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Cambridgeshire Schools Newsletter

Christmas HAF Programme

The Christmas HAF Programme is operating from 20 December 2024 to 6 January 2025. Eligible pupils can attend a participating holiday scheme or family experience for up to 16 hours fully funded. Pupils are offered a daily meal and participation in enriching experiences with their peers or family.

An eligibility voucher was issued by email/text to parents/carers on 11.11.24. Please display our publicity poster on your school noticeboard.

Additional eligibility criteria details - click here to request a booking code.

Please contact the HAF Team for further information: HAF@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Action required - School uniform survey 2024

A survey was conducted in June 2024 to help the Local Authority better understand the different approaches to uniform policies in place across the county, and any support Cambridgeshire schools need to reduce costs. Questions were asked about how schools helped to keep the cost of uniforms down, ensured best value for money and kept branded items to a minimum. Thank you to all the schools who responded to the survey in the summer term. As part of the survey responses, many examples of good practice were shared:

Cambridgeshire School Uniform Survey: Examples of school initiatives or good practice offered by schools in the initial survey responses (June 2024)

If you did not complete the survey in the summer term, please can you do this here: Cambridgeshire School Uniform Survey before Friday 29 November: Responses are sought from every setting to enable a complete picture to be shared with county councillors who are keen to understand the picture across Cambridgeshire.

Cambs Opening Worlds Day - Friday 29 November 2024

Opening Worlds are hosting a free conference on the knowledge rich curriculum at Littleport Primary School on the 29 November. Please see this flyer for further information and details of how to book.

CCC Fostering Services - offer to attend school events

Cambridgeshire County Council Fostering Service colleagues have asked us to let you know about this opportunity. If you and your staff and parents, and friends of the school would like to know more about fostering, or a career in social work, please invite them to one of your school events by emailing fostering@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

Life Education PSHE Service drug and health education

The Life Education PSHE Service has just two days remaining available before Summer 2025 to support and enhance your PSHE and science in nursery and primary schools: Monday 9 December - Tuesday 10 December 2024.

Dates have to be allocated on a first come first served basis.

If you have any questions or would like to book these days, please don't hesitate to contact Senior Educator Louise Augarde Louise.augarde@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Individual School Pupil Forecasts 2024

Here is a link to find individual school forecasts:

Cambridgeshire Pupil Forecasts - Learn Together (cambslearntogether.co.uk)

You will need to download the forecasts and click ‘Enable Editing’ to allow the drop-down options to work.

Your forecast is viewed by selecting your school’s name from the drop-down list and clicking Enter.

The forecast sheet explains how to interpret these forecasts.

These forecasts are not constrained by your school’s PAN. When planning provision officers consider a wider area. It is possible that there may be no need to increase capacity despite forecasts being higher than the school’s capacity.

If you have any questions, please email PlacePlanningReferrals0-19@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

CCC Fostering Services - Refer a colleague, friend or family member and receive £1000 bonus for your school!

Do you know a parent or carer, colleague, friend or family member who could offer a safe, secure, loving home to a child or young person? If you support and promote Cambridgeshire County Council fostering recruitment team by advertising this incentive in your staff newsletter and directly to parents through parent mail, then we will pay your school a £1000 award once the referral is approved.

There are children and young people in Cambridgeshire right now who can no longer live with their birth family and we really need your help to recruit more foster carers so that the children and young people in our care can stay in the local area.

We welcome enquiries from anyone who is over 21, can provide a spare bedroom, and is dedicated to changing a young life for the better. For us, it’s all about the match of the child to our foster carers. The children and young people in our care come from a diverse range of backgrounds, and we look for the same in our foster carers.

Simply email their details to fostering@cambridgeshire.gov.uk and one of our friendly recruitment officers will contact them. *T&Cs: The payment will be paid once your colleague, friend or family member has been approved as a foster carer at panel.

With your help, we can provide even more children with the love, security, and support that they need and deserve. To find out more about fostering, visit the Cambridgeshire County Council fostering webpage or call 0800 052 0078.

Good Estate Management for Schools - free training webinar

We would like to encourage all maintained schools to attend the `Strategic Estate Management' webinar, ideally someone who has a responsibility around the schools buildings/site, servicing/maintenance and Health and Safety remit.

Please follow this link to the Entrust website:

Booking a Course | School Resource Management

Then, under “Course Details”, select “Strategic Estate Management” and fill out the details as required.

Road Safety Week 2024 - free resources

Road Safety Week 2024 will take place 17 to 24 November 2024.

Free resources are available to everyone who signs up to take part, including the Road Safety Week toolkit.

The Wonderful Every Day - Outdoor Education in the PE curriculum at KS2 - A brand new, innovative development package for schools

In response to national demand, we have developed a new, cutting edge Outdoor Education package, involving face to face training, market leading resources, and mentoring.This programme of training has been written by Ian Roberts (PE Adviser) and Stephen Brown (OAA Adviser) and will showcase ideas, and support schools in establishing high quality, cost effective Outdoor Education in the curriculum. This will establish links with other subjects, and Forest Schools. Further details are available on our `The Wonderful Every Day' webpage.

Investment in this package would be considered a good use of PE Premium funding

Please contact Ian Roberts or Stephen Brown for further information

Consultation on school term and holiday dates 2026-27

We are consulting on school term and holiday dates for the academic year 2026-27.

Local Authorities have a duty to determine school term dates for Local Authority maintained schools. Foundation, Voluntary Aided, Academies and Free schools are responsible for setting their own dates and so may choose to follow a pattern and/or specific dates that do not match those set by Cambridgeshire.

The proposed term time dates are on this spreadsheet:

CCC Proposed Term Dates 2026-27

Please see the link below to the consultation on the council website: School term dates - Cambridgeshire County Council . We welcome your views. The consultation will close at noon on Monday 23 December 2024.

If you have any queries, on this, please contact Phil Nash (Senior Adviser for Leadership).

YOUnited has launched a NEW additional self-referral pathway!

Since October it is possible for parents of children age 5+ and young people aged 13-17 in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to self-refer into YOUnited for mental health support.

The YOUnited website will allow parents and young people to navigate to information about the self - referral and then submit the respective referral with information about the difficulties children and young people are experiencing and what support they are looking for.

It is important to note that parents wanting to make a referral for someone over 13 need to make the young person aware of the referral and ensure they are willing to engage in mental health support.

The referral is structured around personal information, contact information and information on the current difficulties and expectations.

The form also includes questions around difficulties concerning eating and eating habits, including weight and height, if support around eating difficulties is indicated.

Once the referral is received by YOUnited a team of professionals will triage the information and allocate to the team best suited to the needs of the child/young person indicated in the referral. This could be one of the partners of YOUnited (CAMHS, Centre33 or Ormiston Families) or the Mental health Support Team in school. The respective team will then offer a first appointment to understand needs further and decide on the best support in a collaborative approach.

All partners hold a weekly multidisciplinary meeting to ensure smoot transfer from one service to another if the child’s/young person’s needs can be best met by a different team.

For more information on YOUnited self-referral please go to YOUnited Self Referral | CPFT NHS Trust

The self-referral form is for mental health referrals only. For information on neurodevelopmental referrals, please go to YOUnited Neurodevelopmental Help for Families | CPFT NHS Trust

DfE Flexible working in schools event

The DfE Flexible Working Ambassador School for the East of England will be holding a launch event on Monday 18 November 2024 from 4.00 to 4.45pm for all Cambridgeshire schools interested in finding out more about flexible working in education. For further information/booking email flexibleworking@tgschool.net or complete this form:

DfE Regional Flexible Working Ambassador Schools Programme - East of England (form)

Inclusion workshop - Monday 18 November 2024 Courageous Conversations!

Cambridgeshire will be taking part in ‘Courageous Conversations’ a peer led event on Monday 18 November. We have chosen to use this as our starting point in assessing and planning for our new ‘Inclusion For All Strategy’. There will be 6 workshops looking at what we do well, what the challenges are and how we can move forward and work together to create an Inclusive Cambridgeshire.

The 6 workshops are:

Inclusive Places

Inclusive services

Inclusive Partnerships

Inclusive Practices

Inclusive voices

We will have representatives from Early years, Primary, Secondary and Special Education as well as colleagues from health and social care joining us. The information, ideas and learning from this event will influence the planning for the Inclusion Summit, a larger event which we are planning for Monday 20 January 2025. Booking details will be live by the end of November.

Training and Events

SIS - Progression in Phonics and Spelling in KS2 – English Tab

For English Subject Leaders and KS2 Teachers. Wednesday 20 November 2024, 1.30– 4.30pm. Over Community Centre. £75 per session for Cambs LA schools and £85 per session for academies and out of county schools.

SIS – Developing Practice in Mathematics for ECTs - Maths Tab

For ECTs in KS1 & KS2. Session 1 (of 4) Thursday 21 November 2024, 3.30– 5.30pm. Online. £50 per session for Cambs LA schools and £60 per session for academies and out of county schools.

SIS – Preparing for Assessment – The Core Training Offer Tab

For Headteachers and Assessment Leads. Thursday 28 November 2024, 9.30 – 11.30am. Over Community Centre Or Friday 29 November 2024, 9.30 – 11.30am Online. Free to schools who have purchased Element 2 of the Primary Offer or £65 per session for Cambs LA schools and £75 per session for academies and out of county schools.

Peterborough SACRE Primary RE Conference

25 places available for the Peterborough RE conference for Primary Teachers – 2nd December 24, 8.45am - 3.45pm. Venue: George Alcock Centre. Cost £20.

Critical Incident Planning (Book under Leadership and Management of Safeguarding Tab)

Audience: Headteachers, Senior Leaders who need to ensure effective management in a difficult situation.

Monday 18 November 9.30-10.30am
Virtual course, £35.

Dealing with Challenging Parents (Book under Leadership and Management of Safeguarding Tab)

Audience: Headteachers, Senior Leaders who respond to challenging parents.

Friday 20 November 9.30-11.00am. Virtual course, £55.

Managing Allegations and Low-Level Concerns (Book under Leadership and Management of Safeguarding Tab)

Audience: Headteachers, Senior Leaders who respond to allegations or complaints.

Wednesday 11 December 1.30-2.30pm. Virtual course, £35.

NATRE network meeting for all RE teachers

Wednesday 27 November 4.00-5.15pm, Monkfield School, Cambourne.

Wednesday 4 December 4.00 – 5.15pm at Robert Arkinsall School Ely

Free of charge to all schools.

Making Effective Use of Your TA

For class Teachers, Thursday 16 January 2025, 1.30 – 3.30pm

Face to Face Winhills Primary, St Neots - £60

Preparing for Year 2 Teacher Assessment

For Year 2 Teachers, Tuesday 28 January 2025, 1.30 – 4.00pm

Face to Face Winhills Primary, St Neots - £60

Moderating Year 6 Writing

For Year 6 Teachers, Thursday 24 April 2025, 1.00 – 4.00pm

Face to Face Winhills Primary, St Neots - £60

Engaging Science in Year 6

For Primary Teachers. Thursday 21 November, 3.30 – 5.30. Online webinar. £40.

Acids, Alkalis and Bases (KS3 Chemistry Subject Knowledge Enhancement)

For Secondary Teachers. Thursday 21 November, 3.30 – 4.30pm. Online webinar. £20

Assessing Working Scientifically

For Primary Teachers. Thursday 28 November, 1.00 – 4.00. Venue: Histon and Impington Brook Primary School. £75

Inclusive Computing in Primary Schools

For teachers and subject leaders of computing, Thursday 21 November, 9.30am – 3.30pm.

Westwood Primary School, March

Leading Primary Computing – Module 1

For new subject leaders of computing, Friday 6 December, 10.00am – 4.00pm, Peterborough

Empowering Girls in KS2 Computing

For KS2 teachers of computing, Various dates and times, Live Remote CPD

Level 5 Certificate in Primary School PE Specialism/Level 6 Award in Primary School PE Subject Leadership

6/8 dates starting 4th March 2025 – 9.30am-4.30pm. Sunley House, Papworth Everard. £1125/£1400

Audience: PE Leads and all teachers in primary school PE. It is also ideal for HLTAs, Tas and sports coaches employed in schools.

Primary PE Subject Leader Network meeting

19th November 2024 and/or Tuesday 18 March 2025, 1.30pm-3.30pm. Online. £49 for Cambs maintained schools, £54 for Cambs Academies and all non-Cambs schools

Audience: Primary phase pe coordinators. It is recommended Leads attend both meetings as topics will be different.

What Ofsted Expects of PE? What PE can expect of Ofsted?

Monday 27 January 2025, 1.30pm-4.30pm. Sunley House, Papworth Everard. Cambridgeshire Maintained Schools £93, All Academies and Non-Cambridgeshire Schools £111

Audience: PE teachers, subject leaders, SLT for all schools and settings.

RSE – Developing & Teaching RSE in Primary & Special Schools

Teaching RSE - Tuesday 19 November 2024, 1.30pm-3.30pm OR 30 April 2025, 3.30pm-5.30pm.

Online. £40 subscribing schools, £50 for non-subscribing schools

Audience: PSHE Leaders, Senior Leaders , Teachers and Governors

PSHE Network Meetings for Primary & Special Schools

Wednesday 13 November 2024 or Thursday 21 November 2024, 2.30pm-4.30pm. Online. Network meetings, part of the Wellbeing Subscription, include national and local updates on PSHE and opportunities to share practice. Non-subscribing schools or those from schools beyond Cambridgeshire are welcome to attend but there is a small charge of £45, but please note the content will be focussed around the Cambridgeshire materials and local support.

Audience: PSHE Leads

Teaching RSE in Primary & Special Schools

Tuesday 19 November 2024, 1.30pm-3.30pm OR 30th April 2025, 3.30pm-5.30pm. Online. £40 subscribing schools, £50 for non-subscribing schools.

Audience: PSHE Leads and teachers in primary and special schools.