Schoolsnet Bulletin Board

At the meeting of Gloucestershire County Council’s cabinet on 9 October 2019 approval was given to commit £7.5m to establish a new 75 place special school for children and young people with Social Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs.

T Levels are a brand new qualification coming in September 2020, developed in collaboration with employers and businesses to meet the needs of industry and prepare students for work. T Levels will follow GCSE’s, be equivalent to 3 A Levels, and will be completed over 2 years of full-time study.

'Closing the Word Gap’ event with Jean Gross -  5^th November, 1.15-4.45pm, Mangotsfield CE Primary School, Bristol.

Curriculum event with James Clements - 4^th November, 9.00am-12.30pm, Highnam School, Gloucester.

Safety, Health & Environment (SHE) are changing the way schools will be planning and approving off-site visits as Gloucestershire eGO is replaced with a new online system called eVisit and paper notifications will no longer be acceptable. Training events are being held across the county.

Are you keen to promote higher order thinking skills, e.g. critical thinking; problem solving, within your school? Are you wondering how to provide sufficient ‘stretch and challenge’ for those higher attainers within your class? Do you wish to have a positive influence on ‘cultural capital’?

If the answer to any of the above questions is ‘Yes!’, then do not miss out on the FREE CPD opportunity advertised below.

The Department for Education (DfE) has updated the statutory guidance Keeping children safe in education for England.

Gloucestershire County Council and Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group are currently undertaking a review of children’s speech and language therapy services across Gloucestershire. 

Asset Management & Property Services will be running Water Hygiene Training Courses at Shire Hall on the 21^st and 22^nd November 2019.  This course is available to all GCC schools, except for Academies that don’t buy back Property Care.

Schools with deficit budget only.

When: 1.00 pm until 3.30 pm, Friday 22^th November 2019.

Are you a champion of inclusive education practice in Gloucestershire? We are seeking to identify and celebrate what makes an inclusive school or setting and need your help.

There are still some places available for the Closing the Gap Conference taking place on 21st November 2019 at the Chase Hotel (Brockworth) in Gloucester.  Flyer and booking details can be found here

End of KS1 and KS2 Assessment and Moderation CPD (2019/20) enables Y2 and Y6 teachers to undertake end of key stage statutory assessments.

EYFS National Research Initiative is an on-line training initiative supported by GCC and delivered by’ Inclusion Expert’

There is no cost to your school.

For EYFS leads in schools:

Reception teachers, YR/1 Mixed age teachers, Headteachers, Senior leaders, EY governors and anyone interested in EYFS in schools.

From September 2019 the DfE is sending direct monthly communications by email to those in governance roles.

The Education Outcomes and Intervention Team facilitate school networking by providing a package of three full day meetings across the academic year to enable subject leaders to: Share successful practice; have updates on national and local curriculum developments; further develop their leadership skills.

Registration for the CyberFirst Girls Competition 2020 opens on Monday 2 December 2019. Free to enter, the competition looks for 12-13 year old girls (Year 8 in England and Wales) to form teams, in order to take on an online round of puzzles and challenges, all related to the world of cyber security.

The Schools Forum Outcome report from the meeting held on 19 September 2019 can be found here.

To find out who the schools’ representatives are on Gloucestershire Schools Forum please see the Schools Forum Membership list.

Dates:  Monday 21st October 2019 (13.00-16.00) 

Venue: The Pavilion, Hatherley Lane, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL51 6PN

Safer Recruitment Consortium have updated the Guidance for safer working practice for those working with children and young people in educational settings.

During the summer holidays the Schools Team were contacted by emergency services because school alarms were going off, by contractors who had arranged to carry out work on school sites but could not access school premises and by the Safeguarding Team who needed to arrange emergency meetings - in a number of instances emergency contact details were out of date making it difficult to resolve school problems quickly.

The Emergency Closure Site will be available for you to test on Wednesday 23rd October between 10:30-11:30hrs; you will have the opportunity to practice closing, opening and publishing messages. Email alerts and twitter links will be switched off during the test period; the system will be live outside this time.

Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Executive (GSCE) invites you to their first DSL Conference on Tuesday 12^th November 2019 at Hatherley Manor Hotel.

Gloucestershire Suicide Prevention Partnership (GSPP) is launching an incentive to get as many people as possible to complete free online training that could help prevent a suicide.

Cheque Books Schools only

The Governors September Budget Plan Forecast 2019/20 template is now available to download.

As part of Gloucestershire’s ACE funding, the LA is required to collect data relating to musical activity in schools over the last academic year.

In order to ensure that the return is accurate, Headteachers are asked to arrange to complete the form (link below) by 30^th September 2019.

Please find at the following link, a letter from Lord Agnew, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System. The letter is addressed to Directors of Children’s Services with the request that it is then distributed across all state schools in their areas. The letter provides information for local authorities, academy trusts and schools regarding EU exit preparations, and includes links to the latest published advice from the Department.

Ofsted has published the primary IDSR prototype for 2019 data. This is to allow users to become accustomed to the changes before they come into effect.

The structure chart for the team of advisers can be found here together with key contact details.

We have developed some 'school ready' information leaflets for parents and Early Years Practitioners/schools.  The aim of the leaflets is to have a shared understanding of what  ‘school ready’ means in Gloucestershire by giving examples of the desired behaviours for school ready children, school ready families and school ready settings and schools. We would welcome your feedback before we officially launch these.

Following the success of previous years’ CPD programme we will be running a similar programme this year, built around the Teachers’ Standards, supporting NQTs in their induction year.

If you have appointed an NQT who will join your school in the autumn term, please complete and return a NQT registration form to: NQTs@gloucestershire.gov.uk 

The ‘Safe Teen Relationship Education and Empowerment’ Team or ‘STREET’ is launching in Gloucestershire.

STREET Gloucestershire, named by local young people, is a new service providing support for 13-19 year olds who are affected by teen relationship abuse or have been affected by domestic abuse within their family.

Head teachers, Deputy Head Teachers, PSHE co-ordinators, Tutors, Pastoral Support - GHLL requests your help on behalf of NHS Gloucestershire CCG who developed the ‘On Your Mind’ website in 2016  www.onyourmindglos.nhs.uk/  This  includes a range of self-help, advice and support for young people’s Mental Health. The time has come to revamp the website and we need the help of your students!

The GCC Scheme for Financing Maintained Schools has been updated particularly in relation to Whistleblowing. The scheme can be found here. 

The government is conducting a Public Consultation exercise in respect of the DfE’s proposed extension of the risk protection arrangement to local authority schools.

Please note the consultation is now live at www.education.gov.uk/consultations and runs until 4 November 2019.

Enter your school for this award to recognise and celebrate what you do in RE.

Run a Beep Beep! Day to engage early years in road safety basics.

Now the new academic year is beginning, it’s time to check that all team members know key information relating to your school premises.

There are a series of conferences that WSS will be running across the South West in the next academic year.  The first two take place in Exeter and Bristol and the focus is for headteachers and SENCOs.

New shape of Education Specialist Support Services.

Understanding Christianity resources and training have had a major impact in around 5000 schools in England.

The new Ofsted Framework will govern all schools and settings from September onwards and will cover: Quality of Education, Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development, Leadership and Management.

Following the success of previous years’ CPD programme, we will be running a similar programme this year, built around the Teachers’ Standards, supporting NQTs in their induction year.

The local authority (LA) is seeking to appoint a team of external moderators to complete statutory end of KS1 and KS2 writing moderation in June 2020.

Two Induction Tutor Updates on 26^th September and 1st October 2019,  2pm - 4pm,  are being held at the Pavilion in Cheltenham.

If you have appointed an NQT who will join your school in the autumn term, please complete and return a NQT registration form by 18^th September 2019 to NQTs@gloucestershire.gov.uk 

Programme and booking details for the Closing the Gap Conference on 21^st November 2019 are now available.