Included in this week's noticeboard: 

• Message from Dr Sue Harrison, Strategic Director for Children and Families
• Oracle Finance, Payroll and HR
• Educational Psychology Traded Services – temporary pause to service delivery
• Early Education Entitlement
• SEND advisory team allocations
• Clean Air Zone School Minibus exemption
• Young Women into Leadership (You WIL) Summit 2024 (Online)
• Religious Education in Birmingham Survey
• Young People Drug and Alcohol Survey
• Occupational Health & Safety - Training Courses For Schools and Nursery Staff – July 2024

Message from Dr Sue Harrison, Strategic Director for Children and Families

Dear colleagues

We’ve now held all three initial sessions with schools on the Oracle Finance, Payroll and HR system and recordings and slides can be found at this link: Recordings and presentations from school webinars. Thank you for attending and please continue to view the Update and Q&A document for the latest information and direct any queries you may have to the team at oracleschoolsrelationship@birmingham.gov.uk.

Last Friday I attended the launch of the Post-16 Birmingham City Observatory Dashboard, which has been designed to provide valuable information on young people in the city and demonstrate how the landscape is changing and how all partners can work together to support our young people. The Birmingham City Observatory contains some valuable information and you can simply browse data by theme. I recommend the SEND data workbook, which has some really powerful analytics which go down to ward level. I was able to share our plans to co-produce a post 16 delivery plan with our providers, as we recognise the need for a roadmap to ensure we are meeting the needs of all our young people post 16. The data suggests we have a real need for more level 2 qualifications and this is one area we are seeking to improve in partnership with our providers. The event was well attended by our partner providers and I was pleased to thank our Deputy Leader for an inspiring introduction as well as Pat Carvello, Chair of our Post 16 Executive who is a real driving force behind this work.

On Saturday I spent an enjoyable morning at the School and Governor Support Summer briefing at Edgbaston Stadium. It was a really great session and well attended by our School Governors and Trustees. Edwina, our attendance lead, gave brilliant advice around the new statutory attendance duties for schools coming in from September which was much appreciated.  I was privileged to be able to share my heartfelt thanks for all our governor volunteer colleagues – the biggest volunteer group in the country –  for the sterling work they do to support our children and staff through strong governance. Behind every great school there is a great governing body.

Our Birmingham Children’s Partnership board met this week, it was a pleasure to see our head teacher fora chairs now members of this critical group of strategic leaders.  We are making great progress working through how we will support our children and schools in their communities by working differently together in place-based teams around schools and educational settings.  We are at the earliest stages of this exciting work which should be operational in 2027, with some pilot work taking place to test our learning well before this.

As we’re fast approaching exam results days in August, the Birmingham Careers Service has once again produced its Annual Exam Results Newsletter, aimed at young people (and their parents/carers and professionals working with young people) who will be leaving school/college this summer. Its packed full of helpful information and top-tips to help any young person plan for the next stage of their career journey, and is a great, easy to absorb read.

We’ve certainly enjoyed some lovely sunny weather this week, and let’s hope there’s more to come. A spot of good weather most definitely lifts the spirits. I remain hugely grateful for all you continue to do every day – thank you, and my best wishes for a fabulous weekend.

Sue

Oracle Finance, Payroll and HR 

Thank you to schools for attending the recent in-person and webinar sessions on the Oracle Finance, Payroll and HR system.

A recording of each session is now available at this link: Oracle Finance, Payroll and HR - Recordings and slides.

The Update and Q&A document will continue to be refreshed fortnightly, providing answers to any questions received and details of the informal drop-in sessions hosted by Chris Etheridge and council officers.

If you have any queries, please continue to contact the team at oracleschoolsrelationship@birmingham.gov.uk

Thank you for your continued support.

Educational Psychology Traded Services – temporary pause to service delivery

Thank you for your ongoing support of our Educational Psychology Service.

We're writing to let you know that due to exceptional circumstances, all teams will be pausing traded work for the remainder of the academic year. Due to unprecedented demand, and the national shortage of available educational psychologists, we need to ensure that outstanding statutory assessments are completed as soon as possible. The input of Educational Psychologists into these assessments is vital and this short pause in traded work will enable the team to focus on this over the coming weeks.

The teams will continue to provide support for schools in the event of critical incidents or exceptional circumstances and will return to their usual traded work from September.

Thank you in your advance for your understanding of this temporary change in the service’s focus to complete assessments. If you have any queries about your school’s support over the coming weeks, please contact Dr Pauline Bromfield at Pauline.Bromfield@birmingham.gov.uk  

Early Education Entitlement

2 Year Funded Place

2 year old children from families who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF) may be eligible to access an Early Education Entitlement (EEE) place. As these are some of our most vulnerable children, we need your help to ensure these children can access their funded childcare place as soon as possible - the earliest they can start is the term after their 2nd birthday.

Parents who have a status of ‘no recourse to public funds’ cannot claim any benefits, so will not be eligible for 2 year funding via the universal credit route or other benefit route. These parents may be receiving support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, they may be asylum seekers, they may be here on work or student visas, or may have no immigration status.

If a family, or a professional supporting a family, approaches you for a childcare place these are the things you should do. Firstly, if the parent hasn’t already tried to get a code, please help them to complete the on-line application. The eligibility application will say that the parent is not eligible because the parent will not show up in the benefits system, so then you will need to do the following:

• There are NRPF guides on EYMIS - please read them
• Ask the parent or professional to show you evidence that they have ‘no recourse to public funds’ – this could be a Biometric Residence Permit (card) or a letter from a Social Worker supporting the family.
• You will need to make sure that the family does not exceed the financial threshold - £26,500 for families with one child or £30,600 for families with two or more children and they must not have savings or investments that exceed £16,000.
• There is an application form that needs completing (on EYMIS) and you should complete this with the parent – please don’t send them away with the form as some parents may not understand what to do. You keep this form on file for when we audit you.
• Once you have confirmed that they have NRPF and have not exceeded the financial threshold you can email us with their code and confirm they meet NRPF criteria and we will update the code to eligible.
• You can either then add the child to your headcount claim or if they have never accessed a funded place before and headcount has passed you can submit a flexible funding request arranging for them to start asap.
• You will need to complete a parent declaration form as you do for all funded children

If in doubt, please contact us and we can advise you - earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk

30 Hours Places for Foster Children

Foster parents can apply for 30 hours extended entitlement for their 3 and 4 year old foster children, if they are in paid employment outside of their foster care role.

These applications cannot be made via the usual route of the Childcare Choices website and have to come directly to the local authority. The foster carer or social worker should email earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk for an application form. The Social Worker and Birmingham Virtual School Advisor have to be in agreement that the application is in the best interests of the child.

The same deadlines apply - they must have a code by 31st March 2024 in order to access 30 hours from April 2024 for Spring term. If you are aware of any looked after children that might be eligible for 30 hours extended entitlement, please signpost them to earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk

As with all 30 hours codes you will still need to validate the code on ECS before agreeing the 30 hours start date. You must do this by entering the code on ECS and then check the validity start date of it to make sure it is eligible for the current term: https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/oefe/birmingham/la/schools

Further information about 30 hours and validating codes can be found on EYMIS: www.ted-birmingham.org.uk

Username: PVI2 (please note this is a capital I not the number one)
Password: PVI2year (please note this is a capital I not the number one)

If you have any queries regarding 30 hours extended entitlement, please email earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk

2 Year old Working Entitlement

The new offers for Early Education Entitlements are being phased in during 2024 / 2025. The first phase starts from April 2024 where eligible working parents of 2 year olds will be able to access 15 hours of working entitlement and here is what you need to know.

The introduction of the working offer does not mean that 2 year funding is for every 2 year old as it is NOT a universal offer – there will still be families who do not qualify for either of the 2 year old offers, for example, where only one parent works in a family or where parents do not meet, or they exceed the income thresholds.

From April 2024 2 year olds will be eligible if the family are in receipt of government support – the criteria that applies can be found here: Help paying for childcare: Free education and childcare for 2-year-olds OR they meet the criteria for working parents www.childcarechoices.gov.uk  

Working Entitlement Overview

• The working eligibility criteria and application process will be the same as the current 30 hours for working parents of 3&4 year olds
• Parents can apply now - applications will need to be made directly to HMRC. You can signpost parents to www.childcarechoices.gov.uk where the most up to date information will be made available to support parents.
• Parents will need to apply for and receive their eligibility code on or before 31st August 2024 to be able to access the 15 working hours entitlement from 1st September 2024. Encourage parents to apply early in case they need to provide any additional information to HMRC to support their application!
• An eligible 2 year old can access their place from the term after they turn 2 years old as long as they have their code in time.
• Providers will be required to check the codes are eligible for the term being applied for, using ECS
• Please do not allow children to access their entitlement until you have confirmed that they are eligible to do so.
• Providers will be required to submit the codes on their census claims.
• There may be a very small number of families eligible for 2 year funding under the current disadvantaged eligibility criteria who may also be eligible for the 15 hours working entitlement. These parents can only claim 15 hours in total and cannot claim both elements. These parents should be encouraged to remain on the current disadvantaged entitlement until they can apply for 30 hours working entitlement.
• Parents who have recently reconfirmed their Tax Free Childcare accounts and now wish to apply for the 2 year old working entitlement, may have to wait until their next reconfirmation date to enable them to do this. DFE have recognised that this may cause concern for some parents whose reconfirmation dates are late February / March. If a parents reconfirmation date is on or after 15th February 2024 then they will receive a letter from HMRC with a temporary code to enable them to access a working entitlement place. Parents do not need to contact HMRC – they will automatically receive the letter.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact the EEE team: earlyeducation@birmingham.gov.uk

SEND Advisory Team Allocations

Following on from the previous update around increasing the core offer from the Communication and Autism team (CAT) and Pupil & School Support (PSS), both the teams have been working on allocations based on a more sustainable model using the SEND Notional Budget share for each school.

For CAT, who have historically distributed core hours based on the number of CYP registered with a diagnosis of autism, this more equitable model will provide the majority of settings with an increased number of hours. For the small number of schools who will receive a decrease in their allocated hours, an interim offer will be made for the academic year 2024-2025 to mitigate potential impact.

For PSS, who have previously distributed core hours based on the number of C/YP on the school census return at SEN Support (K code), all settings will see an increase in the number of hours allocated.

Evidence informed research from the Education Endowment Foundation, alongside feedback from our schools and settings, demonstrates the value and longer-term impact of strategic work to support settings. Therefore, the teams will be including 12 hours of protected time specifically for strategic/capacity building work across the academic year.  There will still be some capacity for schools to buy additional hours, but this will be limited to specific pieces of work and considered on a case by case basis.

Because of the increase in hours there will be some changes to the PSS and CAT worker supporting some schools, but these changes are only made as a last resort and when unavoidable. To support schools in any changes we will phasing these for PSS from September 24 and or CAT January 25.

Further detail will be shared at HT forums over the next few weeks and with SENCos via the SENCo noticeboard.

Clean Air Zone School Minibus exemption

FAO: Headteacher/ School administration team.

Community and school transport vehicles are exempt from the Clean Air Zone charge. However, the exemption is not automatic and must be applied for. 

If you have a School Minibus that is non-compliant then you are eligible to apply for the exemption which lasts for one year. 

The evidence required to support the application is the V5C Document showing the registered keeper details and vehicle registration alongside section 19 or 22 permit documentation.

Please disregard this message if you currently hold an exemption for permit year 24/25.

Applications can be submitted using the following link: Community and school transport | Apply for an exemption | Brum Breathes

Young Women into Leadership (You WIL) Summit 2024 (Online) - Dates: 22 – 29 July 2024

Participants: This online summit is aimed at 14-16 year old girls in Birmingham schools who must be within this age range during the summit. Dates: 22 – 29 July 2024

Deadline: 5th July 2024

Programme format:

Students will hear from inspirational women in Politics and Public Service, Business, Sport, STEM and Culture and Media. They will have the opportunity to ask questions and find out how they can launch a career in these fields. Students will also work in multi-cultural groups with girls of the same age from schools around the globe and will create a presentation that they will present to the US Embassy London on the final day.

A certificate will be presented once they complete the summit.

This year we have attracted some fantastic speakers including Prof Helen Pankhurst (Care International and granddaughter of Silvia Pankhurst), Captain Preet Chandi (British Army Officer who was the first woman of colour to complete a solo expedition to the South Pole), and Caroline Miller, CEO of Birmingham Royal Ballet to name but a few. 

For more information on the summit and application process, please email Tasniya.Syed@birmingham.gov.uk or call 0121 303 0981

Religious Education in Birmingham Survey

FAO: School Headteachers

Can we please ask schools to take a few minutes to complete a short survey regarding Religious Education. The information you provide will help us to refine our RE support for schools. To complete the survey simply follow this link, and please note the deadline for responses – Friday, 28 June 2024.

In case of queries please contact the team at religiouseducation@birmingham.gov.uk

 Young People Drug and Alcohol Survey

FAO: Headteacher

Participation People are conducting some research with young people (aged 12-24) on their thoughts and experiences of the Drugs and Alcohol service in Birmingham. Their findings will be used to help shape the future of drug and alcohol services and make a difference in their community.

Please could you cascade this short survey as appropriate to ensure it gets as much engagement as possible. It should only take around 5 minutes, and there is also a chance to win a £50 voucher!

Here is the link - https://bit.ly/ServicesReviewSurvey.

Occupational Health & Safety - Training Courses For Schools and Nursery Staff – July 2024

Educational Visits Co-ordinator Revalidation Training OEAP Accredited
Date: 2nd July 2024 – Start Time:  12:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Cost: £127.60 per delegate
Delivered via Microsoft Teams
Schools must book on BESS Website
General Enquiries please Email:   schoolsafety@birmingham.gov.uk

Educational Visits Co-ordinator Training OEAP Accredited
Date: 5th July 2024 – Start Time:  9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Cost: £191.40 per delegate
Delivered at Washwood Heath Academy Primary School, Burney Lane, Stechford Lane Stetchford, B8 2AS
Schools must book on BESS Website
General Enquiries please Email:   schoolsafety@birmingham.gov.uk
Note: Only refreshments are provided  (No Lunch)

Level 3 Award in First Aid at Work Refresher –15th & 16th July 2024
Start Time:  9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Cost: £164.00 per delegate
Venue:  Stirchley Baths, Bournville Lane, Stirchley, Birmingham B30 2JT
Schools must book on BESS Website
General Enquiries please Email:   schoolsafety@birmingham.gov.uk
Note: Lunch or refreshments will NOT be provided 

Fire Marshall Training – 19th July 2024
Start Time:  1:00 p.m. to  3:00 p.m.
Cost: £21.50  per delegate
Online Training Course Book here

Paediatric First Aid at Work –22nd & 23rd July 2024
Date:  22nd and 23rd July 2024 – Start Time:  9:00 a.m. to 16:00 p.m.
Cost: £164.00 per delegate Book here
Venue: Stirchley Baths, Bournville Lane, Stirchley, Birmingham B30 2JT
General Enquiries please Email:   schoolsafety@birmingham.gov.uk
Note: Lunch or refreshments will NOT be provided 

MIDAS Full Course
Cost: £265.00 per delegate
Learner Passes now available for purchasing – Book Theory on BESS (Online Training)
Schools must book on BESS Website
General Enquiries please Email:   schoolsafety@birmingham.gov.uk

MIDAS Refresher Course
Cost: £171.00 per delegate
Learner Passes now available for purchasing – Book Theory on BESS (Online Training)
Schools must book on BESS Website
General Enquiries please Email:   schoolsafety@birmingham.gov.uk