Essex Safeguarding Children Board

Issue 63 - Schools’ Newsletter / Tuesday 20 November 2012
School UpdatesFinance UpdateFacilities Update
Continuous Professional Development and Events
Click on the links above for more information
School Updates

Essex Safeguarding Children Board
International Day for People with Disabilities
EDIT Newsletter
Health and Safety Update
School Workforce Census Statutory Return
Education Essex – Update Contact Details

Essex Safeguarding Children Board
Are you the designated person for safeguarding? Just a reminder that your designated person training needs to be refreshed every 2 years and safeguarding training for staff should be refreshed every 3 years, if you are new to the role then we offer full one day courses, or if you have previously attended this training then the Essex Safeguarding Children Board are offering half day refresher courses. Places are available on all courses next term. All this information can be found on our website.
If you would like to receive regular email bulletins from the Essex Safeguarding Children Board please email .
International Day for People with Disabilities
In December every year, International Day for People with Disabilities (IDPwD) is celebrated worldwide, recognising the achievements and contributions of disabled people. This year’s theme is ‘Removing Barriers’ and the Essex’s flagship event in Chelmsford looks set to do just that.
From 10.00am to 4.30pm on Saturday 1 December, the Anglia Ruskin University Campus in Chelmsford, will host a jam-packed programme of events including entertainment from Paralympic Sports Men and Women, Musicians, Motivational speakers, Artist’s, Film makers and many many more. A business showcase will also be a part of the event, exhibiting some of what Essex has to offer the disabled community. Please see the flyer.
Come along and meet some real live Paralympians, celebrities and military heroes and celebrate the achievements of disabled people from around the world. Admittance to the event is free, but entry is by ticket only. Tickets to listen to each of the key speakers are available to book now. For full details of the event and to book your tickets please see the website.
EDIT Newsletter
Please find attached a copy of the latest EDIT Newsletter - the newsletter about children and young people’s education and involvement in Essex.
Health and Safety Update
Health and Safety internal monitoring
This is nowLIVEand available from the Health and Safety home page on the Essex Schools Infolink website under theHealth and Safety Internal Monitoringsection.The purpose of the exercise is to ensure basic health and safety management systems and standards have been implemented throughout the school. It forms part of Essex County Council’s legal obligation to monitor health and safety within schools. Headteachers must ensure all applicable checklists are completed and submitted for their school and have until 30th January 2013 to complete the process.
A report of schools failing to complete this exercise will be sent to the Director of Schools Children and Families. If you have any questions or require any help, please 01245 436896.
School Workforce Census Statutory Return
Start Date: 6 November 2012 Please submit by: Friday 30 November 2012
For the last four years the number one error has been that the head count for Occasional Teachers has not been filled in on the declaration pages of your return. The way to avoid this on your return is:

Complete the head count for Occasional Teachers in school on the census reference date 6 November ,remember that this category is split into ‘Qualified/Unqualified/Not Known’
A count is required for each category of Occasional Teachers and a zero counts should also be returned

And the next most common error is that schools forget to include their third party support staff in the return. Please remember that if your school employs third party support staff, i.e. support staff not directly employed by your school or local authority(e.g. cleaners employed by a contract cleaning company) you need to include them in your return, remembering to split them into each role type, as defined in the role code list.
Please make sure your data is error free – although queries are acceptable, they will need a note on them. For guidance to how to write a note in COLLECT click here.
The live COLLECT SWF blade can be found at: here.
If you require further information please go to Essex Schools info link School Workforce Census here.
Education Essex – Update Contact Details
The email address for submissions to the Education Essex Newsletter has changed to . All submissions should be in this inbox by 12pm on Friday for inclusion in the following Tuesday’s issue. Any queries can be directed to the Schools Communication inbox or by phone on 01245 438508 (ednet: 22508).
The Schools Communication team has been joined by Emma Joyce, who as the new Schools Communication Assistant will lead on the publication of the weekly newsletter and also taking a lead on improving our communication strategy with schools. Please contact Emma through the Schools Communication email address above.
Finance Update

Finance Update

School bank balances – action required before 31 December 2012. This only applies to Schools with their own bank accounts.
Schools bank balances form part of the Essex County Council Statement of Accounts and are subject to external audit procedures.
Therefore, as auditors of Essex County Council, each year the Audit Commission contacted the banks of a number of Schools to request confirmation of balances as at 31 March. Ernst & Young LLP has replaced the Audit Commission as the Council’s auditor from 1 November 2012.
In light of the change of auditor, please would you instruct your bank to release information to Ernst & Young when requested. A suggested letter template is attached. The completed letters will need to be sent to your bank’s central audit response team rather than the local branch (see Appendix A) with a copy sent to:
Schools Finance Team
Finance Professional Services
E1 County Hall
Market Road
Chelmsford
CM1 1LX
Both the letter to the bank and the copy sent to the Schools Finance Team must bear original signatures which meet the requirements of the bank mandate.
If you have any queries please contact the Schools Finance Team on 01245 436092 or email .
Education Essex is written by the SCF Communications team.If you have any comments or would like something included in a future edition of Education Essex please contact us:
Telephone: 01245 438508 Extension: 22508
Email:
Previous editions of Education Essex can be found on the Essex Schools Infolink website by visiting the Home page > General Information > Education Essex
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Useful Links
Department for Education

Essex County Council website
Professional Learning and Development website

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