Welcome back to Summer Term 6. I hope that everyone enjoyed the half term break – especially the Jubilee celebrations!

I thought I would start Term 6 by revisiting our core purpose; why do we do what we do, and the values that shape how we act. The culture that we develop across our schools is born from the behaviours that we demonstrate on a daily basis. This is why our jointly derived values are so important since they influence our decision making, how we act and how we talk and interact with each other.

Phonics screening

Good luck to everyone in our schools as they work with our children through this week of phonic screening. We know the vital importance of children being able to read fluently and with understanding.

INSET (non-pupil) days 2022-23

I think that we are now successfully aligned across our family of schools for both primary and secondary phases.

  • Thursday 1 September 2022 - All WeST primary teachers & leaders will participate in the third and final session of our Curriculum development programme at the Crowne Plaza in Plymouth.
  • Friday 2 September 2022 (School based INSET)
  • Monday 31 October 2022
  • Tuesday 3 January 2023
  • Monday 20 February 2023
  • Monday 17 April 2023

Following a period of busy recruitment at the end of May, I am pleased to signpost a couple of appointments.

  • WeST Executive Director of Science – Simon O’Neill
  • WeST Executive Director of Training & Learning (Maternity cover) – Amy Pearce
  • WeST Lead Practitioner RE & PHSE – Lauren Partridge

Have a terrific first week back.

Best wishes, 

Rob Haring, CEO

Diabetes and Mental Health - Awareness Event

WeST is pleased to continue working with Able Futures to support staff. Next month for Diabetes Awareness Week Able Futures will be delivering a free session on how mental health and diabetes can be connected.

Thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes can affect how healthy your body is. Untreated mental health issues can make diabetes worse, and problems with diabetes can make mental health issues worse. But fortunately, if one gets better, the other tends to get better, too.

People with diabetes are 2 to 3 times more likely to have depression than people without diabetes. Only 25% to 50% of people with diabetes who have depression get diagnosed and treated. But treatment—therapy, medicine, or both—is usually very effective. 

Anxiety (feelings of worry, fear, or being on edge) is how your mind and body react to stress. People with diabetes are 20% more likely than those without diabetes to have anxiety at some point in their life. Managing a long-term condition like diabetes is a major source of anxiety for some.

A free information event is planned for Mon 13 June at 2pm. Please see attached poster for more details or visit here to register: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5209118177620775435?source=Angela

Hosted by an Able Futures Vocational Rehabilitation Consultant, this session will explain how diabetes and mental health can be connected and outline how anyone who is in work can get support from Able Futures.

Tag Rugby

On Thursday 19 May, Arena held two Westcountry Schools Trust Tag Rugby competitions at Morley Meadow. The day was divided into one form entry and two form entry schools. In the morning, one form entry school competition, we had schools from Wembury, Yealmpton, Morley Meadow and Buckfastleigh. All the teams played well and with enthusiasm with Wembury being awarded winners, after beating Buckfastleigh in the Final. In the afternoon, two form entry school competition, we had schools from Woodford, Boringdon, Stowford and Woodlands Park. All teams worked well together and some super trys were scored. The final was decided between Stowford and Woodford with Stowford being comfortable winners. With nearly one hundred children competing throughout the day in the glorious sunshine this was a fun and successful event.

A big thank you to all of you who completed our Starter Experience Survey last month.

We would like to thank all of you who commenced a new role with the Trust recently and took the time to feedback to us how the Trust was doing with its recruitment and selection process. Your feedback will help us in our efforts to continually improve the recruitment experience of all our potential new starters.

There were many positives, some of which we can share with you now. 

  • We asked you to rate how straightforward you found the application process for your new post. You gave the application process an average score of 4.61 stars out of 5.
  • 95.6% of you received an invite to interview less than 2 weeks after the advert close date.
  • We asked you to rate your invite to the selection process and any subsequent communications in relation to it. You gave us an average score of 4.91 stars out of 5 for this.
  • We asked you to think about your pre-employment checks and to rate us on how we did with these in terms of communication, efficiency and helpfulness (with 1 star = poor and 5 stars = excellent).  You gave us an average score of 4.87 stars out of 5 for this.
  • We asked you to rate your experience of working for the Trust so far (with 1 star = poor and 5 stars = excellent). You gave us an average score of 4.43 stars.
  • We asked you to look back to before you started work and assess how did in terms of getting you what your needed to get started (with 1 star = you did not have what you needed and 5 stars = you had everything that you needed). You gave us an average score of 4.30 stars.
  • We asked you how clear the presentation of information was during your first few days (with 1 star = very unclear and 5 stars = very clear).  You gave us an average score of 4.22 stars.
  • We asked you how well you understand how your job supports the Trust's Vision, Values and Beliefs ( with 1 star = not well at all and 5 stars = extremely well). You gave us an average score of 4.30 stars.

There are also some areas that you identified where we could do better:

  • Only 69.5% of you felt that you were presented with about the right amount of information when you started.
  • 17% of you reported that you did not have an induction for your new role.
  • A further 17% of you reported that your induction was only partially relevant to your new role.

We really appreciate your suggestions around this. The full results are being analysed and will be used to improve the candidate experience of our recruitment and selection process moving forward. Thank you for your time.

Joyful June 

Recruitment update:

We are delighted to inform you of the following exciting career opportunities within our Trust:-  

Westcountry Schools Trust is seeking to appoint a HR Officer or HR Advisor to work across the Trust. The post holder will provide advice and support on a broad range of employee relations matters, helping to ensure timely progression of queries and cases in line with Trust policies, employment legislation and best practice guidance. If you are a dedicated and highly proficient HR generalist looking to consolidate your practice and further your career in the education sector, this post provides the opportunity to take the next exciting step in your journey. For more information, please go here. Closing date: 9am on Monday, 13 June 2022.

Oreston Community Academy are looking an enthusiastic and motivated Class Teacher. This is on a full-time fixed term temporary contract for one year. Yopu will need to be a highly effective, creative teacher committed to raising educational standards and promoting personal development for all children. For more information, please go here. Closing date: Monday 13 June at midday. 

Woodford Primary School are looking for a highly skilled Teaching Assistant to join their very supportive, hardworking and successful team from September 2022. The role would be within our Early Years Foundation Stage team. Woodford wish to appoint someone who is able to use their initiative in the classroom to help support the high quality curriculum delivery in EYFS; implement intervention programmes for individual and small groups of children and work closely alongside a dedicated team to provide the best possible opportunities for our children. For more information, please go here. Closing date: noon on Friday 10 June 2022. 

Callington Community College are looking for a Teacher of Mathematics. Callington are looking for a talented, enthusiastic and inspirational candidate, with outstanding inter-personal skills, to teach Mathematics. This post is suitable for an experienced teacher with a passion for Mathematics. Additionally, we would welcome applications from ECTs. For more information, please go here. Closing date: 9.00 am Monday 20 June 2022. 

Coombe Dean are looking for the following vacancies:

Year Team Leader - In this post you will have a varied role focused around supporting students and families to fully engage in school life so that young people can make great progress in terms of their academic, social and emotional development. For more information, please go here. Closing date: 10 June 2022. 

Behaviour Support - To work alongside the Behaviour Support Manager and the Progress Leader, within the Inclusion Team, with a focus on supporting students who are identified as having barriers to their learning and progress, mainly due to behavioural difficulties.For more information, please go here. Closing date: 10 June 2022. 

Year Team Leader for 2022-23 - In this post you will have a varied role focused around supporting students and families to fully engage in school life so that young people can make great progress in terms of their academic, social and emotional development. For more information, please go here. Closing date: 10 June 2022. 

Cleaner - To clean such part of the premises as allocated by the caretaker to ensure that they are kept in a clean and hygienic condition. The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate a sound knowledge of COSSH & Health & Safety Standards. For more information, please go here. Closing date: 15 June 2022. 

Part time admin/reception opportunity for Term 6 at Coombe Dean! Are you a part-time Administrator or colleague with transferable administration skills? Are you wanting to earn some extra money for the summer holidays?  If so, Coombe Dean require admin/reception support for Term 6. This is an opportunity to undertake some part time cover work with skills in providing customer service, greeting visitors, data entry, and preparing letters. Due to the exceptional circumstances of the school we are looking for temporary cover this term and hope this may be of interest to a WeST colleague. We are able to offer NJC pay and relevant terms and provide a warm welcome in a ‘Good’ school setting. If you are interested in some extra hours, please email khill@coombedean.co.uk."