Noticeboard - 03 April 2025

This week's Noticeboard contains a message from Dr Sue Harrison, updates on the Oracle Transition for Schools, Finance and Equal Pay Programme, plus a message from Helen Ellis, Director for SEND and Inclusion on the next steps for the DLP project.

This week's noticeboard includes:

Message from Dr Sue Harrison, Strategic Director for Children and Families

Dear colleagues

As part of our Oracle Transition for Schools Project, I wanted to update you on some changes you may notice over the coming weeks. Alongside the movement of schools to their new providers, we are gradually reducing the internal Council resources within the Schools HR, Payroll, and Schools Financial Services teams. As this work progresses, schools may see some familiar faces leaving the service or moving to new roles within the Council. Notably, Paul Crossley left the Council on 31st March, and we would like to thank him for his contributions during his time with us.

While it is always difficult to say goodbye to valued colleagues, we are incredibly grateful for their dedication and commitment to supporting schools across Birmingham. We hope you will join us in wishing them well as they embark on new and exciting opportunities.

We want to reassure you that the Schools HR & Payroll service will continue to operate during this transition period. For those schools remaining with us until the end of August, you will still have access to our teams, and we remain committed to supporting you to the highest standard. To ensure we have the right people available, we will now only adjust offboarding dates in exceptional circumstances.

We understand that these changes may bring questions, and we want to reassure you that we are working closely with teams to ensure a smooth transition while delivering our ongoing statutory duties. We will continue to communicate clearly with you as new points of contact are established, so you can access the support and services you need without disruption.

In the meantime, we kindly ask for your understanding and cooperation as we navigate this period of change together. Thank you, as always, for your continued partnership and support.

I was delighted to receive news that three local schools have been awarded the government’s School-Based Nursery Capital Grant for the 2024-2025 academic year. Congratulations to Grestone Academy, Montgomery Primary Academy, and The Shirestone Academy! This funding will enable these schools to expand and enhance their nursery provision, ensuring that our children have greater access to high-quality early education and childcare.

I know that colleagues in Education Infrastructure and Early Years and Childcare are very much looking forward to working closely with you to support in maximising the impact of this funding.

With my very best wishes and heartfelt thanks.

Sue

Oracle Transition for Schools Updates

The latest updates can be found at the following links: 

For any queries or further information please contact the team at oracleschoolsrelationship@birmingham.gov.uk and they will be pleased to assist.

Thank you for your ongoing support. 

Schools Finance

Year End Workbook

Year End Guidance

March 2025 Final Cash Sheet

Schools will shortly receive a separate email containing the full years transaction listing from oracle to back up the pre-populated cells in the workbook as well as deductions in the cash sheet.

We strongly encourage schools to join the daily year end drop-in sessions from 3rd to 9th April at 10am to 2pm by using this link Join the meeting now.

Alternatively, you can email schoolsfinance@birmingham.gov.uk with your queries.  In the heading of the email please state 'Year End – School DFE No – School Name'.

Please note the deadline to submit your complete workbook is 9th April 2025.

Thank you for your continued support.

April 2025 Cash Sheet

The updated cash sheet as of 01 Apr 2025 can be found here: Statement of funding and provisional school budget payment schedule 2025 to 2026

We hope you find this useful in reconciling the monthly instalment as well as grant payments the authority will pay during the financial year.

If you have trouble accessing the file, you may need to save the spreadsheet to your personal desktop, then unblock the file by right clicking, properties, and clicking unblock and applying changes. 

Any queries should be directed to the SchoolsFinance@Birmingham.gov.uk mailbox in the first instance.

Equal Pay Programme Updates

Please follow the links below to see the latest Equal Pay Programme updates. 

Next Steps for the Developing Local Provision (DLP) Project and Integration into SEND Development Work

FAO: School Heads and DLP Leads/Coordinators

Firstly, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude for your involvement in the DLP project over the last four years. Your dedication and continuous commitment have enhanced outcomes for our children and young people with SEND in Birmingham. Your efforts have significantly contributed to driving positive change, and the hard work and collaboration demonstrated throughout this journey is truly commendable.

Following the recent decision from Children’s Service Leadership Team, we are now transitioning the practices and principles established through the DLP into business-as-usual within our broader SEND development work. This transition programme includes the integration with the Delivering Better Value (DBV) Programme and the Ordinarily Available Guidance (OAG) framework, to ensure a sustainable and lasting impact.

Clear updates and defined timelines have been provided to facilitate this process, to ensure all projects receive the necessary support and to ensure consistent alignment with the broader SEND development priorities. Please note that this update does not include the DLP Special Schools projects, which are at the stage of successfully concluding Year 1 of Phase 2. Further updates regarding DLP Special Schools project will be shared separately on 12 May 2025.

Financial Arrangements and Next Steps

For a smooth and sustainable transition, all underspend or remaining funds within the DLP allocation pot, will remain assigned to their respective projects. There will be no clawback of funds; however, projects with remaining allocations must submit a brief project plan for the next academic year to demonstrate how these resources will be used to sustain impact. Oversight of this work will be provided by the School Improvement Advisors.

All remaining funds will be released by July 2025, following the submission of the termly financial report and brief project plan, where applicable. Projects that have fully utilised their funds will transition directly to the reporting timeline outlined below, with no further requirements.

Key Reporting and Proposed Submission Timeline

  • 28 April 2025 – DLP School Survey Template (Prep version) will be shared with all DLP Leads for distribution to schools within their projects.
  • 09 May 2025 – DLP Spring Term Data submissions due.
  • 12 May 2025 – DLP School Survey Form goes live.
  • 02 June 2025 – DLP Projects share financial report.
  • 09 June 2025 – DLP Projects receive funding/allocation update.
  • 30 June 2025 –  Mini project plan due (only for Projects with remaining funds).
  • 31 July 2025 – All remaining funds within DLP pot released
  • 14 July 2025 – DLP School Survey submission deadline.
  • 12 September 2025 – DLP Summer Term Data submission due.
  • 20 October 2025 – Final collation/End of Project report submission.

We are committed to providing support throughout this process and to ensure that all queries are addressed effectively, we will be holding a DLP Drop-in session on the 10th of April 2025 at 3:45pm.

Once again, thank you for your invaluable contributions to the DLP project. Your ongoing engagement is essential as we continue our collective efforts to improve SEND provision across our schools.

Kind regards
Helen Ellis
Director of SEND and Inclusion

Exceptional Special Needs (ESN) Process

The ESN Process involves the application for Exceptional Special Needs (ESN) funding for special schools and mainstream schools, above and beyond the allocated top-up funding. ESN funding is currently being reviewed alongside the DBV (Delivering Better Value) workstream 2. For the interim period, all ESN funding requests will be aligned with the Annual Review process. This involves linking ESN funding requests as part of an Annual Review, when any changes in need and provision are considered. The review process can provide a mechanism for schools to submit the necessary evidence and reports to support their funding requests.

We appreciate that delays in considering requests and communication regarding ESN funding applications can have a significant financial impact on schools, especially when setting budgets for the new financial year. Schools will continue to receive their usual place funding, support units and top up funding while SENAR process any requests for ESN funding.

Where ESN funding is currently in place, the agreement will be honoured for the period set. The school will then be required to put any new or continuing requests in alongside the annual review -if the review is not due, the expectation is it will be called early to bring the processes together.  In preparation for this, where we have recently agreed special school ESN funding this has been agreed for the period until the next review is due. Please note ESN funding cannot be requested for back dated claims of support already provided. Placement panel/tribunal team may still award ESN funding to support transition to a new placement if there is evidence provided as part of Governing Body Response. 

ESN funding requests are likely to be requested following a significant change in the child’s needs or behaviour which may be as a response to changes at home or school. School will have identified that intensive short to medium term specialist intervention is required and that there’s a clear time-limited outcome to be achieved. There will be exceptions where the child or young person needs additional specialist support or equipment for an extended period of time. For the majority of requests, there will be additional professional involvement external to the school, such as specialist education services, health or Birmingham Children’s Trust.

Process to request ESN Funding:

  1. School conducts annual review
  2. Tick the box on the annual review paperwork to indicate ESN funding may be required and attach the ESN funding form.
  3. Outcome of decision communicated to the school, by Case Officer within 6 weeks

Early Education Entitlement

2 Year Funded Place

Before a disadvantaged 2 year Early Education Entitlement (EEE) place is offered, please ensure that the 2 year old child is eligible. A parent (or provider on the parents behalf with permission) should complete an eligibility application to confirm eligibility by using this link:https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/oeye/birmingham

Every application generates a code or reference number - it's important you keep a note of this code for audit purposes. If the code is eligible then a place can be offered, however the eligibility checker does not always confirm eligibility so if it doesn't, you will need to view evidence of eligibility, complete the Eligibility Override Request Form (on EYMIS) and email it to: earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk

Once the EEE team have amended the application to eligible you will receive email confirmation so that the place can be offered. For children starting before headcount please make sure that you submit any override requests on or before 15th May 2025. You should not offer places or submit claims for children whose eligibility has not been confirmed. For children starting after headcount please follow the flexible or exceptional agreement process.

Disadvantaged 2 year olds can get a EEE funded place if they live in England and meet the 2 year eligibility criteria which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/free-childcare-2-year-olds

If providers would like to promote 2 year funding to parents, please feel free to use this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jagU4sv9LE

For the new working entitlement for 2 year olds, please refer parents to the Childcare Choices.

Public Health School Nursing Model – Focus Groups

Public Health are running 4 focus groups, on MS Teams, to explore what the new public health school nursing service could look like. We are conducting this piece of work because the current contract expires in February 2027 so we have a fantastic opportunity to create a new model for the city which meets the changing landscape that school nurses operate in. Please see the details and the links to sign up below. Each workshop will be focused on different areas so please sign up to as many as you can and share with colleagues as you see appropriate, we really value your input.

  • Thursday 1st May, 12pm – 1pm - Public Health school nursing service: what now, what next - In this focus group we will gather your thoughts about the current school nursing offer; what works well and how could it be improved, and discuss what it could look like in the future.
  • Wednesday 7th May, 4pm – 5pm - Exploring the 6 high impact areas - In this focus group we will dive deeper into the 6 high impact areas that the survey asked you to prioritise to understand your interpretations of these areas, why you ordered them as you did and how these look in practice to you.
  • Thursday 15th May, 8am – 9am - Public health school nurses and SEND in mainstream schools - In this workshop we will dive deeper into the specific role of Public Health Schools Nurses for pupils with SEND at your school, aim to understand the challenges you are facing and how you feel school nurses can support with these challenges.
  • Monday 19th May, 4pm – 5pm - Public health school nurses and safeguarding - A majority of Public Health School Nurses time is spent on safeguarding. In this focus group we will explore deeper the role that school nurses have in safeguarding pupils and explore how this might look in the future.

If you have any questions, please contact lottie.drury@birmingham.gov.uk. Thank you for your support in ensuring the future of Public Health School Nursing is the best it can be with the limited resource available.

Healthy Schools Lunch & Learn: Protecting Pupil Wellbeing

Findings from the 2024 Birmingham Wellbeing Census

The Birmingham Healthy Schools Lunch & Learn series are online information/training sessions, around 20 minutes long, aimed at school staff.

Our next session is about Protecting pupil wellbeing: Findings from the 2024 Birmingham Wellbeing Census. It will take place on Wednesday 9th April at 4pm. The session is available to all school staff interested in the health and wellbeing of their students and will be particularly relevant for school mental health leads and pastoral staff.

In 2024, an extension of the Breathe Education Birmingham Wellbeing Census was piloted to collect data on self-kindness, family support, emotion regulation, peer support, sleep and diet amongst young people. This Lunch & Learn session will cover the wellbeing census and key findings, including the relationships between wellbeing, school-connectedness & self-kindness, and the factors that were considered most important for protecting student wellbeing.

Please register for the session at this link: Protecting pupil wellbeing: Findings from the 2024 Birmingham Wellbeing Census.

BCHC Plus Occupational Therapy Service

FAO: Head Teacher/SENCO

BCHC Plus Occupational Therapists time can be purchased by schools to work with children and young people in mainstream and specialist settings to help them achieve their full potential in activities of daily living that they need, want, or are expected to participate in. These activities include washing, dressing, feeding, toileting, school-based activities such as handwriting and play based activities. We provide additional services supplementing those currently available through locally commissioned NHS provision. Therapists are able to upskill staff in the classroom and support with embedding strategies to meet the needs withing your setting.

BCHC Plus can provide universal support through whole school approach to training and improving occupational performance/environmental assessments; targeted support via group work/parent workshops/classroom observations and specialist 1:1 assessments and interventions of identified priority children.

To find out more about how BCHC Plus can benefit your setting, please visit www.bhamcommunity.nhs.uk/bchc-plus-occupational-therapy or contact the BCHC Plus team on 0121 466 6266 or bchc.bchcplus@nhs.net.

This entry was posted by Jaspal Shambi on 31/03/2025.