP or PREP and signposting to clinics] to 13-19 year olds across Brent, Ealing, Harrow and Hillingdon.

ChatHealth is an award winning, risk managed messaging helpline platform providing a way for service users to easily and anonymously get in touch with a healthcare professional. Incoming messages are delivered to a centrally managed inbox. Staff simply respond via the web-based application to send a message back to the service user.

ChatHealth is used by a wide variety of NHS Services to communicate with their users - School Nursing Services, Mental Health Teams, Public Health Nursing, Health Visiting teams, Autism teams, families of children living with disabilities as well as Sexual Health Services.

Evidence supporting the effectiveness of ChatHealth messaging services including case studies, evaluation and media reports can be found at ChatHealth

Please see presentation slides which could be used in assemblies to introduce the service before the end of term: ChatHealth Presentation for Schools LNWH ISRH (PDF, 1 MB)

If you have any questions please contact: lnwh-tr.familyplanning@nhs.net

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