• A Message from Sue Harrison, Director of Children and Families 
• Oracle Implementation Latest Update
• Implementing The Balanced System® in Birmingham
• GCSEs and Post 16 to 18 Results Collection
• Birmingham HR Services for Schools Conference and Exhibition 2023
• Don't Be Fooled! Money Mules Awareness - Free PSHE Education Resource Pack
• Occupational Training Courses - September 2023 
• Services for Education - Available Courses
• 2030 Climate Emergency - Action Expo 

A Message from Sue Harrison, Director of Children and Families

Dear colleagues

We’ve reached the end of another academic year, and I know you’ll all be ready to take a very well-deserved summer break.  However, I couldn’t let the moment pass without reflecting on the past few months, and not least of all to offer my heartfelt thanks for your steadfast support and patience as the Children and Families Directorate launched its journey of improvement with a vision to make Birmingham a great place for our children and young people to grow and thrive.

The year has seen many challenges, but you have always found the strength and resolve to push through and put the children and young people at the heart of all you do. It never goes unnoticed, and we can’t thank you enough.

It was a pleasure to see so many of you at our recent launch event for the SEND and Inclusion Strategies, and I’m delighted we’ve secured a permanent head of SENAR whose details will be announced in the Autumn; with selection to permanent appointments into the team commencing in September. It’s also my ambition to be able to announce a permanent Director, Schools and Lifelong Learning to complete the senior leadership team. To that effect, we’re working on an updatable Who’s Who so schools will, at a glance, be able to contact the right person at the right time.

I know that when you choose to go into the education sector at a very young age, it becomes a lifetime’s desire and determination to enable children and young people to become the very best they can. So, when I learnt of someone incredibly dedicated to the profession this week it filled me with immense pride. I was delighted to write to Jill Stephens, a nursery teaching assistant who is retiring from Regents Park Primary this week after almost 47 years at the school. Jill’s headteacher shared how much she will be missed by the school community and the generations of children and families she has impacted.

I would like to wish Jill, and everyone retiring from Birmingham schools, all the very best for the future. Thank you for all you have done for our children and families.

I’ve enjoyed some incredible visits to schools since I’ve been the Director of Children’s Services, and I can’t wait to visit more of you in the new academic year. Please don’t forget that I’m always here, if ever you feel you need to escalate anything – although I know we have a great team who are hugely experienced and dedicated to making sure schools feel completely supported. We’re all dearly looking forward to visiting more schools in the future.

I recognise that words are meaningless without actions, but I’m wholeheartedly committed to ensuring we work collaboratively to make a true difference and am grateful to the contribution schools are making to helping us realise our vision for the future. Thank you to those of you who attend the Headteacher’s Reference Group; your views are key to our journey and are making a positive mark. 

Whatever you have planned for the summer holidays, please enjoy, and make the most of your break. Thank you wholeheartedly for all that you do, and I’ll very much look forward to seeing you in the Autumn!

With best wishes

Sue

Oracle Implementation Latest Update

With the impending end of the school year, this week’s communication provides an opportunity to provide an overall update summary and forward plan of Oracle changes within the Finance updates set out below.

We appreciate the ongoing, immense pressure on schools caused by Oracle system issues and the impact on the financial close priorities. From September onwards, we will remain committed to keeping you updated with regular communications as well supporting, collaborating and engaging closely with you and the Schools Relationship Managers Karen and Chris. There is no expectation for schools to work during the summer break period.

To help maximise the reach of this information to all intended audiences, your assistance in cascading this update is greatly appreciated.  

Schools Relationships Managers’ Update

As the term draws to an end, Karen and Chris have had the privilege of engaging with a significant number of schools, Business and HR colleagues, as well as council officers. Most recently, they have provided valuable input to the delivery plan information. 

• It is becoming increasingly clear, through Karen and Chris’ attendance at a wide range of strategic meetings that the focus on solutions to remove barriers and extra workload for schools remains paramount.  Some of these will be quicker fixes than others and officers are acutely aware of the key issues and themes that are emerging. 
• Their mailbox continues to receive emails from schools with a range of challenges, providing useful insight into how they can best support school leaders, including governors and business managers. 
• Chris and Karen are also making positive progress in meetings with officers across the council, working together to resolve some of your significant issues. Whilst initially attending many council meetings together, a natural division has since evolved, with Karen becoming increasingly involved with Nursery and Special Schools for example, and Chris being instrumental in hearing the concerns of SBMs and HR managers, as well as those of his secondary colleagues. In September they will continue to develop their joint and individual responsibilities and will share this approach with schools.

Finance Update

1.  Transactional Services update

Reconciliations – an outline of planned work is set out below, covering key fixes and completion targets over the coming months.

• Not all Journals are feeding through to the reconciliation files.
  • Journals are appearing on the BCC ledger but are not on the reconciliation file.
  • Indicative timeline – the target for completion for Digital and Technical Services is the end of July.

• Missing Cancelled Invoice transactions
  • Reconciliation files failing to capture cancelled invoices.
  • Fixed for weeks 45 onwards, but weeks 18 to 45 are missing cancelled invoice transactions.
  • Correction files to be processed for impacted schools which will capture the missing transactions.
  • Indicative timeline – the target for completion for Digital and Technical Services is the end of August.

• Internal Billing (Duplicates)
  • Duplicate transactions in the BCC Ledger have been picked up by reconciliation files.
  • Duplicate transactions reversed in the BCC Ledger – relevant reconciliation files will be reviewed and tested to ensure that corrections have been picked up for impacted schools.
  • Indicative timeline –– the target for completion for Digital and Technical Services is the end of July.

In addition to the above priorities, our Digital and Technology Services are also working on other minor fixes impacting specific schools as well as technical changes to deliver internal processing efficiencies. The aim is to deliver the changes during July and August ready for the start of the new school year in September.

2.  Income

• Income allocation – coding for the majority of income transactions has now been identified. A spreadsheet of outstanding items was circulated to schools on 26 June to help identify the remaining codes. If you are yet to review this list, please let us know of any income you are able to identify as soon as possible. Please note that we are continuing make the postings and this income will then show in subsequent weeks reconciliation files (as shown below).

• Income Postings –
  • The system processing of income requires postings to be initially made in the new financial year (2023/24). Then, periodically, manual accruals are processed to pull income back into the old financial year (2022/23).
  • This process results in timing differences, so you may see 2022/23 income in a 2023/24-week reconciliation file, but not in a 2022/23 reconciliation file. However, for the week in which the accrual is posted, you will see the reversing transaction in that week’s 2023/24 reconciliation file and the accrued income posting in the 2022/23 weekly reconciliation file.

Please Note: As a result of the above, if you have transferred to a Full Cheque Book school, you may still receive files for the new financial year. The file/s will contain income postings related to 2022/23, so the first file will contain the initial transaction, with a subsequent file that including the reversing transaction. When you receive the second weekly file with the reversing transaction, you will also receive an old year file that posts the income back into the old financial year. It is only the old year file that needs to be downloaded from the Anycomms system and run in your finance system.

3.  Automatic Invoice Reconciliation

We have been working to implement a fix to the reconciliation files to support schools with automatic invoice reconciliation. The issue was linked to missing order numbers. We have now successfully tested with a number of schools and are moving the fix to production anticipated to be included within week 17 reconciliation files.

Please note - this fix is not retrospective. To enable the auto reconciliation, schools need to include the order number within the simplified loader entries.

Invoices that do not reconcile automatically are held in suspense and need to be processed manually. To address this, and to prevent further cases occurring, please ensure that the order number is included within the Simplified Loader when invoice payments are created. 

The following points provide information about the using the Simplified Loader to enable the auto-reconciliation of invoices when importing the weekly reconciliation files.

• Against each invoice the order number must be entered into Column L “Line Description”.   
• This format should not contain spaces and must contain 4 alphabet characters (starting EAxx) and 6 numeric characters. 
• There should be no other text entered in this area, other than the order number e.g. EAxx230123
• The order number can be easily found on the invoice authorisation slip.

Payroll update – P60s

Please note that the latest P60s for the 2022-2023 period are not available to view digitally via the Oracle system. In view of this, paper versions have been posted to schools as with previous years.

Future P60s from the 2023-2024 period onwards, will be available to view on Oracle, replacing the need for paper versions.

Oracle support and contact information

• Contact us via SchoolsTransactionalServicesQueries@birmingham.gov.uk to seek help with any finance related Oracle transactional queries such as Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cashbooks, Payroll or Pensions. More information regarding this support process is set out in the 30 March edition of the Schools Noticeboard bulletin.
• Where to go for Oracle user guidance and information - read Oracle system user guidance and visit the HR for Schools website.
• Where to go for HR related Oracle
• Where to go for Oracle support - Oracle system user guidance
• Contact Schools Relationships Managers via their mailbox: OracleSchoolsRelationship@Birmingham.gov.uk.           

We wish you a restful summer break and Oracle communications will resume in September. 

Implementing The Balanced System® in Birmingham

We are writing to advise you of forthcoming changes to the Children’s NHS Speech and Language Therapy Service in Birmingham, which will be phased from the new academic year, 2023-24.

SENCOs were made aware in Autumn 2022 that the city of Birmingham is moving towards ‘The Balanced System® framework’ where everyone delivers speech, language, and communication support within their roles, as part of a graduated response. Every interaction counts.

This is a whole system approach involving collaboration with families and other partners.

The Balanced System® embeds support at universal, targeted, and specialist levels, and aims to achieve positive and long-lasting outcomes for children with speech, language, and communication needs (SLCN) by developing and strengthening the following strands of support:

• Family Support - Through training, workshops & advice sessions
• Enabling Environment – Settings are supported to provide a communication environment which allows their skills to flourish & develop  
• Wider Workforce – Enskilling and supporting staff via coaching and training
• Identification – Settings are supported to identify children with SLCN in a timely manner
• Intervention – Children with specific needs are supported as part of a graduated approach.

To find out more about The Balanced System®, please see www.thebalancedsystem.org

To read more about the 10 years of direct impact that The Balanced System® has had on children, please see Case studies and examples of good practice (thebalancedsystem.org)

What does this mean for the NHS Speech and Language Therapy service offer?

Each school setting will be allocated a ‘Link Speech and Language Therapist(s)’ who, along with the Birmingham SEND Advisory Services will be supporting you to deliver a strong universal and targeted offer for SLCN, as well as supporting those children requiring specialist intervention.

There will be changes to the referral process. If you or your staff have concerns about any children you will have the opportunity to discuss them with the link therapist and agree the most appropriate support required.

You will receive further communication in due course regarding the bespoke allocation of ‘core’ NHS Speech and Language Therapy time to your setting. This will not replace any sessions currently provided by the BCHC Plus team or independent therapy providers but will enhance that offer.

We will continue to offer BCHC Plus Speech and Language Therapy provision to those with an existing contract.

Helen Ellis, Director of SEND and Inclusion, Birmingham City Council

Seema Gudivada, Director of Therapies and Chief AHP

Victoria Clarke Deputy Divisional Director C & F

GCSEs and Post 16 to 18 Results Collection

We would be grateful if secondary schools could share GCSEs/Post 16 to 18  school-level data on GCSE results day (24 August 2023) by completing a simple online form: KS4 and Post 16 to 18 Results Day Form

The online form will be available from 24 August to 8 September 2023, and your support in completing it as soon as possible after results day would be greatly appreciated.

For any queries, please contact the team at educationdata@birmingham.gov.uk and they will be pleased to help.

Don’t Be Fooled!  Money Mules Awareness – Free PSHE Education Resource Pack

Don’t Be Fooled is a partnership between UK Finance and Cifas, the counter-fraud agency.  It aims to inform young people about the risks of giving out their bank details, and to deter them from becoming money mules.

A money mule is someone who receives stolen money into their bank account and transfers it into another account, keeping some of the cash for themselves.  Criminals need money mules to launder the profits of their crimes.  Being a money mule is illegal and can result in significant penalties, as well as an inability to obtain future financial products.

Don’t Be Fooled has teamed up with education resource centre, iChild, to develop a free PSHE education resource pack for schools, to make it easy to teach pupils about the dangers and consequences of becoming a money mule.  The resources contain positive messages on how students can stay safe online and in person, protect their financial privacy and protect friends and family.  There are cross-curricular supporting activities covering English, Drama and Art & Design, to appeal to all types of learners.  Both primary resources (for pupils aged 10 - 11) and secondary resources (for pupils aged 11 - 14) are available.

For further information on the campaign, please see Cifas’ press release here: Cifas and UK Finance launch lesson plans to prevent young adults from becoming money mules | Cifas

To access the free resources, please complete the form via this link: Money Mules Awareness - Free PSHE Education Resource Pack (smartsurvey.co.uk)

For any queries or further information please contact John Preston at  John.Preston@birmingham.gov.uk

Occupational Health & Safety Training Courses – September 2023

School Site Safety Training –7 & 8 September 2023: 09:30-16:00 - £151.00 per delegate

This course will better equip those front-line staff to deal with situations and promote Health and Safety in the workplace.

Please book online by following this link

MIDAS Full Course – 13 September 2023: 09:30-13:00 - £265.00 per delegate 

Driver Training Centre, Atlas Works, Kings Road (entrance opposite James Road), Birmingham B11 2AS Drivers are asked to wait in the MOT Reception Waiting Room.

Please book online by following this link

MIDAS Refresher – 14 September 2023: 09:30-13:00 - £171.00 per delegate

Driver Training Centre, Atlas Works, Kings Road (entrance opposite James Road), Birmingham B11 2AS

Drivers are asked to wait in the MOT Reception Waiting Room.

Please book online by following this link

Level 3 Award – First Aid at Work (Re-qualification) – 18 & 19 September 2023: 09:00-16:00 - £164.00 per delegate

Stirchley Baths, Bournville Lane, Stirchley, Birmingham B30 2JT

Please book online by following this link

Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work – 25, 26 & 27 September 2023 – 09:00-16:00 - £194.00 per delegate

Stirchley Baths, Bournville Lane, Stirchley, Birmingham B30 2JT

Please book online by following this link

Please note that lunch or refreshments will NOT be provided. For any queries or further information please contact schoolsafety@birmingham.gov.uk

Services for Education – Available Courses

Online Primary Reading Conference: Thursday, 9 November 2023

Services for Education are excited to present a full-day online conference covering all aspects of reading! The focus will be Inspiration, Engagement and Attainment.

They will have the pleasure of sharing presentations from some of the very best national experts from universities and organisations around the country. They will be covering such intrinsic elements of our practice as: Building a Reading Culture, How to Teach Reading Fluency, Phonics Teaching, Developing Comprehension, and more!

To find out more and to book your place simply follow this link

Twilight Online Safer Recruitment – various dates

This online course is delivered as four twilight sessions to give flexibility for busy professionals. Delivered by accredited Safer Recruitment Consortium trainers the course enables schools to meet statutory requirements and to improve processes that help deter, reject or identify people who might abuse children or who are otherwise unsuited to working with them. It also identifies ways settings can create safer environments with a culture of vigilance.

To find out more and book your place simply follow this link

2030 Climate Emergency – Action Expo

Thursday, 21 September 2023 – Millennium Point B4 7XG

Organised by Climate Change Solutions and focused on accelerating understanding and delivery of the UK’s aim for a 500% increase in solar power by 2035; together with an afternoon session focused on an increased generation of Green Hydrogen.

To find out more about the event simply visit this link to the Action Expo.

Please note that Action Expo is not endorsed by Birmingham City Council and is a chargeable event.