UPDATE NO 492 11 February 2022

Public Law Outline toolkit – free workshops NOW BOOKING

Now booking: Cohort 1: 6 April (am and pm) and 27 April (am only) OR Cohort 2:  11^th May (am and pm) and 25^th May (am only)

The course is aimed at Team Managers, Service/District Managers, Heads of Services and Legal professionals and is free to SESLIP members.

upon Inspiring Leaders Aspirant DCS Programme NOW BOOKING

upon Inspiring Leaders have announced the invitation to apply to the Aspirant Directors Programme. It will run from September 2022 to March 2023.

For further information on the programme in the meantime, please go to the How to apply page.

Revised memorandum of cooperation on agency social workers – signing day Friday 11 February

All 19 SESLIP local authorities have now indicated their support for the revised memorandum of cooperation on agency social workers.

The coordinated signing day is Friday 11 February, and the go live date is 1 April 2022. More information from Mark Evans (details below).

Children not in school – consultation response

On 3 February, DfE published its response to the Children not in school consultation which has been running since 2019.

The response includes a commitment to legislate a duty for LAs to maintain a register of children not on school rolls and provide support to home educators (and recognising this has resource implications) and for parents and proprietors to register.  

The full response is here

Increasing attendance with parent messages – a supportive ‘how-to’ guide for schools

On 3 February, the Behavioural Insights Team published an updated version of its How-to-guide for schools increasing attendance

This guide is designed to help teachers and school leaders improve attendance among persistently absent students by sending evidence-based messages to parents. The messages were developed and tested by Bristol City Council in 2020 in partnership with the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) and have been updated in 2022 for the current context.

The how-to-guide is here

Securing good attendance and tackling persistent absence

On 7 February Ofsted published Securing good attendance and tackling persistent absence. The news release is here.

It finds that schools that improve pupil attendance from a low baseline, maintain high levels of attendance and minimise persistent absence adopt similar strategies that can best be summarised as ‘listen, understand, empathise and support – but do not tolerate’.

The full report is here

Consultation on Behaviour in Schools and Suspension and Permanent Exclusion Guidance. Closes 31 March 2022

On 3 February DfE launched a consultation on both its Behaviour in Schools Guidance and its Suspension and Permanent Exclusion Guidance

The online consultation is here. The questions in the consultation questionnaire are here. The consultation closes 31 March 2022.

Future dates for network meetings

Lead Members Group: Expert Workshop #6: Political leadership of effective SEND systems. Fri 4 March 9:30am. More from Alison Michalska (contact details below)

Data Benchmarking: Tuesday 15 March 10:00am More information from Alastair Lee (contact details below)

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board: Monday 25 April 10.30am-12noon More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

AD Education: Friday 18 March – 10:00am. More information from Chris Owen (contact details below)

AD Safeguarding: Friday 11 March 2022. More information from Mark Evans (contact details below)

QA Network: Wednesday 16 March 2022. 2:00pm – 5:00pm. More information from Amanda Meadows (contact details below)

Fostering Network: Wednesday April 27 2022 10-11.30am More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

SEND SE19: 15 February 2022 (LAs and Health) more information from Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

Early Help: More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

SESLIP Freelance Consultant Approved List now open

ESCC has advertised the SESLIP Freelance Consultant Approved List. Please address all enquiries about this opportunity to Richard Tyndall (contact details below)

Freelance consultants interested in seeking work with the SESLI Programme should consult the advertisement now live on the SE Shared Services eSourcing Portal

WWCSC – Outcomes for black children in care and Ethnic minority social workers in the UK

On 13 January 2022, What Works for Children’s Social Care published two reports: Outcomes for black children in care and Ethnic minority social workers in the UK. 

Findings show that black children in care have slightly better placement stability and educational attainment outcomes than white children in care, but the conclusions may not be reliable. The full report is here.

A review of social workers from black, asian and minority ethnic communities found that they are overrepresented in the student population and the qualified workforce but less likely to complete qualifying courses and underrepresented in senior roles. The full report is here.

JRF: UK Poverty 2022

On 18 January 2022, Joseph Rowntree Foundation published UK Poverty 2022: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK

Child poverty continues to rise with 4,300,000 (31%) of UK children living in poverty; nearly half of children in lone-parent families live in poverty, compared with 1 in 4 of those in couple families; and the child poverty rate for children in families with 3 or more children is almost twice as high as the rate for children in 1- or 2-child families (47% compared with 24%).

A 4-page summary is here, and the full report is here

NICE consultation: Self harm: assessment, management and preventing recurrence. Closing date 1 March 2022

On 18 January 2022, NICE published draft guidelines on self-harm for people working in settings from primary care to psychiatry.

All professionals working across the health and social care system have a role to play in supporting people who self-harm and the issue should not just be seen as the responsibility of those with mental health expertise, NICE has said in a new draft guideline. The consultation closes on 1 March, and final publication is planned for 29 June 2022.