Included in this update

• Bring It On Brum! is back for winter 2023! 
• Finance MIS 
• Related Party Transactions 
• The Big Birmingham School Travel Survey Prize Draw! 
• Communication Tools for Promoting The Solihull Approach 
• Proposed Resource Base Consultation for Marlborough Primary School, Small Heath, Birmingham B10 9NY
• HR Services for School Training Events
• Subsidised THRIVE Training
• NPQ Applications Now Open – Start Studying in Spring 2024 
• FREE Online Workshop - Teaching about Positive Body Image and Positive Behaviours
• FREE Workshops - Best Start in Life Health Hacks
• HEART Midlands Early Years Stronger Practice Hub’s Spring Conference
• Birmingham’s Public Art 

Bring It On Brum! is back for winter 2023!

Full details on the Winter Holiday Club Activities have recently been sent to schools, including:

• Letter template for parents/carers
• HAF Code for distribution (the school’s 7-digit DfE number)
• Detailed mail merge guidance

The Bring it on Brum! holiday clubs will run between 27-29 December and 2-5 January 2024, for young people aged 4-16 who are eligible for benefits-related free school meals.

Bookings for winter holiday clubs will open from Monday, 4 December 2023 at: www.bringitonbrum.co.uk

Activity packs and food boxes are available with registrations open from 27 November, and closing on 6 December or when all packs/food boxes are allocated: www.bringitonbrum.co.uk/activity-packs-and-food-boxes.   

Any queries concerning the distribution of the code and letter to parents of eligible children, should be directed to: SchoolCensus@birmingham.gov.uk

For all queries related to the Holiday Activities Programme please contact:  Birminghamholidayactivities@streetgames.org

Finance MIS

FAO: Headteachers, School Business Managers, Bursars

Following the withdrawal of support for CMIS in August 2024 and the need for schools to explore / select a replacement, we would like to set up a small working party of school business leaders and other financial services providers to look at stakeholder requirements and systems. Please contact Husham Khan Husham.Khan@birmingham.gov.uk  if you are interested in taking part.

Related Party Transactions (RPTs)

FAO: Headteachers, School Business Managers, Bursars

The following have been updated under Schools Financial Value Standard (SFVS) on the DfE website:

• Schools financial value standard checklist
• Template for recording related party transactions
• Checklist guidance for 2023 to 2024

Schools should ensure RPTs are properly managed, ensuring transparency, recording decisions correctly in Governing Board minutes, and that decisions are in line with compliance with Financial Regulations.

The Big Birmingham School Travel Survey Prize Draw!

To support your school community to travel in ways that are safer, more active, and sustainable, we’re launching the Big Birmingham School Travel Survey!

Here’s why:

• School travel surveys get everyone (children and staff) thinking about how they currently come to school and how they would prefer to travel to school. This can help reduce car journeys and encourage more walking, wheeling, cycling, and scooting.
• You get baseline data to plan and monitor the success of the actions you are taking to encourage active and sustainable travel.

All schools who complete their survey by Friday, 9 December will be entered into a prize draw to win a class travel pass from National Express. If you have already completed your surveys – THANK YOU – you are already entered into the prize draw, no further action needed.

The survey is quick and easy to complete. Simply:

1. Sign in to your Modeshift STARS account.
2. Ensure that you are on the ‘Site’ tab.
3. Copy the ‘survey link’ and share it with your colleagues so that they can complete the survey in class. Set a date to ask staff (perhaps your next staff team meeting?).
4. Ask the pupils the survey questions, this is a hands-up survey, the pupils just have one choice. The two questions are:
   1. How do you usually travel to school?
   2. How would you most like to travel to school?
5. The totals entered for ‘usual’ and ‘preferred’ must be equal. Make sure you hit SAVE before closing the page.
6. As each survey is entered, by class, year group, etc. Modeshift STARS will collate the results and produce a lovely graph.
7. Don’t forget to let us know that you have completed the survey!

If you need any support with this, please email the team: connected@birmingham.gov.uk

Please remember the prize draw closes on Friday, 9 December, and thank you for taking the time to complete the survey! 

Communication Tools for Promoting The Solihull Approach

FAO: Headteachers, Pastoral Leads of Primary Schools

Free online children’s emotional health resources for parents and carers.

As you may already be aware, your school is in a pre-paid area for emotional health resources hub, www.inourplace.co.uk. This means your local parents can access a range of online support to better understand children’s emotional health, brain development and wellbeing.

As part of your school’s commitment to supporting mental health for your children, we kindly ask that you help us to raise awareness of these important resources for your parent community. The Inourplace schools’ communications toolkit available to you on a public SharePoint drive by the Solihull Approach, creators of the online guides, includes all the ready-to-use resources you need to build this into your engagement strategy for mental health - Inourplace.co.uk School communications toolkit

Please use the information and content included in the files, helpfully organised by content and month, to encourage your parents to access the free resources. We would be pleased if you could consider:

• profiling alongside your other commitments on your school website under ‘wellbeing’, ‘mental health resources’ or ‘for families’ using the ready-to-go web content
• scheduling reminders in your parent communications using the ‘month suggestions’ in the toolkit
• printing the ready-to-go postcards for sharing at school events and to include in pupil’s bags
• following Solihull Approach on social media (X - formerly Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn) to keep up-to-date and share latest resources.

As an Multi-User-Licence area we have customised materials to promote www.inourpalce.co.uk locally – please do let Rachel Edwards know (Rachel.A.Edwards@birmingham.gov.uk) if you would like to receive postcard designs with area information.

For any other questions about www.inourplace.co.uk or the Solihull Approach, please contact them directly via Solihullapproach.mul@uhb.nhs.uk

Proposed Resource Base Consultation for Marlborough Primary School, Small Heath, Birmingham B10 9NY

In June 2023 Marlborough Primary School submitted an expression of interest to Birmingham City Council following the call for more Resource Base places in the city. The proposal is to offer an additional 12-16 places and they are seeking stakeholder views through consultation. More information regarding the Birmingham SEND Local Offer can be found at Local Offer Birmingham.

Full details on the proposal can be found at Consultation - Marlborough Primary School and the survey can be completed here: https://forms.office.com/e/KaGgV1iaQY. Please note the closing date for responses is Monday, 11 December 2023.

A consultation meeting to find out more is taking place at 09:30 on Friday, 1 December 2023. If you’d like to attend simply email enquiry@mps.bham.sch.uk to book your place or email enquiry@mps.bham.sch.uk to speak a member of the senior leadership team directly.

HR Services for Schools Training Events

Thursday, 7 December 2023 – 10:00-11:00  Microsoft Teams

This is a highly interactive session which will encourage you to deepen your thinking and understanding of what diversity and inclusion means in 2023 and how your own lived experiences shape how you think and act.

Book your place by simply following this link 

Tuesday, 12 December 2023 – 10:00-11:00  Microsoft Teams

This session will help you to understand the requirements of the Equality Act in regard to disability and promoting disability inclusion and equity within a school/education environment.

Book your place by simply following this link 

Subsidised THRIVE Training

James Brindley Academy is offering subsidised Thrive Approach Training in Spring Term 2024 for Secondary School colleagues in the Birmingham area. The Thrive Adolescence Licensed Practitioner course aims to enhance children's mental health using a trauma-informed approach.

The training provides resources and Thrive-Online, an online tool supporting educators to understand pupils' needs better. Emphasising on secure relationships, it improves behaviour, attendance, and learning outcomes.

Implementing a trauma-informed approach to mental health, Thrive-Online aids profiling, action-planning, and progress monitoring with behaviour surveys, personalised action plans, and 1,000+ classroom strategies. It fosters safer learning environments, resulting in calmer classrooms and engaged learners.

The course, delivered by a Licenced Thrive Trainer at James Brindley Academy, includes 12 half-day sessions across 6 days and 2 e-mentoring sessions, costing £897 per delegate. Thrive Online Subscription and CPD costs are additional fees and vary according to size of school. Schools will need to agree these costs directly with Thrive prior to commencement of the course.

Start date: Friday, 19 January 2024.

Places are limited, so we advise that you book as soon as possible in advance of the 8 December 2023 deadline. To obtain details on course structure, costs, and booking process please email training@jamesbrindley.org.uk

NPQ Applications Now Open – Start Studying in Spring 2024 

The Spring 2024 application window for National Professional Qualifications is now open.

The initial deadline to apply is 10 December 2023 with a final deadline 28 January 2024, so don’t miss out and apply today!

This is the last cohort with confirmed scholarship funding available, so please make sure you get staff registered whilst fees are covered! 

Working in partnership with Best Practice Network, Services for Education are proud to be a delivery partner for a range of professional development programmes to support teachers and school leaders at all levels – from new teachers following the Early Careers Framework through to senior leaders engaging with National Professional Qualifications.

Services for Education provide the following NPQs:

• Senior Leadership (NPQSL)
• Leading Behaviour & Culture (NPQLBC)
• Leading Teacher Development (NPQLTD)
• Leading Teaching (NPQLT)

The National Professional Qualifications are DfE fully funded and are designed to support aspiring and current leaders in schools to grow and develop the skills needed to have real impact on the lives of young people and fellow colleagues.

Find out more by simply following this link

FREE Online Workshop – Teaching Positive Body Image and Positive Behaviours

Tuesday, 5 December 2023 – 15:45-17:00

The Young People's Education Community (YPEC) is providing a FREE workshop for all secondary schools and colleges in Birmingham and Solihull. The workshops are funded through the Fairer Futures Funding Bid and will cover:

• Teaching about positive body image and behaviours (Rebecca Jennings, RAISE)
• Raising awareness of Free Best Start in Life Health Hack education workshop (YPEC) Part of the wider Public Health strategy to reduce the high rates of infant mortality in the city.
• NHS Projects in Schools, (Amy Maclean, Development Lead, Ladywood and Berry Parr Locality Partnership)

To book your place simply follow this link and a Teams invite will be emailed separately.

For any queries or further information please contact Jo Hatfield at jo@ypec.co.uk

FREE Workshops – Best Start in Life Health Hacks

As part of the wider Public Health strategy to reduce Infant Mortality rates, YPEC are offering FREE workshops aimed to increase awareness and education around health attitudes and behaviours, and the impact they can have on health, particularly reproductive health.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand what infant mortality is
• To examine what factors attribute to infant mortality
• To increase knowledge of healthy behaviours and attitudes
• Explore the importance of pre-conception/birth health and wellbeing
• Explore the importance of post-natal health and wellbeing
• How to promote key health messages to others – in school, communities, etc
• Increase knowledge of all the different professionals and organisations are involved within health and reproduction
• Signposting to support and services

Workshop options:

• Half-day workshops with pupils in Year 11, 12 or 13
• One hour awareness workshops with pupils from any year

To find out more about these FREE workshops, please contact Jo Hatfield at jo@ypec.co.uk

HEART Midlands Early Years Stronger Practice Hub’s Spring Conference

Friday, 8 March or Saturday, 9 March 2024: 09:30-15:30 - Edgbaston Stadium B5 7QU

Both days will be open to all EY practitioners from settings, schools and childminders from Birmingham and the West Midlands LA areas. Saturday will be focused for childminders.

Guest speakers and workshops include:

• Ofsted Early Years
• Art of Brilliance
• Attention Autism
• Nasen - The Golden Key
• The Wellbeing Crew
• And more, tbc!

To book your place simply follow this link

Birmingham’s Public Art

Birmingham’s Public Art is a brand new book exploring the city’s public art. It is the work of Birmingham photographer and writer Jonathan Berg.  His book Positively Birmingham has been widely used by schools since the 1990s, with 10 copies of the 5th edition being provided to every school in 2015.

Birmingham’s Public Art includes 330 colour photos and a substantial text and is priced at £20. The high impact photos start with the close up of Ozzy the Bull on the cover, and continues throughout. The book is ideal for classroom use both offering highly impact photos of today’s public art and also a serious study of Birmingham’s public art for older students.

Alongside the book there is a new walking tour of the city, also called Birmingham’s Public Art, which is guided by the author. It runs on selected Friday mornings and can also be booked by school groups.  An associated website: www.birminghamspublic.art includes educational resources and contact details.

Birmingham’s Public Art can be purchased from internet bookshops including Amazon and also direct from the publishers