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At 7am yesterday morning, I was waiting in the wings (on the phone) to be interviewed on BBC Radio Suffolk about the teacher recruitment crisis. You can listen again here - about 1 hour and 12 minutes in. I then hopped off to Manningtree train station, to get the train to Ipswich..... to then come straight back again and travel onwards to London with our Year 5 and 6 class. Whilst I was there I was treated to an hour in the cafe where I rattled off some emails and tackled some tricky issues. I then had to reach back to the dusty memories of my university days (Classics degree, now 20 years ago!) to talk to the class about Pericles, the Delian league and the Acropolis, before trying to limit the children's sugar intake on the train journey home. Only semi-successful...!
Finally, it was, of course, the opening of a stacked inbox at about 6pm that took me into evening.
All this I am managing to do with joy and determination - but the issue of stretched resources, sustainability, long hours and the ever increasing complexity of running schools is really not going away.
If you ever want to reach out, please get in touch. Read on to hear from Mark our Chair who meets with headteachers when he can. Even if we cannot help directly, gaining insight into the picture out there is really useful as I do meet with people developing strategy across the county. I also attend the ASCL Primary Network meetings and they have a direct line to the DfE. I think it is vitally important that they hear from people who are actually doing the job!
May the run up to Easter be sunny and I hope the spring break brings you some much needed time to rest and reflect.
Rebecca
*Save the date: Thursday 27th June for Suffolk Primary Headteacher Networking and Training summer event*
I have been in the fortunate position to spend some time over the past few months visiting headteachers in order to continue to build informal networks between ourselves. What strikes me through these visits more than anything is that we are all grappling with very similar issues and that often the weight of headship can sit heavily on our shoulders. One of the most important things we need to do more regularly is to reach out to each other. Regardless of experience, size of school or expertise picking up the phone to another head or meeting for a coffee are crucial to help us navigate what is a very challenging role.
I am always happy to visit, meet with headteachers or be that person on the end of the phone.
Some of you have been asking about the forthcoming changes to wraparound policy - with the government stating that all parents should expect to have access to wraparound care by September 2026. There are also changes to entitlement of free childcare. I have sought some information from Suffolk County Council to find out how we might be preparing for these changes within our settings and I'm please to share this message with you:
The early years & childcare service at SCC is leading on the development and implementation of the Governments primary wraparound policy. We are currently mapping supply and will soon be contacting schools where we identify that a wraparound offer needs to be developed or expanded.
In working with schools we can help a school to develop its own service or broker a relationship with another provider to deliver the offer for the school.
We do have both revenue and, a small amount of, capital money to enable wraparound provision to be developed. We are currently working on an application process and we will share this as soon as we can.
We are planning to hold some online drop-in sessions for schools so that you can ask us anything about the policy and how it will impact on your school. We will let you know when these will be and how to access them via Schools headlines.
We are currently developing a questionnaire for parents to gather their views and anticipated needs for wraparound provision. We will share this with you after the Easter break. Please could you share this will your schools parents.
Best wishes
Focus4TAPS - CPD programme for the science lead and a Year 5 teacher.
I would like to inform you of a funded primary science CPD programme ‘Focus 4TAPS’ taking place across Suffolk.
Focus4TAPS is a three-day CPD programme for the science lead and a Year 5 teacher. This new EEF funded primary science trial is a great opportunity to access the programme, which has been found to have a positive impact on pupil attainment and teacher confidence. Recruitment is now open to all state-funded schools in or near these areas:
Newcastle, Sunderland, Sheffield, Liverpool, Bury, Nottingham, Derby, Wolverhampton, Suffolk, Essex, Southampton, South-East London, West London
Limited places so please register your interest here: https://forms.office.com/e/EVK1XeYNfH
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,
Learning with Parents are an educational charity whose mission is for every child to be supported at home to fulfil their potential. We do this by supporting all families to have positive learning interactions together. We drive inclusive parental engagement by partnering with schools and through leading the sector to learn what works. Our parental engagement journey with schools starts by focussing on reading, with our digital reading log. This is an inclusive way for schools and families to record reading, replacing physical reading records and allowing some barriers to be removed. Over time, we work with schools to build on the positive reading habits that the reading log fosters.
Our full programme replaces traditional Maths and English homework with fun activities which have parent-child interaction at their heart. To find out more about us, please use the following link to book a meeting to see how we can support your school's parental engagement journey.