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Clean Air Day is the UK’s largest campaign on air pollution.
This important national campaign focuses on the fact that cleaning up our air is good for us in many ways: it not only benefits our physical health and the environment but it can also protect our mental health. The physical health impacts of air pollution – such as asthma, heart disease and cancers – have been recognised for decades.
This year, Cambridgeshire County Council will be supporting Clean Air Day sharing our Public Health team’s advice on the steps we can take within our school communities to reduce air pollution.
- Walk, wheel or use public transport to get to school.
- If you do use the car, don’t leave the engine idling when outside the school gates.
- If you can, why not try leaving the car at home one day a week?
We would love to see your school organising an Assembly, lesson or helping to spread the word about the campaign within your community.
Below, you will find a link to the toolkit produced by the UK charity Global Action Plan specifically for schools which includes ready-made school assembly ideas and lesson plans resources for Key Stages 1, 2 & 3: Clean Air Day | Schools resources (actionforcleanair.org.uk).
If you do choose to take part in Clean Air Day this year, please let your school community know. We’ve provided some copy for use in your school newsletters and you can find some colourful designs for use on your social media via the above link.
Suggested copy for schools’ use in newsletters
Clean Air Day – 15 June
We are promoting Clean Air Day on the 15 June 2023!
This year’s theme is “clean up the air to look after your mind,” and focusses on the positive effects clean air has on mental health.
Cleaning up our air is good for us in many ways: it not only benefits our physical health and the environment but it can also protect our mental health.
We have been talking to our pupils about what we can do as a community to reduce air pollution.
Here are some tips on how you can help us to improve the air quality in and around the school:
- Walk, wheel or use public transport to get to school.
- If you do use the car, don’t leave the engine idling when outside the school gates.
- If you can, why not try leaving the car at home one day a week?
You can find out more about Clear Air Day, and how you can help to support it, by visiting: Clean Air Day | Action for Clean Air
Zero Carbon Schools is a free climate education programme for the academic year 2023/24. Join hundreds of other schools in putting climate education and action at the heart of school life so students can become catalysts for change
Suitable for years 4 - 8, starting on 30th October, the programme provides a comprehensive and engaging package of resources, designed by teachers, to help schools reduce their carbon footprint and give pupils confidence to inspire change in their community. Cross-curricular, including outdoor sessions to improve pupil wellbeing and nature connection.
To find out more click Zero Carbon Schools or contact Nell Byron: info@greenschoolsproject.org.uk.
All primary schools will have received individual letters about the PSHE Service subscription for the academic year 2023-24 (or information about a Trust arrangement). This includes access to the Primary PD Programme - a complete online solution for leading and teaching PSHE, consultancy time with an adviser, and discounts on in-school training, courses, and Life Education.
The PSHE Service is running a FREE Wellbeing Event for PSHE Leaders who subscribe to our service on Monday 2nd October, 2pm to 5pm at Grafham Water. Please contact pshe@cambridgeshire.gov.uk for information on how to book a place.
Ill Health Pension Process (LGPS) – who approves?
We have been alerted to some delays to ill health pension awards being processed and we believe this due to the wrong person signing the documentation. To make sure this is clear for everyone we have reviewed the process and can confirm; Where an individual works in a CCC maintained school the school and their HR/payroll provider should liaise with pensions to obtain the pension estimate and to also undertake a referral to their Occupational Health provider for an independent doctor review. Following the independent doctor assessment, the documentation must be sent to CCC HR Advisory via the schools HR inbox (schools.HR@camridgeshire.gov.uk). The CCC Assistant Director of HR Services as the representative of the employer (not the Head Teacher) will then consider whether an ill health pension award will be approved and this decision is confirmed in writing.
Teachers Pension Returns
Many schools have raised concerns about delays in updating teacher pension records. We are aware this is having an impact on staff who are due to retire and/or want to make sure their pension record is correct. We are also aware that staff are being advised by their union to check their pension records. This has resulted in a large volume of queries. Colleagues in the pensions service at the LA have provided this briefing note to provide an update on the situation and to give guidance on the steps schools and their payroll providers can take to support them to resolve the issues. Please take a few minutes to read this briefing note: Teacher Pensions Briefing Note May 2023
Pay Awards – EPM guidance
EPM have prepared an advise note (Preparing for teacher and support staff pay awards 2023) for their clients to aid with planning and to clarify the process to avoid issues when the 2023 pay awards are agreed. As you will be aware it is very unlikely that we will have a finalised NJC pay award agreed until much later in 2023. You will also be aware that the 2022 pay award was confirmed on the day of the deadline to submit pay instructions to EPM which caused issues for some schools. It is hoped the advise note will support schools to be prepared for when the pay award is agreed.
If your school is not an EPM client please contact your HR provider to ensure your school is clear on the process to be followed.
The new Religious Education Agreed Syllabus for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 2023 – 2028 will be published on Thursday 15th June for implementation on the 1st September 23. To download a copy and all the accompanying documentation please use the link below.
Religious Education - Learn Together (cambslearntogether.co.uk)
 Do you want your children to continue reading this summer? Then encourage them to take part in this year’s Summer Reading Challenge. Talk about the Challenge in Assembly or the classroom, share information with your parents and celebrate their achievement with a Special Finishers’ Autumn Assembly. Look out for The Reading Agency email with a link to a fun promotional video to share with your class. Children can sign up at their local library from Saturday 8th July. There are 6 special stickers to collect and everyone who completes receives a Certificate and Medal. See our webpage for more details: https://bit.ly/42cQOeD
Open to Schools for Year 5 to Year 8 pupils
Closing Date: 4pm Friday 23rd June 2023
As part of the NSPCC Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Kids Safety Net campaign, schools are invited to join in this poster competition.
“Speak Up, Starting Conversations about Keeping Safe Online” challenges young people from Year 5 through to Year 8 to consider what may sometimes be difficult conversations around online bullying and online friendships and how to keep safe online. The aim is for young people to get creative in presenting their ideas by designing an eye-catching poster and for schools to include this work as part of their PSHE, ICT, Art & Design and Online Safety planning.
It is the intention for the winning designs to be presented as a digital resource as well as printed for display in community spaces across the county; the schools will also be awarded with some e safety training organised in consultation with the NSPCC.
For more details and the resources to get involved click here and scroll to the “Kids Safety Net “Speak Up” poster competition drop down menu.
To ensure the Local Authority (LA) can quality assure the data submitted, arrangements should be made to send the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile results to the LA by Tuesday 27th June 2023.
The file produced from your MIS system should be in CTF format (please include the child’s address as the postcode is required for the data collection). Please upload the file to the LA via the S2S website by selecting ‘Upload CTF File’. The file should be named as follows:
873XXXX_FSP_873LLLL_NNN.xml (where XXXX is your school’s DfE number and NNN is the file number).
The following link will take you to S2S via the DfE’s Sign-in website: https://services.signin.education.gov.uk/
If you are unable to transfer data from your MIS, or do not have a MIS, please contact fiona.croft@cambridgeshire.gov.uk for information about submitting the data manually.
Following on from Child Safety Week, please share the Dog Safety Code, which encourages everyone to be alert, aware and - most importantly - safe around dogs.
- Be alert – always keep an eye on children around dogs
- Be aware - dogs use signals to tell us how they feel
- Be safe – any dog can bite, accidents can happen fast
Follow the #DogSafety code: https://cfsg.org.uk/dog-safety/
BookTrust have had to make some difficult decisions in a time of rising costs. As a result the Time to Read programme will not be continuing in England. They are grateful for the support schools have provided to this programme over the years and are committed to working with you on new ways to support your children on their reading journeys going forward. Please visit the BookTrust website to hear more and find out about the other support and resources that are available for schools at this time. Time to Read | BookTrust
If you have not yet applied for your funded DfE Senior Mental Health Lead training, don’t worry there is still time! Locally only 53% of eligible settings have taken up the offer in Cambridgeshire and 56% across Peterborough. It only takes 5 minutes to reserve a £1,200 grant for Department for Education quality assured senior mental health lead training. This develops knowledge and practical skills to embed an effective whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing.
The grant can also be used to pay for supply cover to backfill the individual undertaking training, or for further support to sustain your approach to mental health and wellbeing. Schools can access training from a number of DfE quality assured providers including the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough YMCA Trinity Group, who have successfully developed beginner, intermediate and advanced programmes which align the training to our local mental health system offer.
More details can be found at the following link:
Senior Mental Health Lead Training Programmes - YMCA Trinity Group
For more information on scheme as a whole, please see the links below which demonstrate the benefits of training programme:
 The Healthy Steps programme has launched!
This new, free 8-week email programme encourages families to eat better and move more, with budget conscious, easy and practical ideas.
Schools are being encouraged to help get as many families as possible with 5-11 year olds going to www.healthysteps.uk to sign up in our local area. To help you support the programme, there is also a range of free and useful resources on the national Campaign Resource Centre. Here you will find recipe cards, newsletter copy, a social toolkit and more.
How does Healthy Steps work?
Parents/carers can sign up at any time by completing a quiz about their current eating and physical activity habits. Once they’ve completed the quiz they will receive weekly emails on one of these themes, tailored to their quiz results:
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Reducing sugar
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Eating 5 a day
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Meal planning
The content in the emails will then provide families with simple ways to take steps towards healthier behaviours.
As part of the programme, families are set goals or tasks to complete every other week, such as swapping out sugary fizzy drinks, or adding fruit or veg to their breakfasts.
Regular feedback points give families the opportunity to celebrate their successes and continue to make positive changes.
The National Literacy trust are on a mission to give children and young people from disadvantaged communities the literacy skills to succeed in life. They are looking for an excellent project manager to join them to lead the Literacy Hub in Peterborough.
‘Our Peterborough Hub is one our most established areas and was launched in 2014 in partnership with Peterborough City Council and Vivacity. In this time, it has reached thousands of children and families across the city. Key milestones include the launch of a Year of Reading – establishing reading as a priority for every service, business and community group in the city, a public BookBench trail, a summer “pop-up shop” to provide activities and free books, and a visit from the Queen (then Duchess of Cornwall).
You will be responsible for taking our Peterborough Hub to the next stage, working with local partners including schools, businesses, cultural and community organisations to deliver on shared strategic priorities. This will include work with authors and publishers and support for a social media campaign.’
If you think you could lead and drive this important iniative then please follow the link below:
https://literacytrust.org.uk/about-us/careers/project-manager-peterborough-literacy-hub/
The Alcohol Education Trust is offering a free webinar bespoke to all Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Secondary schools. The key aim is to support staff to “Talk About Alcohol” in order to help young people develop the life skills to keep safe around alcohol.
This will take place online on Tuesday 27th June 2023 (15:45 – 17:00)
Resources that have been fully evaluated and mapped to the DfE statutory guidelines for PSHE and RSE will be sourced free of charge for use with Year 8 and 9 students.
For more information and to book a place, click here
Cambridgeshire Virtual School Conference – ‘Stable Schools: leading change and building futures’
For all Senior Education Senior Leaders.
Thursday 5th October 2023, 09:00 – 16:00.
Marriott Hotel, Huntingdon
Free of charge
KS3 Chemistry for non-specialists
For secondary teachers. 28 Jun 2023, 09.30 – 15.30, remote delivered, £185 with £120 subsidy available.
Diagnostic Teaching and Dealing with Misconceptions in Secondary Science
For secondary teachers. 2 sessions starting 29 Jun 2023, 16.00 – 17.00, remote delivered, from £60
F2F Technician Conference
For science technicians. 06 Jul 2023, 09.45 – 14.45, Sawtry Village Academy, £100 with £70 subsidy available
British Gymnastics Teachers Trampolining Award – Refresher
3rd July 2023 - £179 – One Leisure, St Ives
Audience: KS3 & KS4 – Secondary PE staff, trainee PE Teachers
Understanding Christianity Refresher Course
To book, follow the link on the heading.
Evidence Bites #2: `Curriculum Conversations' - What are the principles of a great curriculum?
with Christine Counsell, Steve Mastin, Rae Snape & Ben Erskine
Tuesday 27th June 2023, 17:00-19:00
Target Audience: SLT, middle & subject leaders, teachers, ECTs, governors
Venue: Ely College, Downham Road, CB6 2SH
Join the East Cambs & Fenland Evidence Network, primary & secondary colleagues for a great evening of informal networking, plenty of early evening snacks and an opportunity to hear inspiring guest speakers taking part in our panel discussion.
£15 a ticket or 2 for £25.50 use the code MULTI
Leading RE - Primary Schools
Thursday 6 July 2023, New Shire Hall, Alconbury Weald, Cambridgeshire.
£65 for LA schools and £75 for academies. This course is targeted at both new and current RE coordinators who need support and advice on how to lead RE. The aim is to provide practical advice and ideas to ensure that RE is taught and monitored effectively
Level 3 qualification: Supporting the maths and literacy learning of pupils with dyslexia and literacy difficulties.
For Primary School teaching assistants and support staff. 6 taught days and compulsory in-setting practical tasks across the year. Starts Thursday 28th April 2023, 9.30am-3.30pm. Real-time virtual classroom. Subsidised for CCC maintained schools and academies £95. All other settings £480.
For bookings, email send.assignments@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
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