Welcome to West Berkshire Education

This site provides comprehensive information on all the services currently available to schools, academies and other organisations from West Berkshire Council. West Berkshire Council has a great deal of experience and expertise in providing support and services to schools. There are many benefits to buying services from the Local Authority: • We are committed to supporting schools to make the best possible use of their resources in order to maximise the impact on raising educational standards for pupils. • We have an experienced and highly trained workforce familiar with the work of schools and in the context in which they operate. • We ensure our services are compliant with legal requirements and national standards • We are committed to improving the lives of children.

West Berkshire Public Health and Wellbeing have commissioned Brook, sexual health charity and educator, to deliver training for West Berkshire teachers delivering Relationships and Sex Education. The first two workshops are for secondary teachers and are free. From September workshops will also be available for primary teachers and further workshops for secondary teachers. Training dates 14th and 16th July 2020 To book please visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-introduction-to-mrse-and-sex-education-west-berkshire-only-tickets-111783284814 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-introduction-to-mrse-and-sex-education-west-berkshire-only-tickets-111833519066

The Early Years Service Team has now created a West Berkshire school readiness poster – “ A Flying Start to School”. (see download) We hope that this will be a useful resource which will enable schools, settings and childminders to have a common language with regards to school readiness, supporting transition, and to help signpost parents of ways they can support their child prior to starting school. There is also a page on the West Berkshire directory which complements the poster and provides further information: www.westberks.gov.uk/flyingstart

New from e-Bug an e-story book ‘My Back to School Bubble’ ‘My Back to School Bubble’ aims to help children understand the new protective measures that may be in place at their school, in an age-appropriate way. It reinforces public health messages including the importance of hand and respiratory hygiene, while reassuring children that everyone makes mistakes, helping to combat feelings of anxiety, that have been reported by parents. The published story is available as a free download and can be found alongside our other COVID-19 resources on the e-Bug website. We hope to evaluate this resource and collect feedback to inform future projects. Please contribute via the feedback survey.

The Health and Wellbeing in Schools team is delighted to announce that the Young Health Champions programme will be fully funded by West Berkshire Council Public Health and Wellbeing from September 2020. Over the next two academic years ( 20/21 and 21/22) we will be able to work with Year 8 and 9 students in 10 secondary schools. Each school will be able to recruit 10 students to participate in the programme delivered by the Health and Wellbeing in Schools team. Please see the attached flyer for more information on the programme. Schools can register their interest by emailing Nikki Davies Nikki.davies@westberks.gov.uk Schools will be asked to nominate a local programme coordinator to work with the team to recruit students and manage the programme in their school. School coordinators and students will be fully supported by the Health and Wellbeing in Schools team.