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With the largest percentage of every school’s expenditure being on staffing costs, it is essential that all schools undertake regular payroll reconciliations. A good payroll reconciliation will be thorough check of expected employee costs per month to actual employee costs.

An effective reconciliation should not only identify incorrect staffing forecasts, but also incorrect payments to staff, creating a ‘win-win’ situation.

During this session we will show you how to use the payroll reconciliation function in HCSS.

There will be plenty of opportunit ...

"If you’re going to improve as a writer, you can’t just luxuriate in the experience – you have to look at how the writer constructs text." (Wise, 2017).

Sentence structure is a significant element of the writing curriculum, however many children struggle when it comes to really understanding what a sentence is. The first part of this session will look at how sentence structure progresses, from single-word sentences, through the use of various phrases and clauses to controlling and manipulating multi-clause sentences.

The second part of the session will focu ...

Schools rely upon good solid budget plans and regular monitoring to survive the inevitable twists and turns that the school year provides. Accurate budget monitoring reports provide the necessary information about a schools’ spending patterns and assist the schools’ management or finance staff to recognise and provide realistic forecasts. Good financial management in schools essentially comes from maintaining knowledge, this is achieved through accurate budget monitoring.

There are significant advantages of using HCSS to create a ‘snapshot’. Consider that you ...

Current school staffing regulations (Keeping Children Safe in Education) require that at least one member of a school interview panel must have completed appropriate safer recruitment training. The session offered complies with updated DfE safer recruitment guidance for schools. The session is suitable for participants who are new to the subject of Safer Recruitment, and participants will be fully accredited in Safer Recruitment. The course includes consideration of the different types of abuse; how abusers operate; safeguarding within recruitment and selection procedures, including the use ...

The SFVS is a compulsory document that has to be submitted annually to Internal Audit.

This course will develop your knowledge and understanding of the SFVS requirements, including the statutory responsibility for completion. You will receive advice and guidance on the sources of evidence and assurance that is required and considers how you can work effectively with Governors.

The deadline for SFVS submission is 31 March 2023.

Open to all school staff who are involved in preparing or completing the SFVS with Governors.

This course costs £25 for South Gl ...

Teaching Assistants are one of the biggest investments we make in provision for pupils with SEN and they provide a wide range of support. We will look at how we can most effectively use Teaching Assistants in our classrooms, including when providing 1-1 support or when delivering interventions. We will also discuss what the research tells us about effective use of TAs.
In this course we will:
• Explore the role of the TA, particularly in EYFS and Key Stage 1
• What impact can the role of the TA have for children with SEND? What does the latest research tell us?

Do you know what DFC is?

What can you spend it on? What can’t you spend it on? How or when you use revenue funding to pay for a capital project? How do you account for it in Civica?

All these questions and more will be answered in this session. We will be joined by Caroline Walsh from the Corporate Capital team so if there is anything you ever wanted to know about Capital income and spending, please come along.

There will be plenty of opportunities to ask your own questions during the session.

Open to all school staff with financial responsibilities.

These sessions for headteachers and senior leaders will cover an overview of the expectations and information outlined in the Ofsted handbook and the context this provides for school improvement and leadership. Sessions will cover:

• Overview of the key judgements and statutory expectations
• Focus on quality of education
• Evaluating your curriculum

If you are a school supported by a South Gloucestershire Challenge and Support Partner you may wish to attend Ensuring Effectiveness in the School Improvement Cycle in the context of the Ofsted Framewo ...

‘Anyone who says writing is easy isn’t doing it right!’ (Amy Joy, author)

This is a sentiment seemingly shared by many - a brief search of the internet for quotes about the writing process results in a multitude of quips about the difficulties of writing fiction. It is no wonder that children find narrative writing tricky: even keen and competent readers can struggle when it comes to wrestling with the complexities of storytelling.

Narrative is complex because it demands not only creativity but also the manipulation of plot, charac ...