Education Matters July 2023

As we approach the end of the 2022/23 academic year, this final bumper edition of Education Matters looks to publicise and celebrate a snapshot of successes from our educational community over the past year.

From catering to wellbeing, from funding promotion and early years to adult numeracy, the range of stories featured in this edition evidence the diverse range of great practice and attainment taking place across West Sussex schools and the Local Authority. I hope that this will serve as a reminder of why West Sussex remains an excellent place to live, work and study.

Obviously, we are not able to showcase the full picture of local successes in a single newsletter. With this in mind, I would encourage you to take the time to fully celebrate all the achievements in your own communities over the past year - however big or small! 

I would like to personally thank you for all of your continued hard work and commitment to the children and young people you work with. I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively in the 2023/24 academic year to give our young people the skills, knowledge and confidence to achieve. After all, 'if everyone is moving together, then success takes care of itself'. 

Best wishes

Paul Wagstaff, Assistant Director Education and Skills

Thank you!

As a reader of Education Matters, you may also be interested to know that in just 12 months we have seen a 150% increase in our readership. The changes to a web-based format, more structured planning of content at a senior level and the introduction of regular articles from schools have really had a positive impact on how this publication is being received.  If you have any ideas on content for upcoming editions, please do let us know. Thank you for your continued interest in what we are sharing!

Celebrating Multiply: skills for life

17 million adults in England - half the working age population - have everyday maths skills roughly equivalent to those expected of a primary school child (entry levels).

When people improve their numeracy skills, their likelihood of gaining employment, high wages and better wellbeing all increase. Improved numeracy also matters to businesses across the county - big and small. Businesses that develop their employee's numeracy skills can boost productivity, increase profits, and improve employee retention. However, the prospect of maths or returning to the classroom can be intimidating!

The Multiply programme is aimed at adults who have not achieved a GCSE grade C/level 4 equivalent in maths. Courses are free, delivered with learning comfort in mind, and cover a wide variety of options, including increasing confidence, how to understand numbers alongside creative activities, how to manage budgets, and formal accreditations.

Since late 2022, WSCC have been working in partnership with local providers to deliver the national programme. Between December 2022 and March 2023, Multiply engaged with a huge 3,734 potential learners.

What happens next?

Since April 2023, WSCC have been working with 15 different providers to deliver Multiply across West Sussex. With each of these partners offering something slightly different based on the needs of the learner, we are confident that Multiply has something for everyone! For more information, please visit the Multiply website.

Celebrating our providers

Functional Skills, one of our providers, are thrilled to be able to share some recent success stories, including a case study, staff statement and images from a recent trip to the Aurora Hotel in Crawley. 

You can also view the following video from Making Theatre Gaining Skills, featuring real life learners who are taking part in their Multiply programme.

Family Information Service - Best Promotion of Two-Year-Old-Funding 

The West Sussex Family Information Service, together with the Early Years Funding team, has worked tirelessly to promote two-year-old-funding to eligible parents/carers, as widely as possible, since it first came into place. The take up rate has consistently hit 85%, far higher than the national average of 72% (as of summer term 2022). In spring term 2023, take up was 89%. 

In recognition of their successes, the West Sussex Family Information Service were awarded a NAFIS (National Association of Family Information Services) Award for Best Promotion of Two-Year-Old-Funding in 2022. 

For more information on the great practice that led to their achievement of this award, please see this single page article. To search for two-year-old places, please visit the Family Information Service website. 

Current early years outcomes 

The Early Years team are pleased to share that the percentage of Ofsted Good and Outstanding provision across West Sussex remains high.

• Group early years settings - 94.2% Good or Outstanding
• Childminders - 97.5% Good, Outstanding or Met (FE 97.8%, non-FE 97.1%)

*FE = free entitlement

Mental health and emotional wellbeing in schools

With WSCC's programme of support to schools on mental health and emotional wellbeing rapidly developing, now is the perfect time to stop and consider successes and future horizons. 

In this article, Tanya Proctor (Joint Commissioner Health and Wellbeing in Schools) explores the work WSCC are supporting in each area of the 'whole school wheel'.

Catering Service - Public Sector Health and Vitality Honours 2023

Catering Services, who are now based in the Communities Directorate, have been recognised for their continued work on sustainability and wellbeing at the Footprint Health and Vitality Awards, held at the In & Out Club, St. James’s Square, London.

Now in its tenth year, the Roll of Honours recognises organisations from across the foodservice spectrum who are making a difference in these increasingly important areas. The programme has highlighted the contribution the foodservice industry can have towards the health of the nation and its social sustainability, has never been more vital.

The team were recognised for their continued work on reducing the environmental impact of their menu and service, maintaining and developing a vibrant and successful school meals service, and launching a brand-new Meals on Wheels service with a not-for-profit organisation from October 2022 in the face of significant market pressures.

Congratulations also go to the team who have been noted as “industry leading, going up against national and international giants such as Nescafé Gold, Starbucks, Aramark Northern Europe and the NHS Supply Chain. This award follows hot on the heals of the Services UK School Food Business of the Year award 2022 from the School Food People (LACA).

John Figgins, Head of Catering Services, commented: “It is a great honour to be recognised nationally once again for our Catering Services here at West Sussex. Our commitment to reducing the carbon footprint associated with our service is currently one of our key work streams. This approach has included the recent mobilisation of a new ordering system, that already we are seeing is reducing food waste by around 5%. This not only helps avoid food waste and increase the choice to students, but it also helps schools make the most of their budgets. We are on a journey to net zero by 2030, contributing to the Communities and Education Directorates aspirations and the Councils wider commitment. Everything we do in the Service is focused on our customers, residents, and our team members.”

The service was represented at the awards by Nicki Williams, Senior Catering Officer (pictured above).

School's Voice - Southwater Junior Academy on the Wellbeing Award

In one of two final School's Voice pieces for 2023/24, we interviewed Southwater Junior Academy on their recent achievement of the Wellbeing Award for Schools. 

The Wellbeing Award for Schools, developed in partnership with the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), promotes emotional wellbeing and mental health across schools with a particular focus on changing the long-term culture. 

Woodlands Meed on the Quality in Careers Standard

In April 2023, Woodlands Meed achieved the Quality in Careers Standard. The Quality in Careers Standard is the national quality award for careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) in secondary schools, colleges and work-based learning.

In this article, Nola Bennett, Deputy Head Careers and Curriculum Collaboration, reflects on the award process, the Meed's Job Club and improving employment prospects for young people with SEND.

2022/23 has seen a significant amount of change to our outgoing communications with schools and settings. 

Weekly Correspondence Newsletter

In response to your feedback and our processing challenges, the weekly correspondence newsletters were adapted in the following ways in 2022/23:

• The single one size fits all style newsletter was split into two phase specific newsletters (primary and secondary)
• The formal, PDF style letter format was retired in favour of a shorter article style of communication
• Where possible, web style content is inserted directly into the newsletter shortening the user route to access important information
• New branded headers gave the newsletters a recognisable and modern style
• New infographic article images were introduced to specify what to do with the newsletter information e.g. for action or for engagement
• Accessibility criteria for web-based materials can be adhered to with the new format
• The Introduction of role responsibilities against WSSfS account holders enabled more targeted sharing of the newsletters to reduce the need for internal cascading within schools

As a result of these changes, we have seen a significant increase in engagement. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your contribution to improving our communication and please do keep your feedback coming (positive and constructive critique)!

Internally, we have also been doing lots of work to upskill Education & Skills teams on producing effective outgoing communications that meet the needs of you, our audience! This includes consideration of your experience as a reader and the documents/webpages where you may be directed to in order to action a request.  There is still more we can do in this area of communications and updating the teams that share information with schools is the first step.

We look forward to working with you in the new year to further improve the dialogue between settings and the Local Authority.