UPDATE NO 287 02 February 2018

SE DCS Peer Challenge 2018

Planning is underway for 4 Director’s Peer Challenges in 2018. The confirmed participants and dates are in bold on the accompanying chart. Nominations are invited to join the visiting team to Oxfordshire in July, names to Richard Tyndall in the first instance please. For more details please go to the SE ADCS Peer Challenge page. Colleagues requiring a more detailed briefing should contact Anna Wright (details below).

The 2018 MoU is now available for particpants to download, sign and return. Thanks to Bracknell Forest for returning a signed MoU.

LGA Home Education Briefing

On 24 January, the LGA briefed the House of Lords.  The majority of parents who home educate their children do a good job and work well with their local council to make sure that a good education is being provided. However, we are concerned that not all children are registered as home schooled, particularly where they have never joined the mainstream education system or they have moved to a new area. 

Other Key Messages

• The Local Government Association (LGA) has raised concerns that councils do not currently have the powers to fulfil their duties to ensure home schooled children are receiving a suitable education. In particular, this is because they have no powers to enter homes or to see children to satisfy themselves that this is the case.
• Councils need powers to enter the homes of, or otherwise see, children in order to establish whether they are receiving a suitable education and meet their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. New duties on councils must be fully funded.
• There also needs to be a clearer definition of a school to make it easier for Ofsted or the Department for Education to classify and close down illegal schools when they are uncovered.
• A duty on parents to register home-schooled children with their local authority would help councils to monitor how children are being educated, and prevent children from disappearing from the oversight of services designed to keep them safe.

LGA REGIONAL WORKSHOPS FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES Enabling school improvement

Paige Gore, Programme Support Officer at LGA writes,

In partnership with Isos Partnership, LGA has recently published a report looking at role of local authorities in supporting local school improvement systems. The LGA is now supporting a series of five regional workshops across the country in 2018 to discuss this role in more depth and consider the issues that are affecting each local area. These events will be free, if you would like to attend, we would be grateful if you could respond to paige.gore@local.gov.uk at the LGA by Wednesday 28 February.  

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis so please apply as soon as possible. 

The regional workshops will take place on the following dates at the following locations and all begin at 10.30am:

• Birmingham – 8 March (Novotel, 70 Broad Street, Birmingham B1 2HT)
• Manchester – 9 March (Britannia Hotel, Portland Street, Manchester M1 3LA)
• Bristol – 16 March (Novotel, Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6HY)
• London – 22 March (Local Government House, 18 Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ)
• Newcastle – 23 March (Crowne Plaza Hotel, Stephenson Quarter, Hawthorn Square, Newcastle NE1 3SA)

For more details download the flyer or contact contact Simon Rea simon.rea@isospartnership.com or Clive Harris clive.harris@local.gov.uk 

SE19 SEND Network Steering Group

The next meeting of the SE19 SEND Network Steering Group will be held 30 January 2018 at Blackfriars Settlement, 1Rushworth Street, London SE1 0RB 10:30 to 15:30

For further details please contact your SEND lead or Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

Please see also the DfE announcement of the SEND Implementation Grant allocations for 2018/19 available in the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-reform-funding-for-local-authorities/send-implementation-grant-allocations-for-2017-to-2018–2

Complex LAC and Edge of Care Efficiencies

We have places available at the Complex LAC & Edge of Care Efficiency workshop taking place on the 1^st March 13.30-16.30 at Mary Sumner House, 24 Tufton St, Westminster, London SW1P 3R. 

To date Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, Milton Keynes, Kent, Portsmouth, Surrey, and Windsor and Maidenhead have booked places. The target audience is service managers and places are limited to a maximum of 2 per authority. For more contact Mark Evans or Rosemary Perry (details below).

Leadership Development

We continue to offer our successful portfolio of Leadership Development Courses all of which have been positively evaluated by delegates.

We are offering LAs the opportunity to train their own trainers for all our courses. Our aim is to increase the capacity and capability across the region  to ensure future sustainability within LAs. Courses can also be delivered with adult services and/or for schools. Please contact Di Smith, details below, if this is of interest to you

All courses are run in-house in the LA who provides the venue. Each course is accompanied by a range of training resources for the delegates including a comprehensive handbook. The current courses on offer are as follows and details of each course and the costs for each can be found by downloading the April 2016 Leadership Development Prospectus. 

Coaching to Improve Performance

Embedding a Coaching Culture

Leading Change in Times of Austerity

Step Up to Leadership   

We can also arrange one-to-one coaching, especially to support newly appointed 2nd and 3rd tier managers

If you require further details or wish to book a course please get in touch with Di Smith (contact details below)