Anti Vaccination Protests

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SENT FROM: GARETH DRAWMER, HEAD OF ACHIEVEMENT & LEARNING

Dear Colleague,

We have been notified this week of a protest outside of a Buckinghamshire school by anti-vaccination protestors.

Protests such as these are be based on an assumption that Covid vaccinations for school age children will be rolled out through schools, rather than the existing vaccination centres, even though this has not been confirmed. The current situation is that Covid vaccinations have not been approved for under 16s and that confirmation of any vaccination programme is awaited from the government. As secondary schools are aware, there is contingency planning being carried out for delivery of vaccinations, should there be an ask from central government to deliver it, but this has not yet been confirmed.

In terms of the actions which a school can take, if the protesters are on public land, then they have the right of peaceful protest, and there is little which can be done about them as long as they are not causing an obstruction or a breach of the peace, in which case the police should be called. If the protest is on school grounds, then protesters can be asked to leave and their posters and placards removed. We would encourage schools to request protestors to remove any signage and to only remove it themselves as a last resort as this may be a provocative action. Schools have the legal right to exclude people from their school grounds, which are a private, not a public space, – under section 547 Education Act 1996, it is a criminal offence for a person who is on school premises without lawful authority to cause or permit a nuisance or disturbance and the Police can be called to remove them.

Schools should not engage in debate with the protesters or provide counterinformation to that being promulgated by the protesters. This is not a school’s role, but rather the job of the Government on the advice from their scientific advisers. Any contact with protestors should be kept to a minimum and school staff should remain calm, factual and considerate of their own safety during any discussion.

If schools require further support during an incident or wish to log one with us then please contact the School Improvement Team 01296 383030 during normal office hours or email sis@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.

Warm regards,

Gareth

 

Gareth Drawmer

Head of Service

Achievement & Learning

12 – 15 Covid Vaccination Programme

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Please see attached which was sent to your headteacher.

Sent on behalf of Kate Holmes – Interim CFO, Buckinghamshire CCG & Chair Bucks Vaccine Cell and Simon James Service Director: Education, Buckinghamshire Council

 Dear Colleagues,

Please find attached the 12 – 15 covid vaccination programme

Letter to Headteachers Bucks 12-15 covid vaccination programme

Recovery premium funding

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Additional funding in the 2021 to 2022 academic year to support schools with education recovery following COVID-19.

Recovery premium funding – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

 

NGA Annual Membership 2021-22

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Dear Colleagues,

Maintained Schools

Buckinghamshire Council are delighted to be able to offer the Standard NGA annual membership, for Buckinghamshire maintained schools for 2021-22, Free of Charge. The package for 2021-2022 covers the Standard membership and Learning Link for all Governors and Clerks in maintained schools.  This has been purchased for all Buckinghamshire maintained schools and those schools do not need to register.

Bucks NGA Membership 2021-22

Maintained schools that wish to upgrade to the Gold package are required to register on the BESST web page  (Bursar log in required) and will be charged £159.

Please register for your upgrades by Thursday 30th September 2021.

Academies

Buckinghamshire Council are also pleased to offer membership at the discounted rate of £94 for the Standard package to all Bucks Academies.  The NGA do recommend that academies take the Gold package, which is also discounted at £253.   If you wish to purchase Learning Link the cost is £69 per school.

To confirm purchase of your annual membership and the package required please visit the BESST web page  (Bursar log in required).

All packages should be purchased by Thursday 30th September 2021.

Full details of membership and support from the NGA are here https://www.nga.org.uk/Home.aspx  Any queries should be sent to BESST@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Regards,

Hazel David

School Improvement Team

Children’s Services

BESST – Buckinghamshire Education School Support & Training

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Dear Chair of Governors and Governor Clerks,

Please find attached above a newsletter introducing BESST – Buckinghamshire Education School Support & Training, a new traded school improvement and governor support service from Buckinghamshire Council.  BESST services are starting small and will be focused this term on governor support & training, the area where our research with headteachers, chairs of governors and clerks has told us the need is greatest.  More information about BESST is available to view on our new webpages.

A comprehensive governor training programme will be running throughout this academic year and will be starting with two sessions week commencing 20th September:

  • Governor Priorities – Autumn Term Agendas, a one-hour session with Paul Randall and Anne Sheddick from the BASG, on Wednesday 22nd September.
  • Prevent Duty – Guidance for Governors, a one hour training session with Alison Watts, Prevent Education Officer at Buckinghamshire Council on Thursday 23rd September.

The whole autumn term training schedule, including the above two sessions, is available to book online.

We will also be running a New Governors Welcome Package, in both the autumn and spring term, to support newly appointed governors get up to speed as quickly as possible.  Please book online for the autumn cohort, before the 29th of September.

Buckinghamshire Council will be renewing the NGA membership for maintained schools for this academic year.  Academies and free schools can purchase NGA membership at a discounted rate and maintained schools can upgrade to gold membership through the BESST webpages.  Please see the details and links in the newsletter for more information.

We hope that your governing boards will find this new service of use and we look forward to welcoming you onto BESST training throughout the year.

BESST newsletter Autumn 1 for governors

Kind regards

The School Improvement Team.

Changes to Keeping Children Safe in Education Update from the HR Team

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SENT FROM THE BUCKINGHAMSHIRE COUNCIL HR TEAM

Dear Colleague,

You may well already be aware that the statutory guidance document “Keeping Children Safe in Education” has been revised from 1 September 2021. Please find attached a slide that you may wish to show staff at training sessions or in team meetings to raise awareness of the new document.

As a consequence of the changes in the document when recruiting staff the questions related to criminal records need to be removed from the application form and a new self-declaration form should be created.
The self-declaration form should be sent together with the interview invite and completed only by the shortlisted candidates.

Please update your school’s application forms accordingly but in the meantime feel free to use a BC application form should you require to advertise a position with us. When sending an advert to advertising@buckinghamshire.gov.uk please let the advertising team know that you wish to use a BC teaching or non-teaching application form. We are in the process of updating the schools web and working on the accessible version of the application forms.

BC Application Form Teaching (Updated August 2021)

BC Self declaration form (Update August 2021)

BC Application Form Non Teaching – DBS (Updated August 2021)

KCSiE – slide for HT INSET day Autumn term 2021

 

Thank you for your help,

 

Anna Falek                                                                                                                         Bev Black MCIPD

Schools, Early Careers and Safeguarding Resourcing Advisor                            Senior HR Consultant

Corporate Director (DCS) Briefings September 2021

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Dear Colleagues,

The Corporate Director (DCS) Briefings for the Autumn term are scheduled for Wednesday 15th September and Thursday 16th September 2021.  The agenda is attached and you may book your place using the links below.

Wednesday 15th Sept 7pm

Thursday 16th Sept 9.30am

The meetings will be conducted via MS Teams.

Any problems with bookings contact sis@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Regards,

Hazel David

School Improvement Team

Children’s Services

DfE Educational Settings Status Form

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Sent to all Headteachers

SENT FROM RICHARD NASH, CORPORATE DIRECTOR CHILDREN’S SERVICES AND SIMON JAMES, SERVICE DIRECTOR EDUCATION

Dear Colleagues

At the start of this new academic year, please can we remind all schools that daily completion of the DfE Educational Settings Status Form is essential. The information on how to complete the form is here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-complete-the-educational-setting-status-form

Whilst we appreciate the administrative burden, it is vital that both the DfE and Buckinghamshire Council receive this information on a daily basis, so that we can understand the pressure on schools and consider pragmatic solutions which will help you. The DfE will discuss each school closure with us, so it is key that we have this information in advance.

When you are considering a move to remote learning for either groups of pupils or all pupils, based on the guidelines and thresholds in the new contingency framework, please follow the below process:

If you have to close down a class or more then this must be recorded on the SchoolsWeb closures form. We would ask that you refer to this as a move to remote learning rather than labelling it as a closure. Two new categories of reason have been added to SchoolsWeb closure page:

  • Moved to remote learning – whole school
  • Moved to remote learning – specific pupil groups only

It is important that you include additional details, such as which year groups, how many pupils are affected and how many (if any) staff are affected.  In the situation where the whole school moves to remote learning, whilst the school buildings may be closed, you and your staff are still providing education to the children and the above descriptors better articulates this to parents.

Thank you for your assistance with the above process, which will help provide clarity for all.

Richard Nash                                                                       Simon James

Corporate Director, Children’s Services                         Service Director, Education

Welcome back message

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Sent on behalf of Simon James, Service Director, Education

Dear Colleagues,

Please see the document attached.

210901 Welcome Back Headteachers September 21

Many thanks

Simon James

Service Director, Education

Ofsted News – Issue 104 – August 2021

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OfstedNews

Our free monthly newsletter

Issue 104 | August 2021

Sections

 

COVID-19 updates
Ofsted: COVID-19 rolling update – This sets out our guidance and information relating to COVID-19 (coronavirus) for schools, early years, children’s social care and further education and skills providers. We are updating it regularly. If you need to see what we’ve added since you last checked it, you can select ‘see all updates‘ on the page.

All Ofsted
Ofsted pen portraits of Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) – Updated pen portraits for HMI in the South East and South West regions.
Inspecting safeguarding in early years, education and skills settings – A new section has been added to the policy about Ofsted’s review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges and there are further references throughout the guidance outlining expectations of providers. There are also updates throughout to align with the Department of Education’s updated guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’.
Gathering additional evidence to secure an incomplete inspection – The policy has been updated to give further clarification on the steps that will be taken if we decide that a further visit is necessary to gather additional evidence to complete an inspection.

Schools
School inspection handbook – Updates to the school inspection handbook. See ‘Summary of changes’ for details.
Ofsted’s plans: 2021 – Updated the ‘Non-association independent schools’ section to clarify that the inspection cycle will be extended by four terms.
State-funded school inspections and outcomes: management information – Published management information as at 31 July 2021. Date of proposed addition to future management information releases (the names of current multi-academy trusts and/or academy sponsors) changed from 12 August 2021 to 13 September 2021.

Children’s social care
Ofsted’s response to The Case for Change – Ofsted’s National Director for Social Care, Yvette Stanley, writes to Josh MacAlister, Chair of The Case for Change, about Ofsted’s response to the review.
Children’s homes providing short breaks – An analysis of children’s homes that provide short breaks, usually for disabled children.
Inspecting local authority children’s services (ILACS) from 2018 – Updates to ILACS framework. See ‘Summary of framework changes’ for details.
Introduction to children’s homes – Revised guidance on applying to manage more than one children’s home.
Apply to be connected with a children’s social care service (SC2) – Clarified that responsible individuals only have to use this service when a new provider is applying to register with Ofsted. This is not a change in policy or law.
Inspection outcomes of children’s homes – Data published to cover the period 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2021.
Data on COVID-19 visits: social care providers – New transparency data uploaded for the period 1 September 2020 to 31 July 2021.

Further education and skills
Further education and skills inspection handbook – Updates to paragraphs 275 to 279 in the further education and skills inspection handbook. See ‘Summary of changes’ for details.

Early years and childcare
Early years inspection handbook – Updates to the early years inspection handbook. See ‘Summary of changes’ for details.
Ofsted EIF inspections and the early years foundation stage (EYFS) – Added information about how we prioritise early years inspections.
Reported coronavirus (COVID-19) notifications by registered early years and childcare settings – Added data for weeks beginning 12, 19 and 26 July and 2 August.
Consented addresses for childminders and domestic childcare – Updated consented addresses for childminders and domestic childcare as at 31 July 2021.
Joiners and leavers in the childcare sector – Published data on joiners and leavers in the childcare sector in July 2021.