Headlines - 03 March 2023 - Coventry Diocese Board of Education

6th March 2023

Congratulations to the Winners of the Racial Logo Competition!

Last year, the Diocesan Race Equality Advisory Group (REAG) responded to the Prophet Isaiah’s vision by launching a diocesan-wide art competition. 71 entries were received from students attending primary, secondary, and sixth form schools. These entries were put to a public vote with the winners being announced at a special service at Coventry Cathedral for Racial Justice Sunday. The banners display the three winning racial justice logos. The three logos were combined to create the final logo which is featured second in from the left of the photo above. Congratulations to Saachi Sandhu and Cathrine Ndungu (Year 8) and Thomas Daniel (year 9) From Blue Coat Church of England School and Zoe Challis and Finlay Crafar (Year 5) from Long Itchington Church of England Academy who were announced as winners.. And well done to Angel (year 7) from Harris CofE Academy who won the ‘People’s Choice Award’. Thanks to all the schools and pupils who engaged with this important work.

SIAMS News

For those due SIAMS this academic year…

Despite our earlier anticipation that schools would be inspected for SIAMS chronologically, we now have experience of two of our schools being notified ahead of waiting 2015 schools. This means that as you are currently on the list for this academic year, it is probably best to be prepared for the call at any time from now on. There are preparatory documents on the DBE website. Look for ‘SIAMS Clinic’ documents and use the passcode SIAMS. Please do alert your senior staff and governors too.

Congratulations to St Nicholas CofE Primary, Kenilworth who were inspected on 06 February and graded as a Good church school with Good collective worship. You can read their fantastic report here.

April Gold to Visit Kapsabet

Just a reminder that April Gold is joining a Diocesan delegation to Coventry’s link Anglican Diocese of Kapsabet in Kenya in May. Part of the visit will be visiting church schools and April will be taking small gifts which are highly treasured and much appreciated by pupils and teachers. It would be wonderful to have small school branded items such as pencils, key rings or any small stationary item that could be donated for April to take. Or alternatively any letters or pictures from your pupils. If you are interested in supporting in this way, or if you are interested in creating a formal link with a school in Kapsabet, please contact April to discuss.

Upcoming CPD…

RE:Search Group / Tuesday 07 March 16.00-17.00
The speaker is Dr Jasjit Singh and he will be talking about his research into digital religion regarding Sikhi and how we might use this within our classroom approaches to sharing Sikhi with pupils. If you are interested in joining this group which looks at how educational research can positively impact RE teaching in school, contact Jen Jenkins.

Governors Drop-In Discussion Network – Focus on Inclusion and Diversity Tuesday 07 March 19.00 – 20.00
(Please note this event will not be recorded) For more information and to book a place click here

Courageous Advocacy – Global Citizenship
Wednesday 08 March 16.00 – 17.00
For more information and to book a place click here

School Admissions and Appeals
Friday 17 March 14.00 – 15.00 – Cost: £25
For more information and to book a place click here

RE:Search Group
Tuesday 28 March 16.30-17.30
Please note that due to her recent illness, Jen Jenkins’ SIAMS CPD sessions have been rescheduled for after Easter. For more information or to book click on the following links:

Empowering Voices, Exploring Worldviews

Lincoln Diocesan Board of Education has been leading a project to support children and young people to engage with a range of religious and non-religious worldviews. The latest iteration of this work is the Empowering Voices project. This is a series of thirty-minute podcasts, each of which focuses on a particular worldview. Each podcast comprises an audio play written collaboratively by young people and a professional writer, an ‘in-conversation’ piece that picks up on the themes of the play, and an immersive soundscape; the team have also produced accompanying education packs for each podcast, aimed at KS2 to KS3. They have just launched their first two podcasts: the first focuses on the experience of white reverts to Islam in Scunthorpe and the second explores a black Evangelical Christian worldview in Bristol. Future podcasts include engagement with Hindu and Sikhi worldviews in the Midlands, Jewish worldviews in Hertfordshire, the experience of a Pakistani Humanist in the south west and a female experience of Anglican Christianity. These podcasts are publicly available and the project team are keen to invite schools to pilot using the podcasts and associated education packs as part of their RE curriculum. If any schools would be interested in doing this or finding out more, please contact gillian.georgiou@lincoln.anglican.org

Get Involved with Earth Day 2023 with a ‘Rubbish Week’

Free Earth Day Schools Kit from Bin Twinning

The theme of this year’s Earth Day is ‘invest in our planet’. Between Monday 17 and Friday 21 April, your school can have a ‘rubbish’ time learning about the global waste crisis and Bin Twinning’s work to deal with single-use plastics in some of the poorest nations on earth. In the FREE schools’ kit, schools will find:

An interactive lesson plan full of facts and stories to help primary and secondary students learn about the human and environmental impact of plastic pollution
Quizzes and activities to make the learning fun and memorable
Films showing the journey of plastic waste
A junk-modelling competition with the chance to win a Bin Twinning litter picking kit for your school!

Download the free resources from the Bin Twinning website here.

Advice Hub for Parents

Place2Be has a ‘Parenting Smart’ site which is filled with a number of resources for parents and carers of 4-11 year olds. All the articles and films can be read or watched in under ten minutes. They are perfect for those with limited time. There is a wealth of topics such as reading with children, building resilience, sleeping, toileting and eating habits, emotional regulation, dealing with change etc. All in an easy to read format. Find them on the Place2Be website here: https://parentingsmart.place2be.org.uk/

The Mulberry Bush

Introduction to Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)

The Mulberry Bush, our partners in the Beacon Project, have designed this training for anyone working with children, young people and/or their parents or carers. It aims to provide an understanding of what a child or young person’s behaviour may be communicating and ways to reduce this anxiety, prevent and de-escalate behaviours which challenge us. The course includes three core training elements:

Introduction to Making Sense of Behaviour
Introduction to Attachment Informed Practice
Introduction to Brain Development and Trauma

The three elements are based on long experience of working with children who have experienced complex trauma and reflect our core values and approaches. The sessions provide the chance to understand and think about social, emotional, and cognitive developmental experiences which may impact on how children and young people manage the many and varied demands of school. Together they form the basis for working within a reflective, relational approach with children who have Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. This course is made up of three, two-hour online sessions. The cost is £95 per person online. All sessions run between 15:30-17:30 on the following dates:

Tuesday 9th May 2023
Tuesday 6th June 2023
Tuesday 4th July 2023

For further information visit https://mulberrybush.org.uk/eventstraining/introduction-to-semh/ For further details and to register please contact Angie Brown abrown@mulberrybush.org.uk or call 01865 594700

RE Workshops from the Dance Springs Company

Springs provides an exciting way for children to interact with the R.E. curriculum through physical movement and creativity. They are now offering:

The Good Samaritan – Based on one of the Parables that Jesus told, these workshops provide opportunities for children to explore the importance of helping others and standing up for them, even if they are not like you. The workshops touch on themes of living in a multi-racial / multi-religious society.

Creation – the Creation Project introduces the Genesis narrative of creation in a fun, inclusive and engaging way through dance. Children will have the opportunity to explore some key concepts such as who made the world, what God is like and the relationship between creator and created.

Other popular workshops include The Selfish Giant, Get Fit Go Green, You Are Special and The Christmas Story: Refugee. Further details can be found at https://springsdancecompany.org.uk/index.php/join-in/schools-workshops To book and to find out more please email touring@springsdancecompany.org.uk or call 07775 628 442.

Creating a Culture of Support in School

In a job such as teaching, our personal lives often spill into our professional ones – and vice-versa. But when someone is going through something personally challenging, is there a culture of support in your school, or is it a case of people trying to muddle through on their own? This 5 minute read from Laughology on ‘Life sucks sometimes, doesn’t it?’ gives some great tips to help school leaders manage supportive conversations.

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Headlines – 03 March 2023