This week's noticeboard includes: 

• Message from Dr Sue Harrison, Strategic Director for Children and Families
• Oracle Transition for Schools Update
• Headteacher Representatives needed -  Education System Leaders Strategic Advisory Group
• Share your views on the New Mental Health Plan for Children and Young People
• Section 19 Duties: Supporting Children and Young People Unable to Attend Their Educational Setting
• SEND Funding Update for Mainstream Schools
• SENCo Noticeboard
• Education Infrastructure – End of Term Bulletin, December 2024
• UK Sustainable School Leadership Survey
• Pupil Voice Project (PVP) –  making Birmingham a great place to grow up

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

Dear colleagues

As we approach the final week before the Christmas holidays, I want to take a moment to thank you for your incredible dedication and hard work throughout the year. This is our last School Noticeboard of 2024, and I hope it finds you in good spirits as you prepare for a well-deserved break.

The latest updates on the Oracle Transition programme are available here: Oracle transition for schools, updates, questions and answers, including dates and Microsoft Teams links for forthcoming drop-in sessions, which will continue into the new year. I know Chris Etheridge has also been spending time visiting schools this week to ensure you are making the most of the support available to you, and that you have all the information you need to keep moving forward.  A reminder that tomorrow, Friday 13 December is the final day to respond to the DfE follow-up survey, emailed directly from the DfE Buying for Schools team, following their recent webinars for those schools who had completed their expressions of interest. For any support in the meantime, please continue to reach out to the team and they’ll be pleased to assist: oracleschoolsrelationship@birmingham.gov.uk

Today Ofsted published its report following the inspection of Birmingham Children’s Trust’s fostering agency that took place in October and November. The report is a great read, confirming that Foster Birmingham is Good in all areas. Inspectors were able to see how children in foster care are benefitting from living in ‘stable’ and ‘safe’ homes where they feel part of a family, with their diversity, difference and identity celebrated. They also found that foster carers feel positive about the support they receive from Foster Birmingham, led by a skilled, experienced and long-standing leadership and management team.

You can read Ofsted’s report here Ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50264346 and more information is on the Children's Trust website. If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a foster carer then please contact the team on 0121 303 7575 or visit www.fosterbirmingham.co.uk.

The date to share your views on the new plan for mental health care for children and young people has been extended to Friday 20 December, so there’s still time to complete the simple survey at this link: https://forms.office.com/e/EL2J0J9xMk. Please share as widely as possible. It’s so important we improve the mental health care for our children and young people and have a say in the proposed plans!

Your engagement and feedback in shaping our new Section 19 Policy, ‘‘Supporting Children and Young People Who Are Unable to Attend Their Educational Setting,’ has been crucial and appreciated, thank you! This policy is now available on the council’s website, together with information on the referral route process for schools that wish the local authority to consider alternative provision for the child or young person. The article below gives full details and provides the relevant links to access the documentation.

It was a pleasure to meet so many of our Headteachers who are new to their role in Birmingham, at yesterday’s breakfast meeting organised by our Birmingham Education Partnership colleagues. The discussions were insightful and promising, highlighting the importance of our continued collaboration. Open and honest conversations are crucial as we work together to achieve our shared goals. I look forward to visiting more schools next year and further strengthening our partnerships to support the success of our children and young people.

The festive season is a time for reflection, celebration, and spending quality time with loved ones. Let's cherish these moments and recharge for the exciting year ahead. Wishing you all a joyful and peaceful holiday!

Sue

Oracle Transition for Schools Update

The latest updates can be found here: Oracle transition for schools, updates, questions and answers.

Archived Q&A can be found here: Archived Oracle Transition Q&A.

For any queries or further information please contact the team at oracleschoolsrelationship@birmingham.gov.uk

Thank you for your ongoing support. 

Headteacher Representatives needed -  Education System Leaders Strategic Advisory Group

Birmingham Children and Young People's Partnership has laid out an ambitious plan aimed at making the city a great place to grow up. Central to this vision is a strategy advocating a whole system approach to fostering inclusive cultures within all schools, settings, and services across Birmingham.

The Partnership will engage with Headteachers and educational leaders from primary, secondary, special, alternative provision (AP), and post-16 settings. This group will convene every half term to offer guidance, support, and scrutiny for the execution of the SEND Strategy 2023-2028 and the Inclusion Strategy 2023-2028.

Key focus areas include improving attendance, reducing exclusions, and adopting a whole school approach to inclusion and SEND. To drive this strategy forward across the city, we are seeking one Headteacher representative from each of the following sectors:

• Post-16
• Primary
• Secondary
• Special
• Alternative Provision

The first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, 14 January 2024 at 10:00-11:30 (in person) venue to be confirmed shortly.

To register your interest or for any queries, please contact Ann Scott, Partnership Inclusion Manager at Ann.Scott@birmingham.gov.uk.

Share your views on the New Mental Health Plan for Children and Young People

Health and care services in Birmingham and Solihull have been working together to improve mental health care for children and young people in our area and are calling for comments on their proposed plans.

The deadline for providing comments on the plans has now been extended to Friday, 20 December.

• The documents remain accessible at: Share your views on our new plan for mental health care for children and young people: NHS Birmingham and Solihull
• The feedback survey remains open here: https://forms.office.com/e/EL2J0J9xMk

For any queries please contact the team at bsmhft.jointcommissioningteam@nhs.net

Section 19 Duties: Supporting Children and Young People Unable to Attend Their Educational Setting

In the summer term, we shared a draft of our new Section 19 policy, ‘Supporting Children and Young People Who Are Unable to Attend Their Educational Setting,’ for comment and feedback. Based on this feedback and best practices from other local authorities, the policy has been finalised and is now published on the council’s website: Section 19 policy | Birmingham City Council

This policy outlines the actions and responsibilities related to the educational provision for children who are permanently excluded or have medical absences of 15 days or more. The website includes a referral route process for schools that wish the Local Authority to consider alternative provision for the child or young person: School referral | Section 19 referrals | Birmingham City Council.

Referrals will be triaged through a multi-professional Education Access for Medical Needs panel. Please note that referrals from Birmingham Children’s Hospital to James Brindley will continue as per the current process.

We appreciate your engagement and feedback in shaping this important policy.

SEND Funding Update for Mainstream Schools  

We are currently working hard to increase numbers of resource base and special school places via our SEND Sufficiency Strategy 2024-2030. This strategy is designed to reduce the number of CYP in mainstream schools that are awaiting more specialist placements and require additional funding as a result. We are also considering long-term funding arrangements for all schools via our ongoing DBV programme workstreams which will review overall resource allocation mechanisms and funding levels. In the meantime, we would like to increase funding to mainstream schools on an interim basis pending the outcome of that work.

This update is to notify you of two specific changes to funding for SEND pupils in mainstream schools. These are:

1. An across the board increase of 3.4% on all support units (currently awarded to pupils with SSPPs and EHCPs) backdated to April 2024. The new funding rates are as follows and will be consolidated in the rates payable from 2025 onwards:

	23/24	24/25
Support Unit 1	525	543
Support Unit 2	1,260	1,303
Support Unit 3	3,150	3,258
Support Unit 4	5,040	5,212
Support Unit 5	7,875	8,143
Support Unit 6	12,600	13,029
Support Unit 6+	19,600	20,267

2.  An increase in funding to mainstream schools for those pupils they have on roll with EHCPs, who are currently receiving the maximum support unit funding (6+) and where the LA’s SEN Panel has determined that a change of placement to a special school is required. This increase is based on an average cost of a teaching assistant (0.8 FTE at midpoint of GR3 which equates to £32,102 including pay award and oncosts – with school contributing the first £6,000 via their notional SEN budget). The funding for these pupils will, therefore, amount to a new maximum funding figure of £26,102.    

While the 3.4% increase outlined above will be automatically applied to all eligible pupils (payment to be made in January 2025), we are also writing out individually to those schools where we have records of pupils awaiting a change of placement in order to ensure that our data is complete and accurate before applying the increased funding for these pupils. The schools concerned will be asked to complete a template spreadsheet detailing all pupils with EHCPs where the LA has agreed that a change of placement is required.

If you do not receive an individual communication but consider that you have pupils that fall into this category, please send details to candfsendqualityandimprovement@birmingham.gov.uk, and copied to SENAR.Commissioning@birmingham.gov.uk. Thank you!

SENCo Noticeboard

The half-termly update for all SENCos and SEND leads across the sector is available to view, sharing messages and information around SEND as part of our improved SEND communication framework –  SENCO noticeboard. Previous issues of the SENCO Noticeboard can also be found at this link.

If your SENCo/SEND lead has not received an email alert from the Local Offer taking them to the SENCo Noticeboard, then please get in touch with Heather Wood heather.wood@birmingham.gov.uk to make sure they are added to the circulation list.

Education Infrastructure – End of Term Bulletin, December 2024

Education Infrastructure’s latest bulletin is available on the Birmingham Education Support Services website: Communication | Birmingham Education Support Services

The bulletin includes a thank you from the Head of Service Zahid Mahmood, as well as Duty Holder and Asbestos Management Plan training dates for the new year.

Please contact the Education Infrastructure team for school place planning, capital projects and asset management queries: edsi.enquiries@birmingham.gov.uk

Thank you for your ongoing support. Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all.

UK Sustainable School Leadership Survey

Headteachers, principals, and senior or middle leaders in schools are invited to participate in a significant three-year research project. This study, conducted by academics at the Universities of Nottingham and Warwick, aims to explore contemporary school leadership across the UK.

Please take just 20 minutes to complete the survey by following this link: UK Sustainable School Leadership Survey

Your participation is crucial and highly appreciated. Thank you for your time and contribution to this important research.

Pupil Voice Project (PVP) – making Birmingham a great place to grow up

The Pupil Voice Project was launched on 21 November and will run until 31 December.

It is an exciting long-term initiative borne out of the Inclusive Cities work to create an Inclusive Charter. It’s been driven forward by the Education System Leaders Group, with senior leaders from Early Years, mainstream primary/secondary, special schools, AP and University of Birmingham.

The project has been co-created and tested by Headteachers and children/young people. It is a long-term plan for change, where views will be taken to the highest level.

There is still time to be part of this exciting project to better understand pupil’s experiences of inclusion, what makes Birmingham a great place to grow up in and how it can be made even better. We really want to hear from children/young people through all Birmingham schools asking some key questions with either a small focus group or 1:1 if more appropriate. This group needs to include range of pupils including EHCP and SEN support; this should take no more than an hour’s session.

We want pupil views at the heart of the Inclusion Charter; they are the agents of change.

Follow  the link to hear some of the positive comments from our children/young people who took part in a pilot of this project:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JQMNzTVIkw

To access the questions and complete the feedback, before the end of this term wherever possible, please use the links below:

• Primary and Secondary: https://forms.office.com/e/FbLC8Z3qT9
• Early Years: https://forms.office.com/e/883YDqyAvP

Deadline: 31st December 2024
For further information or any queries, please email: PupilVoice@birmingham.gov.uk