Primary NQT Day 3: Please book in your NQTs for the final day of training. Please select from Wednesday 25 Thursday 26 or Friday 27 April at DBH or Monday 30 at the Moat House Stafford, or Wednesday 2 May in Thame.
Primary & Secondary Many thanks to all the school who participated in the Attainment Standards Pilot. We will shortly be emailing you the link for the evaluation questionnaire.
SECONDARY R.E. & CATHOLIC LIFE
For any queries or questions relating to Secondary School Catholic life and RE please contact Daniel Vince at d.vince@bdes.org.uk
A Level RE Conference: We were delighted to welcome Greg Baker to our first RE A Level conference on Friday 23rd March. Many thanks to all the staff who attended and with the positive feedback that has been received we will look to develop this provision in the next academic year
DES INSET Please be aware of the remaining INSET days for Secondary School RE and Catholic Life for the Summer term
22/05/18 – Coventry and Area RE Partnership- Cardinal Wiseman, Coventry 24/05/18 – Birmingham RE Partnership at DBH, Coleshill 06/06/18 – Black Country RE Partnership- Bishop Milner, Dudley 13/06/18 – Oxford RE Partnership- St Gregory the Great, Oxford 19/06/18 – South Diocese RE Partnership- St Bede’s, Redditch 20/06/18 – Stafford RE Partnership- Painsley Catholic College, Cheadle 10/07/18 –RE Conference Day 3 at DBH, Coleshill
Head of RE Appointments Please can all schools be reminded that, as the third protected post in secondary schools, the Diocese should be involved in all stages of the recruitment of Heads of R.E.
In School INSET This year the DES team have provided in school INSET days and twilights in a large number of our Secondary schools. The INSETs have covered the following topics and more:
Mission and Ethos Vocation of Catholic Educators Spirituality across the Curriculum Values/Virtues driven Education Celebrating our Catholic Identity Unique Nature of Catholic Education Transformational Catholic life Catholic Curriculum.
The feedback from these INSETs has been again extremely positive and we encourage any school who wishes to run a Catholic life INSET day or twilight to contact the DES and we would be delighted to discuss how we can support your school in this. Additionally, if you would like to contact one of the schools for their feedback we can easily put you in contact with them.
SCHOOL ADMISSION APPEAL When organising school admission appeals, schools should not rely on previous lists of panel members as these constantly change. Please contact the Diocese to ask to be sent the most recent versions of all the appeals guidance documents and lists. Also, please ensure that under no circumstances are the personal details, i.e. addresses and contact details, of appeal clerks or panel members provided to any parents. The parents should only be given the names of the clerks and panel members, and nothing else
LEADERSHIP We are grateful to all those who have attended and who have contributed to the raft of leadership training opportunities offered by the DES this year. As a result of work in this area and succession planning in schools, we are delighted to report a growth in applications for Senior Leadership posts both at primary and secondary level in schools across the Archdiocese. This gives us great hope for the future. We encourage you to continue to identify potential leaders in your schools, to speak directly to them about their personal faith commitment and practice and to provide opportunities for them to lead an area of school life where they can give public witness to their faith. Our future leaders learn much from your own personal faith witness and from the many wonderful ways in which you lead the faith life of your school. We thank you for all you do in keeping the faith life of your school fully alive.
LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE We very much look forward to seeing all our schools represented at our Leadership Conference at the ICC on 20th June 2018. On arrival at the ICC please make your way directly to the lobby areas of Symphony Hall where registration is taking place and where refreshments will be served this year.
CHAPLAINCY NEWS Synod events - Thank you to all our schools who took part in the SYNOD think tanks! 22 secondary schools were visited over the two weeks and the response from both young people and staff was overwhelming - we look forward to analysing the data and formulating the report!
Holy Land pilgrimage - I am excited to announce that we will be taking a pilgrimage to the Holy Land 16th-23rd February 2019. This will be a great chance to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and bring the bible to life! The total cost is £1200 for all flights, half board, excursions and an English-speaking guide. Please email b.roseman@bdes.org.uk for more details.
Lay Chaplaincy Inset days - Our next INSET day will take place on April 18th. We welcome Christian mental health experts from YouthScape who will be focusing on supporting young people with anxiety and stress. It will be held at Don Bosco House from 9-3 and is free to those who are a part of the Chaplaincy Agreement. This is a great chance for Lay Chaplains to receive professional training and development with national speakers and share good practice with each other. These INSET days are an important part of our work with Lay Chaplains and so we hope to see as many there as possible. To book a place email b.roseman@bdes.org.uk
Please contact Beccy Roseman with any requests for INSET or support on b.roseman@bdes.org.uk
ACADEMY STATEMENT Congratulations to Archbishop Ilsley and Holy Trinity who received approval from the HTB to form the new St. Theresa of Calcutta Multi Academy Company.
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
