LA Education Weekly Update
10th March 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: |
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Headteachers or Deputies should attend the online Head Teachers' Termly meeting. Please see updated Agenda with link to join: Head Teachers' Termly Agenda - Spring 2025 (version2) (PDF, 173 KB) | on 11/03/25 10 am - 12 pm |
Secondaries & Post-16 should sign up to attend the Achievement for All Event at Barnhill Community High School. **Last day to sign up here** | on 18/03/25 1 - 4 pm |
Headteachers or deputies can sign up to attend school food training on 19 March 4 pm Click to sign up or 20 March 12 pm Click to sign up | on 19/03/25 or 20/03/25 |
Governors can sign up to attend School food training. Click to sign up | on 26/03/25 6 pm |
Primaries should sign up to attend the Achievement for All Event at Ruislip Gardens School. Please sign up to attend here | on 28/03/25 9 am - 1 pm |
SBMs can sign up to attend school food training on 2 April 4 pm Click to sign up or 3 April 12 pm Click to sign up | on 02/04/25 or 03/04/25 |
**Last couple of places available ** DSLs can sign up to attend 'Strengthening Safeguarding: Best Practices for School Leaders' HERE. Agenda for the day will be shared shortly | 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 |
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For Action All Schools: |
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New Care & Support Directory A new online care and support directory has launched giving access to thousands of services, organisations and groups in Hillingdon with a single search. There's information, advice and support for children, young people and families, and adults and young people with SEND. In addition to the support provided by the council, it also features the services offered by community groups, voluntary organisations and charities. Residents and professionals can search for services, either locally, or for specific support related to particular needs or concerns. The comprehensive online directory has been created in response to requests from families in the borough for easier access to up-to-date information on the support, information and guidance available to them and their children. To browse the directory, visit careandsupport.hillingdon.gov.uk
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Reminder to Publish Admissions Arrangements 2026/27 This is a reminder that all admission authorities (including the local authority) are required to have determined their admissions arrangements by 28th February 2025. If you have not already done so, please ensure that your admissions arrangements are published on your website by 15 March 2025. Additionally, kindly send a copy to the local authority. If you have any questions, please contact the School Placement and Admissions Team at admissions@hillingdon.gov.uk for further assistance.
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Inclusion Network for Education Forum Just a reminder that the Inclusion Network for Education Forum will be taking place on the Wednesday 19 March 2025 from 12.30 -3.30 pm in the Council Chamber, Civic Centre. This invite is open to PVIs also. If you have not done so already, please use the following link to register to attend: Inclusion Network for Education Forum - March 2025 Registration Link Agenda:
We look forward to seeing you there.
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Hospital Learners Please can all schools continue to alert vulnerablelearners@hillingdon.gov.uk and complete the Alternative Provision Notification form if they become aware of any students being admitted to hospital for a period of 15 school days or longer. This will initiate the team around the child process, chaired by the Local Authority, to support and monitor the education of children learning in hospital.
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Free Mental Health Webinars Could you spot the signs that a pupil is struggling? To support the launch of The Key's new suite of mental health eLearning, join a free 45-minute webinar on 12 March at 4.15 pm. Discover expert insights, understand your role in spotting and flagging mental health concerns, and increase your confidence in handling wellbeing issues in your school. Andrew Cowley, a former school leader and author of 'The Wellbeing Toolkit', will host a practical and insightful session on tackling pupil mental health challenges in your school. You'll gain confidence in your role in spotting possible issues and taking appropriate action.
Schools & Colleges Early Support Service Anna Freud have developed the Schools and Colleges Early Support Service to enable students to access support as early as possible. The service offers preventative support to the whole school or college community, alongside targeted support for students, parents and carers and school staff that need it. Join the 1-hour webinar on 26 March at 4 pm to hear more about how you can support the students at your school or college, the early intervention service and how this can help young people manage their wellbeing and build self-care tools to last a lifetime.
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Resources to Manage Allergies The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation has launched Allergy School offering free resources to support both staff and pupils to ensure children with food allergies feel safe and supported. The DfE encourages settings to use such resources as part of their work to fulfil their statutory duties to manage allergy risks, as set out in the government's allergy guidance for schools.
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Please share with staff, parents/carers Learn Hillingdon Digital for Life Programme Digital for Life Programme March 25 (PDF, 40 KB)
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Please share with staff, parents/carers Old Vinyl Factory Festival This event will take place on a Saturday 15 March 11:30 am - 5 pm on Record Walk in the Old Vinyl Factory in Hayes. This event is designed as a family-friendly day music festival, and celebration of the space's heritage as a 'factory-city' that sat at the centre of the music industry for decades. The event's inclusions will appeal to all levels of music fans - from the casual observer to the connoisseur - with a range of professional musical performances and genres covered alongside opportunities to browse and purchase Vinyls and CDs from one of West London's specialist market providers. There will a series of food vendors, the majority of which are Hayes based businesses. Ticket link: The Old Vinyl Factory Festival Tickets, Sat, Mar 15, 2025 at 11:30 AM | Eventbrite
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Free Tennis Training - LTA Youth Schools Designed specifically for schools to support the curriculum and wider school outcomes, this tennis for schools programme brings together inclusive PE lesson plans, personal development resources, teacher training and much more. It's all been designed by teachers, for teachers, and it's all free. Primary school course: 13 March 2025, 11 am - 1 pm at Kingsbury High School. Click here to sign up Secondary school course: 13 March 2025, 1.30 - 3.30 pm at Kingsbury High School. Click here to sign up Teachers attending the course will receive a £250 voucher* to spend on 10 hours free coaching with a local LTA Accredited Coach or tennis equipment! (*the voucher is limited to one per school). More information can be found here: Schools tennis | LTA Youth Schools | LTA
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For Action Primary Schools: |
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Spring Term Primary Music Online Drop-In On Tuesday 11, Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 March at 3.30- 4.30 pm, Hillingdon Music Service will be hosting the Spring Primary Music Network Online Drop-In session. This is an informal online meeting for music coordinators and music specialists who work in our primary schools. In these sessions we will be discussing CPD being provided this year by the music service and its partners and effective ways to prepare for Ofsted inspections in your schools. We will hear from Emily Griggs about her experiences of the Ofsted inspection that took place at Harlyn Primary School in December. We will also be sharing with attendees a "Curriculum Guidance for Schools" handbook that was created by Tri-Borough Music Service. We will discuss opportunities to collaboratively work on this, in preparation for any forthcoming inspections that you are expecting at your schools under the new framework. Please pass on the MS Teams link below to your colleagues and feel free to direct any questions or apologies to rporter@hillingdon.gov.uk. MS Teams Link - click here to join the meeting Meeting ID: 390 851 616 784. Passcode: tf7FB7Fa
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New EEF Funded Handwriting Programme Trial All primary schools are invited to participate in a new Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) trial beginning in September 2025. The EEF is partnering with the OTTO Club to trial a whole-class intervention programme, designed to improve handwriting for Year 1 pupils by developing their foundational skills of core stability, fine motor skills, and handwriting techniques. The OTTO Club was created by two Occupational Therapists who recognised that many children were not developing the underlying skills needed for handwriting, which is partly due to the shortfall in Occupational Therapy services nationally. This programme is also a way of addressing the inconsistent approaches applied to teaching handwriting in Year 1. The programme begins with an online training course for teachers and teaching assistants, equipping them with the knowledge and skills required to deliver the 10-week programme as part of the Year 1 literacy curriculum. The programme is implemented during weekly literacy lessons, with daily 10-15-minute reinforcement sessions. We would be happy to discuss the programme in more detail and answer any questions you may have. Alternatively, we would be very grateful if you could support the promotion of our programme by forwarding this information and the attached promotional content to your network of schools and settings. Please see this information document for full details of the programme: The OTTO Club - School information sheet (PDF, 134 KB) Should you have any further questions, please contact Cally Blumburg at info@ottoclub.co.uk.
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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
