School UpdatesFinance Update
Department for Education News
Continuous Professional Development and Events
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School Updates
- PRIVATE FOSTERING AWARENSS RAISING WEEK – 11-18 FEBRUARY 2013
- Essex Primary Conferences
- Permanent exclusions in primary schools
- Curriculum Development Centres: Update
- Reporting Temporary School Closures by Email
- LAUNCH OF LATEST ACHIEVE TEMPLATES – Years 8 – 11
- National Citizen Service: Government-funded Summer scheme for Years 11 and 12
- Going Places – January 2013
- Early Years Foundation Stage (Eyfs) Spring Term Update 2013
- Essex Libraries My Library – an opportunity for young people to give us their views on the library service
- Health and Safety Reminder
Audience: All Staff
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type: All
Please see the attached update regarding children who are not living with their immediate families but in aPrivate Fostering Arrangement.
Essex Primary Conferences
Audience: Headteacher and Chairs of Governors
Key Stage:PrimaryKS2KS1
School Type: All
Invitations are being sent to schools for an event to be held on four occasions in March for headteachers and chairs of governors of primary schools. The letter also mentions a small grant offered for groups of schools wishing to build on collaboration to date to build further capacity for school improvement.
The conferences will be held on the following days:
21 March – Crowne Plaza Resort Colchester - Five Lakes, 9.00am to 12.30 pm
21 March – Crowne Plaza Resort Colchester - Five Lakes, 1.00pm to 4.30pm
26 March – Holiday Inn, Basildon, 1.00pm to 4.30pm
27 March – Radisson Hotel Stansted, 9.00am to 12.30pm
Permanent exclusions in primary schools
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: PrimaryKS2KS1
School Type: All
There has been a significant reduction in the number of children permanently excluded from Essex primary schools over the last few academic years; schools across the County have made huge and successful efforts to meet the needs of vulnerable pupils and to put in place strategies to reduce the risk of exclusion. However, there still remain a high number of pupils at Key Stage 1 and 2 in Essex’s Pupil Referral Units and this year there are indications that the rate of permanent exclusion has started to rise again. Our aim is that that there are no further permanent exclusions from Essex primary schools and a reduction in the levels of referral for pupils at risk of exclusion into Essex’s Pupil Referral Units through providing children with the support and education they need. The attached letterprovides details of the various teams available to offer support.
Curriculum Development Centres: Update
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type: All
Following on from theconsultation on the services and structure of the teams delivering our Traded services to schoolsthe decision was taken to closetwo of the four Curriculum Development Centres, and to change the way we use the other two.
With the exception of the Wickford centre these changes will take place with effect from the 31st March 2013.
Great Baddow Centre: the centre will close on 31st March 2013
Harlow Centre: the centre will cease to have an administrative team based there from 31st March 2013, we will however continue to be able to hold courses there. The Initial Teacher Training team are remaining at the Harlow centre for the time being.
Colchester Centre: the centre will cease to have an administrative team based there from 31st March 2013, we will however continue to be able tohold courses there.
Wickford Centre: the centre will close on 31st August 2013.
We have been working over the past few months to identify and test a wide range of alternative venues for our training courses, and now have a comprehensive list of venues in each quadrant we are able to use.
If you have any questions please contact Keren Prior, Head of Schools' Learning & Development on
Reporting Temporary School Closures by Email
Audience: Headteacher/ Administration
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type: All
Please be advised that you can now report temporary school closures to our Schools Communication team by emailing .
Please include the following information in your email:
- Name of the school
- Postcode or location of the school
- Name and position of sender
- Reason for closure
- Any other additional information e.g. School to close at 1pm or Pupils to attend late registration at 10am
Additionally, please note that Heart FM Essex has changed its "snowline" telephone number for schools to report closures. The new number is 01245 524534.
For further information:
Contact: Schools Communication
Email:
Telephone: 01245 434745
LAUNCH OF LATEST ACHIEVE TEMPLATES – Years 8 - 11
Audience: Headteacher/ Teaching Staff/Heads of Years 8 - 11
Key Stage: Secondary
School Type: All
I am delighted to announce that Essex County Council has launched its latest ACHIEVE templates for Years 8 – 11. You will recall that we successfully launched the first Year 10 version in September 2012 and since then have been working on the other year groups.
For those of you that are new to ACHIEVE, this system has been set up to help identify those young people at risk of becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). The principle of ACHIEVE is to identify young people with particular combinations of risk factors who have the potential to become NEET Post-16. In this way, the school can support them earlier in their school life with appropriate interventions to allow them to progress to a successful destination Post-16.
The latest versions are available to download now using the following instructions:
- Log onto
- Click on the “Are you a member of staff?” arrow
- Click on the “Raising the Participation Age” channel
- Click on “Login” tab at the top left hand side of the page
- Your Username is “AnEssexSchool”
- Your password is “ronie12”
- Click on ACHIEVE to access the ACHIEVE Tool folder, User Guide and templates with the following password “Ach-Mod12-Y12”
National Citizen Service: Government-funded Summer scheme for Years 11 and 12
Audience: Headteacher/ Teaching Staff/Heads of Years 11/12
Key Stage: Secondary
School Type: All
Essex County Council is working in partnership with the charity Essex Boys and Girls Clubs to deliver the government’s National Citizen Service programme for 2013. A representative from either the council or the charity will be visiting your school in the near future to ensure your students are also able to take up this opportunity.
NCS is a government funded programme for all year 11s and 12s, which takes place outside of term-time. Through a variety of physical, personal and creative challenges, young people learn leadership, communication skills and team work. The programme culminates in a social action project, designed and delivered by young people in their local community.
An independent study by National Centre for Social Research of the recent pilot scheme proved after completing NCS, 85% of participants were more aware of education and employment opportunities and the proportion of participants who were planning to continue studying after NCS increased from 27% to 34% (6 percentage points more than the control group).
The programme on average costs around £1000 per participant, but students access it for £35. Bursaries are available for financially disadvantaged students and the programme incurs no cost for your school.
For further information on the scheme:
Visit:
Contact: Essex Boys and Girls Clubs
Email:
Telephone: 01245 264 783
Going Places – January 2013
Audience: All Staff
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type: All
This term’s EMTAS newsletter, Going Places, covers a variety of subjects including useful websites, and developing pupils’ vocabulary.
Click here for the EMTAS newsletter.
For further information:
Contact: Peta Ullmann
Email:
Telephone: 01268 531291
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Spring Term Update 2013
Audience: EYFS Lead
Key Stage: EYFS
School Type: All
Please find attached the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) update for the spring term 2013, which follows on from the previous information circulated in Education Essex on 6 November 2012.
If you have questions or require further information on anything within this update please contact Quality Improvement team via the main Early Years and Childcare number on 01245 438500 or via email at
Essex Libraries My Library – an opportunity for young people to give us their views on the library service
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: SecondarySpecial Schools
School Type: All
Last year, a group of young people in Essex became virtual “Library Consultants” and expressed their views on how library services should change and improve.Everyone who joined in said how much they enjoyed taking part and that they felt their opinions mattered.
We will be running My Library again this year, so that even more young people in Essex can help develop their library services and we would like to invite young people aged between 12 and 16 to take part.
To take part, young people just need access to a computer and an email address (a parent or carer’s email address is fine with permission), and live or go to school in Essex. We will send them one email each month for one year asking them to vote on a particular issue – it could be around the books and other stock we buy for our libraries, or the information and services available for young people.
Everyone completing the project will receive a certificate showing the skills they used.
The Application formis available on Essex Libraries websitewhere you will also find other volunteering opportunities for young people including being a summer reading challenge volunteer
For more information please use the details below:
Contact: Sarah Mears
Email:
Health and Safety Reminder
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type: All
Action required: Complete the Health and Safety internal Monitoring by 30 January 2013.
Health and Safety internal monitoring – LAST WEEK!
Thank you to all the schools who have completed the Health and Safety Internal Monitoring to date. For those schools that have not completed we are now in our final week and the closing date is 30 January 2013.
It is available from the Health and Safety home page on the Essex Schools Infolink website under the Health 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.
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:
Contact: Health and Safety
Email:
Telephone: 01245 436896.
Continuous Professional Development
- Pupil Premium Funding and the new literacy and numeracy catch up premium for Year 7: support from the Education Consultancy team.
- Schools’ Learning and Development Newsletter
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: Secondary
School Type:All
In addition to the already existing Pupil Premium funding for CLA and FSM groups, there is now an additional literacy and numeracy catch up premium of £500 for each pupil who entered Year 7 without achieving at least L4 in reading or mathematics. The allocations are to be made directly to all state-funded schools, including academies, Free Schools, special schools and pupil referral units (PRUs) this month.
The funding is set to continue until at least 2015. Schools are able to make their own decisions about how it is best used to make a critical difference for this key group of students.
Here's where we can help through our knowledge of:
- The effective use of assessment to evaluate specific pupil needs and inform the selection of appropriate intervention strategies
- Effective teaching and learning strategies to meet the needs of specific groups of learners
- The range of existing intervention strategies available and our experience of what has been proven to make a real difference in a wide variety of circumstances.
Please see the attached:Is Pupil Premium funding making a positive impact on progress?
Visit:Catch Up Premium or Catch Up Premium FAQ on the Department for Education website.
Schools’ Learning and Development Newsletter
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type: All
The latest Schools’ Learning and Development newsletter is now available. The newsletter provides your half termly update on what’s coming up this term; what’s new, what not to miss and reminders to help ensure you make the most of the learning and development opportunities available.
Click here to view the Schools’ Learning and Development Newsletter.
For further information:
Contact: Schools’ Learning and Development Team
Email:
Telephone:01245 434300
Website:
Department for Education News
- Need to know - information for schools
- Youth Contract opened up to help more young people who are NEET
Audience: All Staff
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type: All
Updated timelines have now been uploaded to the Department for Education website. The online timelines set out important mandatory and useful information to help headteachers, principals and governors plan ahead, prepare for and implement changes during this academic year and beyond.
To view the timelines and sign up to receive the Need to Know timelines:
Visit: Need to know - information for schools, Department for Education website
Youth Contract opened up to help more young people who are NEET
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: SecondaryPost 16
School Type: All
An extra 15,500 16- and 17-year-olds are now eligible for tailored help to return to work with training, school or college after the Department for Education extended the eligibility criteria for the Youth Contract.
The scheme for those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is part of the Government’s Youth Contract, which was launched in July 2012. It originally targeted funding to the most disengaged group of teenagers – those with no GCSEs at A*-C – through a payment-by-results system.
The Department for Education saved £20 million during this competitive procurement process, meaning the scheme can now be extended to a wider range of 16- and 17-year-olds who are NEET, including:
- Young people who are or were in care.
- Young people who have one GCSE at A*-C.
- Young offenders released from custody
Full Article:Youth Contract opened up to help more young people who are NEET, Department for Education website.
Education Essex is written by the Schools Communications team.If you have any comments or would like something included in a future edition of Education Essex please contact us:
Telephone: 01245 434745 Extension: 40745
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
© 2012 Essex County Council