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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.
Inclusion
Update from Portsmouth Young Carers Service |
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From Spring 2023 young carers will be included on the school census return. This will enable schools to have a much better picture of who the young carers are in each school, provide opportunities to use the data to monitor attendance and attainment of young carers and help to ensure that appropriate targeted support is provided. It will also provide opportunities to develop a greater awareness of local and national young carer statistics and trends.
To ensure that your school census return provides an accurate representation of the number of young carers in your school, we recommend that you have systems and processes in place to:
- Raise awareness of young carers with all staff and pupils
- Flag who the young carers are in your schools
- Ensure that young carers who are identified are linked into available support, both within school and externally
The Children’s Commissioner for England and the Young Carers Alliance are asking every school to:
- Have a young carers champion so that every young carer has a trusted adult in school they can go to if things are difficult, or they need more support.
- Have a young carers policy (designed with young carers) so that every young carer in the county knows what support is available to them in their school.
The Young Carers Alliance has developed free resources to support schools with these changes.
Our service can also provide training opportunities and a range of other young carers resources and support for schools in Portsmouth relating to this. Please email youngcarers@portsmouthcc.gov.uk to find out more.
School improvement
PEP deputy and assistant headteachers conference |
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To support the development of deputy and assistant headteachers across the PEP and succession planning in Portsmouth, the next half day conference has been planned for the afternoon of Wednesday 16 November 2022.
This exciting event will include keynote speakers and a TeachMeet session. View the full agenda and further information here.
Attention all governors - Ofsted briefing |
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Ofsted are holding a free webinar for governors on Tuesday 8 November 2022 from 5.30pm to 6.30pm. The webinar will discuss the school inspection process and clarify the role of school governors in it.
Whole School Reading Culture grants |
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Applications for Bookmark’s Whole School Reading Culture Grant for 2022 are now open. As part of their work to help develop whole school reading cultures, Bookmark is offering a limited number of grants to primary schools to help them address their specific literacy needs.
Two types of grants are available:
- Whole School Reading Culture project grant (up to £5,000)
- Whole School Reading Culture teacher CPD grant (up to £500)
The application deadline is Monday 21 November 2022 with grants being awarded in February 2023. Visit the website for full grant-making criteria and the decision-making timeline.
Outdoor learning and PE update from Hampshire Outdoors |
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The second autumn 2022 edition of the Outdoor Learning (including Trailblazer) and PE newsletter is now available. The theme is mammals and there are ideas and resources to help you identify what mammals may be visiting your school grounds and how to attract more.
As well as signposting you to other outdoor resources, we hope you find it useful in helping to get you and your class outside for learning. Please feel free to distribute this newsletter to colleagues.
If you would like to showcase some of the outdoor learning going on in your school or setting, then please write an article and send it to outdoor.education@hants.gov.uk. Photos are always great to have too!
All previous editions of the newsletter and Trailblazer outdoor learning resources can be found on the Trailblazer website.
Become a teaching assistant event returns to Central Library |
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Over 90 people attended one of two sessions at Central Library on Tuesday 1 November to find out more about becoming a teaching assistant in Portsmouth.
Adult education providers, City of Portsmouth College and The Learning Place inspired attendees with information on apprenticeships and training courses. Trafalgar School showcased several vacancies for support staff at their school.
Those who were qualified, visited the jobs board that showcased the latest learning support vacancies from the Portsmouth City Council website.
We are welcoming interest from schools who would like to promote their vacancies to attendees for another information event at Central Library on 28 February 2023. There is limited space - so allocation will be done on a first come, first served basis.
If you are interested in exhibiting, please email teachportsmouth@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.
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RE primary network |
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The termly religious education primary network meetings for this academic year will once again be held virtually from 3.30pm to 5pm, led by Justine Ball (Hampshire RE Inspector / Advisor) on:
- Wednesday 23 November 2022
- Tuesday 21 February 2023
- Tuesday 16 May 2023
These network meetings are free to attendees and funded by Portsmouth School Improvement Service. They provide opportunities to learn more about the locally agreed RE Syllabus 'Living Difference IV', how to develop your RE curriculum, lead the subject and the latest up to date developments in religious education.
All welcome. Please email laura.browne@portsmouthcc.gov.uk to sign up and receive the Microsoft Teams link.
Association for Language Learning (ALL) Portsmouth primary hub meeting |
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Making international links to motivate our young linguists and celebrate their achievements
The next ALL Portsmouth primary hub meeting will take place via Zoom on Thursday 24 November 2022 at 4pm. Two very respected colleagues will be at this meeting: Vicky Gough from the British Council and Lisa Stevens, primary languages educator and consultant, who will offer us advice and information about how best we can go about creating and developing international links to motivate our language learners.
Learning languages, discovering other cultures and celebrating diversity are surely key to our supporting students to become truly global citizens.
Please confirm your intention to join this meeting by emailing lizlord0502@gmail.com.
Sufficiency and resources
Spare adrenaline auto-injectors - school survey |
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Since 2017, UK schools can purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors (or ‘spare pens’) for use in an emergency if a child’s own auto-injector is not available or not working. Anaphylaxis UK, a charity focused on supporting those at risk of life-threatening allergic reactions, wants to find out how many schools across the UK choose to purchase spare adrenaline auto-injectors and what the barriers are for the schools who do not purchase them.
Please complete a short survey to help Anaphylaxis UK understand more about the uptake of spare pens in schools. As a thank you for completing the survey, you will be directed to a webpage to download three allergy awareness activity sheets to use in school.
Schools' carols event back for 2022!
The schools' carols event is due to take place in the evening of Monday 12 December 2022 at the Mountbatten Centre.
We will shortly be sending out all the information including, times, locations and how to come to the event, so please look out for these emails.
Please contact events@portsmouthcc.gov.uk if you have any questions.
Healthier Together app and winter illnesses information
With winter illnesses on the rise, schools and settings may wish to share a flyer with parents which gives information about a new Healthier Together app which provides clear information on common winter illnesses.
New and improved playground at New Horizons Academy
 A playground has been made safe and fun again at New Horizons Academy in North End. It was designed and managed on site on behalf of the academy by landscape architects and quantity surveyors in Housing Neighbourhoods and Building Services at Portsmouth City Council.
"We are really grateful for the hard work of Helen and the team at Portsmouth City Council. It has been wonderful to see the children playing on the new and improved playground and is a wonderful canvas for us to create more activities for them in years to come. The communication between all parties was excellent and we look forward to working together in the future on other projects."
James Fenlon (Head of Estates and Health & Safety)
Thinking Schools Academy Trust
How the apprenticeship levy can help develop your staff and grow your school's skill set
Did you know?
- Existing staff can become apprentices and gain qualifications through the levy such as NPQ in our management apprenticeships, saving schools paying out extra for training and development
- All age groups are applying for apprenticeships and can be employed at any pay band level relevant to the role
- Every LA school pays into the apprenticeship levy every month therefore the funds and opportunities are available to develop your staff
- Not all apprenticeships work on a day a week release programme as many learn while in the workplace
- We have 57 apprenticeships available at PCC already and there are over 700 available in England that could help strengthen your team
For more information about apprenticeships, contact the apprenticeship team: email apprenticeships@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call 023 9268 8236.
Celebrating the vital role of children who foster
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October's Sons and Daughters Month was about raising awareness of the important role birth children perform within fostering arrangements, whilst showing our appreciation of their commitment to fostering and help transforming other children's lives.
11-year-old Tilly from Southsea, whose parents have provided long-term fostering for over two years, shared: "Fostering has benefited me by teaching me to share. My foster brother is funny, caring, nice, gentle, loyal and fun to be with. I really love my foster brother."
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