Heads Up - 1 July 2021

Gloucestershire County Council sent this bulletin at 01-07-2021 01:02 PM BST

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Colleagues are encouraged to see the Bulletin Board which is updated as new information arrives.

1 July 2021

Heads Up replaces the Covid-19 Briefings and will be published weekly until further notice.

Safeguarding

Human Rights and Safeguarding Research

Dr Alison Struthers of Warwick University and Dr Ruth Brittle of Nottingham Trent University have produced two short surveys in order to gather data from teachers and designated safeguarding leads on human rights and safeguarding. Each survey contains 15 questions, should take 2-3 minutes to complete, and is completely anonymous. Additional information and the survey links are available on the Bulletin Board at the above link.

Covid-19 Information for Schools

Key Communications from DfE for Schools (21.06.21 - 25.06.21)

Details and links to the key communications from the Department for Education are available on the Bulletin Boad at the above link.

Covid-19 Local Support Grant - Extended to 30 September 2021

The Covid-19 Local Support Grant has now been extended and will close at 5pm on 30 September 2021. The Grant was created to support people who have been financially impacted by Covid-19 and is intended to help with, for example, the cost of food, household bills and other household essentials. Additional information is available on the Bulletin Board at the above link.

Letter to parents/carers and updated GCC COVID guidance for summer term 2021

In response to rising infection rates across the county and the increasing pressure schools are experiencing around holding events in the summer term, a letter has been drafted to parents/carers to support schools’ decision-making and has been signed by Sarah Scott, Executive Director of Adult Social Care and Public Health and Chris Spencer, Director of Children’s Services. The letter and updated guidance are available on the Bulletin Board at the above link.

School Emergency Closures Site

A reminder for schools to post details of Covid-19 cases on the School Emergency Closure site. This information will allow support services such as catering and transport to keep up to date with any changes. When reporting, schools should refer to the number of confirmed cases, numbers of students required to self isolate and any year group closures including dates. A letter and further information is available on the Bulletin Board at the above link.

Covid Response Checklist - latest version

Please see the Bulletin Board at the above link for the latest version of the Covid-19 Response Checklist.

Track and Trace

We recognise that many teaching staff keep their mobile phones in lockers, staffrooms and offices during the school day. In these cases, we advise schools that staff should turn off/pause the Track & Trace App whilst they are in school to mitigate notifications of false close contacts. Schools are managing Covid secure sites and have their own internal systems for identifying close contacts. The Bulletin Board at the above link has additional information.

All Schools

Gloucestershire Schools Forum Outcome Report (17 June 2021)

The Schools Forum Outcome Report from the meeting held on 17 June 2021 is available here (PDF, 91.1 KB) . To find out who the schools’ representatives are on Gloucestershire Schools Forum please see the Schools Forum Membership list (PDF, 111.4 KB) .

Ofsted Inspection – updated handbooks

Ofsted has recently updated handbooks for all sectors. The school and early years handbooks and summaries of the changes made can be found at these links:

School inspection handbook Early years inspection handbook

Routine inspections are scheduled to resume from September 2021. Please note that the exemption for schools currently judged outstanding has been removed. Section 8 inspections and monitoring visits are on-going this term.

Elective Home Education

We would like to ensure that the messages to Headteachers about EHE align with the messages that have recently been communicated to school staff who attended the Attendance Network Meetings. It is important that the processes around Elective Home Education are clear as numbers are increasing. Please see the Bulletin Board at the above link for essential information.

Alternative Provision Project Update

Working in partnership with schools, the Alternative Provision project aims to reduce the number of children and young people being permanently excluded. It aims to transform the way in which alternative provision is provided, to make sure vulnerable children and young people receive timely support of the highest quality. Please see the Bulletin Board at the above link for additional information.

Governor Training - Health & Safety in Schools

Health and safety in schools is about taking a sensible and proportionate approach to ensure a healthy and safe place for the school workforce, visitors and pupils. The sessions are free and places are limited to one per governing board and can be booked through GCC Plus. Further information is available on the Bulletin Board at the above link.

Gloucestershire Largest Virtual School Sports Event - 13 July 2021

As the Gloucestershire Virtual School Games Day approaches, we want 50,000 children to be active and taking part in Gloucestershire's biggest ever virtual physical activity event. There are loads of fun activities lined up such as live Bhangra, desk drumming, the Daily Mile, yoga, inclusive fitness, 1500m Olympic record attempts and much more. Please see the Bulletin Board at the above link for further details.

Previous issues of Heads Up, for the current academic year, are available on Schoolsnet at this link

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