Director's Message - 22nd March 2021

Dear Colleagues,

Please see our weekly Education Executive Summary [214KB] round-up of schools' guidance update.

Action	By
SEND Survey for Children in Mainstream Settings with a Specialist Setting named on the EHCP	Today - Monday 22^nd March
Coronavirus (COVID-19) workforce fund claim form	31 March 2021
Ensure the following documents are available on school websites: Catch Up Funding plans (with costings) Remote Learning Policies	Immediately

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

Vaccinations for staff	Please see below. There are no further updates on this for staff in SRPs and who are 1:1s. We will inform schools if we hear any updates.
Use of schools used as polling stations	We are awaiting a final list of schools and sites being used for polling stations in the forthcoming elections. The Democratic team have managed to find some further alternatives and these schools will/ will have been contacted.

Home self-testing service launches for households with school children

Households and families with school-aged children can now access COVID-19 home testing kits. The 'community collect' service launched this month to households with children of primary school, secondary school and college age, as well as those providing childcare and in support bubbles. Testing kits are to be used twice weekly, meaning people can self-isolate faster if they test positive.

Home-testing kits can currently be ordered online for home delivery at www.gov.uk/coronavirus or can be collected from Topping Lane PCR test site near Brunel University.

Kits are also available for collection from the borough's seven asymptomatic testing sites. Find out more at www.hillingdon.gov.uk/community-testing. Please share this information with your parents to help to Keep Hillingdon Safe

Edtech Demonstrator Programme

The Edtech Demonstrator Programme is funded by DfE and offers free peer to peer support from a network of Edtech demonstrator schools and colleges to all state-funded schools and colleges. It delivers free short webinars on Edtech, online CPD on a variety of themes, and bespoke Edtech support tailored to a school or trust's needs and circumstances while considering start point, confidence in technology practices and the time available to senior leaders. It also offers a remote ed health check. Once a school, college, trust or LA makes contact via Register your interest a coordinator will contact them for a phone chat, usually within a day.

Find out more about the whole programme at: https://edtech-demonstrator.lgfl.net/. The home page lists free live Edtech events in March 2021.
Register your interest in finding out about free bespoke EdTech support for your school or trust
The March 2021 CPD online courses are bookable via https://cpdportal.link/edtechse
Book a Remote Learning Progress Support consultation via the EdTech Demonstrator Website here
Read Examples of how supported schools have benefited from the programme

Map and list of Edtech Demonstrator schools is here: https://edtech-demonstrator.lgfl.net/demonstrator-schools-and-colleges/map. Please find Edtech demonstrator programme flyer [169KB] and short overview of DfE remote education support are, including resources, guidance and more about the Edtech Demonstrator Programme.

DfE support available on remote education [2MB]

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

The Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC) training provided by Evolve Advice Ltd has been rescheduled for the 19^th May 2021. Please register for the training by using this link.

Evolve Advice Ltd will be able to provide maintained community schools support with educational visits and to sign off any of your overseas, residential (if they do not hold a quality badge) and adventurous visits that you may have planned. For more information on the training and to book a space, please use this link. The closing date to secure a place is of 13^th May 2021.

Period Product Scheme

A new post, "The Period Product Scheme: providing young people with period products when they need them" has just been published on the Education in the media blog.

Now pupils are back in the classroom no-one should be held back from accessing education due to their period. In January 2020, we launched the Period Products Scheme to provide learners with period products when they need them. But how ...

Read the new post: https://dfemedia.blog.gov.uk/2021/03/18/the-period-product-scheme-providing-young-people-with-period-products-when-they-need-them/

Mental health - letter from the Mayor

As schools return, the Mayor has written to London's Headteachers on the important topic of children and young people's mental health, sharing a selection of the latest support and resources.

Please find the Mayor's letter by following this link.

New Stepping Stones funding

We are delighted to announce that we will be funding 14 more London schools to deliver Stepping Stones from summer 2021. We would appreciate it if you could help spread the word to schools, trusts or partnerships in your area. Unfortunately we can't re-fund any school who has had Stepping Stones funding before.

The programme will be similar to the last two years, with the same core activities. You can find the application form and guidance documentation on our website at: www.london.gov.uk/apply-stepping-stones. The deadline for applications is noon on Friday 30 April.

We will hold an information session at 4pm on Tuesday 30 March, to provide an overview of the programme and application process; hear from a school which has previously implemented Stepping Stones; and answer your questions. You can sign up for the information session on Eventbrite at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stepping-stones-programme-tickets-146378633433.

Future of learning and education- digital educators conference

TechPathways London was funded by the GLA to deliver innovative training to a broad spectrum of educators to increase their knowledge of London's digital opportunities. It has trained 879 teachers, FE lecturers and youth workers from 660 organisations, supported by Google, BAFTA, Shakespeare Globe Theatre, BFI, The Guardian, UK Black Tech, Institute of Coding, etc to provide a pan-London offer. They will be holding their final free conference on 24 March 2021, 10:00 - 15:30. Sign up for the event here.

Free teacher resources

Nearly 800 educators registered for the 3^rd LondonEd conference in early March. All the themed days' presentations and panel sessions can still be watched on the website, if you click on 'Explore the whole agenda'.

Our recent London Curriculum and STEM webinars are all still available to watch on our webinars webpage. They include Microsoft Teams tips for teachers and Fashion London | Secondary Teacher CPD Webinar,

Breaking the Gender Barriers in Computing | Ada Lovelace Day CPDand#FutureCareersinFashion | Explore creative futures with industry experts.

Air quality and schools

The Mayor has launched a new London Schools Pollution Helpdesk - a free to use service for all London schools as part of plans to clean up toxic air at schools in the worst polluted areas of the capital.

The London Assembly published a report by its Environment Committee with a 10-point plan to deal with high air pollution in London, particularly around schools. All of the 14 schools at or exceeding the legal limit of NO2 are located in six inner London boroughs; Westminster, Tower Hamlets, Camden, Lambeth, Hammersmith & Fulham and Islington.

Kind regards,

Dan