It has been a great start to the new academic year for the Derby Priority Education Investment Area (DPEIA).
We were delighted that the Priority Literacy Year 2 Launch Event in September was fully booked with schools across the city eager to engage with the project. It was great to see the pupils of Derby logging 581,485 minutes in the recent Readathon and the continued fantastic feedback for the CPD and events available to priority and universal schools. To sign up for any events head to the calendar or for any other queries please contact hello@priorityliteracy.org.uk.
Our attendance strand has also had an exciting start to year 2 with a brand-new attendance campaign, which has been co-produced with pupils and families. A full toolkit is available on Derby Direction and some materials were delivered to schools in early October. It would be great to see these in the corridors and receptions of schools, and in other venues across the city, as well as online to showcase our positive, inclusive attendance messaging to pupils and parents. There is also a comprehensive CPD offer which you can sign up for here, along with continued links and shared resources from Derby’s Attendance Hub at Landau Forte College.
Our family support offer via Derby City Council also has capacity for more referrals. To ensure that this capacity is used for the benefit of pupils and families of Derby, we are relaxing the criteria for referrals. We will now consider any pupil from schools in Derby city with attendance rates of 60-90% with no involvement with any other agency such as Early Help or Social Care. Cases with multiple pupils in the same family will be prioritised. For any queries or referrals please contact: Penny.Scothern@derby.gov.uk or Jonie.Centro@derby.gov.uk.
As the DPEIA programme approaches its conclusion, we urge all schools to take advantage of the fantastic offers across Literacy and Attendance before the project ends in March 2025. We are excited to see what we can all achieve in the final four months. For any general enquiries about the project please contact priorityareas.eastmidlands@education.gov.uk.