Happy Wednesday!
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End of Year Message from the WELL Team:
'At the start of this academic year, the WELL team made a promise that we would seek to learn from external and local feedback and to work hard to serve all schools that have chosen to participate in our project.
We want to thank you all for your commitment; for trusting us with your teams that have participated in our WELL elements, for attending our events and for supporting the project wholeheartedly to continue to achieve our collective ambitions for the children and young people. We take great heart from your ambitions for their futures.
Our WELL school community is truly special, and we are thankful to every Headteacher, and staff member that contributes to this.
 Collaboration and togetherness is so incredibly important at a time when pressures are many. Education matters and we need to champion it and we will continue to do so. It is not policies, programmes, frameworks and plans that make education thrive, it is people. We are blessed to work with you and all the people involved in WELL.
Examples of this have been demonstrated by our schools throughout the year. We know it is your dedication that is the driving force. Here are just a few examples:
- Universal/ Targeted Grant Implementation
- Launched 'Implementing WELL' with Professor Jonathan Sharples and Jon Eaton
- Delivered Cohort 2 of the Disadvantaged Provision Project with Marc Rowland and ERA
- Delivered MITA Programme Cohort 1 with Sally Franklin
- Delivered Reading Fluency Programme with Louise Quinn
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Cumbrian Award Participation & Capacity increased
- Continued work with GL Assessments and WELL Secondaries
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Great Teaching Toolkit with Evidence Based Education participation increased
- Increased ELSA capacity in the region
Going forward, we are going to build on these relationships and programmes and look forward to starting the 'Sentenced to Success' Primary Cluster Writing Programme and developing the 'Implementing WELL' project.
Finally, as the summer break approaches, many of us are thinking about having a rest with our families and friends, so please get some well-deserved rest and relax with your families.
Please enjoy the summer together.
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 Implementing WELL 2025/26
'Implementing evidence-informed practices to improve outcomes for pupils, including those experiencing socio-economic disadvantage’
As promised in last week's WOW, we are pleased to outline the arrangements for your implementation work next year.
All of the schools that have taken part in the Implementing WELL launch workshops are eligible to access grant funding from WELL next year.
The next steps, including all action required will be set out in your grant offer letters to be sent directly to Headteachers w/c 14th July 2025.
The grant offer letters (GOL) will need to be read, signed and returned no later than Friday 24th October.
Please make a note of this due date as we will not provide grants to any schools that return their GOL, or required documentation, after the 24th October 2025. We will include reminders of this date in future WOWs but will not be contacting schools directly. A summary of the actions required is set out below:
2024/25 Next Steps
- Complete the evaluation form for your WELL-funded implementation work 2024/25 by Friday 24th October.
This prepopulated form will be sent directly to Headteachers within the GOL, giving schools at least 8 weeks in the Autumn Term to respond to three prompts. We originally sent the outline of the three prompts in our WOW dated 21st May. For those who have already started reflections, here are the prompts again to consider before the proforma arrives:
1. Share the extent to which your WELL Funded implementation has addressed/is addressing your identified English and/or Maths priority/ies.
Please include evidence/ anonymised pupil outcomes data to support your evaluation from the Assessment / Outcome Measures outlined in your implementation plan and any others you have used that are not identified.
2. Share what is different and better for disadvantaged pupils in your school, as a result of your WELL funded implementation work. Please include evidence/ anonymised pupil outcomes data for this group to support your evaluation.
3. Share the impact of your WELL funded work on adults within the school.
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2025/26 Next Steps
There will not be a requirement to submit a full implementation plan during the Autumn Term 2025, to receive your grant funding.
- There is a requirement to undertake the Implementation Climate Health Check, summarise your reflections arising from this on the new implementation plan.
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(NEW) Implementation Plan Template
The new template for the implementation plan can be found HERE.
If you wish to use your own template, this must be emailed to and approved by the WELL Director prior to 12th September 2025. Please note, templates will need to include the headings set out in the WELL implementation plan.
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- The below sections (highlighted pink) of the WELL implementation plan, will need to be completed and brought along to the Implementing WELL Workshop 2 on the 29th/30th September.
You will then need to email these to WELL@cumberland.gov.uk by Friday 24th October 2025.
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Implementation Climate reflections: Summarise key reflections about your implementation climate. What are the current strengths and weaknesses? Where are there opportunities to improve the implementation climate through this project?
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Implementation team: Name the lead and Team members
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Problem: The Problem must have an English and/or Maths pupil outcome focus and be aligned with one or more challenges outlined in the Pupil Premium strategy.
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Final Outcomes: What do we want implementation to achieve in terms of pupil academic outcomes, including for disadvantage pupils? Which assessment methods will be used to capture this? How will pupils and the school benefit?
Some implementation teams may wish to draft other sections of their plans too, this is fine, as the Implementing WELL project will enable schools to further refine and improve.
At the September workshops, you will be supported to fully explore the identified Problem, complete the Core Components and Outcomes sections of your implementation plan.
We will release the funding to schools, following participation in the September workshops and submission of your implementation plan with the highlighted sections complete. Please review the grant conditions prior to signing the agreement as schools may be required to repay some or all of the grant if other outlined conditions are not met.
The remainder of your implementation plan will be developed throughout the project. We will require a fully completed and costed plan to be submitted to the WELL team by Tuesday 30th June 2026.
The biggest condition of all is to fully commit and be present during workshops.
From our experiences, over the past academic year, we hope the following considerations may be helpful:
- Have a team approach and a consistent attendee to give continuity and resilience.
- Put in place a contingency plan for the “last minute” potential challenges to participation, such as a sudden safeguarding matter.
- For online sessions, find a space to enable you to have a camera on the during the session.
- Take steps to prevent the distraction of school emails, texts and social media during live workshops.
We will be developing a short recorded briefing for governing bodies which you will be able to share during the Autumn term.
If you have any questions or would like any clarification on the above, please email WELL@cumberland.gov.uk.
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In Summary, the key actions are by 29th September:
Your grant funding will be processed when the following actions are complete. These must be completed no later than by 24th October 2025:
- Complete and return an Evaluation for WELL-Funded Implementation work for 24-25
- Read, sign and return the WELL Grant Offer Letter 25-26
- Participate in Implementing WELL Workshop 2 (29th/30th September)
- Submit the Implementation Plan (after Workshop 2) with at least the following sections complete:
- Implementation Climate reflections
- Implementation team
- Problem
- Final Outcomes
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For all other events, please email WELL@Cumberland.gov.uk directly to express an interest.
The Implementing WELL Padlet includes all presentation slides, recordings and resources to support participation in the Implementing WELL programme.
Please do not share these resources more widely than your school.
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Sign up for certain WELL Events in the following ways:
- Registered users can book through our online system SLA Online
- By emailing the School Development Team at school.development@cumberland.gov.uk
- By calling the team on 01228 221315 / 221316
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