Included in this update: 

• Inclusion mini-conferences
• Briefing with John Coughlan: 25 May 2022
• Council tax rebate: Information for families
• UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Celebration: Friday 8th July 2022
• School Attendance update
• 2022 Phonics Screening check: material delivery note
• Budget Plan submission: Reminder of deadline for maintained schools
• Budget Management Training Course for Maintained Schools: 11 and 12 October 2022
• 2022 Data Collections for EYFSP, Phonics, Key stage 1 and Key stage 2
• Birmingham Careers Service referrals
• Services for Education: Registering Early Career Teachers (ECTs) with an Appropriate Body (AB)
• Access to Education Courses
• SEND Therapy Team - OT Training
• Occupational Therapy School Readiness Webinars for Parents
• Be Empowered Workshops: Early Support Programme for SEND Parent Carers
• Tax Free Childcare
• Youth Mental Health Peer support hubs study: Free online CPD

Inclusion Mini Conferences

Inclusion Mini-Conferences: Message from Sue Harrison, Director of Children’s Services

Dear all

I am delighted to invite you to spend time with colleagues to consider together how we shape an inclusive city for our children and young people, ensuring they thrive and are well prepared to take advantage of future opportunities. I really want to hear from you, to listen and learn from your collective experiences. This is an opportunity to agree our definition of inclusion,  explore what good inclusion looks like, and how we can work together to achieve this.  I know there is great practice out there, and these events are an ideal opportunity to identify the good practice already working and what the barriers may be to improvement to enhance the lives of the children and young people we support.

We are running four sessions, both a morning and afternoon on 17th and 24th June. Three of the sessions are for primary schools (including our maintained nursery schools) and one is for secondary schools. Special schools are welcome to attend a primary or secondary session as they feel appropriate.

Refreshments will be provided and we can accommodate up to 120 per session. We will also be sending out an agenda with some additional information and questions to consider in the near future  so we can use the time together as productively as possible. 

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at one of the events. Please note that at this time, we are looking for headteachers to attend. 

Venue: Swanshurst School, Brook Ln, Birmingham B13 0TW. 
Dates and times, please book onto your preferred session via the links below:

Friday 17th June
Primary 09.30 to 12.30
Primary 13.30 to 16.30

Friday 24th June
Secondary 09.30 to 12.30
Primary 13.30 to 16.30

Briefing with John Coughlan: Wednesday 25 May 2022

All headteachers/principals have been invited to an online briefing with John Coughlan CBE, the DfE appointed Commissioner for SEND services at the Council. 

The Commissioner has now completed his first report to Government that includes his recommendations to improve the provision of SEND services within the city and will be briefing school leaders on the content and recommendations contained within his report. The briefing will take place on Teams Wednesday 25th May 2022 8am - 9am.

If you have not received an email and would like to attend, please email education@birmingham.gov.uk.

A recording of the session will be made available for those who are unable to attend. 

Council tax rebate: Information for families

Please let families know that the council has started to pay the £150 Council Tax Rebate to households in council tax bands A to D.

If families currently pay their council tax bill by direct debit they will automatically receive their rebate. Families who don’t pay by direct debit should apply for the rebate at this link.

UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Celebration: Friday 8th July 2022

To recognise the hard work of UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools in Birmingham, we are delighted to announce that on Friday 8th July, 9.30 to 11.30am there will be a celebration event at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. 

This year schools have been asked to share interpretations on the Commonwealth Games, Common Ground, connecting communities and health and wellbeing. In previous years we have seen an eclectic mix of inspiring and impressive performances through short films, spoken word, dance and drama, art and music performed by pupils from schools across Birmingham. We’ve received Expressions of Interests for the performing schools and we’d now like to extend an invitation for schools to participate in the audience. 
 
If you would like your school to appear in the audience please fill in the attached form and send back to OOSS@birmingham.gov.uk with the number of tickets you require. There is no cost to schools for the tickets.

School Attendance update

Attendance guidance

The DfE has released new school attendance guidance, ‘Working together to improve school attendance’, which will be in place from September 2022.  The guidance features new statutory responsibilities for schools, MATs and local authorities which must be in place by September 2023.   Further information on the new statutory responsibilities will follow shortly.  The guidance also details the current regulations related to attendance, accurate registration and deletion from roll. You can access the new guidance here: 

Attendance data

The DfE has also released its most recent data analysis showing the link between absence and attainment at KS2 and KS4. The data can be accessed at this link. 

Attendance webinar: 12 May 2022

A webinar took place on 12th May detailing the regulations related to accurate registration coding and deletion from roll. It is important that schools are aware of the regulations and expectations related to registering children in school correctly and make sure that any deletion from roll takes place lawfully.  

The presentation delivered at the webinar is available at this link and contains links to current BCC and DfE guidance.

2022 Phonics Screening check: material delivery note

Schools will receive their phonics screening check materials this week (unless the Standards and Testing Agency has agreed an alternative date with the school). You can use this spreadsheet to view the types and quantities of phonics screening check materials received by individual schools in your local authority (LA). This information should be used when conducting phonics screening check monitoring visits.  

Instructions for using each tab in the spreadsheet are given on the first work sheet. When you open each file, if asked, you should enable editing and content, further information available at this link

The Schools by LA worksheet gives an overview of orders for all schools in your LA. You can forward this spreadsheet to any colleague involved in conducting monitoring visits. If you have any problems using the spreadsheet please contact the national curriculum assessments helpline on 0300 303 3013 or via email at assessments@education.gov.uk. 

Please note, the 'Delivery note' is sized to print on 2 sides of A4 paper. The 'Schools by LA' sheet has not been designed for printing. 

Budget Plan submission: Reminder of deadline for maintained schools 

Thank you to the schools who have submitted the approved 22/23 multi-year budget plan.

For any schools that have not yet submitted the budget please note that the submission deadline is 31st May 2022. 

Please can the signed approved budget plans be sent to schoolsbudgetplan@birmingham.gov.uk.

Budget Management Training Course for Maintained Schools: 11 and 12 October 2022 

Schools Financial Services is hosting a Budget Management Training course on 11th and 12th October 2022. The course will be held at Edgbaston Stadium at a cost of £495 per delegate. 

The training is specifically tailored for Birmingham schools and will cover:

• introduction to Fair Funding and schools finances
• budget planning
• budget management and monitoring including the role of the governing body, value for money and financial regulations and procedures

The course is delivered by experienced staff from Schools Financial Services in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere where all questions and participation are welcomed. This course may be suitable if:

• you are a new Headteacher or aspiring to become a Headteacher
• your role includes the analysis of school resources
• you are responsible for budget planning and the management of the budget
• budget monitoring is a major part of your role and responsibility
• you are a newly appointed Bursar, Finance Officer or School Business Manager
• you are a school based member of staff responsible for finance and require some refresher training
• you are just interested in school finance

To reserve your place please email Linda Brighton by emailing SFStraining@birmingham.gov.uk

2022 Data Collections for EYFSP, Phonics, Key stage 1 and Key stage 2

The website Education and attainment data has now been updated with all the necessary documentation regarding the statutory collections and how to submit them.
 
Please see this Deadlines Poster 2022 for deadlines of each key stage assessment return.  Please note, ALL schools are required to submit final returns by the stated deadlines. Any files received after the deadlines may not be validated before being submitted to the DfE and schools may not receive reports in a timely manner.

All schools will send back their CTF containing the assessments to the LA using Anycomms+. Please ensure that your school can log in to this before the collections begin during the second half of the 2022 summer term.

Please note Key stage 2 assessment will need to be submitted to STA via Primary Assessment Gateway. 

Contact: Data and Intelligence Team educationdata@birmingham.gov.uk

Birmingham Careers Service referrals

As of the 1st April 2022, Birmingham Careers Service began to take year 11 / 12 / 13 referrals of young people who

• are identified on their school’s Risk of NEET Indicator (RONI) Register– or the school’s equivalent indicator
• are predicted to have no employment, education or training (EET) offer, or their school has identified them as at risk of not taking up their EET offer. 

To make a referral schools will need to provide the team with the following information:

• A completed referral form for each at risk of NEET student you wish to refer to Birmingham Careers Service. Please note the Careers Service is are unable to accept any referrals without a fully completed referral form including:
• names of the young people with full contact details (including address, landline, mobile and if possible, email) and a summary of what CIAG work has already taken place with the young person – including any offers of EET already made
• a named school contact who will be responsible for liaising with the Careers Service

Please download referral forms here. 

The Careers Service will 

• allocate a named Adviser to each referred young person who will contact them during spring & summer terms with careers information on post 16 /18 options.
• work with them throughout the school summer holidays to support their successful progression into sustained EET. This may include mentoring support from the Youth Service as needed. 
• offer priority alerts and access to additional careers fairs and opportunities as available 
• record their EET progression directly onto the local authority database which will help you to complete your Annual Activity returns. 
• provide a brief update to the named school contact by week beginning 7th November of work undertaken with each referred young person and their progression into EET. 

Please Note:

• This offer does not replace your statutory responsibility to provide impartial careers information, advice and guidance to your students
• Placements for students with an EHCP remain the responsibility of SENAR

For further information please contact: Sandra Bebb, Community Team Manager: email: sandra.bebb@birmingham.gov.uk  Marc Green, Community Team Admin. Manager: email marc.green@birmingham.gov.uk

Services for Education: Registering Early Career Teachers (ECTs) with an Appropriate Body (AB) 

The Early Career Framework based induction was introduced during a time when schools faced immense strain due to Covid. With a myriad of new documentation to digest and action, some confusion crept in. This message acts as a reminder regarding the statutory duty to register your ECTs with an AB, as you will have done so in the past with NQTs.  
 
In line with induction guidance an ECT cannot start their statutory induction until their AB has been agreed. For example, if an ECT was undertaking induction activities from September 2021 but there was no AB in place until January 2022, the statutory induction start date would be registered as January 2022 as it is not possible to backdate the start of an induction period.  
 
Additionally, you will know that you must also choose a provider and a level of opt in for your ECTs' ECF based induction.

More information is available on the Services for Education website at this link. 

Access to Education Courses

AET Early Years: Good Autism Practice (Virtual) – delivered by the Communication and Autism Team

In this module, we take delegates through some of the distinct learning needs, strengths, and difficulties that autistic children share, whilst helping delegates to take note of individual differences. Participants are given the opportunity to start thinking about a particular autistic child and their learning needs, along with ways in which they can adjust and adapt their own practice and the learning environment.  

The aims of ‘Good autism practice in the Early Years’ are to support practitioners who work directly with autistic children to: 

• develop their knowledge and understanding of good autism practice. 
• reflect on and improve their practice in working with autistic children. 
• understand strategies and approaches they can draw upon for autistic children they work with. 
• reflect on the kind of information they need to collect for the one-page profile, the support plan, and the EYFS profile. 
• consider how to involve the autistic child and their family in setting learning goals.  

After completing ‘Good autism practice in the Early Years’, delegates will be able to: 

• develop their knowledge of how the key areas of difference can affect the learning of an autistic child. 
• consider the approaches, strategies, and adaptations they can implement to remove barriers to wellbeing, participation, and learning for autistic children. 
• understand the importance of involving the child and family in planning and setting learning goals. 
• reflect on ways of gathering information from the child, parents/carers, and other professionals. 

Thursday 9th June 2021 - 9.00 am – 4.00 pm. To secure your place, please book online at this link

Introduction to the Autism Progression Framework – 25th May 2022 – Delivered by Communication and Autism Team (Birmingham)

Wednesday, 25th May 2022 - 9.00am – 12.30pm

This session is suitable for practitioners working with school-age pupils on the autism spectrum in both mainstream and specialist services. This may include: Teachers Teaching assistants SENCOs Any practitioner needing to map the progress of pupils

What will you learn?

• understand how the progression framework relates to the broader educational context
• familiarity with the content and key features of the progression framework
• skills in identifying learning goals and measuring progress for pupils on the autism spectrum in areas specific to their individual needs

This session will be delivered at Thornbury Centre, Thornbury Road, Handsworth B20 3DE. To secure your place, please book online via this link

SEND Therapy Team - OT Training

The SEND Therapy Team is trialling a new way of offering OT training. They have allocated eight topics at varying dates and times for each term. You can attend as many OT training sessions as you desire to. The training can be attended by the SENCO and SENCO team. Each session will be 1 hour including question time.

DATE	TRAINING	LINK
22nd June  9.30am	Introduction to the Senses (required to access the below training sessions)	Use this link to join the meeting.
22nd June 1.30pm	Early Identification & Implementation of OT Strategies	Use this link to join the meeting.
23rd June 9.30am	Motor Coordination	Use this link to join the meeting
23rd June 1.30pm	Classroom Based Equipment	Use this link to join the meeting.
29th June 9.30am	Classroom Sensory Calming Strategies	Use this link to join the meeting.
29th June 1.30pm	Handwriting	Use this link to join the meeting.
30th June 9.30am	DIY Independence Skills	Use this link to join the meeting.
30th June 1.30pm	Sensory & Anxiety	Use this link to join the meeting.

Occupational Therapy School Readiness Webinars for Parents

Starting Primary School: 24th May 2022 10am

This parents' webinar will take place online and will cover how to help children have a successful transition into school. It is suitable for families of children due to start Reception.

More information, including how to book a place, is available at this link.

Starting Secondary School: 25th May 2022 2pm

This parents' webinar will take place online and will cover how to help children have a successful transition into school. It is suitable for families of children due to start Year 7.

More information, including how to book a place, is available at this link.

Be Empowered Workshops: Early Support Programme for SEND Parent Carers

Tuesdays & Wednesdays 10am – 2pm (for 6 weekly sessions) Starting Tues 7th June at Thornbury Centre, Thornbury Road, Birchfield, Birmingham B20 3DE - 

Parent/carers are invited to a series of workshops that have been written by and are led by trainers who are parent/carers of a child with additional needs themselves. These workshops are for parent/carers of children and young people of any age, with any additional need, following diagnosis. They are an attempt to support parent/carers through times of change and at whatever stage of the journey participants may find themselves.

To book, please complete the attached booking form and return to: BeEmpowered@birmingham.gov.uk. The deadline for receiveing bookings is Tuesday 24th May 2022.

This workshop will be conducted in a number of community languages. For more information contact: Gulshan Hussain on 07827 082 752.

Tax Free Childcare

As a childcare provider you can help childcare to be more affordable for parents. If you sign up to be a Tax Free Childcare Provider, parents can get up to £500 every 3 months (up to £2,000 a year) for each of their children to help with the costs of childcare. This goes up to £1,000 every 3 months if a child is disabled (up to £4,000 a year).Childcare providers need to be registered with a regulatory body e.g.Ofsted or the DFE.

To sign up to tax free childcare providers should visit: Sign up to Tax-Free Childcare if you’re a childcare provider

It will take approximately 10 minutes to complete your registration. Once a provider has signed up to tax free childcare a parent would be able to find them on the system within approximately 2 working days and can then pay the provider direct from their tax free childcare account.  

What do you need? To sign up you should be the main contact for your business. You’ll be able to set up a ‘delegate’ to manage your account for you during the process.

You’ll need your:

• 11-digit user ID from your invitation letter
• bank account details
• your business postcode (the one registered with your regulator, for example Ofsted / DFE)

Letters with the 11-digit user ID are sent out automatically by HMRC when settings register with their regulatory body e.g. Ofsted. 

If you did not get a letter or have lost it please contact the HMRC helpline – 0300 123 4097 

Parents should be signposted to www.childcarechoices.gov.uk for information about how they can sign up to receive tax free childcare. Parents can use tax free childcare with the 15 hours and 30 hours schemes.

Youth Mental Health Peer support hubs study: Free online CPD

A consortium of NHS psychologists and academics based at the University of Birmingham are pleased to announce an upcoming online CPD event for schools that organise or deliver peer mentoring or peer support for their pupils’ mental health and wellbeing. Peer support involves people who use their personal lived experience to support others – either support between pupils, or adults supporting children.

We are asking that one member of staff involved in organising peer support for the children in your school to complete a short online survey (approx. 10 mins). You can sign up to the upcoming CPD by completing our survey about peer support happening where you are: The Youth Mental Health Peer Support Hubs Survey

Training will involve

• Learning from Excellence – exploring good practice in peer support for children and young people
• An introduction to the NIHR Research Design Service offering free advice on research design and writing funding applications for people considering developing research ideas’, and
• Learning from a Hybrid Realist-Participatory Evaluation Model of peer support services for youth experiencing multiple health and social challenges in Canada.