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November 2022 – Safeguarding & Virtual School Update
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Vibe and Youth Parliament
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Governors Halton Conference
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SEND Services to Schools Briefing
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Phonics request for information and English Hub Offer for Schools
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Tiny Reindeer School Trip to the Storybarn
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World Antibiotic Awareness Week
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Reading Training
November 2022 – Safeguarding & Virtual School Update
Dear Headteachers, DSLs & DT’s,
I hope you are well and November has got off to a good start?
A few updates to share this month, including details on the changes to Prevent and the upcoming training dates.
But first, a quick favour. With so many changes to the email addresses and teams within schools, I need to ensure that I have the correct contact details for every school, which can then also be shared with social care, teams within the LA, police (for operation encompass etc.), health and the safeguarding partnership. Please could I therefore ask that every school spends a couple of minutes completing this very short form? https://forms.office.com/r/bijBrNc0Ud
I will then use this to start my mailing list again for all future updates and alerts. I know some of you have emailed me separately with your new details, but if you wouldn’t mind still filling this in, it means everything will be in one place and avoid anyone being missed. Thank you ever so much in advance for your help with this. I will share this with colleagues to ensure you are not asked to share these multiple times. In future, if your email addresses change (or roles changes in school), this link will stay live.
PEPs
A HUGE thank you for everyone who has been involved in the completion of Autumn term PEPS for all Looked After Children. The deadline has now passed and all Pupil Premium + requests will be reviewed and authorised later this week.
Designated Teacher Network Meetings
These will be taking place via Teams later this month.
EY and Primary – Wednesday 16 November @ 3:45
Secondary and Post 16 – Wednesday 23 November @ 3:30
The agenda and link will follow to all DTs very soon.
SWGfL’s FREE Online Safety Training
We are really looking forward to our next Online Safety Day with Meta, and would like to invite you to this exclusive event!
This year’s event is looking ahead, and we’ll be giving you great insight into the future of online safety. Hear from our speakers as they explore future trends, tackling online and offline harms as well as tools and services to support. You will also hear from our helplines and Meta about what the Metaverse is as well as a new reporting platform, Minerva, that will be launching in 2023.
For 2022 we’re giving you the opportunity to attend online or in person for free! Limited tickets are now available to attend the in person event, which will be hosted at the Meta offices in Euston. If you would like to join us online, you can also book your free space here.
If you’re a professional who works with children and young people, please do join us for Online Safety Day on the 16th November between 1pm – 3pm. Discover much more by visiting our website or by visiting the links below.
Whole Staff Training Materials
A reminder that all whole staff training materials (including L2 Safeguarding, Whole staff safeguarding refresher, Low Level Concerns, SVSH and Private Fostering) can all be found here.
Prejudicial / discriminatory incident reporting link
Here is the link to be able to report any prejudicial incidents (such as racist or homophobic behaviours) to the LA: https://forms.office.com/r/zHwRT618nd
As a reminder, in December I will be sending out a data request to collate information relating to the number of incidents of SVSH, as well as the number of stage 1 and 2 escalations that each school has raised over the autumn term.
Prevent Duty – Updated Guidance for Schools
The DfE have updated their guidance for schools regarding the Prevent Duty.
The new documentation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-prevent-duty-safeguarding-learners-vulnerable-to-radicalisation
The School self-assessment tool can be downloaded here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-self-assessment-tool-for-schools
Related to extremism and our work last year on INCELs, this recent article was brought to my attention, which you might find beneficial.
Alerts of FTE & Perm
As part of the expansion of the role of the virtual Headteacher to cover every child with a social worker, the virtual school needs to begin to monitor the number of CYP who receive a fixed term suspension, permanent exclusion (or are at risk of this), as well if information relating to their attendance and attainment.
This is different to our role of CLA young people; it is more strategic and involves looking for spikes, patterns and trends in order to identify areas of support, training and assistance for schools, social care and other agencies in order to improve the outcomes and opportunities for this group of children. I will be in touch soon with further details, but for now begin to consider how this group is tracked internally within school, when it comes to their attendance, behaviour, progress and academic outcomes…etc. We will look at this in more detail later this month at the DSL workshop.
Mind of my own – pupil voice
If you are looking at other ways of gathering pupil voice – this could be a good place to start: https://mindofmyown.org.uk/
Safeguarding Children in Education Officer
Good news! We have successfully appointed to this position – I look forward to introducing you to our new SCiE Officer very soon!!
Contacting the Police
The referral units across Cheshire Police will shortly move towards one force wide e-mail inbox rather than one inbox for each area (Cheshire East, Cheshire West, Halton and Warrington).
In due course you will receive an e-mail advising of the new e-mail address and the date it will go “live”. At this point the Referral Units will be rebranded as the “Vulnerability Hub”.
Please can I ask that when e-mails are sent the following detail is provided within the e-mail subject field:-
Area – “Halton”
Subject matter– i.e. – Police request for information/ Strategy request/ MARAC referral
Grading– Please note urgency (Low, Medium or High / Urgent)
i.e. – HALTON – Strategy Discussion Request – URGENT
This will help ensure the correct staff pick up and deal with the demand. The failure to follow the new process may result in a delay to your e-mail being dealt with.
Can I please ask that you start doing this with immediate effect to our current inbox (halton.ppu@cheshire.police.uk) so we can ensure that things are running smoothly when we do migrate to the new inbox which is likely to be in a few weeks’ time.
Children switching schools
Where a school is approached by a parent/carer regarding a general in year transfer between schools, the Local Authority would, as a minimum and to help ensure Safeguarding, request that the following actions are undertaken:
- The potentially receiving Headteacher MUST have a conversation with the current Headteacher (this cannot be delegated);
- It must be confirmed if there are any safeguarding concerns or if the child is CLA;
- If the child is CLA, the transfer MUST be agreed by the Virtual School. (If the receiving school is RI or inadequate, there has to be exceptional circumstances for this to even be considered);
- The transfer should be in the best interests of the young person. If the current Headteacher feels that it is an issue which can be resolved, then this should be explored first;
- The transfer, if agreed by both Headteacher’s, should be completed, wherever possible, at a mutually agreed date.
Inform the Virtual School!
Please remember to inform the virtual school about all significant changes or requests for LAC. This includes holiday requests, possible moves and changes in circumstances.
If a Looked-After Child is at risk of exclusion – get in touch – we can help!
If a child becomes ‘Looked After’, an initial PEP must be completed within 10 days – this is a statutory timescale which we need to stick to, and will mean we need to act quickly!
Partnership Training – Book via the Portal or email safeguarding.training@halton.gov.uk
All DSL’s and Deputy DSL’s must refresh their ‘Working Together’ Level 3 training once every 2 years (with regular updates during this time, such as the DSL workshops).
‘Working Together’ training is delivered by the safeguarding partnership & spaces can be reserved via the new Safeguarding Partnership Training Portal.
All partnership training is expected to be delivered via Teams and will presented by the most relevant agency.
- Working Together Full Course (For new DSLs) (9:30 -16:30) 16 November 202217 January 202323 March 2023
- Working Together Refresher (To be repeated every 2 years) (9:30 – 15:00)
14 December 2022
23 February 2023
- LADO Training (9:30 – 12:00) 1 December 20223 March 2023
- Sexual Violence Awareness (9:30 – 12:00) 13 December 20221 March 2023
- ICON Lunchtime Briefing (12:15 – 13:00)
19 January 2023
- Domestic Abuse (9:30 – 12:30)
6 February 2023
- Mental Disorder and Parental Capacity (9:30 – 13:00)
6 December 2022
- Bruising in non-mobile children (12:00 – 13:00)
9 November 2022
- FII (12pm-1pm) More dates to be added in the New Year.
As all the courses above are delivered as a multi-agency offer, the spaces can be booked via the partnerships training portal: https://halton.accessplanit.com/accessplan/LMSPortal/UI/Page/Authentication/Login/Default.aspx
Or, if you can’t access the portal, please email safeguarding.training@halton.gov.uk
Safeguarding in Education Training
All the courses below are offered exclusively for education settings. Spaces on any of the courses below can be reserved by completing the short booking form next to each course.
Unless stated otherwise, all advertised courses will be delivered via Teams.
- DSL Workshop for ALL DSL’s. These are the main DSL updates and workshops. It is best practice for all DSLs & DDSLs to try and attend these meetings each term. (The agenda will be sent out prior to the meeting)
Autumn Term – 17 November @ 1pm via Teams – Book here https://forms.office.com/r/7QAVYZ1E9B
- Single Central Record (For Headteachers, Business Managers and anyone responsible for the SCR and personnel files)This new briefing will go through each column expected on the single central record, pre-employment checks and the management of personnel files. There will also be an extended Q&A with an opportunity to ask questions.
***DATE CHANGE***2 December 2022 @ 9:30 – 11:30 via Teams
(Due to a clash with the Joint Headteachers meeting, this course has moved to 2 December. Places can be booked here: https://forms.office.com/r/32dnpY9RV7
Kind regards,
Ben
Vibe and Youth Parliament
Following on from the ‘All Headteachers’ meeting last week, please find the presentation from Vibe here.”
Governors Halton Conference
Halton Borough Council and Entrust Governor Services are delighted to present the annual conference for school governors in the Borough of Halton. The conference takes place on Friday 18th November at Halton Stadium.
see attached for more information
To book a place at our conference please email: governors@entrust-ed.co.uk
SEND Services to Schools Briefing
Tuesday 29th November 2022
@DCBL Stadium The Bridge Suite 9am-12pm
This meeting is aimed at giving both Headteachers and SENDCo’s and overview of various SEND teams that are available to schools to support SEND pupils. This has been requested by a number of schools during recent SEND Outcome meetings.
Each service will give an overview of what they do, support available and how referrals will be made. This is an opportunity to meet new members of the Halton team and network within this area.
Please register below.
For further information contact: mike.stapleton-chambers@halton.gov.uk
Phonics request for information and English Hub Offer for Schools
Please see attached English hub information.
Please see attached Phonics schemes.
Please see attached Phonics schemes letter November 2022.
Tiny Reindeer School Trip to the Storybarn
Full Day School Visits, including Tiny Reindeer Outdoor Trail.
See attached for more information
World Antibiotic Awareness Week
World Antibiotic Awareness Week November 2022 & e-Bug teaching resources see attached for more information.
Reading Training
Liverpool Learning Partnership will be running online training sessions based around Reading for Pleasure and Diversity in Children’s Lit
See attached for more information.