Education Bulletin 13 October 2022
Updated 13 October 2022
Important contact details
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From Ming Zhang
Service Director of Education, Participation and Skills
Dear colleagues,
Tomorrow (Friday) will be Raising Awareness Day of Developmental Language Delay (DLD). DLD causes difficulties with understanding and using language. It affects one in fourteen people. On this day every year, our Early Years team and stakeholders are taking this opportunity to raise the awareness of DLD and the information available to schools and settings in identifying children that may be presenting with DLD.
DLD Day
If you have a child in your setting who you think shows signs of having DLD and would like advice on how to support them in your setting, please contact Caroline Watts from the Early Years Speech and Language Support Team via email cwatts@plymbridge.net or telephone: 01752 769856 and she will be happy to help you. For more information about DLD, please visit website https://radld.org.
Bringing out the Best
I am also keeping a close eye on the Parliaments Education Committee's debate today on The Times Education Commission's report "Bringing out the Best", published last week. The purpose of this Commission was to examine Britain's whole education system and consider its future in the light of the Covid-19 crisis, declining social mobility, new technology and the changing nature of work. The Commission was composed of leaders from the fields of education, politics, public life and culture. It set out to examine the entire education system, arguing that the disruption of Covid-19 presented an opportunity to make fundamental changes to education provision.
The commission examined education provision from early years to higher education and lifelong learning. Its report stated that it was "the broadest education inquiry ever held". It said its wide scope was necessary because it was "impossible to disentangle the constituent parts of the system". The report highlighted "the pressing need for the government to tackle the growing gap in inequalities in education". One of the report's key recommendation was for reforms to the exams pupils take at ages 18 and 16. Other recommendations include
- significantly increasing funding in the early years,
- improving mental health and wellbeing support in schools and colleges,
- extending the pupil premium to cover children who have a child protection plan in place,
- ensuring all children have access to a digital device, increasing post-16 funding and raising the status of the teaching profession.
We are interested in the Education Committee's comments on the report and how the Government will respond.
Kind regards.
Ming
Education updates
Government policy, legislative announcements and news
Schools can now compare attendance figures and view last year's attendance
From 29 September, councils and schools can use a public data dashboard to compare themselves with up-to-date national, regional and local authority figures for pupil attendance and absence in England. The data will be updated every two weeks.
Weekly Social Care Reports to Schools
The automated weekly social care reports to schools, which lists students open to Plymouth's Children, Young People and Family Service and subject to a child protection plan or is a Child in Care are due to be restarted in the coming weeks. This follows the successful transfer of all children's
social care data to the LA's new database 'Eclipse'. Thank you for your patience whilst this transfer was in progress and while sign-offs and reports were being rebuilt and tested.
Before the reports can restart we have been advised that an Information Sharing Agreement (ISA) should be signed by all schools/MATS to cover GDPR. This has now been emailed to all schools for the attention of Head Teachers. If your school has not received the ISA to sign, please email Zoe Jones at DSI.Team@plymouth.gov.uk
Please note that future weekly reports will not include Child in Need students. This is because the
automated report cannot check the complexities of each individual's family's consent for sharing CIN information with schools. Social Workers will still inform schools in the usual way about CIN students (for those that have provided their consent). Should you have any concerns or queries around this please contact the Gateway at Gateway.Admin@plymouth.gov.uk
Thank you again for your patience.
PTSA English Open Hub Meeting - Schools Supporting Parental Literacy
Friday 11th November, 1.30-3.30pm at Salisbury Road Primary School Audience: English leads and school PSAs
Plymouth local authority are working in collaboration with PTSA to support this Plymouth Child Poverty Action Group initiative. This hub meeting will focus on the goal of schools supporting parental literacy, particularly for EAL or socially disadvantaged parents, as a means to closing the attainment gap for children. We will hear presentations from several schools working positively to engage parents and improve parental literacy, and there will be opportunities for discussion between schools to share ideas and plan future initiatives.
For many schools in the city, creating extended opportunities to develop communities is key to raising aspirations and opportunities for children. With this in mind, we look forward to welcoming you to this event. To book your place please email info@ptsa.uk
Message from Children's Commissioner for England
Last month I launched The Big Summer Survey, sparking a national conversation with children in England about their experiences over the summer holidays.
There are two weeks left to complete The Big Summer Survey. I want to hear from as many children as possible from across the country. So far, over 10,000 children have taken part and had their voices heard.
The Big Summer Survey forms part of my Independent Review into family life which will inform the Government about the best ways to support families across the country, including what role schools can play.
The survey is accessible, takes less than 10 minutes and is a great activity for children aged 7-17 to do in school as part of wider discussions about time with family and the summer holidays. The Big Summer Survey will close on 24th October.
Take the survey here https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/thebigsummersurvey/
Find out more and download resources for children and schools via https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/the-big-summer-survey/
Health & wellbeing updates
Plymouth Safeguarding Children Partnership - Training Update on New Adultification Workshops
We are pleased to share that Listen Up will be delivering 2 workshops on Adultification on the 8th & 10th November 2022. Listen Up are the leading voice and experts on the
concept of Adultification which is when children are perceived and treated as being more like adults and their vulnerability overlooked. Research suggests that black children are more likely to experience Adultification.
We are wanting to improve awareness of Adultification, particularly following the Child Safeguarding Practice Review conducted by the City of London & Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership, which saw a black female secondary school student strip searched on school grounds. The review explored Adultification and found that racism, whether deliberate or not, was likely to be an influencing factor in the decision to strip search Child Q.
The Listen Up sessions are free for all to attend and relevant to staff/volunteers across the multi- agency network. It is particularly relevant for those working in child sexual or criminal exploitation, criminal justice and police processes and procedures. The session will explore
- What is Adultification?
- How Adultification shows itself in our behaviour, language and response to children.
- Its impact on children.
- How to avoid Adultification and ensure the right help at the right time for children.
If you would like to book yourself onto the workshop or find more information, please go to https://plymouthscb.co.uk/adultification-training/
Kooth & Qwell Webinars: Mental Health Support for Marginalised Identities
In honour of #WorldMentalHealthDay, #BlackHistoryMonth & #HateCrimeAwareness Week, learn how marginalised identities can safely & anonymously access free mental health support from Kooth & Qwell
Wednesday 19th October, 4-5pm You can book your free place here For more information please contact
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