UPDATE NO 455 28 May 2021

Inclusion, diversity and equality webinars from Global Equality Collective and SEGfL

Heather Hadfield writes:

South East Grid for Learning is running a series of webinars with the Global Equality Collective (GEC), national experts in the inclusion, diversity and equality. 

Our focus is mainly on school staff and governors but the sessions are open to local authority staff who would find it useful. They have been paid for by SEGfL and are free to all SEGfL schools and LAs (a full list of SEGfL members can be found here).

The sessions cover: 

• Anti-racism in the curriculum – 9 June
• Diversity in neurodiversity – 14 July
• Safe schools – 22 Sep
• Anti-racism in the workplace – 20 Oct
• Inclusive schools, sex and gender to NEETs – 17 Nov

You can book here (non-members please contact Heather Hadfield (details below)

You can download a flyer here 

Ofsted Parents Annual Survey 2021 – published April 2021

Findings from online surveys on parents’ awareness and perceptions of Ofsted. Surveys conducted by YouGov on behalf of Ofsted.

The 2021 survey was developed with Ofsted and carried out by YouGov between 9 and 26 March 2021. In total, 1,018 parents had their say.

Findings include that the large majority of parents think their child’s school has dealt with covid-19 well and two-thirds are concerned about their own children’s learning loss

The results are here in pdf or here in powerpoint

Continuing professional development consultation from Social Work England closes 11 August 2021

Social Work England are consulting on proposed changes to the requirements for carrying out and recording continuing professional development (CPD). CPD is part of the annual process social workers do to demonstrate their fitness to practise and remain on the social work register.

CPD is the reflection and learning activity that social workers do to improve their practice and keep it up to date. As part of the regulations and registration rules, social workers are required to record CPD. This is detailed in standard 4 of the professional standards, which outlines the areas that social workers need to consider when doing their CPD.

Please complete the survey or return your response by 5pm on 11 August 2021. You can also respond via email to: consultation.responses@socialworkengland.org.uk. Please use ‘CPD consultation’ as the email title.

If you need any reasonable adjustments to help you respond, please contact us at consultation.responses@socialworkengland.org.uk.

Proposal to Double the annual CPD requirement for Social Workers – Social Work England has proposed doubling the annual requirement for recording CPD for practitioners seeking to renew their registration. The proposal is included in a consultation on reforming CPD for the December 2021 to December 2022 registration year, issued 20 May 2021. The requirement for the current registration year – December 2020 to December 2021 – remains the submission of one piece of CPD to social workers’ online accounts with the regulator. Under the consultative plans, one piece of CPD would be on a broad theme determined by Social Work England – for example, improving communication, understanding legislation or having a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion – and the second would be at the social worker’s discretion.

The proposals are based on workshops carried out with social workers and research on practitioners’ attitudes to CPD that the regulator published in May.

Children’s Services Data Apprenticeship – Cohort 2 Launch

Alastair Lee (contact details below) writes:

“Following the successful launch of the Children’s Services Data Science apprenticeship in March 2021, with 36 people enrolled from across the country we’re launching the next cohort(s) of the apprenticeship scheme, with briefing sessions in the near future.

“If you have any interested staff who haven’t yet received briefing session invitations, please pass on the dates and times and ask them to send an email to Lynn.Donoghue@eastsussex.gov.uk saying which session they’d like to attend. The sessions are on:

“Thursday 3 June at 14:00 and Wednesday 9 June at 14:00

“The website with a bit more detail is here Data Science Apprenticeships | Local gov data science, but the majority of the information and an opportunity to ask questions will be given in the briefings.”

Future dates for network meetings

Lead Members Group: Friday 2 July 2021. More information from Alison Michalska (contact details below)

Data Benchmarking: Tuesday 13 July 2021. More information from Alastair Lee (contact details below)

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board: Tuesday 13 July 2021. More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

AD Education: Friday 18 June  – 10.30am. Latest news is here. More information from Chris Owen (contact details below)

AD Safeguarding: Friday 11 June 2021. Alastair Lee will present a Demand Modelling Tool for discussion. More information from Mark Evans (contact details below)

QA Network: Monday 7 June 2021. 2pm – 5pm. Contact Sally Hickman for MS Teams invitation

Fostering Network: 10.30am 19 July 2021. More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

SEND SE19: More information from Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

Education staff wellbeing charter

On 10 May 2021, DfE published the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter.

The education staff wellbeing charter is a declaration of support for, and set of commitments to, the wellbeing and mental health of everyone working in education.

All state funded schools and colleges are invited to familiarise themselves with the charter, and to sign up, as a shared commitment to protect, promote and enhance the wellbeing of their staff.

On 10 May 2021, DfE published the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter.

The education staff wellbeing charter is a declaration of support for, and set of commitments to, the wellbeing and mental health of everyone working in education.

All state funded schools and colleges are invited to familiarise themselves with the charter, and to sign up, as a shared commitment to protect, promote and enhance the wellbeing of their staff.

Revised Admissions Code now published; effective 1 September 2021

Children in kinship care are set to receive more support to secure school places

There are 180,000 children in kinship care in the UK. Under the reformed fair access protocol (at paragraph 3.14), which comes into force in September, children being raised by kinship carers under a legal order, who struggle to get a school place during the year, will be supported in finding one.

The response to the consultation and summary of changes are here

The change follows concerns raised last year by the cross-party Parliamentary Taskforce on Kinship Care, that some children being raised by relatives or friends, particularly those children who are not and have not been in the care system, are missing out on vital support to secure an appropriate school place.

There are more than 180,000 children across the UK raised in kinship care arrangements, latest government figures show.

The new provision applies to children raised by a kinship carer under a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order. It also applies to children in the care system. 

The new admission code can be found here

NICE consultation: guideline for looked after children and young people. Closes 15 June 2021

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is consulting on a draft guideline which aims to achieve fairer outcomes for looked-after children and young people in England. The guidance covers how organisations, professionals and carers can work together to deliver high quality care, stable placements and nurturing relationships for looked-after children and young people.

Read the news story: New draft guidance aims to achieve fairer outcomes for looked-after children and young people
Read the consultation documents:  Looked-after children and young people

The consultation closes on 15 June 2021.

Elective Home Education – SESLIP dialogue with DfE

Following SESLIP’s response in the autumn to DfE’s advisory letter for LAs about elective home education (EHE) (see our response here) the SESLIP Children Missing Education (CME) Group has contacted the Department hoping to establish a dialogue about EHE. We have made good progress with this: the co-chairs recently met with officials who have taken up the lead for EHE.

As a result of the meeting, SESLIP was also invited to offer comments and improvements to the wording of a draft letter from ministers for parents who have moved to home educating their children during the pandemic. We are expecting the officals to meet with the whole CME Group on 9 June. For more information please contact Chris Owen (details below).

Current DfE Guidance is here. There is a DfE blogpost All you need to know about home-schooling and elective home education (EHE) 

LGA webinar: “Support for care leavers – advice for corporate parents” Wed 23 June 10:00am

All councillors in unitary, county and district councils are corporate parents to care leavers – but what does this look like in practice? This webinar will support councillors in their role by considering what good corporate parenting looks like, hearing directly from a care leaver about why this is important, and the practical issues councillors can consider to improve the lives of care leavers.

Looking after and protecting children and young people is one of the most important jobs that councils do and when a child, for whatever reason, can’t safely stay at home, it is up to councils to step in and give them the care, support and stability that they deserve. That continues when young people leave the council’s care.

This session is specifically aimed at councillors to provide them with practical ideas and advice about how to be a good corporate parent. It will complement the LGA’s support for care leavers and corporate parenting resource packs.

Confirmed speakers:
Becca Williams, Advice and Support Officer, Become
Mark Riddell MBE, National Implementation Adviser for Care Leavers, Department for Education
Alex Latham, Engagement Advisor, Care Leaver Covenant
Cllr Shirley Reynolds, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, Telford & Wrekin Borough Council

More details at Support for care leavers – advice for corporate parents Wednesday 23 June 2021, 10:00am-11:30am. 

You can book now on this link