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Cambridgeshire Schools Newsletter

Easter HAF Programme

We are delighted that the HAF programme, funded by the DfE, is running for a further three years.

The Easter HAF Programme is operating from 30 March to 10 April. Eligible pupils can attend a participating holiday scheme for 16 hours, fully funded. A daily meal and participation in enriching experiences are offered. Eligibility vouchers are issued to parents/carers on 2.3.26 by email and/or text and professionals can request additional codes under the wider eligibility criteria from this date.

Further details: HAF Parents webpage

Email: HAF@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

County wide survey of PE and School Sport Provision (primary)

We are conducting an extensive 'state of the county' survey of Primary School PE. The findings will help inform the support that we have in place for schools going forward. There a lot of changes imminent nationally, and this can help us ensure that schools are ‘future proof’.

The survey is here - Please complete your response by March 1 2026 

Primary Physical Education Survey  – Fill in form

As a thankyou for completing this survey, schools will be given a complementary copy of either:

'Making Cross Country Running Fun' 

or
'A Practical Guide to keeping children safe around water' 

If you have any questions or need information about all things PE, please contact me:  

The Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) Initiative)

The Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) initiative is a programme by the DfE that is central to the goal of raising standards for all children in all schools across the country. RISE forms part of the government’s Opportunity Mission which focuses on breaking down the barriers to opportunity and ending the link between background and success. The RISE grant will provide mandatory targeted intervention to schools that Ofsted have identified as needing to improve which will act as a catalyst for collaboration and improvement. Where appropriate, RISE teams will arrange for a high-quality organisation to work with a school, via its responsible body, with grants available to fund supporting activity.

Regional Improvement in Standards and Excellence (RISE) aims to break the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success. At the core of RISE are the RISE advisers, who are educational experts with direct experience improving schools. RISE advisers work as part of a wider RISE team within the Department for Education (DfE).

Inclusive Mainstream conference -  Thursday 12 March 2026, Kingsgate Conference Centre, Peterborough

Virtual Primary Attendance and Attainment conference - 4 and 5 March.

Find out more about the RISE Programme in the East of England below:

RISE East of England Resource Sheet

Pinpoint - Cambridgeshire's parent carers forum

Pinpoint is the local Parent Carer Forum and hub for information, signposting and events for all things SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities). Navigating the landscape of SEND can be daunting for parents and carers - which is why making sure they have the right support is key to helping their child or young person thrive. 

Pinpoint is passionate about making sure parents feel informed, supported, and connected. The Pinpoint Tii Hubs offer monthly, online peer support - a space to meet other parents who truly understand the journey. Weekly, in-person Parent Connect sessions are also run across Cambridgeshire, giving families a warm welcome, a cuppa, and a chance to chat. And when it comes to expert knowledge, Pinpoint's information sessions offer trusted guidance from professionals who know what matters most. Together, it all adds up to support that’s consistent, compassionate, and completely free. 

Extra urgent dental care appointments - request to share information with parents

NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board has requested that the following information is shared with parents. Please continue to share the information until at least the end of March and, if you need the information in a different format, please contact cpicb.comms@nhs.net

Dear parent or carer

The local NHS is reminding families of the extra urgent NHS dental care appointments are available across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. These appointments help with common urgent problems such as severe dental pain, excessive bleeding of the gums and loose or broken crowns and bridges.

If you or your child needs urgent dental help, visit NHS 111 online or call 111. Symptoms will be checked and you’ll be given details of the local dental practices that offer urgent dental care. If your family already sees a dentist, please contact them first. If they can’t help, NHS 111 will explain what to do next.

As patients are not linked or registered to one specific practice, those who need urgent NHS dental care can contact any practice offering NHS services across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to see if urgent care appointments are available.

Urgent NHS dental care appointments are for anybody of any age who needs urgent dental care. Charges start from £27.40 unless you qualify for free NHS care or help with costs. NHS dental care is free for all children under 18, or those under 19 in eligible full-time education.

You can find more information on urgency NHS dental appointments on the NHS website.

Thank you,

NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Integrated Care Board

New Education Case Management System Update

We are currently working through issues that come up from daily data migrations and we

are spending a lot of time in completing data quality reports.

We have 5 schools testing the new Schools Portal and they are working through all the

referral forms, making sure that they can go through the whole referral process and then

letting us know their results either positive or negative.

All schools will be sent guidance on how to use the portal before we go live in June.

If you haven't returned the MS form asking for portal access, we ask that you please

complete it; this is so we can start setting up accounts (see link below):

Liquidlogic Establishment Portal - User Request Form (2) (Page 1 of 7)

This portal will eventually replace the current school portal to look at your school admissions. If you don't complete the form, when we go live in June, you won't have an account in order to see your admissions or make an attendance referral.

The form needs completing per person and not per school, so if you have 2 people in

school that need access, they will need to complete a form each.

Academy trusts will only need the one account and we can link all the schools to that one

account.

Any queries regarding the project, please email: CDS.PMO@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Cambridgeshire Primary Physical Education Hub

If you’re a PE teacher and want to connect with others in the county in order to raise the profile of PE, the Cambridgeshire PE Hub is for you!

We intend getting PE teachers from different settings, different phases, different trusts / LA together, sharing knowledge and experience, on a regular basis. This free to attend meeting is open to teachers from any school / setting in Cambridgeshire.

The inaugural Cambridgeshire PE Hub will be held online Tuesday 24 March 2026, 1.30 – 3.15pm

This hub’s focus is: Influencing Key Stakeholders - What are the metrics that evidence a high value PE offer? With the national shift to attainment, how do we show that PE is more than this to SLT/Exec Teams?

Booking is to be made here: Cambridgeshire PE courses and workshops

Ian Roberts – pe.adviser@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Evidence bites #10 - `All of Us, Every Day: Enacting the Pupil Premium Strategy'

All of Us, Every Day: Enacting the Pupil Premium Strategy', with Marc Rowland, national expert on improving outcomes for disadvantaged learners

Target Audience: Primary and Secondary Teachers, Headteachers, Senior Leadership, School Governors, anyone with an interest in schools/education.

Venue: Witchford Village College, Manor Road, Witchford, CB6 2JA

Tuesday 17 March 2026, 4.30 to 6.30pm

The East Cambs & Fenland Evidence Network invite you to join us for Evidence Bites #10 - an informal, professionally energising CPD event to gain valuable insights and discover practical strategies to apply in your school settings.

Meet local colleagues, enjoy a bite to eat and hear from an inspiring speaker.

 £16 a ticket or use the code MULTI for discount on extra tickets.

Free Young Driver Road Safety Workshop for sixth form students

The Vision Zero partners are working with PC AJ Boddington (Casualty Reduction Officer) to deliver free young driver workshops (16-18y) in Cambridgeshire secondary schools and colleges. 

These bespoke workshops introduce key safety messages to learner or new drivers licence holders, as well as supplement safer travel and school travel initiatives. 

The sessions are delivered in the form of a 1-hour in person talk, adapted to the cohort. To book a school visit and talk this term, contact PC AJ Boddington directly at adrian.Boddington@cambs.police.uk

Talking Teens parenting course: can you help Cambridgeshire Skills and Community Service to promote this to families?

Talking Teens parenting course - starting on Thursday 26 February 2026, Akeman Community Centre. The service is particularly keen to ensure that families living in CB4 have access to this opportunity.

Talking Teens is a supportive 4‑week programme designed to help parents and carers navigate the challenges of raising teenagers. The course covers:

Dates: 26 Feb – 19 Mar 2026

Here is the link to apply online Course Details | ontrack: Learner Hub 

If you have any questions or would like to know any more information please call 01353 613013 (open Monday – Friday 9.30 – 5pm)

Pinpoint Annual Conference - Thursday 10 March 2026

The Pinpoint Annual Conference is a free, informative and supportive event bringing families and professionals together to share knowledge, insight and good practice. The conference is for parents and carers of children and young people with SEND, alongside the professionals who support them.

Thursday 10 March 2026 9.30am - 2.15pm at The Burgess Hall, Westwood Road, St Ives, Cambridgeshire, PE27 6WU 

Free to attend - booking required. 

The conference will feature expert speakers, practical information, and opportunities to connect with others who understand the SEND journey. 

Free workshop: Inclusive PE - making PE accessible for all

Free course, subsidised by the Youth Sports Trust: 5 March, 10am - 12.30pm, Martin Bacon Academy, Stirling Road, Northstowe.

Do you find delivering truly inclusive PE lessons a challenge? This practical workshop will be an opportunity to expand you knowledge of inclusive PE practices through shared ideas, strategies and practical demonstrations. Find out more here: Inclusive PE flyer

Book your place here:  Inclusive PE workshop booking form

BBC Bitesize to launch new GCSE revision resources

This spring term, students can access a wealth of new exam revision resources covering French, Spanish, Religious Studies, Science, English Literature and Maths as well as the huge bank of materials already available on the BBC Bitesize website. 

New resources include podcasts and games, videos, past papers, exam-style questions etc, all available on the BBC Bitesize website. 

Tips to support students in the run-up to exams, including: How to plan your time with revision timetables

Microscopes4Schools Competition 2026 - Get your students engaged in Science!

The MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) is coordinating its annual Microscopes4Schools Competition, and there are still spaces available for local primary schools to take part.

What? Microscopes 4 Schools (M4S)  is an outreach project created by scientists at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB). The M4S competition sees schools borrowing a hand-held digital microscope to use for 2 weeks; pupils then take images of their collected samples, and the schools submit their 10 best images to the competition

Who? Pupils of Y5&6 learning age who would otherwise have limited exposure to science

When? Between March and June 2026

The competition is free - no preparation is needed by teachers, and all the planning/support is provided by the LMB.

Contact: engage@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk if you’re interested!

Cambridgeshire School Business Networking Group 

breakfast meeting

Cambridgeshire School Business Management Networking opportunity - Thursday 18 June 2026 - free for members of the Cambridgeshire School Business Networking Group or £20 for non-members.

The group has asked us to share the following:

Do you work in a School Business operational area?  Overstretched? Overwhelmed?  Do you fancy getting together for a Breakfast Meeting?

Are you a school business professional? Office Manager/Finance Manager/School Business Manager/School Secretary/Bursar?  Feeling isolated? Stressed? Do you fancy getting together for breakfast, a meeting and chatting with colleagues?  Use it as an opportunity to get out of the office and chat with like-minded people? 

Topical speakers = valuable CPD! We regularly have input from Martin Wade and Jonty Holden, so don’t miss out!  Come along and share the burden of working in schools with likeminded colleagues. 

Book your place on the next breakfast networking event here: 

Cambridgeshire School Business Management Networking - Thursday 18 June 2026  – Fill in form

If you know of school colleagues that might be interested then please share the form with them, all welcome. Please share this information with anyone who is not a member but is working within the Business/Finance/Administration function of schools, they can join the networking forum for £50.00 for the year and in February make use of the Valentine discount of 15% in February - Cambridgeshire School Business Networking Group - Welcome

Training and events

Training provider: CCC

SIS – Assessing Writing in Non-Statutory Year Groups Y1 & Y2 – English tab
For English Leads and Y1 and Y2 teachers – Tuesday 3 February 2026 1.30pm until 4.00pm – Over Community Centre. £75 per person for LA schools and £85 per person for Cambridgeshire academies or out of county schools or independent schools.

SIS – Assessing Writing in Non-Statutory Year Groups Y3 & Y4– English tab
For English Leads and Y3 and Y4 teachers – Tuesday 10 February 2026 1.30pm until 4.00pm – Over Community Centre. £75 per person for LA schools and £85 per person for Cambridgeshire academies or out of county schools or independent schools.

SIS – Assessing Writing in Non-Statutory Year Groups Y5 – English tab
For English Leads and Y5 teachers – Thursday 12 February 2026 1.30pm until 4.00pm – Over Community Centre. £75 per person for LA schools and £85 per person for Cambridgeshire academies or out of county schools or independent schools.

Training for New or Inexperienced Physical Education Subject Leaders in Primary Schools
24 February 2026 - 1.30 - 3.15pm
Venue: Online (virtual course)
£49 for Cambridgeshire maintained schools
£54 for Cambridgeshire Academies and all Non-Cambs Schools

Supporting Physical Education for TAs & Adults Supporting Learning
26th February 2026 – 1.30pm – 3.30pm
Venue: Online (virtual course)
£49 for Cambridgeshire maintained schools
£54 for Cambridgeshire Academies and all Non-Cambs Schools

Outdoor Adventurous Activities - Bringing Adventure to PE
12th March 2026 – 9.30pm - 4pm
Venue: Grafham Water Centre
Cambridgeshire Maintained Schools £140
Academies & Non-Cambridgeshire Maintained Schools £162

Early Years Briefing for Schools
For Early years foundation stage (EYFS) teachers, leaders, and senior leaders. Wednesday 11th March 2026, 15.30 – 17.15, Online or Thursday 12th March 2026, 13.30 – 16.00, Sunley House, Papworth Everard. EY silver membership qualifies for one free place per term. EY Gold, and Platinum memberships qualify for two free places per term. Non-Members £45 (face to face) or £21 (online).

Understanding Children's Behaviours and Interactions
For all practitioners working with early years children who would like to develop a therapeutic approach to understanding children's behaviours and interactions and would like to refresh their knowledge on strategies to support positive interactions. Thursday 12th March 2026, 13.30 – 16.30, Online. Free.

Expressive Arts and Design in EYFS
For all early years practitioners. Monday, 23 March 2026, 13.15 – 16.15, Sunley House, Papworth Everard. EY Members £32.40. Non-Members £54.

Cambridgeshire Music Primary Network Meeting
For all staff delivering music to share ideas and meet fellow music leaders. Monday 9th March. 16:00-17:00 on Teams (Webinar). Free for survey participants.

Music Technology in the Primary Classroom Webinar
For all staff wanting to deliver music technology in the classroom. Thursday 19th March 16:00-17:00 on Teams (Webinar). £40 (£20 for survey participants)

Getting the Most Out of Your Instrument Trolley Webinar
For all staff delivering music and using instruments. Tuesday 19th May 2026. 16:00-17:00. £40 (or £20 when survey completed.)

Forest School curriculum courses at Grafham Water Centre

For school staff, youth services etc.

Limited spaces are still available throughout the coming months

Click the heading for more information and to book

Training provider: The ICT Service

Assessments and Assets: Securing Data with DPIAs and IARs

Wednesday 6 May 2026, 4 - 4.30pm

Clarifying Consent and Legitimate Interest

Thursday 7 May 2026, 10.30 to 11am 

Training provider: Diamond Education and Professional Learning

Maths Subject Lead Day
Primary Maths Subject Leads, 25th March 2026, 9:30 – 15:00
Face to Face Wintringham Primary, St Neots - £95

Moderating Y2 Teacher Assessment
Year 2 Teachers, 15th April 2026, 14:00 – 16:30
Face to Face Winhills Primary, St Neots - £60

Moderating Y6 Writing
Year 6 Teachers, 16th April 2026, 14:00 – 16:30
Face to Face Winhills Primary, St Neots - £60

Training provider: Science Learning East

Working scientifically in primary science

For Primary Teachers. Wednesday 11^th March, 13.00 – 16.00. Venue: Histon & Impington Brook Primary School. £75

Teaching evolution in primary science

For Primary Teachers. Wednesday 18^th March, 13.00 – 16.00. Venue: Histon & Impington Brook Primary School. £75

Quick links

SEND Information Hub (Local Offer)

SEND OAP toolkits - Learn Together

Cambridgeshire Learn Together

Cambridgeshire County Council

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Teaching School Hub

Early Years, Childcare, and School Readiness Service

Knowledge Hub

Cambridgeshire Schools Newsletter – Learn Together

Keeping in touch...

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