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1 July 2008
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This email is an official communication to schools from the
Department for Children, Schools and Families. The next email is due on 15
July 2008.
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Audience: School
management, teachers and teaching assistants.
Please pass on to all school staff.
Note: Hard copies
of Spectrum, the monthly digest of DCSF news and publications, are sent to
all chairs of governors. Paper copies of many documents can be ordered online for delivery
within seven days.
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Raising the participation age: Help
in setting expectations
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New legislation will directly affect young people entering Year 7
this September. In consultation with teachers, teaching unions and LAs, the
Department has produced a short magazine entitled 'Moving On Up' to help
children now who are transferring to secondary school in September. Copies
can be ordered from the Online
Publications website.
Subject to the successful passage of the Education and Skills
Bill, children joining Year 7 in September will be continuing in learning
or training until at least 17. The Department wants to encourage schools to
use opportunities when talking to pupils and their parents about the future
to set their expectations of staying on.
Many schools send out newsletters or have transition information
sessions and may want to include information on the raising of the
participation age (or references to the above magazine) in them. Some
suggested text for newsletters can be found here.
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New induction regulations from
September 2008
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The Education (Induction Arrangements for School Teachers) (England)
Regulations 2008 were laid before Parliament on 17 March. These Regulations
will come into force from September 2008 and replace the current
Regulations. They follow a DCSF consultation which ended in August 2007.
The consultation sought views on proposals to amend some aspects
of teachers' induction, and to clarify, simplify, update and consolidate
the existing Regulations and guidance. New guidance will be issued to
accompany the new Regulations in the summer term.
 View the
new Regulations
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The new School Lunch Grant
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The School
Lunch Grant replaces the Targeted School Meals Grant (5a) and School
Meals Grant (5b). It aims to increase take-up by helping keep down the
price of a school lunch. The grant can only pay for:
- ingredients for school
lunches
- labour costs of catering
staff
- small pieces of kitchen
equipment
- nutrient-analysis software.
The grant is ring-fenced and allocated via the Standards Fund to
LAs, which must agree with school forums on how it should be shared out
locally. Details of allocations can be found here.
Contact your LA or school forum for information on allocations.
Visit
the School Food Trust website for more information
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Forced marriage: New support
material for schools
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The Government is committed to work with schools, LAs and
communities to do all it can to tackle the issue of forced marriage, which
is a form of child abuse. New materials have been produced to raise
awareness of forced marriage. They have been developed specifically for
schools and young people and are now available on the Every
Child Matters website.
Ministers will shortly be sending a package of printed copies of
these materials to secondary schools. The materials have been developed in
consultation with schools, young people, LAs and voluntary-sector
organisations, and are designed to be eye-catching and appealing to young
people. Ministers strongly encourage schools to use these materials in
order to raise awareness of this important child-protection issue and of
sources of support.
 Visit
the Every Child Matters website for more information
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Discouraging term-time holidays
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The DCSF is asking schools to encourage parents to avoid term-time
holidays whenever possible. Schools must remember that they can only
approve absence for family holidays if they consider that there are special
reasons which warrant the holiday. Unless there are exceptional
circumstances, the maximum allowance is ten school days in a school year
regardless of the number of holidays taken.
Holiday prices and the fact that
parents have booked a holiday before checking with the school are not
special reasons. Ten days' absence for a family holiday can result in
pupils with poor attendance becoming persistent absentees.
Further information is available on the DCSF website and a copy of
the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 is available
on the UK
Statute Law Database.
Visit the DCSF website for
more information
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School admissions: Consultation
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In the Children's Plan, published in December 2007, Ministers
committed to a review of the school application and allocation process. The
Department recently launched a consultation which outlines proposed changes
to make the admissions process as fair, transparent and straightforward as
possible for parents.
The consultation closes on 2 October 2008 and supporting documents
can be viewed on the DCSF website. The Department would welcome your views
on the proposed changes.
Respond
to this consultation
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Diploma marketing campaign: Sample
packs for schools
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The 'Bringing Learning to Life' Diploma marketing campaign for
2008/09 will be launched in September. The new campaign is aimed at
parents, young people and those who influence qualifications choices. It
will use radio, press and poster advertising, advertorials, internet
resources, roadshows, leaflets and DVDs.
In early July, the Department will be sending out a sample pack to
schools delivering Diplomas from 2008 and 2009, which will contain the
following items:
- leaflets for young people,
parents, schools, colleges and employers
- DVDs for young people,
employers and on the Extended Project
- A4 posters
- banner stands (for
consortia communications contacts only)
- marketing support tools
including campaign images, visual-identity guidelines
- a key-messages guide.
Visit
the DCSF website for more information
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Teach your
Granny to Text and Other World-changing Ideas: Free copies for schools
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We Are What We Do is a social-enterprise
charity which aims to get people to change the world through their everyday
actions. The Department has been working with We Are What We Do to produce
a book for young people to raise awareness and inspire action on
sustainable development.
The book has been produced using children's entries from last
year's Small Actions x Lots of People = Big Change competition. Much work
has been done with schools to ensure that the book works as a practical
resource for use in the classroom.
The book Teach Your Granny
to Text and Other World-changing Ideas will be published on 6
October and a free copy will be sent to every maintained school in England. If
you want to opt out of receiving this free resource, email David.Serrant@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
by 10 September.
Visit the We Are What We Do website
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Booktime: Free book packs for every
Reception pupil in England
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Booktime is an exciting programme from education and publishing
company Pearson in association with independent charity Booktrust and
supported by the DCSF.
In partnership with your LA and library services, Booktime will be
giving free book packs to every Reception pupil in England.
Book packs will contain the popular illustrated book Harry and the Dinosaurs Go to School,
a special Booktime edition of The
Puffin Book of Fantastic First Poems, and guidance for parents
and carers on shared reading.
You do not need to register; your school will receive free books
and resource packs in the autumn term to facilitate classroom activities,
family involvement and reading for pleasure.
Visit the Booktime website for more
information
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National Youth Volunteering
Programme: New name, new focus
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The national youth volunteering charity v has launched England's
biggest youth action scheme vinvolved, with the aim of inspiring a new
generation of young volunteers. The scheme replaces the Millennium
Volunteers (MV) programme which finished on 31 March 2008, but will
continue to work through the vast majority of organisations that delivered
MV.
The programme funds vinvolved projects and has created vinvolved
teams to cover every LA in England.
The teams are responsible for placing 16- to 25-year-olds in volunteering
opportunities, piloting a new award and recognition scheme for young
volunteers and recruiting Youth Action Teams (YATs). vinvolved
teams are now the main point of contact for schools, colleges and referral
agencies wanting to promote volunteering and signpost young people to
opportunities. v is encouraging schools to get in
touch with their local team and contact details can be found on the v
website.
Visit the v website for more
information
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Antibiotic Awareness Day
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The DCSF is pleased to support the Department of Health's
Antibiotic Resistance Challenge for Key Stage 3 students. The challenge is
to design a poster to encourage friends and family not to go to their GP
for antibiotics for coughs and colds.
The competition leads up to European Antibiotic Awareness Day (18
November), a new European initiative to raise awareness of antibiotics and
their appropriate use. The winner of the competition will receive an iPod
Nano and £1,000 of science equipment for their school. A letter from the
Chief Medical Officer inviting schools to participate is available to view on
TeacherNet.
Further details including competition rules, teachers' notes,
lesson plans and flyers to put up in schools are available on the NHS
website. The deadline for the competition is 10 October 2008.
Visit the NHS website for
more information
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Consultation on extending the period
of objection to the Schools Adjudicator: Analysis of responses
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This report provides an analysis of the DCSF consultation held
between 17 March and 28 April 2008, on draft Regulations to extend the
period of objection to the Schools Adjudicator on determined admission
arrangements. The proposal put forward was for an extension from six weeks
to an end date of 21 August, taking the objection period to around sixteen
weeks.
An analysis of the comments and responses made is now available.
Ministers considered the concerns raised and agreed to revise the end date
to 31 July rather than 21 August. The new date will give LAs enough time to
prepare their composite prospectuses with details of any revised admission
arrangements, and will give admission authorities enough time to respond to
objections. The Regulations came into force on 28 May 2008 and will affect
admission arrangements from September 2009.
View the report
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Post-16 progression measure:
Invitation to receive and test the data
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The Department will shortly make data on the post-16 progression
measure available to a sample of schools via the Key to Success website to
assist with the development of the measure. The data will also be made
available to all LAs.
Schools which are not directly invited to join the sample can
request access to the data for their own school, and are invited to
participate in testing the quality of the data and user-friendliness of its
presentation and guidance. Access a letter informing schools about this opportunity
via the link below.
Participation in all aspects of the testing is voluntary but the
Department would like to involve as many schools as possible prior to
providing the data to all schools. The DCSF intends to publish the measure
for the first time in the School Profile in summer 2009. Schools wishing to
join the sample must do so by noon on Monday 7 July.
View the
letter inviting schools to join the sample
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