What's new from WELL?

Welcome back!

We hope that you and your teams have managed to get some well deserved rest and wish you all and your pupils every success for the new academic year.

We were delighted to receive confirmation during the last week of the school holidays, that WELL phase 3 has been approved and that we will continue to support our schools over the next 3 years, subject to satisfactory reports annually.

Sellafield ltd and NDA continue to show their commitment to education in the region and to support the social impact ambitions of WELL. Cumberland Council will continue to act as the responsible body.

WELL Phase 3 is underpinned by evidence informed enablers that give us the best chance of success. These are:

• Evidence Informed implementation
• Universal and Targeted inputs and grants with an academic focus on Curriculum, Pedagogy, Assessment and Subject Knowledge and Pastoral focus on Learning Readiness, Routines, Behaviour and Attendance
• High Quality Professional Development
• Academic and Pastoral evidence informed Intervention ‘best bets’
• Local Evidence and Research capacity
• Collaborative learning networks
• Developing Pupil Premium (PP) Strategies
• Attract, motivate and retain teachers

Participation in WELL Phase 3 

Since 2019, WELL has invited all eligible schools to take part. Over the last 5 years, all 118 schools have taken up this opportunity. In a fragmented education landscape, this is a remarkable achievement by you all. 

We will continue to offer a fully inclusive approach, where we invite every eligible school to unite within WELL to make a sustainable difference to the children and young people in the region, particularly the children and young people experiencing disadvantage.

Our hope is that our eligible schools continue to be part of the WELL family. We also appreciate that Headteachers, School Leaders and Governing bodies need to understand the expectations for participation in WELL, in order to consider the fit and feasibility. 

Therefore, we have refreshed our MoU as a 'Participation Commitment'. Please could this be completed by Headteachers before Monday 30th September.

Annual Events Planner and Programmes for 2024/25

Last week, we circulated our Annual Events Planner and a Padlet outlining our available programmes for 2024/25.

We kindly advise that WOW recipients wait until Headteachers have read the 'Participation Commitment' and considered feasibility before signing up for the 24-25 programme opportunities.

Events on the Annual Events Planner with a 'green dot' are bookable via SLA Online/ School Development Team. For all other events, please email WELL@Cumberland.gov.uk directly to express an interest.

The Annual Events Planner is a live link and will be updated throughout the year.

Required Events

The minimum requirement this year, is for Headteachers and Implementation team members to attend one of the 'Implementation Guidance workshops with Professor Jonathan Sharples' from the dates below and to commit to the Universal / Targeted grant element of the project. 

Professor Jonathan Sharples Implementation Guidance Workshop  (Choose 1 Session):

• Thursday 3rd October 09:30 - 12:00, Energus
• Friday 4th October 09:30 - 12:00, Whitehaven Golf Club
• Friday 4th October 13:00 - 15:30, Whitehaven Golf Club

Places for these sessions are available to book now with the School Development Team. We will be sending a separate communication to our small schools outlining an additional option to access this training. 

We will communicate full details of our Universal / Targeted grant element in the next 'WOW' on Wednesday 18th September, this will include details of implementation planning expectations and the grant allocation requirements.

Great Teaching Toolkit (GTT)

As part of our revised Theory of Change of WELL, our aim is to focus more on pedagogy because we know that quality teaching is key to sustainable success. 

We already have 18 WELL schools implementing the Great Teaching Toolkit as a key part of professional development strategy for their teachers. We are delighted that there is an opportunity for WELL schools to have access to the toolkit for three years to enable them to implement and embed a truly evidence informed approach. You will find full details for the GTT programme in the WELL Programmes Padlet.

The upcoming Re-launch event to get involved is on:

Tuesday 17th September, 09:30 - 12:30 at  Whitehaven Golf Club.

This launch event is for both current GTT schools and any WELL school that wants to make the most of this opportunity.

Bookings are available now with the School Development Team.

Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants (MITA)

We have secured collaboration with Sally Franklin from MITA to deliver a programme that places a focus on both Leaders and Teaching Assistants themselves.

Sally is a proven expert in both implementation as a process and deployment in practice. This opportunity is limited to 20 schools this year and the first session focused on leaders will take place on Friday 20th September 09:30 - 12:30 at Energus. 

If Teaching Assistants are a key priority for your school, please take the time to read the full details of this training, included in the WELL Programmes Padlet and ensure requirements can be met for participation.

Bookings can be made now with the School Development Team.

Internal Evaluation of your Phase 2 WELL - Funded work 

In the Summer Term we provided Headteachers with an online form to complete your summary evaluation of your specific WELL grant-funded implementation work from 2021 - 2024. 

We recognise that you will have only just received pupil outcome data to support you in this process. A reminder that the deadline for completing this is Friday 18th October 2024.

The Education Research Alliance (ERA) will be providing drop-in support sessions to complete this evaluation on Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th October. Please email WELL@cumberland.gov.uk if you would like to attend on either of these dates. 

If you are unable to locate the link to the form, please email WELL@cumberland.gov.uk and we will re-send this to you.

Summary of Recommended Actions: