UPDATE NO 493 18 February 2022

Consultation on Revised Behaviour in Schools Guidance 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 consultation questionnaire is here. The consultation closes 31 March 2022.

Public Law Outline toolkit – free SESLIP workshops NOW BOOKING

The course is aimed at team managers, service/district managers, heads of service and legal professionals and is free to SESLIP members.

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).

Consultation on Revised School Admission Appeals Code

On 7 February DfE launched a consultation on proposed changes to the School Admission Appeals Code. The consultation closes on 3 April 2022.

The proposed changes are summarised here. The proposed code in full is here.

State of the nation 2021: children and young people’s wellbeing

On 8 February 2022, DfE published State of the nation 2021: children and young people’s wellbeing

The summary report (11 pages) is here. The full report (232 pages) is here. 

Agency Social Worker Focus Group NOW BOOKING

SESLIP and LIIA have jointly organised a focus group exploring what attracts some people to agency work and what they see as the barriers that prevent them from wanting to join the permanent workforce. The findings will be shared with authorities across both regions.

The event is on 28 February 9.30-11.30. Please encourage current agency workers to sign up. Book here

For more information contact Mark Evans (details below)

What do we know about children deprived of their liberty? An evidence review by NFJO

On 9 February 2022 Nuffield Family Justice Observatory published an eveidence review: What do we know about children deprived of their liberty?

A press release is here. The summary report (15 pages) is here. The full report (74 pages is here).

Social work in England: Emerging Themes

On 31 January 2022 Social Work England published Social work in England: Emerging Themes.

The press release is here. The full report (66 pages) is here.

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: 22 March 2022 (LAs only) more information from Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

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

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.

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