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School Updates
- Register code during bad weather
- Secondary School Results in Essex
- Snow Closure Report
- Upgrade Of The Live@EDU Email System
- Spring Term Communications Meetings for Governors
- SENCO Bulletin – 29 January 2013
- Get ready to apply for Foreign Language Assistants in 2013!
- Show Racism the Red Card: School Competition 2013
- Learning Opportunities at Barleylands for 2013 and FREE CPD afternoon 13 February
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type:All
Please see the attached document regarding pupil register codes.
Secondary School Results in Essex
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: SecondaryPost 16
School Type:All
On Thursday the DfE published the KS4 and KS5 2012 Performance tables. 58.9% of Essex pupils achieved 5+ A*-C GCSE’s including English and Math, which is a 0.7% increase on 2011, despite many schools being affected by the grade boundary changes made to the English GCSE in the summer.
Improvements were also seen in the percentage of pupils making 3 levels of progress in Maths, although for the reasons above there was a slight dip in the percentage of pupils making 3 levels of progress in English.
For further information on to view performance tables for schools in Essex:
Download: Secondary School GCSE (or equivalent) Performance Tables for Essex
Visit: Performance, Department for Educationto access the performance tables.
Snow Closure Report
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type:All
Snow covered most of Essex last week and despite great efforts from staff to keep schools open, there were 202 schools closed on Monday 21 January 2013. This number included 165 Primary Schools and 32 Secondary schools. There were 5 schools in Essex closed on Tuesday 22 January 2013 which was a significant reduction, as most schools were able to reopen providing a safe environment for students.
Thank you to all the dedicated staff who contributed to keeping their school open, helped ensure the safety of pupils returning to school on Tuesday and those schools that provided late registration for their students.
We would like to thank the 99 schools who contacted us either by telephone or email to report their school was closed. We noticed a significant increase in the amount of schools notifying us by email. 71 schools emailed to report their school was closed, including some schools providing notice Sunday evening and early Monday morning. We hope this has provided a more convenient way for schools to notify Essex County Council. The Schools Communication inbox email address is .
Please note Essex Schools Infolink now has the latest contact numbers and Guidance for Temporary Closures, as we were made aware that some schools were unable to access the most up to date information.
For further information:
Contact: Schools Communication Team
Email:
Telephone: 01245 434745
Upgrade Of The Live@EDU Email System
Audience: Headteacher/ ICT Coordinator/ Office Manager
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type:All
All schools that use Live@EDU as their email system are going to be upgraded to Office 365 during this term.
Training sessions on Office 365 are available between 11 and 13 February at various locations around Essex.
Please see the attached document to find out more.
For further information:
Contact: School Broadband Team
Email:
Telephone: 01245 435293
Spring Term Communications Meetings for Governors
Audience: Headteacher/ Chair of Governors
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type:All
Please see the attached invitation to the Spring Term Communications Meetings for Governors.
For further information:
Contact: Governor Services
Telephone: 01245 437791
Email:
SENCO Bulletin – 29 January 2013
Audience: SENCO
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type:All
Well, it's been an 'interesting' start to the term hasn't it? We hope that you have all survived the snow without too many traumas - maybe you even caught up on some paper work!
Once again, there is lots of news to share with you. In this week's bulletin you will find information about:
- A free parent helpline organised by the EP service
- Free drop-ins offered to SENCOs by members of the specialist teacher team
- Free support for LSAs/TAs working in Mid Essex with pupils with Down Syndrome at KS1 & 2
- The suite of Dyslexia courses running this term
- The Dyslexia Audit for schools which is proving to be an effective and popular way for schools to update their whole staff on best practice for working with pupils with dyslexia and persistent literacy difficulties
- 'Get Ahead': an initiative run by Essex University for pupils in Year 9
- An excellent opportunity for Secondary Heads and their SENCOs together to attend a briefing session from Ofsted/HMI on Developing and Evidencing SEND outcomes
- Support available to improve provision for pupils with speech, language and communication needs
- NEW P Scales course 'How to (im)prove progress using the P Scales' - book your place on
See you at the SENCO Updates next month!
For further information:
Contact: INSET Team
Email:
Get ready to apply for Foreign Language Assistants in 2013!
Audience: Headteacher/ Modern Foreign Language Coordinator
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type:All
Action required: Register online now to be ready to apply for Foreign Language Assistants from 28 January 2013.
Last year’s online application form has been replaced and now you must register on the Schools Online website in order to access this year’s form.
We have recently been conducting a mapping exercise of current local authority co-ordinators in the UK and would like to thank those of you who have responded to us. Please refer to the list of co-ordinators given under the sub-heading; ‘Local Authorities’ on the Schools Online website. If any of the information included in the list is incorrect, please contact us immediately in order for amendments to be arranged.
This year we are asking you to register directly on the Schools Online website where you can apply for Foreign Language Assistants on behalf of your local authority schools. Participation in the British Council Foreign Language Assistants Programme will help raise the standards of language learning in the classroom as well as help to prepare your students to work in a global economy. Furthermore, the cost of hosting a Language Assistant can be shared by up to three schools.
The process is simple – Register now – (this can take up to two days to confirm your details and authentication).
Collate school requests and apply online from 28 January 2013. Find out more on our website.
The Schools Online website can also help schools to find a range of free services, including grants and projects to develop international partnerships, classroom materials, professional development opportunities and a partner searching tool for international partners.
If you have any queries regarding this process or the Programme in general, please contact us directly on
Register now to ensure you are ready to apply!
For further information:
Contact: Language Assistants Team, Programmes & Projects, British Council
Email:
Show Racism the Red Card: School Competition 2013
Audience: Headteacher
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type:All
Action required: Registration closes on the 28 February and the deadline for entries is the 17 March 2013
The Show Racism the Red Card & Kick It Out School Competition encourages young people of all ages and abilities to produce anti-racism themed artwork, creative writing, film and music having worked with SRtRC educational resources in a classroom setting.
For further details and information on how to register your school for free please see the attached flyer. Schools are required to register no later than 28 February 2013. The deadline for pupils to enter to the competition is 17 March 2013.
This year, the prize giving ceremony is to be held at Chelsea FC on 18 April 2013. It would be wonderful to have a winning entry from Essex. Click on this link for further information.
For further information:
Visit:
Learning Opportunities at Barleylands for 2013 and FREE CPD afternoon 13 February
Audience: Teaching Staff
Key Stage: All Key Stages
School Type:All
At Barleylands the education team have been planning new educational experiences and enhancing existing educational days for 2013. Having won an award for “Best in Education” in our field we are proud of our achievements in creating bespoke days to suit individual school curriculum needs.
Keen to spread the word about our award winning education programme we would be delighted to invite you to join us for lunch at Barleylands, meet the team and discover how you can link our educational visits to all areas of the curriculum.
We are constantly developing and implementing new learning experiences to inspire and encourage schools and children to visit us and show you the difference between a useful school visit and a truly memorable one. Having gained a reputation for excellence and innovation, we are very excited to have created a bespoke day for a school studying the Aztecs who will come to take part in a chocolate workshop next month. Our motto is ‘tell us what your project is and we can plan your day’.
With a farm park full of animals, a dedicated classroom with cooking facilities, wheat fields, a discovery centre and a craft village at our disposal we are the ideal outside learning environment. Our wood turner, glassblower and blacksmith welcome the chance to demonstrate their skills, so if changing materials is your project then Barleylands is the place to be. Our recently opened classroom with cooking facilities allows children to cook whilst here and we believe every subject in the curriculum benefits from some hands on cooking. It is a life skill and with a growing concern that the next generation do not know where their food comes from or indeed what to do with it, as a farming business we are very proud to be able to offer cooking to every child visiting.
Our pricing structure is flexible and very competitive.
To find out more, visit our educational pages on our website.
For further information:
Visit:
Contact: Karen Watson
Email:
Telephone:01268 290232
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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