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Welcome back to the first of our Termly Updates. All of us at the Salisbury Diocesan Board of Education (SDBE) hope that you have had a wonderful break over the summer and that you returned refreshed and recharged to serve the children, families and communities with which you work.
We extend an especial welcome to all the new staff and school leaders taking up post this September. We thank all of you for the commitment, love and leadership you bring to your role, and offer you our hand of friendship and welcome as we walk beside and serve you in turn.
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Local and National Church of England news
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The Diocese of Salisbury has a new website - Click here for the DBE’s home page for schools and academies. It includes links to all areas of our work, including Governance and RE. You can also click to the latest Senior Leaders’ Termly Mailing and Thought for the Week from the homepage where the cache of past mailings can also be found.
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Generosity Week - is coming up and resources include short podcasts from people reflecting upon passages in the bible including John 10:10 (The vision for Education from The Church of England Education Office) and The Good Samaritan. See all the resources here: Generosity Week | The Church of England
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Could you write a Thought for the Week for us? We are seeking contributions of photographs and reflections for our Thought for the Week. If you could include ideas from children, young people, your family or have something of your own to share with us, please email Elspeth.mcnicol@salisbury.anglican.org for the guidance and template document. Thank you very much.
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Towards a fully trust-led system - The Board of Education has recently held two information forums on the Government’s White Paper. For those unable to attend, Dan Roberts will be hosting a virtual version of the event on 29th November from 9.30 – 12.30. We will email the booking link soon.
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The Confederation of Schools Trust (CST) now has 1,000 MATs as members, with more than 6,600 academy schools, educating 3 million children. Leora Cruddas, CEO, has written to members to share a number of key updates.
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Church of England Foundation for Educational Leadership (CEFEL) - The deadline for applications for February’s NPQs is 16th October. The programmes include Leading Literacy and EYFS. Read more here. The CEFEL National Conference ‘Flourishing Together’ is in London on Friday 27th January 2023. See who’s speaking at this inspirational event with vision at the heart of speakers and workshops. Not to be missed! Book your ticket here.
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SIAMS Update - Over the summer the website page for SIAMS has been updated. It includes the list of schools expected to be inspected this academic year; SIAMS reports for schools inspected since September 2021; a template for a short 2-page SEF summary and the full national SIAMS evaluation report that Steve Cowdery referenced in this week’s letter to school and MAT leaders.
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BWET Grant application bids are welcomed until 9th December 2022. The information you need to bid for up to £3,000 to support Religious Education and school’s is on the DBE pages of the website here.
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Book onto courses - All courses can be booked on this page of the website. A sample of up-coming courses includes a virtual session for new school leaders; a morning exploring how church and school communities can work with Under 5s; and you can see all the ‘free to PSA school’ courses too. (Just search PSA in the search bar.) We look forward to seeing you soon!
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Courses for RE are in three parts this year - For Leaders of RE - Leading RE in a Church School will take place over three sessions. The first two will be virtual and the moderation session will be in person at the Diocesan Education Centre in the summer. It is free for PSA schools so don’t forget to book your place on each one! The first is 29th November.
The RE Network Hubs are now free to any school to attend. They are open to any teachers of RE and are appropriate for all key stages. Please let your Hub Lead Practitioner know you can come and why not bring a friend from another school. Working in an independent school? A community school? You are welcome! For all details see our Networks Webpage.
Annual virtual RE Conference - Book your place for our popular and highly rated Annual virtual RE Conference which is on Tuesday 21st March 2023. It is Free for PSA subscribed schools and only £50 for all others. Do share the details.
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Do you teach RE in KS3 or above? Our free RE Forum will continue this year. It is led by Steph Rann at The Gryphon School, with input from colleagues within and beyond our diocese. All welcome. Please email Steph at Stephanie.Rann@gryphon.dorset.sch.uk to receive emails and joining links. Meetings are from 15:45 - 16:45. Please save the dates: Wednesday 28th September, Wednesday 1st February and Wednesday 28th June.
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Suffolk SACRE - The Suffolk SACRE have an ‘open to all’ website with very useful Padlets to support teacher Subject Knowledge for RE. Don’t miss the bottom Padlet with links to REAL voices of faith and non-faith. Further down the page is a useful guidance document and audit tool to monitor the use of Class Scrapbooks/Floor Books. See the Church of England audit tool to help you check whether your curriculum is balanced (Theology, Philosophy and Human Social Science).
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Courses run by NATRE include this virtual training for Understanding Christianity for Primary Schools (3 sessions, beginning with a half-day on 16th November). Or sign up for some of their Primary and Secondary virtual subject knowledge webinars.
NATRE are taking bookings for their inspiring virtual conference @StrictlyRE on the weekend of 28/29th January 2023. The themes are Depth, Diversity and Abrahamic Worldviews. Book before end of October to receive an Early Bird discount.
Membership to NATRE comes in different packages. Take a look here.
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Understanding Humanism are offering training for teachers at £20 per person from 16:00-17:30 on the following dates:
Primary Teacher Training - 27th September 2022, Register here and 18th October 2022, 16:00-17.30 Register here
Secondary teacher training - 29th September Register here and 20th October 2022, Register here
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Interfaith week 2022 takes place between 13th and 20th November. You can find information and guidance on the website. See responses from faith leaders to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the Interfaith Facebook page. Who will you ask to come and speak at your school?
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Autumn Term Collective Worship Courses – Courses will run in person in three venues across the diocese. As well as focusing on ways that young people lead in CW, we will explore how music, silence, story, prayer and reflection can be used in school CW and in intergenerational activities schools might share into the local community. Training will include updates on SIAMS, including national learning from last year’s inspections. We look forward to seeing you there! Places are limited so don’t forget: Book here.
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Research suggests that young people are more likely than older generations to pray – The Savanta ComRes poll was commissioned by the Church of England. Church Times has some analysis. A short recording on Christian Radio here.
Prayer Spaces in Schools - Read this article for Ten reasons to run an Outdoor Prayer Space, and here are resources for prayer space activities relating to The Queen.
The Lord’s Prayer in different languages - Free to use video recorded by children from C of E schools in Birmingham. Find out more on this link on YouTube.
How to Pray: A Guide for Young Explorers - A new book from Pete Greig (24-7 Prayer) and children’s TV presenter Gemma Hunt aimed at 8-11 year olds. Find out more from the Big Church Read.
Pocket Prayers ‘little book’ resources can be ordered here.
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Assembly resources, lesson plans and Prayer Space materials that are free to download can be found on the Christian Aid website. Many of the themes link to Creationtide and Harvest and there are materials suitable for Secondary as well as Primary age groups. Do let us know how you use them.
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Why run a Prayer and Reflection Space? Whether you’ve run lots of prayer spaces, or are just getting started, join the team for an evening of insight and inspiration. Meet on Zoom for a free session on Monday 26th of September at 7:30pm-8:30pm. Sign up for your free ticket.
The National Day of Prayer for Schools is happening on 22nd September 2022 and Pais Movement will be working again with Youthscape. You could join early morning prayer Zooms, host an in-person or online prayer meeting or arrange a prayer walk. To find out more visit the PAIS website.
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Spinnaker Trust - ‘It’s Jesus’ is a suite of 39 resources covering the key moments of Jesus’ life: the events and activities, the stories and teaching, the miracles and sacrifices. They are free to download from the resources page and could be suitable for use in primary class collective worship. Whilst the foundations of the material are rooted in Gospel, the reflections and applications that aim to be universally accessible to all.
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Open the Book teams have been popping up in parishes all over the diocese, offering dramatised Bible stories to primary schools as part of their Collective Worship programme. They have several dates for Online Core Training for those interested in joining or setting up an Open the Book team. Why not share the link?
Revd Kate Sax, Associate Priest in Quantock Deanery, has written a Grove book all about Open the Book. Kate's book is a guide to supporting the use of Open the Book, aimed at schools and churches and full of practical advice. It’s available online for less than £4.
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Great Big Green Week - Help the Climate Coalition make 24th September to 2nd October the greatest, biggest, greenest week the UK has ever seen by organising a Great Big Green Week event in your community.
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‘How to Help’ - Youth For Christ has some free downloads to use with young people and families. There’s a new one for Helping the Planet and one about Being Healthy that includes Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength.
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‘Archbishops’ Young Leaders Award’ News! Over the summer, the Young Leaders Award became part of the Church of England’s National Education Office’s team and is now known as the Archbishops’ Young Leaders Award (AYLA).
With the cost of living challenge, and the death of The Queen reminding us of the importance of community and serving others, the AYLA team have re-launched their free resource Community Matters. It provides activities and ideas to help KS1-KS3 pupils explore why community matters, looking at a range of social and environmental issues, and consider how children and young people can become courageous advocates and play their part in creating positive change. Find out more here: For free webinars which explore the programme materials, the learning outcomes and curriculum links (as well as providing examples of social action projects carried out by schools), sign up here.
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Equip your school with free financial education resources from Lifesavers. Did you know that essential money habits are developed as early as age 3? How can schools make sure children have the essential foundation needed to manage money later in life? Just Finance Foundation (JFF) have produced free resources, centred on values, through the LifeSavers programme. It includes flexible lesson plans, storybooks and assembly resources. Visit JFF’s Resource Hub and register.
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The Children’s Society have shared two updates relating to exploitation. Their #Look Closer campaign runs from the 3rd to the 9th October . It is their national partnership campaign with the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre and the British Transport Police aiming to raise awareness of child exploitation and abuse, with a particular focus on public spaces. The campaign also seeks to challenge assumptions and stereotypes of victimhood and highlights that child exploitation can happen anywhere, and any young person can be a victim.
Register here for the launch briefing to be held on Monday the 3rd of October.
They have also produced an Exploitation Awareness Toolkit designed specifically for staff working in mainstream secondary schools. The toolkit contains training videos, explainers and downloadable lesson plans which help schools better understand and respond to young people affected by exploitation. It can be accessed here.
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Are you using awareness calendars well? Read this short blog by Shonagh Reid. (Shonagh is a consultant on DEI for CEFEL).
On True Tube there are valuable PSHE and RE videos such as this one: ‘Autism, Hinduism and Me’.
It’s Black History Month in October, and here are Anti-Racist resources from NATRE exist for primary and secondary pupils. The Lambeth Conference included discussion about same sex marriage – see the RE Newsletter from Ed Pawson
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Share your news!
We look forward to hearing about your school news stories and sharing them through social media and on the diocese’s news page. 150-250 words and a royalty-free image with all necessary permissions is all that we need. See examples from some of our schools here and here and here. Please email your stories to elspeth.mcnicol@salisbury.anglican.org
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Windows Of My Soul
Life might be a mystery but it’s equally spectacular,
Eye-widening, breath-taking, unkind or peculiar.
Life’s story is eternal, but it also has an ending,
Death is inevitable, however heartrending.
If you start to worry, your story becomes unsettled,
Like a rose in full bloom losing its petals.
It can be petrifying, eye-watering, a lake of heavy tears,
You never know what evil is lurking amongst your fears.
If you always keep moving, things can become more stable,
It’s like you’re a baby learning to climb out of your cradle.
Your story will continue right to the end,
Always keep believing round every corner and every bend.
Sydney (Age 9), St Matthew's School
(Spirited Arts Entry 2019)
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In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:6
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