UPDATE NO 503 29 April 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. Join the 60+ colleagues from across the region who have already booked.

Now booking: Cohort 2:  11 May (am and pm) and 25 May (am only).

For more information contact Alison Smailes (details below)

Take Your Place – the future leaders programme for the South East NOW BOOKING

The Take Your Place programme is NOW BOOKING a 5-day aspirant Assistant Director’s course aimed at (approx) third-tier officers. Free of charge. The deadline for reserved places for each authority has now passed, but there are still 4 places available as I write. Your final nominations need to be endorsed by your DCS and details sent to Mark Evans (details below). See this flyer for more details

The 5-day programme will be delivered by The Staff College and consist of:

• 1 x 2-day face to face orientation residential, including evening speaker (16 & 17 June)
• 3 x ½ day virtual workshops, including sessions facilitated by Research in Practice & Early Intervention Foundation (11 July, 12 September, 27 September)
• 1 x 1 day face to face end of programme/partner workshop (13 October)
• 1 x ½ day co-production session
• 5 X action learning set sessions during and post

More from Mark Evans (contact details below)

Why do children go into children’s homes? – report from Ofsted

On 13 April, Ofsted pubished Why do children go into children’s homes? on why children go into children’s homes and how well matched they are.

Ofsted carried out a study to find out how well matched children are to their homes and the extent to which their participation, views, wishes and feelings are considered in the decision-making process. The study looks at a small group of children who have a very wide and diverse set of needs and who live in children’s homes that were visited by Ofsted inspectors in late 2019.

The full report is here

The care files: Exploring the experiences of teenagers entering the care system

On 7 April, NFJO published The care files: Exploring the experiences of teenagers entering the care system. This report summary presents the key themes and insights drawn from a number of co-designed workshops and interviews with 24 older children and young people who are either being supported by the care system, or who were supported by the care system in England and Wales between the ages of 10 and 17. 

Findings include: young people felt that they were placed on ‘opposing teams’ to their parents during the court process; support networks were broken down rather than sustained; children experienced feelings of loneliness and stigma; and supported placements were too focused on surveillance rather than development.

Recommendations include: encouraging children to be informed and involved in decisions about their care, and helping children to maintain relationships and support networks.

A summary report is here. The full report is here

IntegratED Annual Report published

On 20 April IntegratED published its Annual Report 2021. This second state of the nation report into school exclusion and alternative provision from the IntegratED partnership brings together all the available data, research, and policy from this historically overlooked cohort.

It offers an excellent overview of inclusion, exclusions, AP and off-rolling across the English education system, both data and policy. The report also provides a helpful summary of policy initiatives during 2021

Every year around 8,000 children are permanently excluded from school and an even greater number are moved into alternative provision (AP) through other routes. The rate of exclusion is much lower in other parts of the UK. In the academic year 2018-19, 3 pupils were permanently excluded in Scotland, 246 pupils were permanently excluded in Wales, and 30 were permanently excluded in Northern Ireland. 

The full report is here

Women in Leadership Course NOW BOOKING

Applications to join the Women in Leadership (WIL) Programme Cohort 10 in London are now open. The price for this course is £695 + VAT and it starts in October 2022.

Family Hubs – Community of Practice (South East)

The webpage for the Family Hubs – Community of Practice (South East) is now live.

Please see the Family Hubs Lead Contact page, also now live. For further information, download the newsletter (see above) or contact Carly Bain (details below)

Future dates for network meetings

Lead Members Group: Friday 8 July 10.00am.  More from Alison Michalska (contact details below)

Data Benchmarking: Tuesday 12 July 10:00am More from Alastair Lee (contact details below)

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board: Wednesday 20 July 10.30am-12noon More from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

AD Education: Friday 6 May 10:00am. More from Chris Owen (contact details below)

AD Safeguarding: Friday 10 June 10:00am. More from Mark Evans (contact details below)

QA Network: Thursday 16 June 2:00pm – 5:00pm. More from Amanda Meadows (contact details below)

Fostering Network: Wednesday 13 July 10-11.30am More from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

SEND SE19: Joint LA/Health 10 May 2022 12:00 – 13:30. More from Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

Early Help: Wednesday 25 May 1.30pm. More from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

Family Hubs Community of Practice: SEND workshop via Teams 9 June 9.20 – 11.30. More from Carly Bain (contact details below) 

School-led tutoring grant

On 20 April DfE published revisions to the School-led tutoring grant. This sets out how schools and academy trusts should plan and deliver the national tutoring programme’s school-led tutoring to help pupils catch up on missed learning.

This guidance is for:

• school and academy trust leaders
• school and academy trust staff
• governing bodies

It applies to state-funded schools and academy trusts with pupils eligible for pupil premium.

The guidance is here, with seperate documents for local authorities and virtual school heads; and for local authorities and independent special schools.

Emergency planning and response for education, childcare, and children’s social care settings

On 1 April DfE published Emergency planning and response for education, childcare, and children’s social care settings. It sets out guidance on how educational and childcare settings should plan for and deal with emergencies, including significant public health incidents and severe weather.

This guidance applies to:

• early years
• wraparound childcare and out of school settings
• children’s social care
• schools
• further education
• higher education
• special educational needs and disability (SEND) and specialist settings

The full guidance is here