Schoolsnet Bulletin Board

Three specific items have been reviewed in the Off-site Visits Manual.

Funding from central government is available now to set up or improve breakfast provision, via the new National School Breakfast Programme, in over 1,770 schools in disadvantaged areas of England.

Following the Children and Social Care Act 2017, new responsibilities are to be implemented in schools from 1^st September 2018 for Children in Care and those who have previously been in care.

The Royal Forestry Society deliver outdoor learning sessions in local woodlands around Gloucestershire through their Teaching Trees Project. This project aims to connect young people and woodlands.

On the 19 July, we discovered a technical fault in the online survey. This affected the questions about the proposals for primary schools.

Wednesday, 3^rd April 2019, 09:30 - 15:00

£40 early bird offer

Cheltenham College Senior School

The county council is offering free e-Bug training for Gloucestershire primary schools.

The programme is designed to improve hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene and antibiotic use.

Following the successful student mental health conference organised by Gloucester Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS) & 2gether Trust in July,  a follow up workshop has been arranged on 3^rd October at 2:00pm in central Gloucester.

The police will be  holding a training/awareness day on 19^th September 2018, 09:30 – 13:00.

This event is open to anyone who works with young people aged 11 – 19 years throughout Gloucestershire. 

Perspective Lite is a web based system/tool which provides live headline key stage data as well as news bulletins, amongst some other useful functionality. More recently it has been enhanced to manage the exchange of data files between schools and the LA. This functionality replaces the RM SecureNet Plus data transfer system, which was withdrawn from active service in August 2017.

The GSCB is offering two free half day sessions on the DASH, Young Persons DASH and Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC). 

The Department of Education has revised the guidance on Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006 which comes into effect on 31^st August 2018. 

Please find attached a letter from Julian Moss, Assistant Chief Constable, regarding the recruitment of six dedicated ‘Schoolbeat’ officers who are expected to start their roles early in the new academic year.

Work with children and young people with additional needs? Or does your child have additional needs? If so, we want your views.  Consultation ends Tuesday 31^st July.

Following issues raised by school representatives at the recent Single Central Drop-In sessions, the GSCB has put together a briefing sheet to provide references to Keeping Children Safe in Education 2018 (KCSIE).

The Final 17/18 Academic Year Universal Infant Free School Meal Grant and the Provisional 18/19 Academic Year Universal Infant Free School Meal Grant will be made in July 2018.

Stonewall have launched an updated resource Primary Best Practice Guide for primary schools.

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) has published an information leaflet about the new reception baseline assessment.

With many settings moving over to electronic data recording systems, please remind staff of the importance of accurate record keeping, particularly when there is an IT system change.

Record keeping in schools must be accurate, timely and accessible.

Please note that the GSCB e-learning courses will be undergoing an upgrade from the 31^st July 2018.  After this date you will no longer be able to access these courses. 

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.

We will be holding two NQT Induction Tutor network meetings on the afternoon of 27^th September and 2nd October 2018 at the Pavilion in Cheltenham. NQT Induction Tutors can opt to attend either session.

If you have appointed an NQT who has joined your school this term, please complete and return a NQT registration form by 20^th September 2018 to: NQTs@gloucestershire.gov.uk 

The presentations and resources from the Closing the Gap conference on 27^th June have been uploaded.

Beep Beep! Days run every year and you can run your event on any day but the national dates are 27 June 2018 and 21 November 2018.

Coordinated by the charity Brake, the Week is a great opportunity to engage children of all ages with road safety by using free resources (available from September), including assembly and workshop slides, guidance sheets, activity sheets, posters and digital content such as videos and games.

The result of the election for a Primary (Maintained) Governor Representative is Matthew Bishop, St White’s Primary School (Cinderford), is duly elected to the Forum (term of office 2 July 2018 to 31 March 2021).

The Outcome Report from the meeting held on 21^st June 2018 is attached.

BBC Radio Gloucestershire is hosting a debate for the county’s youngsters (suggested age 11,12, and 13 years) on 4 July, 7-8pm at Oxstalls Campus, Gloucester, to have their say on the future of Gloucestershire.

Governing bodies and headteachers are reminded to inform the local authority when considering conversion to academy status and joining a multi-academy trust. The local authority is one of the stakeholders and should therefore be included in the consultation process.

Gloucestershire’s Health and Wellbeing Board has set up a panel to produce a county-wide strategy on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). As part of our strategy work, we want to know how well the term ACEs is used and understood in Gloucestershire, awareness levels and activities currently going on in the county. 

Over the past few years, members of staff from the Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) have been volunteering to run financial education sessions in schools. There are two key sessions: managing money (year 7) and fraud awareness (sixth forms).

Now Summer is here and temperatures are increasing, it is essential that you check all of your heating settings are up to date. This includes diary and temperature settings for the school term time.

This years’ Summer Reading Challenge is Mischief Makers, celebrating the 80^th anniversary of the much-loved comic, Beano.

Make Music Gloucestershire, the County’s Music Education Hub have offers to schools plus opportunities for students.

For the majority of NQTs, completed NQT assessment paperwork should be returned to the LA by 28^th June 2018. 

A reminder that, with changes to the Disclosure and Barring Service over the years, the 2010 blanket letter now no longer applies because not all Gloucestershire County Council posts in schools fall under the definition of a Regulated Activity.   

The School Diversity Toolkit has been created with help from the Teacher Advisory Group to make celebrating School Diversity Week as easy as possible.

Compassionate Class offers schools the chance to inspire the next generation to become compassionate citizens of the future. It also acts as a compelling and interesting way to cover areas of the curriculum whilst learning about what makes animals happy and healthy.

Thursday 19^th July 2018

9.00am – 3.30pm

The Pavilion, Hatherley Lane, Cheltenham, GL51 6PN

The Early Years Business Support Newsletter is now available for download.

A request from SACRE: NATRE needs primary teachers/headteachers to fill in its national primary RE survey.

Schools are requested to submit their GCSE results to the LA as soon as possible.

You may have already heard about the Vision 2050 project, and the conversation taking place with residents to develop a plan that sets out a great future for our county.

The Local Authority offers packages of three meetings across the year for each of English, mathematics and science.

The agendas for the June primary and June/July secondary English, mathematics and science subject leader network meetings  are placed on the web-site at least two to three weeks in advance of each meeting. Please note that the network dates are across the months of June and July so that the agenda for each subject will be added over the next two weeks.

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) has published guidance for statutory teacher assessment (TA) for the academic year 2018/19 onwards.

The government road safety website, ‘Think’ has developed a whole new suite of resources.  Aimed at teaching road safety to all age groups, the resources are free to download and use.  Find them at http://think.direct.gov.uk/

Network Rail has contacted GCC to assist in making people aware of an increase in rail traffic in the coming weeks.

The NHS has asked that schools with sixth forms share information with parents and carers  about checking Year 13 students (2017/18 academic year) are up to date with their vaccinations.