Communications
Local Democracy Week takes place this year from 14 – 18 October and Solihull Council are organising events aimed at Sixth Form students to encourage them to get involved in politics and to increase democratic engagement. Local Democracy Week is an annual event where local authorities from across the UK and the rest of Europe will be organising events to meet and engage with their residents.
In Solihull, we are organising events that will foster democratic participation at grass roots level and our focus this year will be young people.
We are organising two events; Question Time and our annual Sixth Form Schools' Debating Competition. Our main audience will be sixth form students (aged 16-18), however if any year 10 or 11 students who are keen to take part would be more than welcome to attend.
Question Time
This year will see our very first question time event that will take place on Wednesday 16 October at The Studio at The Core Theatre, Theatre Square, Homer Road from 1.30pm – 3.30pm. The format will be the same as the TV programme and I am inviting students to come and quiz their local representatives on topics that affect them locally in Solihull. It will be a great way for the students to meet the politicians behind the decisions that affect them every day. We have a great line up of senior councillors and a business leader in Solihull. Please see the attached poster for more details.
Sixth Form Schools' Debating Competition
Last year saw the launch of our first ever Solihull Sixth Form Schools Debating Competition and we are repeating the same event this year on Friday 18 October from 1pm in our Council Chamber. Last year saw students from John Henry Newman College, Solihull School, The Sixth Form College Solihull, Tudor Grange Academy and Arden Academy all competing for the honours. Solihull School walked away with our prestigious trophy and will be looking to retain their title this year. Just like last year, the event will be webcast live on the Council’s website, so family and friends will be able to watch the proceedings and the students taking part will be able to look back at the debates. You can view the 2018 debates by going to our webcast library. Teams are made up of four students (three debaters and a timekeeper) and a training session has been organised on Wednesday 2 October from 1 – 3pm to assist the young people taking part and to give them some top tips for debating. Please see the attached poster for more details.
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.
This programme is run by the maths Hubs and consists of a blend of collaborative training and bespoke support, aimed at giving your school an introduction to the ‘Big Ideas’ around teaching for mastery and preparing you for future programmes.
The support within the programme will be spread over the academic year, when you will be part of half-termly group workshops with up to six other schools, as well as receiving half-termly school visits bespoke to your needs. There is no charge for the workshops or the visits from the Mastery Readiness Lead. The programme will involve your maths lead and another teacher and will need to be supported by the headteacher.
There are are currently seven places available for a group of interested Solihull schools (on a first come, first served basis) for support starting this year. If you would like further information or details of how to register for this programme, please contact Donna Wright (dowright@solihull.gov.uk) before end of September 2019.
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
This extraordinary Solihull Governors Association (SGA) meeting has been called to give governors an opportunity to find out more about the proposed 0.5% cut from the schools budget to support the council’s recovery plan for the significant deficit in the SEND high needs block.
You will appreciate that recent local and national news items have reflected financial issues for our schools especially around the impact of increasing high needs costs.
The current suspension of Parliament gives little opportunity to clarify the promised extra school funding but whatever schools may or may not receive in funding Solihull Council must present their plans for not only rectifying the deficit but also to keep the high needs spending within limits in the future, to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (EFSA). It may be that the request for the top slice will be for 0.5% for each of the next 2 or 3 years.
Solihull’s recovery plan must be presented to the EFSA by next year. Therefore the council has extended its consultation period on this proposal and the decision on the top slice of our schools' budgets will now be taken at a specially convened Schoots' Forum meeting on 12 November 2019. This SGA meeting will form part of that consultation. In order that you are aware of the situation and the part that you can play in this process please ensure that at least one member of your governing body attends this meeting so that the implications for your school can be fully discussed by your board and you can give an informed opinion to your Schools' Forum rep in time for the meeting on the 12 November 2019.
As previously announced our speakers will be :-
· Steve Fenton – Head of access and development will outline the council’s recovery plan in which he will wish to include the option to top slice all schools budgets to support the high needs budget.
· Phil Leivers - Assistant director learning and skills, will support Steve and also give a brief update on local and national issues.
Thank you to those who have already registered their attendance but if you now wish to join the meeting please contact me at chair.fgg@gmail.com or 01564 776082 or if you have any queries.
Lynda Mackay
