Director's Message - 22nd February 2021

Dear Colleagues,

We hope all of our Hillingdon school leaders and staff have had a lovely half term break and that you have managed to have a well-deserved rest following a challenging term.

Communications

We have made the decision to combine other regular emails to schools into one weekly briefing, which will continue to be sent every Monday to school leaders.

Staffing and employment advice for schools 2021- updated document

In January 2021, the DfE updated their document which offers departmental advice for school leaders, governing bodies, academy trusts and local authorities.

Headteacher appointments

Please note the following paragraph from the guidance relating to informing the Local Authority regarding vacancies:

In maintained schools the governing body must notify the local authority in writing of any headteacher vacancy, advertise the post as appropriate (unless it considers it has good reason not to), and then appoint a selection panel.

Local Authority Advice

Please note the statutory expectation that Local Authorities are present for Headteacher appointments:
In community, voluntary-controlled and maintained nursery schools, the local authority has a statutory entitlement to send a representative to all proceedings relating to the selection or dismissal of any teacher (including the headteacher and deputy headteacher) and offer advice. If the local authority decides to send a representative they must be allowed to attend. Any advice offered as a result must be considered by the governing body (or those to whom the function has been delegated) when reaching a decision.

Full guidance is  here [370KB] .

Funding of Catering Providers During Lockdown

We have received a number of queries from schools in relation to the funding of catering providers during periods of lockdown. The DfE previously provided guidance which indicated the following;

If you consider it appropriate in order to maintain delivery of critical services, you should continue to make payments as normal where suppliers are considered at risk, even if service delivery is disrupted or suspended. Such payments should only cover the cost of free school meals and universal infant free school meals, and not the costs of meals usually purchased by parents for pupils who are not eligible for free school meals.

Any relief payments for free school meals and universal infant free school meals should be based on previous invoices prior to lockdown. The government will continue to provide schools with their expected funding, including funding to cover free school meals and universal infant free school meals, throughout the period.

Schools are advised to liaise with suppliers who should agree to act on an open book basis and make cost data available, in order to demonstrate what costs are being incurred and also what other financial support has been accessed (i.e. job retention scheme).

Headteachers Termly

We have made the decision to cancel this term's Headteachers Termly meeting to allow schools to focus on potentially reopening schools. We hope to run the summer term meeting as planned.

Wellbeing

New and updated Wellbeing for Education Return resources are now available for education staff who do not have access to locally adapted training and support, or to supplement existing local offers. These include a short, recorded webinar - 'Every interaction matters'. It introduces a simple framework for promoting wellbeing, resilience and mental health, building on education staff's existing roles, skills and personal qualities. It is intended for use by education leaders with all staff in staff or INSET sessions, or for education staff to work through individually.This sits alongside the original Wellbeing for Education Return content covering issues such as bereavement, loss, anxiety, stress and trauma and signposting to free information and resources for education staff, children and young people, parents and carers.

10 Steps for School Staff Wellbeing - Anna Freud

Synopsis from 10 Steps for school staff wellbeing - Anna Freud

Concerns about the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people are currently in the public spotlight. However, any conversation about supporting our children's wellbeing must also include how we support our teachers.

We must do more to support school leaders, teachers, and other school staff to ensure that their mental health and wellbeing is prioritised. If we don't recognise the importance of this we will fail not only staff, but the children and young people they support.

This resource is based on the views of school staff who participated through our Schools in Mind learning network and those who responded to our Teacher Tapp survey. This resource provides some helpful materials and encourages schools to reflect that if they want to make a success of promoting children's mental health, this can only be achieved by giving the staff wellbeing the consideration it deserves.

We have summarised the ten key ideas that have come out of this resource in a poster which can be downloaded and printed or shared.

 WER - Information Sheet and FAQs for Education Staff [213KB]

Managing Allegations Course - 10th March, 4pm - 5:30pm via MS Teams

'Managing Allegations & LADO Awareness Training' -

Description:

• Overview of LADO Process
• LADO Threshold.
• Staff's responsibilities
• DSL & HT's responsibilities
•  Outcomes

Bookings can be made via the following link:

https://hillingdon.learningpool.com/enrol/index.php?id=1441

DfE Attendance Portal

Thank you to the schools who are submitting their attendance data daily throughout lockdown. It is vital that all schools enter their data daily in order for the DfE to have a clear picture as to how many children are attending. If any schools have difficulty submitting data, please get in touch with us via the education inbox.

DfE Data Collection

The DfE needs information about early years provision that is available for children nationally during the Covid-19 pandemic. The DfE requires this data to gain an accurate understanding of what is happening locally and provide relevant support and policy solutions. To gather this, they expect local authorities to collate this data from childcare settings and schools on a weekly basis. Therefore all primary and infant schools are asked to complete an online form by 4pm on Thursday each week. If you have any questions about the data collection, please email fis@hillingdon.gov.uk.

Publishing information on remote education provision

The DfE has announced that the previous expectation for schools to publish information about their remote education provision on their website, has now become a legal duty. The regulations came into force on 12 February 2021 and update the existing legislative requirements for schools to publish details about their in-school curriculum. The legal duty does not require schools to provide any more information than they were previously expected to under guidance. An optional template is available to support schools with this requirement. Please see the following links Regulations and Guidance and template for further information.

Temporary Admission Appeals regulations - extension until 31 September

As you know, in April 2020 temporary regulations (The School Admissions (England) (Coronavirus) (Appeals Arrangements) (Amendment) Regulations 2020) and accompanying guidance were introduced giving admission authorities, local authorities and admission appeal panels more flexibility when dealing with appeals during the COVID-19 outbreak. The main changes are that appeal hearings can be heard by telephone or video conference or appeals can be decided on the basis of written submissions only; and the statutory timescales have been amended.

• The temporary regulations are were due to expire on 31 January 2021 but due to the ongoing nature of the outbreak and the social distance rules, the DfE have introduced another set of temporary regulations (The School Admissions (England) (Coronavirus) (Appeals Arrangements) (Amendment) Regulations 2021) which extend the temporary provisions until 30 September 2021. These came into force on 31 January 2021 and updated guidance has been published. The updates are to reflect the change in date, there are no changes to policy or process.
• The temporary regulations and guidance only apply where it is not reasonably practicable to comply with the School Admission Appeals Code for a reason relating to the incidence or transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19). Therefore, any extension will not mean the flexibility will be available for all admission authorities to use all the time. It will mean the temporary arrangements are available to use when they are needed - when they are not, the duty to comply with the The Schools Admission (Appeal Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2012 and the School Admission Appeals Code remains.

Internal Audit Reviews

The Council's Internal Audit (IA) team will be conducting a Thematic Review of Governance and Financial Management in Schools as part of its 2020/21 Q4 Internal Audit Plan.

The review is due to take place at the beginning of March and will require assistance from some schools. Please note due to the pandemic, the IA team will be contacting Headteachers and Finance Officers of schools involved, to make suitable arrangements for the review to be conducted remotely.

The audit will be identifying and assessing controls that are in place to manage key risks around governance and financial management. The nature of a thematic review means that results will be collated from all of the school visits and summarised into key themes, enabling an overall assurance opinion to be given.

Each of the schools involved will receive a copy of the Terms of Reference prior to any fieldwork. This will contain specific information about the areas that will be considered.

Assistance with the review would be greatly appreciated, alternatively if you have any questions about the review please do not hesitate to contact us via internal-audit@hillingdon.gov.uk.

School Governing Body Fined for Safety Breaches

The governing body of a school has been prosecuted by the HSE and fined after an employee fell from height whilst removing footballs from a roof. The employee lost his footing, falling more than three metres to the ground. He sustained multiple fractures. Please find attached the safety alert, which identifies key actions to prevent any similar failures leading to accidents/injury.

 GREEN alert re Making sure staff comply with Covid-19 safety controls [145KB]

Free RSE and 1:1 support for young people

During this lockdown Brook are still available to provide free RSE (Relationships and Sex Education) to secondary schools online and have adapted all resources to accommodate this type of learning. If schools cannot take up this at present, Brook also offers free 1:1 support for young people via Attend Anywhere (secure counselling platform or by phone) looking at a range of topics. It is a 6 week programme called My Life and looks at goal based outcomes. Referral forms and more information can be obtained from service coordinator Lauren Chalkley - lauren.chalkley@brook.org.uk.

 Free RSE and 1:1 support leaflet [1MB]

HS2 Education Programme aimed at aimed at secondary schools for KS3

The programme supports students to develop their Essential Skills through Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM)

HS2 has developed a new collection of STEM lessons and activities, to support teachers who would like to bring a careers context to curriculum learning.

These resources are available on their website and in most cases would be suitable for students who are learning at home, for more information, please visit the website

STEM Lessons

Teachers can use STEM lessons to introduce a careers context to a regular curriculum lesson. The activities are expected to take 1-2 hours to complete and are aimed at 11-14 year olds.

Many of these activities would be suitable for students learning at home.

SEND STEM lessons

These resources are aimed at teachers and ambassadors who would like to lead one of our EPIC Engineers STEM workshop activities for a group of students with a Special Education Need or Disability.

Please see   HS2 STEM lessons [53KB] .

P3 Navigator Yiewsley Services

Please see the  leaflet [486KB]  of the services currently offered to Hillingdon residents by P3 Navigator Services.

• Housing Advice service - 16-25 year olds
• Family Advice Service - Anyone that has a child aged 5 and under.
• Floating Support Service - 16-25 year olds
• Well-being Service - 13 - 25 year olds

Further Information, please contact Zara Sweet -  zara.sweet@p3charity.org or call on 01895 436114

Email us Navplus@p3charity.org

Or visit our website https://www.p3charity.org/

Address: 18e Fairfield Road, Yiewsley, West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 8EX

SEND Advisory Service - Newsletter

The SEND Advisory Service would like to draw your attention to the SEND and Inclusion Newsletter. We hope you like the fresh new look, and the improved navigation that will allow you to find events, resources, important documents and CPD opportunities more quickly and easily. Please note that this is our main source for sharing important information with all SENCos and School Leads in the borough.

If you have not seen this already, please find the most recent newsletter here. Any further ideas and suggestions on additions to the newsletter are welcomed. Please email sasinclusion@hilligndon.gov.uk with the heading 'newsletter' to share your ideas.

Parent/Carer Drug Awareness Webinars

The Daniel Spargo Mabbs foundation are currently running parent/carer drug awareness webinars. They are apparently proving to be very popular and they are an easy win for schools as parents can join them from the comfort of their sofa.  I have included the link for a taster and have attached their leaflet with more information below too. This is free for state funding schools.

For all the secondary school that have previously had Your Life You Choose, the drugs talk that the pupils receive is delivered by the DSM foundation. https://youtu.be/CH6fhr5nsfg.

Evolve Advice Ltd - Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC) training - Reminder

Evolve Advice Ltd will be providing Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC) training on the 19^th March 2021 for maintained community schools to support colleagues with educational visits.

For more information on this training and to book a space, please click here. The closing date to secure a place is of 12^th March 2021.

Regards, 

Dan