A message from Paul Wagstaff,
Director of Education & Skills
8 September 2020
Dear colleagues,
I would like to express the Council’s support to you all as you continue to welcome your pupils and staff back to into school. Thank you once again for all of the hard work and dedication shown in your detailed planning over the last few months to implement the measures to keep everyone safe.
I have no doubt that you will be extremely busy and will be dealing with many questions and queries from parents as your children and students begin their return. We are certainly picking up many queries from parents about the return and implications and I am sure that you will also be fielding many of these as well.
I therefore do not wish to add to the pressures by bombarding you with a multitude of communications and documents over the coming weeks. However, there will be some important information that you need to see, as well as some information and documents which you will find helpful. We will try and manage these in such a way that you are signposted to the relevant information in a timely and managed way.
Please, if you are uncertain or need advice, do not hesitate to speak with your link advisor who is available to offer any additional support and advice you may need.
I share with you the following items which are all important and require your attention:
- Revised guidance to schools in regard to school attendance
- Updated Keeping Children Safe in Education Guidance
- PHE Covid-19 resource pack for educational settings with updated flowchart
- Free School Meals for pupils with Covid unable to attend
- New Government laptop scheme
School attendance
Please find a letter from Pupil Entitlement: Investigation in regard to attendance and coding during current circumstances.
Please ensure this is circulated to all staff involved in attendance in school.
Should you have any questions relating to the content of the letter, please do not hesitate to contact the team.
Keeping Children Safe in Education Guidance
You will recall we wrote to you at the end of the summer term to advise of the updated Keeping Children Safe in Education Guidance and provided you copies of the new document and a table of substantive changes contained within it.
The team have been working on this guidance throughout the summer and I am pleased to attach a specimen model policy which incorporates the relevant changes, and a table of the substantive changes from the earlier guidance.
We have also added some additional material to assist you in applying the requirements, particularly in view of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Should you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Jez Prior (Safeguarding in Education Manager) on 03302 227618, or the Safeguarding in Education line: 03302 224030.
Public Health – COVID-19 Resource Pack
(For all primary and secondary schools, further education colleges, universities, nurseries, childminders and other early years settings)
Please find attached the first edition of a COVID-19 resource pack developed by Public Health England South East, for educational settings in the PHE South East region.
Contents of the resource pack include key national guidance and resources, key messages relating to COVID-19 in educational settings, definitions used by Health Protection Teams, instructions for settings to manage cases, frequently asked questions and additional resources for mental health and wellbeing.
One of the areas we would particularly like to draw your attention to is the change in approach for suspected cases. Please ensure you read the new flowchart attached here where you will find that advice is given for managing these cases rather than informing PHE Health Protection Team and attached in the appendices of the pack you will find a template letter that can be sent to parents/carers in the event of a suspected case of COVID-19, to reassure that the correct guidance is being followed.
We really hope that these are helpful resources for all educational settings.
Free School Meals for pupils with Covid unable to attend
Please find attached details of arrangements that have been put in place to provide means-tested FSM children who are off school due to Covid with food parcels at home.
Also attached is Chartwells guide to taking lunchtime home.
New Government Laptop Scheme
The government has announced another laptop scheme to support disadvantaged or vulnerable children who are unable to access computers or the internet at home. The scheme is preparing to be on standby to work with schools particularly where there is a local lockdown in the future which requires children to be working form home.
The scheme now will cover children from Year 3 upwards who are disadvantaged, clinically vulnerable and shielding under medical advice, or who are unable to access the internet at a hospital site. Detail of when and how to make orders for laptops is outlined in this online guidance.
However, we need a nominated person as the technical lead in each school who the DfE will liaise with on any orders placed. Orders for the laptops, if required, will therefore be made by the nominated person who will be the key point of contact for the DfE. Whilst we are not currently in the position of local lockdown seen in some northern districts, it is important that schools have registered in advance so that any requests can be dealt with by the DfE efficiently and timely.
Please could you contact your School Link Adviser with the following information as soon as is possible:
- Name of nominated member of staff in the school who will be the key point of contact and technical lead
- Contact email for the nominated member of staff
- Contact phone number for the nominated member of staff
And finally….
Colleagues will be aware that Ofsted are making single day visits to a sample of schools over this term. They have identified key areas of focus and we will be sending an overview of the key areas as reminders for schools just in case your school receives a planned visit.
However, as is usual, Ofsted do not expect schools to undertake any additional preparation for such visits and are extremely mindful of the need to reduce pressures on school leaders and staff.
Best wishes
Paul
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