Noticeboard 10 November 2022

Welcome to this week's noticeboard which contains information on: Help during the cost of living crisis; links to interesting webinars and training sessions, and much more!

Help During the Cost of Living Crisis

The Council and partners are working hard to support and guide residents through the cost-of-living crisis.

A great, comprehensive, new Help in Brum leaflet, is just out that covers everything from warm welcome spaces, to benefits and money advice, energy efficiency and food provision.

Hours are also being extended at two council Neighbourhood Advice and Information Centres, in Erdington and Northfield, to help support people. 

Please view and download the Help in Brum leaflet here and share with as many people as possible!

Early Years Autumn WellComm Data Return

FAO: Primary Schools and Nursery Schools

Thank you for using the WellComm Toolkit to improve Speech, Language and Communication (SLC) outcomes in your school. 

Last term's WellComm data collection return demonstrated that targeted interventions offered by early years providers improved children's level of SLC development by an incredible 25%. The data also indicated that Birmingham still has approximately 50% of children under five not reaching the expected level of development, demonstrating that citywide targeted interventions are vital to support children's educational outcomes. 

We would be grateful, therefore, if all early year's providers could return their WellComm screening data by 31 December 2022. This vital data collection process will be used to shape the SLC support available across Birmingham.

To complete the survey, please click here

If you have any questions, please email  EYDuty@birmingham.gov.uk

Education Infrastructure - Surplus Primary Places Webinar

Thursday, 17 November 2022 - 14:00-15:00

Officers from Education Infrastructure wish to share an update regarding primary sufficiency as a result of changes to in-year growth and reduced intakes.

We have committed to providing information to support schools, trusts and admission authorities to plan and have arranged an online webinar for Thursday, 17 November at 2pm.

The slides and recording from the webinar as well as the relevant data will be shared with all schools after the webinars.

Please follow this link to join the webinar

If schools have any queries ahead of the webinar, please contact: ediplaceplanning@birmingham.gov.uk

Education Infrastructure – Schools Compliance Webinar

Friday, 25 November 2022 – 10:00-11:00

Officers from Education Infrastructure, Safety Services and Birmingham City Laboratories wish to arrange a Schools Compliance Webinar to serve as a refresher for areas including, Duty Holder Responsibilities, Asbestos Management Overview and the Landlord Approval Process.

The online webinar will be held on Friday, 25 November at 10am to 11am and will complement the existing Duty Holder and Asbestos Management training modules available via the Birmingham Education Support Services webpage.

The slides and recording from the webinar as well as a list of frequently asked questions will be shared with all schools after the webinar is finished.

Use the following link to join the meeting - Click here to join the meeting

If schools have any queries ahead of the webinar, please contact: edsi.enquiries@birmingham.gov.uk

Standards and Testing Agency - Standardisation Exercise 1

Standardisation exercise 1 is now live on the Primary Assessment Gateway until Friday, 18 November 2022. All standardisation exercises are open to moderation managers as well as lead and pool moderators. The Standards and Testing Agency recommends moderation managers use the first day to review the exercise.

All moderators who wish to undertake moderation activities this year must pass a standardisation exercise.

Moderation managers should return their own exercise results via the relevant KS1 and/or KS2 survey by 11:59pm on Friday, 18 November 2022.  Moderation managers will be able to check their answers against the commentaries once they are published on Monday, 21 November 2022 to see if they have passed.

 All pool and lead moderators completing exercise 1 should return their answers to their moderation manager who will mark the exercise once the commentaries go live.  A survey will be sent to moderation managers on Monday, 21 November 2022 to collect pass rate information for pool and lead moderators. Moderation managers will not be asked to provide the names of successful moderators in this survey.

Moderation managers should inform all moderators whether they have passed exercise 1. Moderation managers should keep a list of all successful moderators across all exercises. Once standardisation exercise 3 commentaries are live, a spreadsheet will be sent for moderation managers to populate with the names of all successful moderators across the three exercises for return to the Standards and Testing Agency.

Although exercise 1 is open to lead and pool moderators, it is the responsibility of moderation managers to ensure that lead and pool moderators only have a maximum of two attempts to pass standardisation.

If you have any queries regarding submission of standardisation exercise 1 responses, please email the STA teacher assessment team.

Tel: 0300 303 3013 (Monday-Friday 8.30am-5pm) or Email:assessments@education.gov.uk - Web: https://gov.uk/sta

City of Sanctuary – Free Online Session 'Supporting Refugee Students in Schools'

Tuesday, 29 November 2022 – 16:00-17:00

Following numerous questions and by popular demand we're delighted to announce that we’re partnering with our friends at Refugee Education UK to offer an online session of their ‘Supporting Refugee Students in Schools’ with a specific focus on those from Ukraine.  

You can register online now by simply visiting: Welcoming Ukrainian Students in Schools.

In this session, participants will learn more about Ukrainian students' prior educational contexts and displacement experiences before touching on practical approaches and strategies to best support them (and indeed be helpful for all students from forced migration backgrounds). 

Safeguarding Supervision – what do you need to know?

Wednesday, 23 November 2022 – 15:30-16:30

Keeping Children Safe in Education 2022 states that Designated Safeguarding Leads must have access to ‘adequate support’ in order to carry out their role effectively. Supervision ensures that safeguarding practices and procedures are effective, safe, and in line with school policy and national guidance. Appropriate supervision, not only supports staff in managing their own feelings around safeguarding but it also gives opportunity for analysing practice, challenging decisions and learning from missteps and past situations.

This free webinar will help you find out how to promote and improve Supervision for Safeguarding in your setting- therefore improving outcomes for your children and support available for your staff.

To register for this FREE briefing session, simply follow this link: Safeguarding Supervision - what do you need to know?

Complaints Management for Governors

Governing Boards are encouraged to adopt the DfE’s model complaints procedure and best practice guidance for maintained schools and for academies, and we’d be really grateful if schools could encourage their governors to consider attending Complaints Management training.

School & Governor Support have seen a huge increase in complex complaints, and governor panels are being convened more frequently than in previous years. Attending training will help ensure that governors can confidently and effectively fulfil their role in investigating complaints and attend complaints panel hearings.

It is recommended that at least one person from each board attends training on this aspect of their role, and School and Governor Support are therefore delivering training sessions on:

To make a booking, simply click on the appropriate link above or book using your usual log-in details through BESS

AET Early Years: Good Autism Practice 

Thursday, 17 November 2022 - Thornbury Centre, Thornbury Road, Birchfield, Birmingham B20 3DE: 09:00-16:30

In this module, the Communication and Autism team 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 aim of ‘Good autism practice in the Early Years’ is 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.

To guarantee your place, please book before Tuesday, 15 November by simply following this link: AET Early Years Good Autism Practice 

Please note: There is only on-road parking for Thornbury Centre.

AET Progression Framework

Wednesday, 30 November 2022 – 09:00-12:30 via Microsoft Teams

This session is suitable for practitioners working with school-age pupils on the autism spectrum in both mainstream and specialist services.

Learning points:

  • 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

To secure your place simply follow this link: AET Progression Framework

AET Schools: Leadership, Inclusion and Structural Reasonable Adjustments

Wednesday, 7 December 2022 – 09:00-12:30 via Microsoft Teams

This training has been compiled for leaders and leadership teams within education settings to embed culture change across their provision and support them on their journey to become an outstanding and inclusive setting.

This module will help leaders to understand what is needed to fully embed an inclusive culture. It looks at education legislation and guidance surrounding inclusion, the steps required to lead culture change and the importance of considering structural reasonable adjustments and AET resources to support leaders with this.

The aim of this module is to enable delegates:

  • To look at how inclusive provision and structural reasonable adjustments can help a setting to be outstanding.​
  • To consider what is needed to lead culture change in a setting.​
  • To know about AET resources and guidance that can support leaders to provide inclusive environments through structural reasonable adjustments.​
  • To consider different ways of making structural reasonable adjustments to ensure autistic pupils are fully supported.

Simply book your place by following this link

It’s recommended you book before Monday, 30 November to guarantee your place. Links are sent to participants via email by kyle.simms@birmingham.gov.uk up to two days before.

Birmingham Big Art Project ‘Station Clock’

Would you like to be involved in this unique piece of public art?

Have you heard about this exciting, new large-scale public artwork for Birmingham city centre, called Station Clock?

‘Station Clock’ is a sonic clock that will sound on the hour, every hour over a 7-day cycle with a changing composition of the voices of 1092 Birmingham and Solihull residents. The completed artwork will be permanently installed at HS2 Curzon Station public plaza Station Square.

So far we have recorded the voices of over 700 people, and we’re really keen to engage with schools and community groups to give them the opportunity and experience of being part of this landmark public artwork for Birmingham and the UK.

The recording sessions will take place at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in February 2023. Participants don't need to be trained singers; they just need to be enthusiastic about taking part!

If you would like to find out more about how your school or community group could participate, just email:  Tim Mills at tim@eastsideprojects.org

For more information, visit www.birminghambigartproject.org.uk

Offering Hope in Recovery, Whatever the Weather! 

First Steps ED is a multi-award winning, quality assured eating disorder charity.

They work across the Midlands and further afield, providing care and support for children and their families, young people and adults affected by eating difficulties and disorders.

This time of year comes with a lot of excitement, cheer and celebration for many families and communities and much of that excitement will involve events and socialising around food. For people with eating disorders, anxiety around food and mealtimes can make this season difficult to enjoy and can be a great challenge to recovery and/or wellbeing.

Whilst we haven't quite reached December yet, you're probably feeling the intensity around upcoming festivities grow, or perhaps you're worried about the impact the next couple months might have on a loved one?

Support is available every month of the year for all individuals and families impacted by eating disorders. You can make a Self-Referral via First Steps ED Website at any time for yourself or a relative - or if you're not ready, check out the resources available on their website.

 

This entry was posted by Dawn Evans on 09/11/2022.