Tuesday 21 January 2025

A message from Sara

I will start this week with the welcome news that the DfE has committed to fund the Holiday Activities and Food programme, known locally as Big Norfolk Holiday Fun, for a further year. 

It means activities will be able to continue over the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. As you know the scheme provides free activities and lunch for children eligible for free school meals. It's supported more than 18,000 children in Norfolk so far, so this is really positive news. 

We're waiting to hear the exact funding allocation for Norfolk, but we are hoping to be able to continue on a similar size and scale to previous years. 

Schools have played a pivotal role in the success of the scheme so far, through providing activities and promoting the scheme to parents, so thank you for your support. 

New appointments to our SEND and Inclusion Directorate 

In other good news, last week we made some key appointments to our SEND and Inclusion Directorate, with Alison Toombs appointed Assistant Director for SEND Operations. Karen Fields and Sarah Hatfield were made Joint Principal Educational Psychologists, following the retirement of James Thatcher - who provided so many years of dedicated service to the council and our children. I've no doubt many of you know all three already but I hope you'll join me in congratulating them on their new roles.  

Solving the SEND crisis - Education Select Committee 

A quick reminder that submissions to the Education Select Committee's SEND enquiry need to be put forward by Thursday 30 January. 

The cross-party committee of MPs is seeking evidence to stabilise the SEND system which, as we know, is currently experiencing increased high demand, protracted waiting times and increased pressure on schools and local authorities. 

The Committee will also be looking at how stability and long-term sustainability of the SEND system can be achieved to support and improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND. 

Violence in schools survey

In more concerning news, many of you probably saw the media reports this week about violence in schools. The survey, that was carried out before Christmas, highlighted the challenging behaviour that is being experienced by teaching colleagues. We meet regularly with the education unions, and we are looking at the findings of their survey in detail and working together on next steps. 

Meeting with Jonathan Duff, DfE Regional Director

Jonathan Duff, DfE Regional Director, joined us on Thursday last week, with his leadership team, to engage in our annual conversation about all our aspects of our work. It was a good two hours of discussion and it's positive, helpful and reassuring that we have a shared agenda that is well understood, with opportunities to integrate our developments with the work of the RISE teams. 

Thanks 

Sara Tough OBE

Executive Director of Children's Services
Norfolk County Council
Chair of the Children and Young People Strategic Alliance