Mobilising 500 staff to support key workers childcare during the Covid-19 outbreak
Kings Active Foundation, a charity established to get children active, is working to create additional resource to support schools providing critical childcare for key workers during the Coronavirus crisis. Their 500 staff are normally looking forward to getting children active over the Easter holidays but now they’re being mobilised to support the childcare efforts for key workers. Without the normal function of schools, providing childcare over the next 2+ months will be a challenge, especially to cover NHS shifts and weekends. So organisations like Kings Active Foundation are working to supplement the provision already underway in local schools. Their DBS-checked, qualified and motivated staff have experience of delivering engaging programmes for children – giving an ideal complement to the existing classroom-based provision. They are already in talks with NHS Trusts, the Police, local authorities and schools to better understand how they can support the national childcare effort. Richard Holmes, Chief Executive of Kings Active Foundation adds, “These are unprecedented times and we must use our resource and expertise to support the response to the Coronavirus outbreak together. The need for quality childcare isn’t going to go away and, by working with schools and agencies, we believe we can positively contribute to this national effort. Our Active Childcare model is deep-rooted in our mission to get children active, having fun and leaning together, whilst adhering to additional safety guidelines. It provides key workers and organisations with complete flexibility. Just like the many schools, agencies and local authorities we are speaking with – this is new for us too. By working together, we can combine our efforts to provide comprehensive childcare for the key workers who need it the most.” To speak to the Kings Active Foundation Active Childcare response team, email andrew.busby@kingsfoundation.org or call 0114 263 2150. Alternatively, you can find out more at https://www.kingsactive.org/education/active-childcare/.
It’s time to shake up how we identify literacy difficulties
When you struggle to read it puts you at a potentially life-long disadvantage, says Bernadette McLean, so it’s time to look at new methods, such as AI, to help identify literacy difficulties. Literacy skills are fundamental to so much of school life and beyond, it is hard to comprehend that each year in the UK almost 148,000 children leave primary school unable to read to the expected standard. Maybe this figure would be easier to swallow if children were catching up during their time at secondary school. Unfortunately, despite a plethora of thoughtful initiatives and the huge amount of old-fashioned, sleeves-rolled-up hard work many schools put in to making this happen, there are still children whose reading ability stops progressing when they transfer to their senior school. It is far from uncommon for a young person to end up three or even more years behind his or her chronological reading age by the time they leave school. Those at the highest risk of being left behind in the literacy stakes are pupils with dyslexia, estimated to be about 10% of children in this country. In my view, these are some of the children who are being robbed of the pure pleasure of getting lost in a good story, as well as being placed at a massive disadvantage when it comes to attainment in exams, motivation, building self-esteem and engagement. As we already know early intervention through testing is by far the most effective approach to boosting reading skills and positively changing children’s life chances, what options do we have for changing how we do things? Time will tell A key thing to bear in mind is that testing a child’s reading skills, ability and comprehension is a very difficult task. There are a whole host of multifaceted cognitive and linguistic processes that come into play. Words being read are transformed into speech sounds, which connect to meaning by matching up with vocabulary or general language knowledge – but it’s not a linear process. All of these activities are part of an information loop which continuously feeds back to a child and strengthens itself over time. Regardless of this complexity, the most widely used reading tests are one-dimensional. It’s for this reason that the phonics test children take in Year 1 – and again in Year 2 if the previous year didn’t go so well – is widely regarded as being problematic. Teaching children to read single sounds or words doesn’t help check whether they can infer meaning or understand. As children grow older, then reading tests often focus on scoring comprehension. But again, a simple score doesn’t tell you how the child is reading, which means two children with the same score might often need very different types of intervention. Friendly algorithms An exciting development in the process of how we test reading and uncover literacy barriers is in the use of AI technology, which helps dig deeply into what is really going on when a child reads. Research on the relationship between reading and eye movements is constantly being updated but, with 5000 scientific studies behind it, the evidence base is strong – tracking eyes picks up minor differences in how the brain processes text on lexical (verbal), syntactic (word order), semantic (interpretation) and structural levels. Therefore, as we track how a child’s eye moves, it is possible to get a view of the linguistic processes going on inside that individual’s head. This reveals a large amount of information about the cognitive interplay and how different components work together. The same algorithms can also be used to highlight the risk of dyslexia, and other reading difficulties, without the need for long assessment times. Making a difference Such detailed information is enormously helpful in practical teaching terms. Imagine a graph with two axes, where horizontal is decoding and vertical is comprehension. Results from this AI testing from Lexplore Analytics can place children at a precise spot in terms of identifying the difficulties they are experiencing with reading, so the right interventions and support can be put into place to help them progress. This is important because methods that work well for non-dyslexic children may actually be confusing or potentially detrimental for those with reading difficulties. There are other benefits to using the latest technology tools to deliver more advanced assessment too, in terms of screening more quickly and allocating specialist teaching resources where they’re most needed. But the bottom line is that if we miss the opportunity to intervene when we can, and fail to ensure children are well equipped with the personalised strategies that are appropriate to their individual thinking style – thus enabling them to decrypt the reading code – then we risk severely letting those children down. This is not something that any of us wants to see happen. Bernadette McLean is an independent literacy consultant for Lexplore Analytics and was previously principal of The Helen Arkell Dyslexia Centre.
Supporting students through adverse childhood experiences
Supporting pupils’ behaviour and wellbeing is receiving more attention in education settings, in part, due to Ofsted’s new inspection framework. Amidst this, is a new approach to helping students that reframes blame in a way that looks beyond the school gates and considers why a student may be behaving a certain way. Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, is a prime example of this, and here Dawn Jotham, pastoral care specialist at EduCare, provides foundational knowledge and ways in which teachers and staff can best support students. Understanding ACEs Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, is used to describe highly stressful, and potentially traumatic events that may occur during childhood or adolescence. This can be a single event or prolonged and repeated threats and breaches of a young person’s safety, security, trust or bodily integrity. Additionally, ACEs can be experienced by a young person both directly and indirectly. Direct experiences include physical, sexual and verbal abuse as well as emotional and physical neglect, while indirect experiences can occur in environments where there is domestic abuse, substance misuse, mental illness, parental separation and/or parental imprisonment. That said, as research continues, other contributing factors have also been identified such as bereavement, bullying, poverty and racism. Adverse childhood experiences cover a broad spectrum of events however, an awareness of all triggers empowers staff to be mindful of vulnerable students and prompt the necessary safeguarding protocol. It may seem like an overwhelming list, but not educating teachers and staff of the risk factors can have significant detrimental effects. Many people who experience ACEs go on to live stable lives but providing support increases the likelihood of this outcome with those less fortunate experiencing negative flow-on effects to their education, aspirations and health. Taking action The most effective response to ACEs is multipronged – students need the opportunity to learn the skills that will help them overcome traumas, while teachers and staff should be taught how to best support these students. For example, key factors involved in the development and growth of a child include: • Developing positive relationships with adults • Being encouraged to self-regulate emotions • Developing a positive sense of self and self-esteem. Another key trait is resilience – the ability of a young person to develop and succeed in the face of stress and adversity. It is, in essence, being able to maintain positive wellbeing and when successfully developed it is often the lynchpin of healthy self-esteem, trust, and the ability to act in one’s best interest. Arguably, resilience is often best developed by witnessing it in others so it is important to provide young people with good examples of using support networks – be that family, friends, or teachers; developing strong communication skills; and an understanding that they are valued and respected by their community. Additionally, teachers and staff can provide effective support by listening to the student concerned. Listening – it sounds easy, but many people get it wrong and it is crucial in supporting providing support. With this in mind, teachers and staff are encouraged to: • Create a safe space for sharing • Listen patiently • Be empathic and calm, whilst providing an environment free from judgement. To this end, it’s also important that staff adopt a more holistic approach to supporting students – that is a consideration of the wider issues at play. For example, consider why a student may be behaving a certain way. This approach is not only designed to reveal the causal factors but also ensures the focus remains on effectively supporting the wellbeing of students by reframing blame to position the child as someone who has endured a trauma.
We must take action to keep children safe when schools are closed.
National Children’s Bureau statement on coronavirus response NCB supports the momentous decision to keep schools and childcare settings running only for vulnerable children and the children of key workers. We now urge the Government to provide the resources and the clarity required to limit the damage of that closure, so together we can do our utmost to keep children safe in these most challenging times. Children’s social care We support the measures proposed to protect vulnerable children; ensuring schools and childcare settings continue to provide safe, nurturing spaces for children with special educational needs and children who may already be vulnerable to abuse, neglect and other harms. However, this classification cannot be the end of the story. The Government must act fast and collaboratively to ensure that schools can themselves identify children they believe to be vulnerable, even if they do not have a social worker or an Education, Health & Care Plan. Keeping education settings open for these children will help to keep them safe. However, this is a time when local authorities themselves are reeling from reduced staff capacity, when social workers have reduced access to people’s homes and when the resilience of children’s services has already been severely tested through a decade of shrinking budgets. Moreover there are many more children whose families are already facing substantial challenges and may well struggle to cope with the demands resulting from school closures. This could lead to more children and families needing support from children’s services. Without an injection of resources, these services will be overwhelmed and unable to protect the most vulnerable children or intervene to protect those who become vulnerable as a result of school closures. Financial support for families looking after children Closing schools at any time would create pressure on parents. This isn’t any time. This is a situation where there is widespread anxiety about the spread of a disease which is endangering lives. Where families will be cooped up together with no real social outlets – where the impact of every interaction is weighed. Where parents will have to juggle the anxiety and isolation at the same time as worrying about income or trying to keep up with employment. The best way to meet children’s needs during this time and prevent many more children from becoming vulnerable is firstly to ensure that their parents or primary caregivers are available to attend to their needs. Parents of children in primary school and younger cannot possibly attend to their children’s needs either while working or while facing the stress of losing their income or their employment. The Government must ensure that no parent faces financial hardship as a result of caring for their child at this time. The provision of vouchers to compensate for the loss of a free school meal is a step towards ensuring that children and families don’tgo hungry as a result of school closures. However, the prospect of lost earning and employment means that much stronger action is required to ensure every family can put enough food on the table and attend to the needs of their children. Support for families at home In addition to the measures to protect parents from severe financial worry, we need to work together to give parents the best chance of managing this new situation. We must ensure parents have clear information about how best to meet their children’s needs at this time – focusing especially on supporting new parents to form secure attachments with babies and young children. This includes crystal clear guidance on how to compensate for the ordinary social interaction and learning that children will miss out on in education and childcare settings. This guidance for parents must also include clear and realistic expectations about managing children’s health and wellbeing as well as their learning at this time. We need to create spaces where parents can share the challenges of parenting in this situation, releasing the pressure before it builds too far. If the pressure does build too far and families are unable to cope in lockdown, there must be clear instruction about where they should turn for help. With or without the additional resources they require, local authorities are going to need to count on wider systems of support from local communities and networks in order to protect our children as we endure this pandemic. We will all have to play our role in keeping children safe and preventing crises from emerging. This is not the childhood that any of us intended for this generation of children. We must act wisely to keep them safe now. We must be resourceful to find ways of making their experience as positive as it possibly can be in these circumstances. When we finally reach the other side of this pandemic, we must be ambitious and intentional about delivering a better childhood for these children. For similar article please visit our features section.
CircleLoop pledges free remote phone service to UK schools
Tech company pledges free remote phone service to all UK schools to support their communication challenges during Coronavirus outbreak CircleLoop, the cloud-based phone system for business, today announces that it will fund a pledge to provide free business telephony to any school, healthcare provider or charity who is facing remote working challenges, due to the unprecedented outbreak of Coronavirus across the country. The service will be offered free of charge for the next 3-months to any existing or new customers who need to facilitate remote, mobile or flexible working at short notice. The internet-based phone system can be live in a matter of minutes, following completion of a short online form, with no card or payment details required. It supports calling, call menus and greetings, voicemail transcription and a range of other features. Since it was founded in 2016, CircleLoop has rapidly established itself as an alternative to the normal telecoms approach, as businesses continue to shift to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and cloud services generally. CircleLoop operates as a self-service tool and it works anywhere over the internet in desktop and mobile applications instead of using traditional desk-phones. As such, organisations required to self-isolate, but which may not have existing structures in place to facilitate remote working, can use CircleLoop to maintain connectivity and accessibility for their workforce, with immediate notice. Damian Hanson, co-founder of CircleLoop, commented: “Here at CircleLoop we recognise the unprecedented issues that the Coronavirus outbreak is causing for businesses of all shapes and sizes. As a team we wanted to do something to try to make the pressures experienced by schools, healthcare providers and charities a little easier when needing to work remotely during self-isolation periods in the coming weeks.” Schools, healthcare providers and charities looking to take advantage of this free remote phone service can sign-up instantly at https://www.circleloop.com/coronavirus
AquaCare – the specialists in legionella control for the education sector
AquaCare are the specialists in legionella control for the education sector. We have a large portfolio of Academies, Independent Schools and Colleges who entrust us with looking after their water hygiene and legionella control namely, Walhampton School, Bryanston School and Bournemouth School. Water systems left unused during the extended school holidays can increase the conditions for bacteria to proliferate, including legionella. Many school buildings, both public and private contain old, adapted water systems, creating long pipe-runs and dead-legs – again perfect for legionella bacteria to grow in water. We can offer you a tailored programme of monitoring and remedial maintenance to ensure ongoing and consistent compliance with Health & Safety Executives Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) L8 and Technical Guidance HSG 274 &HTM04-01. And if you have an internal maintenance we can train them for you, ensuring you always have a ‘Responsible Person’ on site. Don’t just take our word for it: Bryanston’s Estates Bursar Jon Mortimer said: “We have found the service provided by Aquacare to be professional, prompt and reliable, and would have no hesitation recommending them to others. Michele, our contact at AquaCare, has been crucial in building the relationship. She’s so helpful and if we ask her to do anything she does it without question. Since we switched to AquaCare there has been a noticeable, positive difference in service.”
Connecting children to confidence & supporting their mental health
Who am I? Hi, my name is Tara Russo. What do I do? I have a company called Wellbeing for Kids UK. I offer adults training in how to teach children and young people mindfulness and meditation. I also work directly with children and young people, connecting them to confidence via these powerful skills. Mindfulness and meditation help youngsters to feel happier, to manage their behaviour and so to feel empowered, to be more resilient, more focused and to help them cope with the stresses and strains of modern life. So, how can I help schools and organisations? I run Foundation Level Connected Kids™ training courses in Nottingham, and elsewhere by arrangement. This is a one day workshop plus you receive a copy of Calm Kids by Lorraine E. Murray (148 pages), access to extra online resources and an invitation to join the very supportive Facebook group, which has a wealth of experience to share. The course teaches you what mindfulness meditation is, the benefits of meditation for children, what stress is, particularly for children, and how to create unscripted meditations that connect with the children with whom you work and/or those within your family. The standard fee of the one day workshop is £199. I also offer Professional Level Connected Kids™ Training which has more emphasis on special needs, particularly ASD and ADHD. Following on from this three day course you can be insured to teach children professionally, and charge for your services. This course also has a coursework element. Please check the website for more details on course content and dates www.wellbeingforkidsuk.com I am also available for staff INSET, assemblies, working with classes, groups and individual children. Here are some of the benefits of meditation and mindfulness for children and young people. Both meditation and mindfulness: • improve focus and attention • promote a better quality of sleep. • boost physical health • promote self-regulation of • manage impulsivity encourage • build self-esteem • build resilience • help children with special needs e.g. ASD, ADHD to make sense of the world around them and give them tools to make their lives easier. All that remains for me to say for the moment is a huge thank you to you for reading my blog. If you would like to know more about what I do please have a look at my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/wellbeingforkidsuk/ and my website www.wellbeingforkidsuk.com. If you would like to get in touch with me I would be delighted to hear from you. My email address is tr@wellbeingforkidsuk.com. Tara
Green Fox Workshops
Gemma will tailor workshops to your topics and have your students producing some stunning outcomes that both the students and staff can be proud of. Previous topics Gemma has produced workshops for have been Queen Elizabeth 1st creating chalk pastel portraits of the Queen, World War 2 creating collages using printing techniques and pastels, ship wrecked pictures using chalk pastels and much more. For more information please get in touch via the website www.greenfoxworkshops.com. Gemma is a trained Art and Photography secondary school teacher and has over 10 years experience working with children of all ages. With Ofsted realising the health benefits of art in the curriculum; there is more need now than ever to allow children the time to engage and focus their minds on doing something creative. Children feel more relaxed and calm after doing some artwork and it has been proven that creating art has the same health benefits as meditation on our minds. Gemma also offers adult workshops so this could be the perfect staff well being workshop for all of your teachers and support staff. Green Fox workshops works with some well established places such as Bishops Palace, Tyntesfield National Trust and Hestercombe Gardens. To book your place today get in touch via the website or call 07532327810.
This is fostering
Over 100 children and young people come into care, everyday, in the UK. When these children and young people are unable to stay with their birth families, foster carers are there, ready to provide a safe, supportive and stable environment for them. 78% of these children will have experienced abuse, neglect or serious family dysfunction. However, not all foster care arrangements are permanent as the aim is always to return children to their birth families: when it is safe to do so. Foster care gives birth parents the space they need to make positive changes in their home and lifestyle whilst keeping their children safe. Foster families provide these children with a positive sense of family life, whilst these changes are taking place. There are so many great foster carers doing great work for these children, as well as benefiting from the experience themselves. Hackney Foster Carer, Janet said: “I feel like I have purpose again, and to be honest I think it has brought the family together. When everyone left home I would just go to work and come home to an empty house. Now I feel like I have it all back with my foster children, my adult children and grandchildren because we do a lot together.” Are you a potential foster carer? A good foster carer is understanding, empathetic, resilient and patient.They care about children and are committed to providing them with the help they need. If you have these basic qualities, then you might be who our children are looking for in their time of need. Foster carers are ordinary people like you, doing extraordinary things. It doesn’t matter if you are single, cohabiting, married or in a civil partnership, if you care about the wellbeing of children, and have a spare bedroom in your home, we would like to hear from you. As part of our commitment to achieving positive outcomes for young people, Hackney has recently introduced its own Supported Lodgings scheme. This service is a step down from fostering and aims to support care leavers’ transition to independent living. If you would like more information about fostering or supported lodgings in Hackney then call 020 8356 4028 or email fostering.recruitment@hackney.gov.uk and supportedlodgings@hackney.gov.uk respectively. https://hackney.gov.uk/fostering