Communications (test)

It is open to all PSHE education teachers in the West Midlands, with priority given to those from Birmingham and surrounding areas if over-subscribed. The session will explore what makes young people vulnerable to radicalisation, and the protective and preventative factors PSHE education can develop to reduce extremism risks.

The twilight is provided with funding from the Home Office as part of its ‘Building a Stronger Britain Together’ programme, awarded by the London Community Foundation programme.

Attendees will gain practical support to review, plan and implement a PSHE education curriculum that effectively safeguards pupils, including:

• Awareness of the knowledge, skills and attributes PSHE education develops to support resilience to extremist ideologies of all kinds
• An increased understanding of extremism, the process of radicalisation and of PSHE education’s role in safeguarding pupils, in line with schools’ statutory duties
• Knowledge of resources to support safe and effective lesson delivery

Book your free place by visiting the Services for Education website.

The session will be held at Services for Education, 3 Holt Court, Holt Street, Birmingham B7 4AX.

Dear headteacher
We are looking to appoint school-based designated safeguarding leads to our multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) to undertake the role of education safeguarding representative across five days per week. Ideally, up to five people who will undertake the role on different days. There is currently no funding available for the post, however it is an excellent continuing professional development opportunity for practicing designated safeguarding leads in school.

The post will require the following skills and knowledge:

• Liaison with designated safeguarding leads in schools to gain information to inform joint safeguarding activity around a child or family
• Facilitation of good practice and partnership working, being the key link between education settings and the MASH
• Ability to engage in professional dialogue with a range of professionals across a range of agencies in order to inform the multi-agency risk assessment in the MASH
• Ability to search data bases, collect and analyse information to add to the multi-agency risk assessment in the MASH
• Maintaining a good understanding of current education safeguarding legislation and statutory procedures
• Attending strategy meetings on behalf of the relevant education setting (if they are unable to attend) and contribute to the decision-making process with a sound rational.
• Taking part in improvement activity within the MASH, eg: reviewing cases and practice, and sharing this

Anyone interested in this post should contact the education safeguarding administrator on 0121 704 6616 or educationsafeguarding@solihull.gov.uk.

Lorraine Lord
Senior education safeguarding officer

Working in partnership together, Solar and the Solihull Council community educational psychology service (CEPS) are offering a free half-day training event to school leaders and key staff to develop their understanding and ability to support children and young people who find it difficult to consistently attend and positively engage in school.

The training event will enable attendees:

• To understand what is meant by emotionally based school avoidance and its relevance within the local and national context
• To be able to distinguish emotionally based school avoidance from other types of school attendance concerns
• To understand the collaborative local response to emotionally based school avoidance and how this can support children, young people and families in your setting
• To gain an insight in to the literature and evidence in relation to emotionally based school avoidance
• To acquire and practice using a range of evidence-based assessment and intervention tools
• To develop a bespoke action plan to strengthen practice in relation to emotionally based school avoidance in your setting

Date: Monday 14 October 2019

Time: 9.30 - 12.30pm (AM session) OR 13.30pm - 16.30pm (PM session)

Venue: Renewal Solihull, Lode Lane, Solihull, B91 2JR

There are up to two places for each setting available (one must be a member of the school’s leadership team). To secure your places, please email edpsych@solihull.gov.uk with the name of the attendees, name of school setting and which session you would like to attend (morning or afternoon) by 7 October 2019.

Lunch will be provided for both sessions between 12:30 and 13:30 (further details will be provided when your places are confirmed); if there are any dietary requirements, please indicate when booking.

Early years SENCo briefings with a behaviour focus are planned for Friday 25 October 2019 at Sans Souci. School and setting leads or SENCos are invited to attend. There is a subsidised charge of £20 with booking via inset@solihull.gov.uk.

Early years leads' network meetings are planned for Wednesday 11 December 2019 (9am-noon) or Thursday 12 December 2019 (1pm-4pm) at Sans Souci (£70).

We hope to know more about the proposed new early learning goals and future profile arrangements by these dates. The current EYFSP remains statutory for this year. Schools are invited to opt in to early years visits with a proposed personal development and behaviours focus for 2019/20. Further information is available on the solgrid early years and childcare website and solgrid extranet.

These materials were produced by the Solihull primary mathematics forum following a questionnaire sent to schools, auditing Solihull primary schools’ needs.

Mathematics leads requested support for staff in assessing greater depth in mathematics. The decision was taken to initial provide exemplification for years one and four and to target three of the most difficult areas to assess at greater depth. Maths leads were asked to discuss with their staff which objectives were the trickiest to assess and this information was fed back to the forum. The three most popular objectives for each year group were selected and materials provided in these areas.

Selected objectives:

Year 1

• Count, read and write numbers to 100 in numerals; count in multiples of twos, fives and tens
• Solve one-step problems that involve addition and subtraction, using concrete objects and pictorial representations, and missing number problems
• Recognise and name common 2D and 3D shapes, including 2D shapes [for example, rectangles (including squares), circles and triangles] 3D shapes [for example, cuboids (including cubes), pyramids and spheres].

Year 4

• Complete a simple symmetric figure with respect to a specific line of symmetry.
• Recognise and show, using diagrams, families of common equivalent fractions.
• Count backwards through zero to include negative numbers