PEP Bulletin w/c 27 November 2023

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PEP Bulletin

29 November 2023

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

GEC Platform (now fully funded) - Sign up by Friday 1 December 2023

The multi-award winning Global Equality Collective are offering Portsmouth schools and colleges (and our SCITT) a fully funded solution for their GEC Platform. 14 of 63 of you have already signed up - will you be the next one?

The platform follows a simple four-step process to simplify the challenge of improving diversity, equity, and inclusion:

Step 1: Complete the surveys - start with the leadership self-assessment, move onto the staff survey, and once ready, action the student survey (new for 2023). You don’t have to do it all either – you can use the tools in the best way and at a time to suit your organisation. Note - we will be completing the first self-assessment in person on the 5 January 2024! More details below.
Step 2: Receive immediate results - get immediate results, including quality-assured recommendations from our GEC mentors for each point.
Step 3: Create a data-driven action plan - plan a personalised DEI road map based on recommendations using the 'GEC Action Plan.'
Step 4: Access our 'Netflix'-style training hub - delve into our extensive e-learning resources, featuring 35+ leadership modules created by leaders, for leaders. We refresh our resource suite regularly to ensure our members stay at the forefront of DEI best practices.

Join us and others that have signed up for this programme. Our in-person launch day will be held on Friday 5 January 2024, 10.30am - 1pm at Copnor Primary School. All you need is your phone for 2FA set up and your laptop/tablet to get logged in during this exciting day of workshops and practical support!

To take advantage of this priority offer, please fill out the expression of interest form by Friday 1 December 2023 or email office@thegec.org directly.

November update from the Naval Families Federation

Read the latest update from the Naval Families Federation for information on:

20th anniversary colouring competition
Sharing lived experience with the families we support
Homeport Magazine: Then and Now

Read now

School improvement

Let's get families to recognise their school superheroes!

Teach Portsmouth are encouraging families to send a special thank you to staff in schools who have gone above and beyond the call of duty. To help promote this initiative, Teach Portsmouth are asking schools to share this information with parents and carers directly, inside email newsletters and on social media, to increase engagement and the number of thank you messages.

There is no restriction on who can be thanked (as long as the individual still works at the school - so the message can reach them). To say thank you, families visit the Teach Portsmouth website and complete an online form where their message will be sent directly to the team. The deadline for thank you messages is Wednesday 14 February 2024.

Thank you messages will be shared with schools in June 2024, on a printed document alongside other goodies. Please share this information with your families and help us recognise school superheroes in the city.

Find out more

Participation and progression

Post-16 education and employment guide for young people with SEND

A post-16 education and employment guide has launched to support young people with SEND who are looking at their options after school.

What Next? has been created in partnership with the City of Portsmouth College and HSDC, alongside Solent LEP, Portsmouth City Council and the Solent Careers Hub, designed to present all the options for young people from post-16 education through to employment.

This easy-to-understand guide provides a checklist of what you need to know and do before applying, detailing the courses available at local colleges and the application process. It covers routes into work including supported internships.

The What Next? guide is available to view and download on the Local Offer website, where you will find further information to help young people plan for their future. Please share with young people and families who will find this information useful.

Sufficiency and resources

Consultation revised travel assistance policies

The council is currently consulting on the Portsmouth Travel Assistance Policy for Children of Statutory School Age (5-16) and the Portsmouth Travel Assistance Statement for Post 16 Learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. We are not proposing any changes to the eligibility criteria, so children and young people who are currently eligible for home to school and college transport assistance will still be eligible under the revised policy.

The two draft documents have been updated to reflect new DfE guidance on the provision of travel assistance. The revised draft policies also include information about how to apply for a disabled person’s bus pass, emphasise that travel arrangements should support preparation for adulthood, propose a simplified mechanism for calculating and paying personal budgets, and propose an increase the costs of a Privilege Place.

The consultation closes on Friday 19 January 2024. Comments should be sent to HTSTransport@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

Training

How to increase pupil numbers at your school - HISP Learning Partnership

The South of England has witnessed large falls in the birth rate over the past decade. This is why pupil numbers in primaries are falling dramatically - and why they are set to stay low for years to come. The problem is now starting to feed into secondary schools. Effective marketing is the best solution for schools looking to maintain pupil/student numbers.

This session – one of the first of its kind in the UK – takes the fundamentals of marketing and applies them to a modern British school setting. It challenges schools' current approach to marketing and equips staff to use websites, social media and more traditional media to tackle the problem of falling rolls.

Participants will be encouraged to think differently about the ways that schools engage and will be given the tools to identify prospective parents, how to reach them and how to ensure that classrooms are as full as possible every September.

Find out more

Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher (MTPT) project

Fully funded for state school colleagues in Hampshire thanks to HISP Teaching School Hub

1. Return to work workshops for colleagues on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave

Join The Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher (MTPT) project this winter for our December Return to Work workshop - a highly supportive session aimed specifically at colleagues preparing to return to work following a period of maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.

During this 90-minute workshop participants will learn about their legal entitlements as returning parents and the best practice they can request from schools to support their return. The workshop offers the headspace to consider organisational logistics at home and at school and prepare practically and emotionally for a confident return.

Visit Eventbrite to find out more and claim your fully funded place using the promo code HANTS23.

2. Empowering group coaching for colleagues on parental leave

Join The MTPT Project this December for the winter cohort of their Parental Leave group coaching programme. This highly supportive programme is aimed specifically at colleagues currently on a period of maternity, adoption or shared parental leave.

Across three online sessions, participants explore key personal development themes such as confidence, managing change, identity, and gaining a sense of autonomy and direction, in a small and welcoming group setting.

There are two cohorts to choose from (running from December 2023 to February 2024):

Use the promo code HANTS23 to claim your fully funded place on Eventbrite.

HR

The HR news information is located on the human resources Google homepage and maintained schools and any academy with an HR Traded Services agreement can access it here.

Further information can be obtained by contacting HR.

Dates for your diary

30 November 2023
Pupil premium network programme | 2pm - 4pm
Email Lauren.Roe@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

1 December 2023
Deadline to register for GEC Platform
Find out more

All schools contacts 23-24 spreadsheet

Please update any staffing changes in our All schools contacts 23-24 spreadsheet. We are aiming to keep all of our key schools contacts centrally for ease of reference and to improve our communications.

The sheet is editable but please do not change the format or add any columns or rows.

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