Please note: In addition the bulletin issued yesterday, below are updates on flu vaccination vouchers and risk assessment templates.
Flu vaccination vouchers for maintained schools staff have been processed and are being posted to schools today. Requests for vouchers from around 30 academies are currently being processed and will be posted next week.
All schools should receive their vouchers by the end of next week. Vouchers can be redeemed at pharmacies.
Please note, national policy is that vaccinations are being rolled out in a phased approach. Currently people over 65, patients and frontline health and social care workers are being vaccinated. Subsequent waves will see vaccinations delivered first to 50-64 year olds, then all other groups. As such schools staff may not yet be able to access vaccination.
It is strongly recommended that all staff contact their pharmacy before attending to ensure that vaccine is available and they are eligible at the current time.
If your school has vouchers left over, please return them to:
- Jo Richardson, Cumbria Fire and Rescue Service HQ, Carleton Avenue, Penrith, CA10 2FA.
Following a request from the Education Planning Group, we have reviewed and updated the Model COVID-19 risk assessment to reflect recent changes to the Government guidance regarding Lockdown and Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Staff.
This does not replace your existing risk assessment but can be used to review/amend your existing controls.
Item's from the Thursday 19 November update below:
Our latest guidance on supporting staff identified as being clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) and clinically vulnerable (CV) can be found here. Key points are as follows:
- During this period school-based employees who are classed as CEV are to remain at home and should be paid their normal pay. They should work from home where they can.
- People who live with others who are CEV can still attend work even if they cannot work from home.
- Clinically Vulnerable staff should work at home wherever possible, or where Covid secure measures cannot be maintained.
- Managers/Head Teacher should continue to support those with Caring Responsibilities.
For cases where a staff member was previously classed as CEV and/or comes within one of the current CEV categories they should not attend school unless medical advice says it is safe for them to do so. CEV staff can return to the educational setting when schools have:
- Staff member’s request to return to the educational setting.
- GP endorsement of that request.
- HR provider approval.
- Agreement from Head Teacher.
Payment for claims relating to exceptional COVID expenditure were paid in August to those schools not claiming anything in the ‘other’ category. Those schools that did include items in the ‘other’ category were paid for the items in the three standard categories early in November. At this time ESFA said that items in the ‘other’ category would be considered and that they anticipated informing schools within the next six weeks of the outcome. We would therefore expect that schools should hear about the outcome of their claim for ‘other’ items by early December.
Currently no further information regarding claims for a second tranche of funding is available but we will inform schools as soon as information does become available.
Following a number of queries from schools, we thought it would be helpful to include a reminder of the guidance on essential visitors for education and childcare settings during the current lockdown. Please note the following key points:
- Music, dance and drama can be undertaken in school so long as safety precautions are undertaken. Schools can therefore continue to engage peripatetic teachers, including staff from Hubs and the guidance highlights that ‘all pupils should have access to a quality arts education’.
- Only out-of-school activities which are being used for the primary purposes set out in the new guidance (registered childcare, respite care, by home educating parents and certain youth support services) may continue to operate. All other out of school activities should close for face-to-face provision for the duration of the national restrictions. Remote education (i.e. digitally) can continue to be offered though.
Alongside the Government guidance, the LA is recommending that non-essential visits to schools should cease.
Essential visits could include visits related to:
- Curriculum delivery
- Safeguarding
- Statutory work (eg. EHCP assessments, Health visits, Team Around the School)
Any visits must be conducted in a COVID-safe way, and the ultimate decision rests with headteacher with regard to the own risk assessment. To minimise risk, wherever possible it is recommended to move activity online.
It is very important that people with COVID-19 symptoms or a positive test result stay at home and avoid contact with other household members as much as possible.
Schools have requested some clarity around when the period of self-isolation officially starts and our Public Health Team has confirmed that Day 1 of self-isolation starts on the day you develop symptoms.
If you do not have symptoms but have tested positive for COVID-19, stay at home for 10 days from the day the test was taken. This is because you can still pass the infection to others. If you do develop symptoms after your test, restart the 10-day period from the day your symptoms develop.
Further to our update this morning confirming the procedure for schools to access support to deliver free school meals to children who are self-isolating, we would like to reiterate that where schools can manage this delivery process themselves they should continue to do so. Where the scale of deliveries makes this impossible please follow the guidance issued this morning.
The county council Public Health team has published answers to commonly asked questions, based on recent interactions with schools.
+ VIEW THE FAQ UPDATE
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