Schoolsnet Bulletin Board

The Education Outcomes and Intervention team will be hosting a 1½ hour briefing for headteachers and chair of governors via Webex at 1.30pm on Thursday 25 November.

Free access to the Employee Assistance Programme for all schools in Gloucestershire is making a real difference supporting school staff. Figures received from Health Assured, which provides the assistance programme on behalf of the county council, show that 20 per cent of school staff who are out of work at the start of counselling therapy are back in work at the end of the course.

Professor Sarah Scott, Executive Director of Public Health has produced a video for parents detailing the importance of the 12-15 vaccination programme.  This has been posted on our social media channels which you can share or post directly on to your own platforms.

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) is publishing guidance to support schools’ understanding of primary assessment and reporting requirements for 2021/22.

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) has published guidance for the administration and moderation of statutory end of KS1 and KS2 teacher assessment in 2022.

Details and links to the key communications from the Department for Education are attached (updated from 25.10.21).

Gloucestershire County Council has received unprecedented increases in EHCP assessment requests. This is impacting on our ability to progress EHCP requests in the statutory timeframe. We are working to maximise capacity and progress work in a timely way as possible. Caseworkers will communicate progression with parents and schools on a fortnightly basis.

Now the colder weather is here, the following advice will help you to prepare for the weather.

Further local and national guidance is available to support school leaders in developing effective pupil premium strategy statements in line with updated Department for Education requirements.

Asset Management & Property Services will be running Water Hygiene Training Courses at Shire Hall on 16 and 17 November.  This course is available to all GCC schools; except for Academies that don’t buy back Property Care.

If you have appointed an ECT or have an existing NQT joining your school part-way through this term, the LA is able to provide your Appropriate Body service. This includes all of the administrative requirements, alongside in-school support for your ECF induction processes and bespoke visits where needed.

In advance of the start of term, we have updated and reissued our Covid information, in line with the latest guidance, including the FAQs. These are now available on Schoolsnet on the noticeboard. Guidance continues to be updated at a fast pace and we recommend that schools routinely access the documents from the noticeboard to ensure that the most up to date version is being used.

Applications for the 2022/23 Farmington Scholarships are now open. These are Scholarships available to teachers of religious education and associated subjects in UK secondary, primary, and special needs schools. Head teachers who wish to undertake research into either religious education or values education are also eligible to apply.

The Section 175/157 Safeguarding Audit for Schools and FE is now LIVE until 8^th December 2021.

Please find attached a co-signed letter from the South West Regional Schools Commissioner, South West UK Health Security Agency (formerly PHE) and the South West Directors of Public Health.

Please find a set of FAQs below in response to the South West regional statement that was issued last night.

In partnership with Gloucestershire Parent Carer Forum (GPCF), Gloucestershire County Council and the Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group have coproduced a newsletter for parents and carers.

We look forward to welcoming you to the first Attendance Network Meeting for this academic year and would ideally like to meet the attendance officer and the member of SLT with responsibility for attendance in your school.

Details and links to the key communications from the Department for Education are attached (updated from 11.10.21).

Following the resolution of the UKHSA investigation last week, the necessary retesting advice has been issued and the previously issued statement by the UKHSA can now be rescinded.

Gloucestershire County Council’s Fostering Service has been working in partnership with thirty other local authorities to produce a film aimed at encouraging more local people to come forward to foster children and young people in care. It is well known, both nationally and locally, that there is a shortage of foster carers for children and young people who need them.

The NHS Test and Trace Service has suspended testing operations provided by Immensa Health Clinic Ltd at its laboratory in Wolverhampton, following an investigation into reports of people receiving negative PCR test results after they have previously tested positive on a Lateral Flow Device.

Please see below a statement from the UK Health Security Agency.

RE Today Services/NATRE  have developed two CPD options to assist delivery of RE in the classroom.

Please find attached a flyer with details of two virtual training opportunities for those leading in school on supporting Children in Care and Previously Children in Care.

Please find attached a Previously Children in Care (PCiC) newsletter produced by The Virtual School, which shares good practice, training and news regarding supporting previously children in care.

Details and links to the key communications from the Department for Education are attached (updated from 04.10.21).

Please see below message from Rebecca Shute, Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust with an update on the Covid-19 vaccine roll out.

Congestion on streets around schools is not getting any better but there are ways you can tackle this whilst encouraging more healthy and sustainable ways to travel. Check out what’s coming up including Mental Health Week and check the GCC Thinktravel blog for all the events to help your school promote cleaner air and healthier children.

Many schools have raised concerns regarding LFD and PCR test results. These are being investigated at a national level by the UKHSA. While we wait for the outcome of this investigation, we would like to clarify the current guidance.

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) has published statutory guidance for assessing and reporting the national curriculum at KS1 and KS2 in the 2021/22 academic year.

Details and links to the key communications from the Department for Education are attached (updated from 27.09.21).

The Gloucestershire Safeguarding in Education Team (GSEP) will be rolling out training to Headteachers in relation to the Single Central Record. The aim of these free one hour sessions is to update knowledge on what belongs on your school's single central record (SCR).

Gloucestershire local authority (LA) wishes to appoint new external moderators to complete statutory end of KS1 and KS2 writing moderation in June 2022. 

We all recognise the growing problem with congestion outside the school gate. Let’s face it, it’s not going to get better unless we take action and here’s how you can make changes and help promote cleaner air for your children.

Traded Services are pleased to announce the launch of their new Traded Services Survey.   It has been a number of years since they have reached out to customers in this way. The survey is a platform for schools to provide open and honest feedback on the full range of services they offer. 

Details and links to the key communications from the Department for Education are attached (updated from 27.09.21).

Following the request for nominations for the Secondary School Maintained and Academy Governor Representative vacancies (close of nominations was 5:00pm on 24 September 2021), please see the attached document for the results.

Following last week’s Ofsted Curriculum Roadshow (Friday 24 September), please click here for the presentation slides. 

Following changes to the Department for Education (DfE) guidance on using pupil premium, the webinar will outline: key changes to the guidance and implications for school leaders; essential ingredients of an effective pupil premium strategy and tutoring options for 2021-22.

Gloucestershire schools at times place students in alternative provision to better meet their needs. This is often for short periods of time. Gloucestershire County Council would remind schools that ideally provision used is Ofsted registered.

Schools are asked to make all staff, parents and carers aware of the temporary fuel situation and that this may have an impact on the availability of some home to school transport. Where unavoidable every effort will be made to ensure that the impact is minimised.

The Odyssey Computing Hub are keen to develop local subject leader networks to support computing curriculum leaders in their role.

All pupils at imminent risk of permanent exclusion from school have seen their situation improve after TALC involvement, new figures have revealed. New data shows that those children with an imminent risk of permanent exclusion, had all seen their likelihood of exclusion reduce within the first 12 weeks of TALC involvement.

The deadline for the Pupil Premium Plus self-declaration is 7 October 2021. Children who have been looked after by an English or Welsh local authority immediately before being adopted, or who left local authority care on a special guardianship order or child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order) have been allocated £2345 in funding if in Years Reception to Y11.

‘Inspiring Families’ at Cheltenham Borough Council are continuing the Book Bank Scheme. The scheme provides schools with children’s books which families can take home for free.

Please find attached the Schools Forum Outcome Report from the meeting held on 16 September 2021.

A reminder to all schools that the UK Food Information Amendment, also known as Natasha's Law comes into effect from October 2021.

In light of the updated School IDSR guide (Ofsted, June 2021), Analyse School Performance (ASP) contains updated IDSRs (release date: 7 June 2021).

Although the incidence of positive cases amongst students is high in some schools, there are very low levels of illness: the vast majority of young people are only displaying very mild symptoms or are in fact asymptomatic. Also important to note, is that the number of new cases across the county has been falling steadily week on week.