PEP Bulletin w/c 12 July 2021

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portsmouth city council
Portsmouth Education Partnership

PEP Bulletin

15 July 2021

If you have information to be included in the next issue of the PEP bulletin, please send your text, image and link by Tuesday at 12pm to pep@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.


Leadership, recruitment and retention

Teach Portsmouth Awards Live

Thank you for watching the Teach Portsmouth Awards Live

The Teach Portsmouth team would like to congratulate everyone who featured in the Teach Portsmouth Awards Live ceremony. Over 180 people joined us on Zoom to celebrate teachers, support teams and leaders in 9 award categories. To celebrate all you have achieved, the website has now been updated with a recording of the event.

Also, a special resources area has been created which contains videos for you to share with staff and the wider community. The new resources area contains two links. You can copy and paste videos for use on social media. The second code allows you to directly embed the video on your website. This might be useful if you are planning a blog or news article to celebrate your colleagues' successes.

To view the new resources area, please click here. To view the Teach Portsmouth Awards Live ceremony in full, please click here.

Share your trophy selfies with Teach Portsmouth

We are proud to partner with Victory Trophies once more on providing high quality trophies for our fantastic colleagues. The team at Victory Trophies have now confirmed all shortlisted and winning schools and colleges should have received their awards.

We are encouraging senior colleagues to present the trophies to their staff in a special way. You could hold your own playground ceremony or empower teams to celebrate in their own way. Please share your award giving ceremony with us on social media using the hashtag #TPA21. We would love to see you all!


Update on Portsmouth Teaching School Alliance from Lynn Nicholls

Portsmouth and Solent Training Alliance

Portsmouth Teaching School Alliance will be operating under a new name from 1 September 2021. We are now the Portsmouth & Solent Training Alliance.

Recruitment has gone well again this academic year and we have nearly 50 new trainees starting their induction days in July.

Well done to all trainees who completed training this summer and who are now getting ready to start their teaching jobs in September 2021. We are delighted that we have continued to have outstanding pass and employment rates. You make us incredibly proud.

A huge shout out thank you to all our partnership schools and mentors who made this possible during one of the most challenging years to date!

In September 2021 we will be recruiting for September 2022 (primary and secondary initial trainee teachers) for our Portsmouth, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and West Sussex partnership schools.

We will still be operating from our offices in the Training and Learning Centre at Portsmouth Academy.

We look forward to working with you alongside the HISP and the regional hubs.

Lynn Nicholls
Lynn.Nicholls@portsmouthtsa.org


School apprenticeships for LA maintained schools

Message from Sandra Wilkie:

As we approach the last couple of weeks of term and you look forward to the summer break, I wanted to introduce myself to your school as the contact and support for apprenticeships and inform you of a fantastic pay incentive and apprenticeship opportunities for schools.

As well as the apprenticeship being fully funded for your school, I wanted to inform you of a government incentive which runs from 1 April to 30 September 2021, schools can receive £2,100 payment for any apprentices of any age on a new apprenticeship, along with the ongoing £600 incentive for employing any 16-18 year old.

Find out more


Curriculum and CPD

Brilliant butterflies free seasonal show

STEM NOW

STEM NOW has partnered with Butterfly Conservation to present a brand new free seasonal show ‘Brilliant butterflies: a story of transformation, wellbeing and discovering the value of our precious green spaces’.

The video is aimed at 5-12 year olds and explores curriculum themes such as habitats, food chains and life cycles as well as broader concepts such as transformation and the links between wellbeing and the natural world. Timed to coincide with the launch of the Big Butterfly Count this video will engage and inspire children to get involved in investigating their local small green spaces over the summer months.

With a suite of free associated resources which can be used as a class or as individuals, this is a lovely way to end a challenging year for everyone with a positive and uplifting story of transformation.

Find out more


DfE funded EdTech Demonstrator Programme for schools and colleges 2021-22

The government’s EdTech Demonstrator Programme provides schools and colleges free, bespoke, peer-to-peer support on effective use of technology in education. The programme is now in its second year and has evolved from crisis response to offering support in developing digital strategies which make effective use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. 

United Learning are offering consultations, digital strategy toolkits, staff training, trainee teacher support, parental engagement and more - all focused on reducing workload, improving access to the curriculum and wider improvement aims. Find out how your school can benefit here.

digital leaflet gives a brief overview on this fantastic free CPD opportunity.

If you have any questions or would like to contact the team directly, please email edtechdsp@unitedlearning.org.uk.


British Council Language Trends 2021 report

The Language Trends 2021 report surveyed teachers at more than 1500 primary, secondary and independent schools across England. The report, which has been published annually by the British Council for nearly twenty years, gathers information about language teaching and learning in England.

A recording of a webinar presenting the headline findings of the survey is available to watch on the British Council website.

Read the report


12 Tasks of Hercules

12 Tasks of Hercules

Hundreds of children have been singing in their bubbles this term to create a collaborative online show about the 12 Tasks of Hercules.

The show is a wonderful legacy of the last six months and the children and staff have worked so hard to learn the songs, create actions, narrations and our media team have had fun with the graphics as you will see!

The event went live on YouTube last night and is now available to watch online.

Watch now

Portsmouth Music Hub

Emotional health and wellbeing

Restorative practice schools

Many of you would have seen at the recent PEP conference the work in Trafalgar School on restorative practice, and enjoyed the session with Mark Finnis, a national lead in this area. A number of schools in the city have already worked on restorative practice since 2016 and know that it can have a tangible impact on the culture of a school, relationships with and between children and measurable impacts in attendance and exclusions. Mark also shared with us the research on the impact on educational attainment.

The Inclusion Conference in October will include a session with Mark, providing a further opportunity for schools to reflect on what restorative practice can do to enable the development of a fully inclusive culture.

The next phase of support for schools in Portsmouth to develop and embed a restorative culture is now being planned. Having taken advice from leaders in the field, and learning from experience in other local areas, support will be rolled out in several waves, with the first wave starting in early 2021/22.

It would help to get a sense from Portsmouth schools on whether you would want to be part of wave 1 or subsequent waves. The scheduling of waves and the scale of support is yet to be determined, depending on feedback received. Only an early sense from each school is currently needed. If you also want to comment on work you have already done on restorative practice that would help too.

Please email Hayden.Ginns@portsmouthcc.gov.uk to confirm your interest and whether you would be willing to be part of wave 1 in 2021/22 or subsequent waves.

Trafalgar School's video can be viewed here and a copy of Mark's materials can be found on the PEP website.


Project Orpheus and Prevent update

The latest Project Orpheus and Prevent update is now available. It includes information on:

  • Project Orpheus – partner meeting 8
  • Out of schools settings (OOSS): training for professionals
  • Reporting prejudicial language and behaviour
  • Extreme far right group banned
  • Educate Against Hate monthly newsletter
  • Training
  • Independent review of Prevent

Read now


The Little Blue Book of Sunshine Portsmouth edition e-book

The guide for young people, which promotes self-help plus local and national support services, is now available in a digital format, making it easy for young people to read it online or download it onto their device.

The Little Blue Book of Sunshine has tips on how to deal with problems such as anxiety, stress, body image, relationships and anger, explaining what young people can do right now to feel better, and who to turn to if things feel too much.

It is available for free from Google Play Books and Apple Books.

Little Blue Book of Sunshine

Forces Family Festival 2021

Join the Universities of Winchester and Portsmouth to celebrate armed forces family life and be in with a chance to win vouchers for a family day out.

The virtual festival goes online on Monday 19 July 2021 for the duration of the summer holidays and can be completed in your own time. This summer-long event hopes to help keep families entertained as well as come together to reflect on their experiences as an armed forces family. The festival will feature:

  • Interactive activities for young people and their families to take part in online
  • Learn about a range of topics and subjects that can be explored at university
  • Competition to capture reflections of what it means to be an armed forces family
  • Welcome talk from a current student from an armed forces background

The event is open to all families of those serving past and present.

Please share this information with any families who might be interested.

Find out more


Healthy conversations around sexual health

Sexual health is important. Do you want to be more confident to have conversations with your children about sex and sexual health issues, including sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and sexual functioning, without sitting down to have "the embarrassing conversation"?

This healthy conversation skills training on Thursday 15 July, 5pm - 8pm aims to de-mystify the art of 'giving help' and build confidence in everyone. These 3 hour, fully interactive online sessions are designed to encourage and support the philosophy behind Making Every Contact Count (MECC) with added peer support and topic focused information. During the session you will:

  • Understand how healthy conversations can help people to have better sexual health
  • Learn about reflective practice and how it can help in your daily life as well as at work
  • Understand the factors that can make changing behaviours difficult
  • Build confidence and competence in having those 'difficult' conversations with young people
  • Learn how to actually help people to help themselves!

All teachers and parents are welcome to attend these free sessions that are accredited by the Royal Society of Public Health and delivered by Public Health Portsmouth.

For more details or to sign up please email Robert.anderson-weaver@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.


Speak Up Pompey, Pompey Speak Up World Café

The Speak Up Pompey, Pompey Speak Up World Café will take place on Saturday 17 July. The online discussion is aimed at giving everyone in Portsmouth – young people, residents, workers, businesses - an opportunity to have their say about the Hot Walls, safety and enjoyment.

This is a great opportunity for young people aged 11 - 18 in Portsmouth to have their say about what it’s like to be a young person in the town. What is good and what makes you feel unhappy. The conversation will focus around the use of the Hot Walls and how the area is used by people – young and old – and what can be done to make the area safer and enjoyed by everyone.

Any young person who attends will receive an Amazon voucher worth £10.

Please forward to any young person and their parents/carers who might be interested.

Find out more and register


How young people's views are shaping mental health provision

Unloc logo

Unloc's 'Unloc-ing Potential During COVID' video series continues with a 2-minute video from Tom Westbury, Deputy Director of Communications at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.

Tom shares how they’ve worked alongside Unloc to put young people’s views at the heart of their work to shape mental health provision.

Watch the video


Special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)

Neurodiversity newsletter June 2021

The latest monthly newsletter for the neurodiversity project is now available to read. Updates include:

  • Referrals
  • Article of the month
  • Intersectional neurodiversity
  • Profiling - how do we start?

Read now


LA updates

HAF Fun Pompey summer activities

New activities have been added to the HAF Fun Pompey website and bookings are now open. Many activities are filling up quickly so don’t delay making a booking with the provider.

Please share this information with families who might be interested.

HAF FUN POMPEY logo

How to book:

  • Go to www.pycportsmouth.co.uk/haffunpompey
  • Find the activity you would like to book
  • To find an available activity use the interactive map - you can select a pin on the map and then 'more details', this will take you to the providers information or you can scroll through the list
  • Follow the link or contact details to book on directly with the provider.
Holiday activities and food

With the Olympics opening ceremony only a week away Portsmouth is celebrating the biggest sporting event in the world with a number of BH Live Olympic Roadshows. These are great family fun days starting at Alexandra Park on Friday 6 August, 10am - 2pm.

If your child has special educational needs or disabilities please visit the Portsmouth SEND Local Offer website to learn how HAF Fun Pompey can support you this summer.

If you have any have questions please contact haf@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.


Bramble Infant School and Nursery crowdfunding competition

Bramble Infant School and Nursery wants to turn its playground into a green oasis, where children can develop a love for nature, and a passion to look after it.

To raise the money the school has entered into a Climate Crowdfunder Competition, which started at 7.30pm yesterday and will run until 7.30pm on Thursday 15 July.

If you would like to try something similar at your school, please email info@portsmouthclimateaction.org.uk.

Find out more and pledge


Brief surveys: Inclusion Outreach Service and emotional health and wellbeing support

We are seeking your views and feedback to inform our planning for next year.

Please complete these two short surveys on the training, support, advice and resources available by Friday 16 July.


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