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- Message from the Head of Education Excellence
- COVID Winter Fund Grant
- Early Years
- Good News
- HR - Workforce
- Information
- Support Services for schools
- Training and consultation
- DfE daily update
Dear Colleagues,
It was good to see many of you at today’s Engagement sessions, and hopefully I’ll see more of you tomorrow. I hope that you found it useful.
Today, I would like to draw to your attention the information relating to the implementation of the Winter Covid Grant and what this means for children eligible for Free School Meals. You will receive an updated FAQ document by email and this will contain new information. And can I thank you for the feedback we’ve already had.
Stay strong and safe,
Phil
Phil Leivers
07971639285
Covid Winter Grant Fund – Support for families at risk of food poverty over the Christmas Holidays
As you are aware, Local Authorities are in receipt of the Covid Winter Grant Fund from central Government.
In Wolverhampton, part of this grant will be used to support those eligible for benefits-related free school meals (FSM) with supermarket vouchers.
An eCode, redeemable at the value of £15 per child, per week will be issued to families with children in this group over the two-week Christmas school holidays (with further support to be arranged for February half-term).
To support schools, who already face considerable additional challenges due to the Coronavirus pandemic this will be administrated by the Local Authority.
You will receive a series of emails containing more details and outlining the process further. Upon receipt we ask that school leaders share this email with relevant colleagues in their school.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-winter-grant-scheme
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Free School Meals
Free.SchoolMeals@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Laura Jude
Disadvantaged Advisory Teacher
Laura.Jude@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Update to Early Years guidance
The Department for Education (DfE) has updated the actions for early years and childcare providers during the COVID-19 outbreak guidance to include information on the exit from National Restrictions on 2 December and new and updated guidance on managing safety in settings, staffing, 30 hour entitlements and information on business support. A full list of updates is included at the beginning of the guidance document.
The guidance continues to be applicable to settings during national restrictions although it should be read alongside the education national restrictions guidance. The national restrictions guidance supersedes the early years and childcare guidance where it touches on the same policy areas. This applies until national restrictions end on 2 December.
Actions for early years and childcare providers during the COVID-19 outbreak
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Stacey Henderson
Senior Early Years Advisor
Stacey.Henderson@Wolverhampton.gov.uk
Please remember to send your good news stories to School.Post@wolverhamtpon.gov.uk and we will include into our bulletin!
Changes to the guidance for CEV employees
The latest guidance for the Clinically Extremely Vulnerable employees is accessible from: here and states that employees who were previously advised to shield can be in the workplace where working from home is not possible from 2nd of December.
There is further advice, specifically for the Education settings accessible from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak/guidance-for-full-opening-schools. It states:
Local restriction tier 3: very high alert, staff and employers may wish to discuss flexibilities that support clinically extremely vulnerable staff, such as staggered start times to reduce travel during rush hour.
In the future, the government will only reintroduce formal restrictive shielding advice in some local areas in tier 3: very high alert where this has been advised by the Chief Medical Officer, and only for a limited period of time. The government will write to individuals to inform them if they are advised to follow formal shielding and not attend the workplace.
It is advised to carry out a review of their individual risk assessment to discuss support and adjustments, when preparing for their return to the workplace.
28 weeks pregnant or more (last trimester):
We are locally advising to continue to follow the same principles to those for the CEV employees, as above. This advice does also apply from 2nd of December.
Collection of workforce data to support future local public Health initiatives:
We would like to ask you about numbers of employees in schools, broken down into different categories. This is to help us with planning our support to you and with our preparations as new interventions become available such as testing and vaccinations.
This questionnaire will help Education leaders and Public Health colleagues better understand resource requirements.
We will email this link directly to the school’s group email address and it would greatly appreciated if you could arrange for it to be completed and returned by close of play Friday 11 December.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Louise Sharrod
Principal Public Health Specialist
Louise.Sharrod@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Howard Jobber
Senior Public Health Specialist
Howard.Jobber@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Marie Marenda
HR Business Partner
Marie.marenda@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Proposed change to St Michael’s CE (A) Primary School
As you may be aware, Pre-publication Consultation on the City of Wolverhampton Council’s proposed prescribed alterations to St Michael’s CE (A) Primary School concluded on 12 October 2020.
The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, in consultation with the Director of Education, recently reviewed the outcome of Pre-publication Consultation and approved progression to a period of Representation regarding the proposed prescribed alterations.
Representation commenced on 1 December 2020 and concludes on 11 January 2021.
For further information please visit: https://consultation.wolverhampton.gov.uk/send/proposed-changes-to-st-michaels.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Hayley Kelly
SEND Commissioning Development Officer
SENDteam@wolverhampton.gov.uk
01902 554299
GRANTfinder News Alert: Funding to Support Schools and Colleges During COVID-19
Please find a news alert for funding for Settings. Click here or here (EY) to view.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Catherine Perry
Development Officer (Funding)
Catherine.Perry@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Pupil Premium Strategy Writing and Review Workshop
Pupil Premium leads are invited to attend this free workshop to support with the implementation and review of your 2020-2021 Pupil Premium strategy.
Leads will be supported in reviewing their Autumn Term provision, including the use of Covid Catch Up Funding.
The latest updates from the DfE regarding Pupil Premium and Coronavirus Catch Up Funding will also be shared.
Monday 7 December, 13:30-15:00 via Microsoft Teams.
Please book in advance via WVES.
https://wves.wolverhampton.gov.uk/Event/122183
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Laura Jude
Disadvantaged Advisory Teacher
Laura.Jude@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Upcoming Engagement Sessions
Wednesday 2 December 1.30 – 3.00 pm Primary including Nursery schools - Click here to join the meeting
Wednesday 2 December 3.30 – 5.00 pm Special schools and PRUs - Click here to join the meeting
RSE training for PSHE leads - local offer
The course is delivered online and additional support is offered. It is also recorded so people can access later if needed. Other schools are feeding in from around the west midlands – so good for networking for Black country/Wolverhampton schools too.
Schools may be asked by DfE or Ofsted if they have participated with this via contact with their LA given the comments on the last guidance. It is run at Barr Beacon School but their teaching school is called Evolve. Please see attached (EYs link) for more information.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Amanda Evans
PSHE Advisory Teacher
Amanda.evans@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Baseline Data - SEND
An online session to support schools who completed the Baseline Data with a focus on SEND. There is no cost for this session. Access to your baseline data and a laptop required on the day. Monday 7 December 1.30pm - 2.45pm. Target audience: SENCOs, Senior Leaders, Assessment Leaders, Subject Leaders.
This workshop will cover:
- The outcomes of the Baseline Data in relation to SEND pupils
- Support schools in how to disaggregate the data for SEND pupils using the LA’s Baseline Data
- Discuss areas of focus for SEND pupils, based on the outcomes of the Baseline Data
If you cannot attend but wish to access a video post training and all resources please enrol.
If you would like to attend, please register on SLA online- www.wves.wolverhampton.gov.uk if you have any difficulties or queries with booking through the system please contact Hardip Jassal on 01902 55 (5930) or Hardip.Jassal3@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Mark Smith
Citizenship Language & Learning Senior Advisor
Mark.smith2@wolverhampton.gov.uk;
Anna Vrahimi
School Improvement SEND Advisor
anna.vrahimi@wolverhampton.gov.uk
New development and support network for Pastoral/Wellbeing Leaders:
Wellbeing for Education Return – ADDITIONAL SESSION
Thursday 3 December 3.30 – 5pm
Please note that you only need to book onto 1 session as they will all deliver the same content and have reflective practice sessions. Book through https://wves.wolverhampton.gov.uk/
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Elaine Perry
Senior Educational Psychologist
Please note my working days are Monday (am), Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Elaine.Perry@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Mathematics Baseline Training events
These upcoming online sessions are for class teachers and maths leads. They will look closely at the outcomes of the maths baseline tests. Each session will offer teaching guidance in relation to areas of learning which are likely to have the biggest impact on pupil progress. The focus will be on Paper 1 (Arithmetic) using the QLA baseline. The sessions will be recorded if you can’t personally attend but please book online via WVES.
- Y4 Baseline -Friday 4 December 2pm-3.45pm
- Y3 Baseline -Friday 11 December 2pm-3.45pm
- Y2 Baseline -Wed 16 December 2pm-3.45pm
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Sandeep Vashisht
Mathematics Advisory Teacher
Tel: 07812495069
Sandeep.Vashisht2@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Statutory assessment and moderation
The approaching training opportunities are offered to support statutory assessment and moderation:
- 01/12/2020 at 1:30 - 4:00pm - EYFSP assessment meeting for all staff completing EYFSP at the end of Reception Year using the old framework and Early Learning Goals
- 02/12/2020 at 1:30 - 3:30pm - Early Adopters network meeting 1
Also, please note the following training opportunities are offered for NQTs and RQTs:
All participants should be booked onto training via WVES. Please refer to attachment (EY's link) for further dates.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Jo Horlock
NQT and Assessment Advisor
Jo.Horlock@wolverhampton.gov.uk
27 November – Coronavirus – Daily update to all early years, children’s social care, schools and further education providers - click here or here (EY).
1 December – Coronavirus – Daily update to all early years, children’s social care, schools and further education providers - here or here (EY).
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