Director's Message - 8th March 2021

Dear Colleagues,

We wish you the best of luck with reopening schools this week. We know school leaders and governors have invested a lot of time trying to make the transition into face to face education smooth and seamless. Thank you for all you have done to deliver high quality remote provision and for the ongoing work to ensure children have been safe during this time. The council has prepared a short video on our social media sites today to thank school staff and to welcome back the children. Thank you to the schools who shared some lovely images for this video

The team are on hand if you have any challenges you wish to discuss.

Matters the council are currently looking into. For these matters, we will be in touch when we know more:

Vaccinations

There is currently some anecdotal reporting that a small number of Headteachers in the borough are advising their staff to incorrectly access vaccinations on the national portal by reporting that they are social care staff. This will unfortunately skew the eligible social care staff figures and make it difficult for us to identify true non-vaccinated eligible staff to reach out to. It also creates a culture of inequality within our school staff, which is not acceptable.

Please can we ask that schools do not encourage or enable staff to access vaccinations via this route.  

Home Testing Kits for Families

Arrangements are underway to provide home testing kits for families of school children. We plan to set up collection points across the borough. Further information on when and where these will be available will follow shortly.

Early Years data

In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department for Education has asked all local authorities to collect information from any setting offering early years places on a weekly basis, which is collected from primary and infant schools via an online form. The DfE needs to have data about attendance at early years provision. This is critical to informing their decision-making around support for the sector.

Please can you ensure that the online form is completed by 12pm on Thursday each week.

Education Improvement Team Contact

Please be aware that if you contact our business support officer for the Education Improvement Team, they are not likely to know in-depth details about schools. Our business support officer, who answers the main phone line for our team, is a member of the admin team and, therefore, is not privy to the ins and outs of the schools. If you need to contact someone with more knowledge about the schools, please contact your allocated EA who will be able to support further. For general enquiries or messages, you are welcome to contact our business support officer via the general Education Improvement Team number. 

Advice for Parents on Vision & Hearing Screening Leaflet

Please see this  leaflet [101KB] to share with parents.

Polling Stations

We are aware school leaders are keen to avoid closing schools for use as a polling station. The Democratic Services team are working hard to find alternate venues where possible, however, this is a challenge due to the number of council-owned buildings which are being used for Coronavirus matters, such as vaccination sites or testing centres. A full list should be out shortly with the confirmed sites that are to be used.

EVOLVE Advice update February 2021

News - EVOLVE Advice update February 2021

This issue covers:

• COVID-19 and Trips,
• National Guidance Update,
• School Extended Learning Area,
• EVOLVE Updates,
• EVC Training Dates,
• Whole School Visit Leader e-Learning,
• Useful Bits.

Please see the following link for more information.

Evolve Webinar

EVOLVE Advice and EMW Law have teamed up to provide an overview of the current guidance and the law around school trips. These may include local, day, residential and international visits. This webinar will cover the current guidance and answer questions around visits and the law. It will focus on:

• COVID-19 school trips update
• Is it safe to run trips
• Parents' rights regarding cancellations
• Schools rights regarding providers
• The future of school trips

Sign up free here

Hillingdon Music Hub youth consultation - share your views by Friday 19 March

We would like to invite the young people you work with (aged 11+) to take part in our consultation to help us find out how we can improve music opportunities in our area.

We have commissioned Sound Connections & Wired4Music to help make our work more relevant, responsive and relatable. They have put together the following for you to share with your young people and networks, and the attached image to accompany posts on social media.

 Article - Hillingdon Music Hub youth consultation [26KB]

Can you spare 10 minutes to make music opportunities better in your local area? Fancy winning £100 donation towards your school, music or community group? Then take part in Hillingdon Music Hub's youth consultation (ages 11+).

Watch this youtube clip to explain more about the consultation and take part in the survey here:www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/hillingdon-music-hub-survey

Deadline to share your views is 5pm Friday 19 March.

Updated Elective Home Education Policy 2021

We recently updated our Elective Home Education policy in line with the Department for Education's latest guidance and to ensure that the increase in home education provisions is taken into consideration.

We carried out a 6-week consultation from November to December 2020 in relation to the draft Elective Home Education Policy and no responses were received from the consultees. It was then presented to the Residents, Education and Environmental Services Policy Overview Committee in January 2021 to give them an opportunity to comment on the draft policy and their comments have been incorporated into the final version of the policy.

• The final version is available for download now [322KB] and was agreed at the Cabinet Member for Families, Education and Wellbeing on the 18 February 2021.

Transport for London Letter - Travel Arrangements

Please see attached letter for updates on travel arrangements over this period.

 Transport for London Updates [23KB]

Travel Assistance Application September 2021

Dear Headteachers,

As the end of the scholastic year will soon be upon us, we would like to take this opportunity to remind those that require Travel Assistance to submit an application in time for September 2021. The deadline for these applications is June 30th to guarantee Travel Assistance in time for the new school year for all eligible applicants.

In addition, could it kindly be cascaded to all parent's and carers of children currently in receipt of travel assistance, that should there be any change in their circumstances e.g. change in home address or change of educational placement, they are required to reapply for travel assistance in a timely manner, preferably providing a months' notice. This will allow the travel assistance team time to reassess their child's eligibility and to avoid any delays in their child's travel provision commencing, should they submit an application after the change in circumstance has occurred.

Please visit www.hillingdon.gov.uk/travelassistance if you wish to view our policy and review the eligibility process, this is also where an application can be submitted.

If you have any questions, please contact us using the contact details provided.

Many thanks,

Passenger Services Team

National Tutoring Programme

Please see  guide [5MB] to the available support on offer through the National Tutoring programme. This includes opportunities for online resources as well as face-to-face tutoring options.

The Complete Guide to Online Parental Controls

The The Complete Guide to Online Parental Controls (wizcase.com) covers lots of information on online parental controls, including instructions to set these up for a vast range of devices and social media platforms

Apprenticeship Support & Knowledge for schools and colleges programme (ASK)

In 2020/21, the ASK programme will continue to offer every educational establishment in England with students in years 10 - 13 access to a free, bespoke support package to transform apprenticeship and vocational education awareness activities so that students, parents and carers, teachers and careers advisers, and governors can be informed about the opportunities available.
Schools can book a planning meeting with ASK delivery partners to take full advantage of this offer and create an apprenticeship support package for your school or college.

Full brochure can be found   here [4MB] .

REQUEST SUPPORT

Fill in the online form to request support in your area:

www.amazingapprenticeships.com/request-support

EMAIL: hello@amazingapprenticeships.com

YGAM Training (FREE SESSION) - Youth Gaming and Gambling Harm Prevention: Raising awareness and building digital resilience

Sandy Thompson (Education Manager at YGAM - The Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust) has offered Hillingdon school staff free places on a training session on Youth gaming and gambling harm prevention on 6^th April at 10am.  The training is 2.5 hours on Microsoft Teams.

The training is free and fully assured by City and Guilds - with staff receiving a certificate on completion.The training is designed to enable teachers and support staff to deliver sessions directly to young people.  There are over 450 resources which are aligned to the PSHE and RSE Curriculum for KS2 to KS5. For each year group there is a full scheme of work and six 'ready to go' lesson plans, PowerPoints, and infographics, ideal for PSHE Coordinators and DSLs in Primary & Secondary settings.

Topics covered include: 

• how young people are increasingly exposed to gaming and gambling  
• the influence of advertising, particularly around sporting events 
• the role of social media, in game purchases, loot boxes and Esports  
• the signs of harm and where to seek help 

Booking is simple via an online form

Universal Youth Service is launching the Young Enterprise Company Programme opportunity for all 13 - 19-year olds

Hillingdon Universal Youth Service is launching Young Enterprise Company Programme which is open to students at all schools in Hillingdon. Initially this will be delivered online due to COVID restrictions.

Company Programme provides a real-life learning opportunity that introduces young people to the realities of the world of work.

Participants set up and run their own "student" company. They make all the decisions about their business, from deciding on their company name and product to managing the company finances. Participants can promote and sell to the public through pop up shops and the new online store, YE Trading Station.

Participants gain the practical business experience, adaptability, entrepreneurial mindset, and employability skills needed to secure successful futures.

Step-by-step guidance is available through a dedicated online platform, YE Online, which has videos and resources to support participants to run their company. All this takes place with the support of a Business Adviser who supports participants companies virtually through a fully moderated mentoring platform - YE Digital Connect. Participants will also be supported in person (where this is possible). All YE Business Advisers are DBS checked and have completed safeguarding training.

Company Programme supports students to gain confidence, practical know-how and attributes to prepare for the world of work. By taking part in an online self-assessment, students will also receive a certificate to evidence the skills they have developed throughout the programme.

COMPANY PROGRAMME: KEY FACTS

• Suitable for 13 - 19-year old's
• Flexible duration from 12 weeks up to one academic year
• Access to resources and guidance on a dedicated platform, YE Online
• Participants provided with support and guidance from a Business Volunteer (virtually and in-person where possible)
• Fulfils the skills element of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme
• Could be used for the volunteering section of DofE if the company promotes or raises funds for a charitable cause.

Learning outcomes

• Gain first-hand experience of the world of work and working as part of a team
• Develop the qualities and skills that employer's value and be able to evidence examples of these skills
• Explore self-employment and entrepreneurship as a possible career pathway
• Be able to provide evidence of valuable experience and skills development for future applications to education, training providers and future employers.
• Meets the requirements of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme

Interested students can find out more or get involved by contacting Maggie

Mob: 07956 534070

E-Mail: Mditchburn@hillingdon.gov.uk 

Cost £15.00 per person

Kind regards,

Dan