Included in this update:

• Education Infrastructure – Termly Bulletin
• Refugee Week 14 - 20 June 2021 - Theme 'We Cannot Walk Alone'
• SEND Advisory Team Secondment Opportunity
• Budget Management Training Course
• Free cyber security training for school staff
• How To Make the Most of your Section 175 Safeguarding Audit
• Services for Education Safeguarding Subscription
• Early Support Programme for SEND Parent Carers: Be Empowered Workshops

Education Infrastructure – Termly Bulletin

The summer term Education Infrastructure bulletin is available at this link and covers the following topics:

• Dual Funding – please apply by 7th June 2021
• Traded Services offer and support
• Training dates for Dual Funding and Asbestos Management Plans
• Landlord Approval – please submit by 18th June 2021 for summer works
• Surplus Primary Places – reminder of recent information shared
• Please complete our survey regarding Caretakers House on school sites asap

Contact Education Infrastructure for school place planning, capital projects and asset management queries: edsi.enquiries@birmingham.gov.uk

Refugee Week 14 - 20 June 2021 - Theme 'We Cannot Walk Alone

Refugee Week is a UK-wide festival celebrating the contributions, creativity and resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary. Founded in 1998 and held every year around World Refugee Day on the 20 June, Refugee Week is also a growing global movement. The theme for Refugee Week in 2021 is 'We Cannot Walk Alone'. In Martin Luther King’s historic ‘I have a dream’ speech he turns his attention to the white people who, realising their destiny and that of their black fellow citizens was intertwined, joined the movement for equal rights. “They have come to realise that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom,” he said. “We cannot walk alone.” Now it’s our turn to extend our hand to someone new. Someone who is outside your current circle, has had an experience you haven't, or is fighting for a cause you aren't yet involved in. Birmingham schools are places of superdiversity with multitudes of languages and cultures. We need to celebrate our schools and the resilience of those amongst us who are seeking sanctuary.

Currently in Birmingham we have 16 schools with sanctuary awards and many more working towards accreditation.  This is evidence of how schools in Birmingham encourage an ethos of welcome and kindness to those in our communities seeking sanctuary, and hopefully in Refugee Week we will celebrate this. For this year’s Refugee Week, BCC has teamed up with Near Neighbours and Celebrating Sanctuary Birmingham, to coordinate community engagement events where a refugee, asylum seeker group/organisation, will join with another community group that they wouldn’t normally meet to share a walk, have a chat and get to know each other.

An idea could be for schools to do the same, invite another school to go for a shared walk, build up to the event with some pre-classes gaining information, raising awareness, creating art or making banners about refugee and asylum issues, and UK based campaigns. For lots of accessible resources and great ideas of how to celebrate Refugee Week at your school go to: https://refugeeweek.org.uk/refugee-week-at-your-school/ 

For information about relevant campaigns go to: https://asylummatters.org/

SEND Advisory Services Secondment Opportunity

An exciting opportunity has arisen for qualified teachers to be seconded to BCC SEND Advisory Services Teams to support young people and adults 16 – 25years. The secondments would be for 1 year beginning Sept 2021.
We are looking for experienced and enthusiastic teachers to work within the following provision spaces:
Autism - 2 teachers
Cognition and Learning - 2 teachers 
SEMH - 1 teacher
Physical Disabilities - 1 teacher

The role will include:

• Being a Link Advisor- the named link between the LA, school/setting and family for children who have Special Educational Needs or Disabilities. As a Link Advisor-Post 16 you will be the point of contact into the LA around any statutory processes, funding requests, change of placements.
• Being part of the LA SEND team for working in colleges and educational settings post 16 - 25.
• Supporting the young person with SEND and have an expertise in their main area of need.
• Ensuring that there is a clear line of communication between the LA, setting and family and having an oversight of the LA provision required to meet the young person’s needs which would include:
• Meeting with family and young person for professional discussions
• Assessments/observations/recommendation of provision within settings
• Attendance at reviews where appropriate
• Support with transition to new setting
• Working closely with colleagues in school setting at Year 10/11 to ensure that the Preparation for Adulthood (PfA) process is effective and identifying those at risk of becoming NEET. (RONI).
• Tracking Year 12 cohorts to identify those who may require additional support outside of the setting, linking up with PfA HUB, community support organisations.
• Supporting Year 13 EHC plans and Annual Review processes to ensure meaningful progression of PfA outcomes including, as needed, transition to Adult Services.
• Providing strategic support to Young people and their parents/Cares to understand the processes involved in ensuring successful outcomes at Post-16.
• Supporting participation of young people and their families and their contribution to co-production of service delivery.
• Providing a trigger point for the EHC plan Annual Review and attend as necessary.
• Acting as central point of contact to fulfil the ‘Tell it Once’ approach.
• Supporting the SEND Advisory teams in:
• Embedding PFA outcomes for students
• Developing effective post 16 transition pathways and processes
• Keeping the team abreast of current National and BCC policy around Post 16 SEND support.

Please note that you must seek permission from your Headteacher before applying for one of these fully funded Secondments and you will remain employed by the school, for pay purposes, for the duration of the Secondment. At the end of the secondment, you will return to your substantive post at your school.

For further information contact Nik.Morgan@birmingham.gov.uk

Budget Management Training Course 

Schools Financial Services are hosting the Budget Management Training course on the 2nd and 3rd November 2021.  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 consistently receives very positive feedback from its participants and may be suitable if:

• You are a new Head Teacher or aspiring to become a Head Teacher
• 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 responsibilit
• You are being trained on the NPQH or are a keen Deputy Head Teacher
• 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 on the following email address:- Linda.A.Brighton@birmingham.gov.uk

Free cyber security training for school staff

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has developed a free cyber security training package (https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/cyber-security-training-schools) to help improve your school’s cyber resilience. The training will raise awareness and help school staff manage some key cyber threats facing schools. Training is available in two formats: A scripted presentation pack - A self-learn video - See NCSC Education & Skills (https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/education-skills/cyber-security-schools) for more information about practical resources available to help schools improve their cyber security.

How To Make the Most of your Section 175 Safeguarding Audit

Thursday 17th Jun 2021 - Free Webinar The Section 175 audit is your assessment of safeguarding within your school or setting. As all schools and settings spend time completing this, it is important to ensure that the S175 benefits your school as well as your LSCP and LA. In this webinar we will look at how LSCPs use you information and the common issues that DSLs face when completing this annual task as well as ideas on ensuring that your;

1. Time is spent in productive activity
2. Safeguarding journey is documented accurately
3. Data analysis reflects the additional complexities of 2020-21
4. Assessment of your whole school safeguarding system is relevant to new/increased needs.

Link: https://www.servicesforeducation.co.uk/our-offer/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-section-175-safeguarding-audit/

Services for Education safeguarding subscription

Services For Education is providing a new way to access your school’s safeguarding training through a digital subscription service. All schools and settings can use this to develop, support and enhance your own safeguarding expertise and practice, in a flexible and accessible way.  We have worked with colleagues in BCC and within schools to tailor the support so that you can have access to: Recorded webinars on the key topics in KCSIE, and wider safeguarding issues and areas of concern e.g. Domestic Abuse; FGM including webinars on how to include these within the curriculum. Recorded webinars to cover safeguarding training requirements and responsibilities of all staff, governors and a new one specifically for school office staff. 

A series of short, practical ‘how to’ video guides aimed at new DSLs that will address a range of practice-based issues, for example, aspects of safer working practice, inform action sharing and safeguarding, working with your SG Governor. Schools will be able to buy a 12-month subscription which will provide licence holders with unlimited access to the training and resources for the year. For further information and to purchase please visit  https://bit.ly/3ilZgTA

Early Support Programme for SEND Parent Carers: Be Empowered Workshops 

We warmly invite you 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.