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- Message from Councillor Burden - Cabinet Member for Education, Skills & Work
- Attendance and Inclusion
- Early Years
- Finance
- Good news
- Information
- Leadership and management
- Training and Consultation
- DfE Update
Dear all,
Welcome back after what I hope has been a refreshing summer for you all. I think like all of us, I'm hoping that we can look forward to a year of relative normality, especially considering the challenges that we have all faced over the past couple of years.
Because of you, we have come through stronger, and we are resilient to the challenges that this year may bring, and I am confident that your hard work will build on the positive outlook we have in the City of Wolverhampton.
Our students in all years have worked tremendously hard, and we know that you have supported them with each step of the way. Many of these students have now gone on to new settings, or begun their adult life, and I'm certain they'll remember the great footings which you have provided them upon which they can succeed. I believe Wolverhampton is an inclusive city, where everyone is given the opportunity to succeed, and crucially, find a meaning of success which is right for them.
Please find attached a flyer for the forthcoming Inclusion conference, we are very excited to advertise, where workshops on key issues and challenges around Inclusion will take place as well as opportunities for networking, information sharing and discussion will be available.
Councillor Chris Burden
Cabinet Member for Education, Skills & Work
Attendance & Inclusion updated websites & referrals from September 2022
The Attendance & Inclusion Service have updated content on all their websites for parents and professionals, outlining our statutory responsibilities and the level of support we offer. In addition to this, we have created webforms for school referrals for each of our service areas to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
From September 2022, only referrals/notifications submitted via the online webforms will be accepted. For further details please click here.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Jameel Mullan
Inclusion & Attendance Service Manager
Jameel.mullan@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Exclusion guidance update
New statutory guidance on school exclusions has now been published, along with new Behaviour in Schools Guidance. The new guidance incorporates changes recommended in Edward Timpson’s May 2019 report on school exclusions. The new guidance will apply to any exclusion or suspension decisions taken from 1 September 2022.
For further information please click here.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Jameel Mullan
Inclusion & Attendance Service Manager
Jameel.mullan@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Update on government consultation to extend eligibility for free early education for 2-year-olds with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
You will be aware that the department has recently consulted on extending the eligibility criteria for the entitlement to 15 hours a week free early education for disadvantaged 2-year-olds to families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF).
The department has now published the consultation response which can be found here. This confirms that the additional groups that have been identified for the entitlement are:
- those with a UK ancestry visa
- those with temporary protection status under Section 12 of the Nationality and Borders Act; and
- those with pre-settled status with no qualifying right to reside.
For further information please contact Claire Hardiman.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Claire Hardiman
Early Years & Childcare Development Officer
Claire.hardiman@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Early Years Stronger Practice Hubs Early years stronger practice hubs - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Early years stronger practice hubs will launch in November 2022. They will provide advice, share good practice, and offer evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners.
Early years settings can apply to become a stronger practice hub using the application form on the National Children’s Bureau’s website.
To be eligible to lead a stronger practice hub, your setting must be:
a group-based early years setting, including:
school-based, private, voluntary, or independent (PVI)
rated good or outstanding by Ofsted
providing pre-reception early education
You have until 23 September 2022 to apply.
As a council we encourage settings to explore this and please contact Stacey Henderson for wider information and to discuss your application further.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Stacey Henderson
Senior Early Years Advisor Stacey.Henderson@Wolverhampton.gov.uk
Early Education Funding Calendar 2022/2023 for PVI’s and Schools with a 2 year old Nursery provision only
Please refer to the attached calendar for details of term dates and submission dates for TFT’s and 3&4’s funding for 2022/2023.
Can all settings please ensure accurate funding is submitted on time to ensure funding payments are not delayed.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Gurpreet Ghateaura
Early Years & Data Support Officer
Gurpreet.Ghateaura@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Schools' Cleaning Charges
26.06.22-24.07.2022
25.07.22 - 21.08.22
The attached schedules show school cleaning charges. Should you have any queries, please contact Caroline Holt (Caroline.Holt@wolverhampton.gov.uk) on 01902 555700, or Gianina Antoniou 01902 558808 (Gianina.Antoniou@wolverhampton.gov.uk) Lisa Green, Cleaning Manager, on 01902 555202 (Lisa.Green3@wolverhampton.gov.uk).
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Andrew McCloskey
Finance Officer
Andrew.mccloskey@wolverhampton.gov.uk
01902 554158
 St Teresa's are very proud of one of their pupils who won the Mander Centre competition to write a short story about the Enchanted Forest pop up feature in the city over the summer.
The Y6 pupil took up the homework challenge set by her teacher and wrote an expertly crafted story. She won, coming first out of 89 entries.
Mrs S McHale
Principal
St Teresa's Catholic Primary Academy
Changes to how Covid-19 absence is managed and recorded
In response to our gradual move to ‘living with covid’, with effect from 1 September 2022, Covid-19 symptoms and/or a positive Lateral Flow Tests are to be treated as normal sickness absence for the purpose of pay and management of attendance triggers. This includes any vaccine related sickness absence.
Paid time off will be permitted for vaccinations and now managed under the Leave of Absence for Reasons other than Sickness Policy.
Please see full Briefing Note for more information.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Claire Norman
HR Advisor Claire.Norman@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Deborah Siviter
Assistant HR Advisor Deborah.Siviter@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Management of Attendance – Updated Policy and Managers Guide
Please see the attached documents.
Management of Attendance Procedure (including Ill-Health Retirement)
Managing Attendance and Ill Health in the Workplace
The Management of Attendance (MOA) Policy and Supporting Managers Guide has recently been updated and ratified. Please ensure that you are using this new updated version when dealing with any absence issues.
If you need any further assistance please contact the Schools HR team or your current HR provider.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Claire Norman
HR Advisor
Claire.norman@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Keeping Children Safe in Education – September 2022 – New provision for on-line checks of all shortlisted candidates
1 September 2022 version of “Keeping Children Safe in Education” includes a new provision (Paragraph 220) for on-line checks to be undertaken in relation to any candidate shortlisted for a school appointment, including teaching and non-teaching roles.
Please view attached further information and FAQs.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Lisa Morgan-Danks
HR Business Partner- Education & Schools
Lisa.morgan-danks@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Fit Notes
Payroll Services are no longer required to see your employee's fit notes. It is important that the school see these fit notes and the responsibility of the individual and the school to retain copies of these.
If you have not received a fit note and a decision has been made to stop pay because of this, you will need to send an email to payroll.services@wolverhampton.gov.uk advising of Res ID, name of the employee and the dates you wish us to stop pay for.
Therefore, with immediate effect, please do not send any further Fit Notes to Payroll Services or HR Support Desk.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Lucy Russell
Team Leader
lucy.russell@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Leave Without Pay
We have recently made changes to our Leave without Pay form that you are required to submit to Payroll Services for us to deduct any unpaid leave from employee’s monthly salary.
We are now required to provide additional information to the Pension Fund in regards to unpaid leave. This being whether the unpaid leave is a full or part day and whether it has been authorised or unauthorised. Please see attachment for more information.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Lucy Russell
Team Leader
payroll.services@wolverhampton.gov.uk
01902 552345 opt 2
Job Vacancy with the Citizenship Language & Learning Team
The CLL Team have a job vacancy for a Language and Literacy Advisory Teacher. Full Time/Part Time/Secondments are all possibilities. See https://www.wmjobs.co.uk/job/135473/language-and-literacy-team-advisory-teacher-/ for further details. Closing Date 25/9/2022
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Mark Smith
Citizen Language and Learning Senior Advisor
Mark.Smith2@wolverhampton.gov.uk
LA Projects (Maths SEND Project and Writing Project)
There are two projects we are running this year. One to support writing in all year groups and one with a particular focus on SEND and Maths in year 4 and/or 5 (but results of the pilot show it impacts practice and learning outcomes for all). If you are interested, we have a 45 minute virtual session on Monday 19 September at 2pm which we will also record.
To show a potential expression of interest, please fill in the following online form (which literally takes 30 seconds to complete).
LA Projects Expression of Interest
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Mark Smith
Citizen Language and Learning Senior Advisor
Mark.Smith2@wolverhampton.gov.uk
LA Baselines in Reading and Maths
The LA baselines will be available again this year. We have upped our game this year and now the spreadsheets automatically disaggregate for PP, SEND, EAL and KS1 attainment. A 3 minute video of what is new can be found here https://vimeo.com/746434829
They are free to any Wolverhampton school for year 6. For year 2-5, they are free for LA maintained schools and academies with a CLL SLA.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Mark Smith
Citizen Language and Learning Senior Advisor
Mark.Smith2@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Commonwealth Games Equipment
Sport England is launching a giveaway of more than 16,000 items including bikes, martial arts mats and basketballs from the recent Commonwealth Games.
It is open to schools, voluntary groups, sports clubs and community-based projects across the WM region.
The deadline to apply is 19 September 2022
For further information please click on the link below:
Application Form
Education Provider’s Safeguarding Group
Brief overview of the discussions had at the Education Provider’s Safeguarding Group on the 8 July 22. Please follow link for further information.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Amy Dunn-Donachy
WST Partnership Support Officer
amy.dunn-donachy@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Visits to the Mayor’s Parlour
The Mayor of Wolverhampton would welcome some school visits to the City Suite at the Civic Centre. For parties of up to 20, the visit would start with a session in the Council Chamber with the Mayor talking about her role before a question and answer session. There would then be a viewing of the Civic regalia and a chance to try on the robes and chains with photos and some refreshments. Flexible times and dates – contact the Mayor’s office:
Contact: Mayoral@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Free Arts Resource for Schools to Celebrate Diversity
Creativity Live is Eastside’s free collection of digital arts resources, available for free to Primary and SEND schools, delivering against KS2 national curriculum outcomes in 2022-23. Developed in collaboration with teachers and expert creative facilitators to support schools across the UK to put creativity at the heart of school life through arts-based, enquiry-led approaches. SIGN UP NOW HERE.
For more information about this programme, please contact our Schools Team on schools@eastside.org.uk
2022 Key Stage 2 September Checking Exercise
Reminder: KS2 September Checking Exercise required by 16 September
Action required by 5:00pm 16 September 2022: to check that the DfE have attributed the correct pupils to your school for the purpose of calculating performance measures and to submit amendment requests.
Between 9:30am Monday 5 September and 5pm Friday 16 September you can access the secure website to view information for your pupils. You will be able to download guidance on how to check that DfE have attributed the right pupils to your school and how to submit amendments, such as requests to remove certain pupils from calculations. Please see DfE email attached.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Mark Glover
Analyst
Mark.Glover@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Education Excellence Strategy
Headteachers, Nursery Managers and Childminders will be receiving shortly documentation relating to:
- The school’s / settings initial category of support for 2022/23
- An invite for Autumn / Annual conversations (our aim is for these to be face to face).
Please note, we have mapped in dates and times according to the strategy timelines and look forward to our discussions with you. We hope that by sharing dates as far in advance as we can, you will be able to accommodate the dates and time allocated. Adherence to the allocated meeting times is appreciated.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Linda Brown
School Improvement Senior Advisor linda.brown@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Stacey Henderson
Senior Advisor Early Years
stacey.henderson@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Education Excellence Strategy – Autumn / Annual Conversations
Schools and settings will shortly receive an invitation for the Autumn / Annual Conversation. Our aim is to for these to be face to face meetings following the lifting of Covid restrictions (unless there are extenuating circumstances). More detailed information will be in the letter of invitation.
Adherence to the allocated meeting times is appreciated.
Schools:
B2 and B1 schools – September / October dates
AS and A schools – October / November dates
Private Early Years settings:
From November 2022 onwards.
Please note, the proforma for these conversations should capture the key information and headlines.
We look forward to our discussions with you.
The Autumn Conversation for proforma for schools can be accessed here
The Annual Conversation proforma for private early years settings can be accessed here
We have also provided a guidance document for schools to assist which can be accessed here.
During the early years update session in September, the annual conversation form will be also be referenced.
For further information please click here.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Linda Brown
School Improvement Senior Advisor linda.brown@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Stacey Henderson
Senior Advisor Early Years
stacey.henderson@wolverhampton.gov.uk
The Police and NSPCC have worked together to formulate a guidance document for schools and colleges with regard to handling difficult and potentially complex situations. It identifies when Police involvement is necessary.
Full details can be found at:
2491596 C&YP schools guides.indd (npcc.police.uk)
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Linda Brown
School Improvement Senior Advisor linda.brown@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Ofsted Inspection documents
Ofsted update handbooks at the start of each school term.
From September 2022, there are changes in how inspections are described and their related handbooks.
The Inspection handbook, September 2022, covering graded (previously S5), ungraded (previously S8) and urgent inspections (urgent inspections were previously known as no formal designation and unannounced behaviour visits), can be accessed via:
Schools inspection handbook for September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Monitoring handbook, September 2022:
School monitoring handbook for September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
This handbook typically relates to settings with an overall effective judgement of requires improvement or inadequate.
If you are a setting expecting Ofsted, please familiarise yourself with the new handbooks and related documents.
In addition, there is a guide which summarises what schools should expect and what they need to do as part of an Ofsted inspection.
Inspecting schools: guide for maintained and academy schools - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Ofsted deferrals:
Deferring Ofsted inspections - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Ofsted code of conduct:
Ofsted code of conduct - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Linda Brown
School Improvement Senior Advisor linda.brown@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Primary accountability
This document has been released outlining primary accountability for 2022, including a series of worked examples
Full details can be found at:
Primary accountability technical guidance 2022 (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Linda Brown
School Improvement Senior Advisor linda.brown@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Website requirements for maintained schools
What maintained schools must publish online has been updated.
Full details can be accessed here:
What maintained schools must publish online - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Linda Brown
School Improvement Senior Advisor linda.brown@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Graduated Response and EHCP Annual Review Process Training
There is still opportunity for SENCOs, Headteachers and Governors to book onto the Microsoft Teams training which will provide an overview and Q&A session for the newly launched:
- Graduated approach guidance
- SEND support plan
- Costed provision map
- Emotionally based school non-attendance pathway
- Annual Review pathway guidance
To book a session follow the link.
Lead person to contact in the LA:
Nicola Harris
Culture of Inclusion Project Manager
Nicola.Harris2@wolverhampton.gov.uk
Click here to access the 5 September DfE update.
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