Summary of DfE Announcements and Guidance for Schools

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SENT FROM GARETH DRAWMER, HEAD OF ACHIEVEMENT AND LEARNING

Dear Colleagues,

We are aware that there has been a mass of information, announcements and updated guidance coming out of the DfE this week.  To support your planning, we have summarised the key updates and guidance for you in the document attached above.

The document is structured in two elements:

We have tried to group the information into themes to make it easier to read.

Please do refer to the full documents for the full guidance, we have put links throughout the document to simplify this for you as much as we can.

Summary of DfE Announcements and Guidance for Schools wc 4th January

Warm regards,

 

Gareth Drawmer

Head of Achievement and Learning

Daily Attendance Return

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SENT ON BEHALF OF GARETH DRAWMER, HEAD OF ACHIEVEMENT AND LEARNING

Dear Colleagues,

You may be aware that the DfE attendance portal is not currently operating as they revise it to meet the needs of the new lockdown. In the interim we have devised a daily return that will allow us to understand the situation in schools across Buckinghamshire. It is vital that we receive this information on a daily basis so that we can understand the pressure on schools and look to solutions which will help you. We cannot do this without you and although it is (hopefully a small) administrative burden, it will ultimately be of benefit to you.

The file will be in Anycomms for your staff to return. I would ask that it is completed by 3pm each day to enable us to carry out daily analysis on the situation.

I thank you in advance for your co-operation,

Gareth

Gareth Drawmer

Head of Service

Achievement & Learning

Governor Training Available Spring 2021

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Dear Colleagues,

We have new online training sessions available for Governors in January and February 2021. Please see the links below to register via Eventbrite:

Managing Allegations, Wednesday 27th January, 6.30pm

PREVENT Duty, Tuesday 2nd February, 7pm

Both sessions will be conducted using MS Teams.

Hazel David

School Improvement Team

Children’s Services

Buckinghamshire Council

4th Floor, County Hall

Walton Street

Aylesbury,

HP20 1UZ

 

For COVID-19 updates visit: https://schoolsweb.buckscc.gov.uk/covid-19-corona-virus-latest-advice/

Section 44 letters – model response letter

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Sent to all HTs

SENT ON BEHALF OF GARETH DRAWMER, HEAD OF ACHIEVEMENT AND LEARNING

Dear Colleagues,

Please find attached a model letter for you to use and personalise with staff if you receive a section 44 letter from them. The response has been written by the Buckinghamshire HR team and we hope that you find it useful.

response to S 44 letter (2)

Warm regards,

Gareth

Gareth Drawmer

Head of Service

Achievement & Learning

Further return to school update for governing boards

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Dear NGA member,

As you will by now be aware, primary and secondary schools across England have closed their buildings to most pupils from today (5 January) following the announcement given by the Prime Minister on Monday night. As a result, only vulnerable children and children of critical workers will now be able to attend school or college until at least after the February half term. All other pupils and students will receive remote education.

We are sorry that we are not yet able to provide you with fuller information as it has not yet been clarified by the Department for Education (DfE) and we know many of you will already be busy supporting your executive leaders as they seek to respond to last night’s announcement. We wanted to take this opportunity to reassure all NGA members that we are engaging in discussions with the DfE and other key sector organisations, seeking the answers to the questions you and so many others are asking across the country.

NGA continues to represent the views and interests of our members in conversations with other education organisations and with ministers and civil servants. We have already gathered a significant amount of feedback from members and we are working with partner organisations and liaising directly with the DfE to establish responses to the concerns raised, in particular:

  • Clarification on the continuation of vocational exams including the safety, scientific rationale and logistical issues and capacity for going ahead with exams this month
  • What will be offered in place of the 2021 Summer A-level and GCSE exams
  • Rationale for continuing to keep nursery schools open and the impact across early years settings and the protective measures required including the need for published detailed guidance
  • Further clarification regarding the children of critical workers and vulnerable children and the extent of the list for eligible critical workers – you can read the guidance here
  • Free School Meals arrangements
  • The prioritisation of vaccines for school staff and leaders
  • Testing including whether secondary schools should continue to test staff and pupils remaining on site and the future approach to lateral flow testing and the role of clinical supervision
  • Clarification on the expectations placed on special schools and alternative provision including the need for support, existing care needs and the rationale behind the approach taken
  • Access to remote learning including the rollout of devices and access to online content and data.

We appreciate that this presents a list of issues to be addressed, rather than the answers that you will rightly be seeking. NGA will be updating our guidance as the government continues to update us and we will hopefully be in a position to provide answers to the above issues in this week’s newsletter. In the meantime, GOLD members can raise specific questions through the GOLDline and if any of you have feedback or requests for particular information then please do get in touch with covidfeedback@nga.org.uk.

NGA continues to seek to respond rapidly to the ongoing situation and we are here to assist you through the wide range of services and support that we offer. You can access NGA’s full range of COVID-19 resources in the Knowledge Centre.

Initial lockdown briefing 5-1-21

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Remote Learning Guidance and Template FINAL

Dear Colleagues,

The announcement on Monday 4th January about the 2021 national lockdown, has raised many questions that need to be considered. Much of the planning for schools will relate back to the lockdown in March, although the expectation on schools to deliver remote learning was not as prominent during that time. As you work through your planning for establishing the structure for this lockdown there are some initial actions that we would like school leaders to consider.

Key information for education

  • Lockdown starts Tuesday 5th January 2021
  • All schools to move to remote learning except for children of key workers and vulnerable pupils
  • End of key stage 4 and 5 national examinations will not go ahead as previously planned – further details to be announced
  • Early Years settings can stay open

Full lockdown guidance can be found here

Key Workers and Vulnerable children

 Schools should remain open to children of Key Workers and vulnerable pupils. Please find below the latest list of critical workers and vulnerable children – updated 31st December.

Critical workers and vulnerable children who can access schools or educational settings – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Buckinghamshire Council require only one parent to be a key worker for their children to access schools over this period.

Free School Meals (FSM)

 Pupils who are entitled to Free School Meals should still be able to access a resource during lockdown. We would ask schools to consider urgent temporary arrangements whilst we rapidly review options for broader local systems and seek clarity from the DfE on any national plans. We would anticipate that because payments have already been made to schools for the delivery of FSM, the cost for any delivery mechanism would need to be met by the school.

This further lockdown may result in parents losing jobs and an increase in families needing to apply for FSM. We would recommend that you highlight your school’s procedure on claiming FSM to parents in early communications and that you refer to it regularly over the coming weeks.

Remote Learning

Schools must move to remote learning, a strong action plan is needed that meets the Government guidance.  School leaders should ensure that remote learning opportunities for those who are at home are of a high quality.

The Government has released several documents guiding schools on this:

We have also created some top tips on meeting both staff and students safely online.  Click here.

Please see attached to this email  a document that was sent out just before Christmas to support your planning of remote learning.

Family circumstances may have changed over the Christmas period, so where pupils are unable to access the necessary technology, schools should contact DfE via portal in order to secure the correct equipment for their children.  Information on getting technology for children in need can be found here.

The areas identified above are a long way from an exhaustive list, and schools should refer to information on schoolsweb to support further planning. There are many issues, such as KS1 & 2 testing, for which we will be seeking clarification over the coming days.

Clearly this is a challenging time for everyone and we are committed to supporting schools to achieve the best outcomes possible for pupils. We will be looking at several pieces of work to further support you and will be communicating them to you over the next few days. Please feel free to message us at sis@buckinghamshire.gov.uk for further support.

Return to school update for governing boards

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Issues relating to the return of pupils to schools
Happy New Year.
We thought it important to update and advise you on the challenging and complex issues relating to the return of pupils to schools in January. The Prime Minister is making a televised announcement at 8pm this evening (4 January), and if you have questions arising, please contact us on covidfeedback@nga.org.uk.

Governing boards up and down the country are working with their school leaders and are acting as a vital sounding board when deciding what is safe for their pupils and staff in the light of guidance and local public health advice. You are likely to have begun those discussions over the school holidays, but as the circumstances are changing daily – and sometimes hourly – you and your leaders will be reassessing.

The current national plan for school opening in January
The current plan for school opening at the time of writing was announced by the Secretary of State on 30 December  alongside an updated contingency framework implementation guidance and further DfE media blog and Q&A.

Health and safety concerns arising from the current plan for school opening in January
The health and safety concerns arising from the current plan for school opening in January has led to some unions advising their members of their individual right to refuse to return to the workplace. We anticipate that school leaders will be working closely with employees and unions who have expressed concerns about the safety of the working environment and attempt to address them in their risk assessments. However, it would not be wise for schools/trusts to take immediate action against members of staff for not attending the school site on this basis.

Some local authorities have advised their primary schools to switch to remote learning from the start of term and prioritise opening for vulnerable and key worker children, while others have informed their school leaders that they would support a decision to not reopen fully from the start of term.

In view of this, many school leaders will have concerns about having sufficient staff attending to ensure the health and safety of all pupils and staff. School leaders will be in the best position, knowing their staff and school circumstances, to decide how to proceed in individual cases and, having carried out a risk assessment, make appropriate decisions as to whether they are to open safely.

Decisions about whether to open or close schools – the role of governing boards
Currently a decision to open or close the school resides with the executive leader and is taken in consultation with their governing board. The key messages here are:

  • The executive leader knows the unique circumstances of their schools best and therefore are best placed to make the detailed decisions required when it comes to safety.
  • It is recommended that legal advice (eg through the local authority or trust) is sought before taking a decision not to follow the government’s proposals for bringing back pupils at the start of term.
  • School leaders should also seek the advice of their governing board. As circumstances permit this could be through the chair, vice-chair or an emergency meeting of the governing board held remotely.
  • The governing board as a corporate entity remains accountable and responsible for the decision. Therefore, the board should be prepared to test the robustness of the school leader’s risk assessment and whether, based on the evidence, the school(s) should open for all pupils or close for pupils except for vulnerable children and the children of key workers and remotely educate other pupils. The governing board should also be prepared to ratify the decision and support the communication of it to stakeholders.
  • The governing board has collective responsibility for health and safety, rather than individual responsibility. It would be very rare for individual governors and trustees to be personally liable for health and safety issues.

Remote education – expectations, support and monitoring
In light of the developing situation with the new COVID variant and the likelihood of more schools having to close to most pupils, it becomes even more important that governing boards scrutinise their school’s strategy and plans for delivering remote education to pupils at home. In particular, the ability of the school or trust to switch quickly and efficiently to online (blended) learning should circumstances require.

The DfE’s guidance on remote education good practice details some of the characteristics of effective remote learning. NGA’s COVID-19 resource centre also includes information on remote education.

Asymptomatic COVID-19 testing for all pupils and staff from 4 January 2021
DfE guidance updated on 30 December states that all schools with secondary-age pupils (including special schools and alternative provision) should offer tests for their pupils, with time to prepare from week commencing 4 January and reaching as many pupils as possible from the week of the 11 January. Testing for primary staff under the weekly and daily testing programmes will begin in the second half of January. A £78 million support fund will be shared by schools and colleges to help with mass testing costs.

Large scale testing is an important priority, and a valuable resource in helping to ensure a continuity of education for as many pupils as possible. In our statement released on Friday 18 December, we emphasised concern for the wellbeing and welfare of school leaders as a result of the timing of this announcement and the perceived expectation it places on schools.

The wellbeing of staff, especially school leaders
While it is our role as governors and trustees to support and challenge our school leaders and their staff to do the right thing, we should never underestimate the huge amount of work they do on behalf of others and also the importance of considering their health and wellbeing. Getting the support right for others is not easy and the encouragement that school leaders receive from their governing boards goes a long way.

NGA representing your views
NGA continues to represent the views and interests of our members in conversations with other education organisations and with ministers and civil servants. For example, about the need for school staff to be on the vaccination priority list. Thanks to those of you who have taken the time to contact us. Please email covidfeedback@nga.org.uk if you would like to share any comments.

Spring Term return for Primary Schools – Latest information

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Sent on behalf of Gareth Drawmer, Head of Achievement and Learning

Dear Colleagues,

As you are probably aware, there has been an announcement from the NEU this weekend advising its members in primary schools that it is unsafe to return to work on Monday.

This guidance, if followed by the majority of NEU members, is likely to have a significant impact on staff attendance at the start of this term. We are currently reviewing this statement with our Health and Safety team and HR with a view to providing guidance for all Buckinghamshire schools. In the meantime it is clearly vital for you and us to understand the likely impact that this will have on your schools, as such please find below a model letter for you to use or amend to support you in asking staff their intentions.

We would ask all headteachers to use the information from staff in order to complete the attached form.

Spring Term return 825

Please use the drop down menu to identify the status of each of your classes as soon as possible to provide a clear picture of the number of staff who will not be attending. Please return it to sis@buckinghamshire.gov.uk by 3pm on Monday 4th January, saved with your school’s 7 digit (825****) DfE number at the end of the filename . This will enable us to understand the impact of this action on a county wide basis and to help plan accordingly.

Clearly these are unprecedented times and we appreciate your hard work during this period. We will work with you to ensure that education can continue for our children and that everyone is kept safe.

This is a fast moving situation so we may need to update this position in the coming hours.

Warm regards,

Gareth

Gareth Drawmer

Head of Service

Achievement & Learning

Dear All,

You will have seen in the news over the last few days the discussion around whether all schools should move to remote learning due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases across the country.

The NEU have now advised their members in primary schools that it is unsafe to return to school on 4th January.

Throughout this pandemic, I have worked with you to manage safety in our school. Our risk assessment is robust and has been adapted and considered when concerns have been raised.

I am working closely with the Local Authority who are in close communication with the DfE on this matter. I am also working closely with our community of schools.

Whilst I am confident that we have managed the risks of being at school as a team together, given the continued risks and the rise in cases due to the new variant of Covid-19, I would appreciate your feedback as to whether there is anything further that you feel should be done to ensure that you are safe in school. I would appreciate feedback from all members of staff, but if you are planning to follow the NEU’s advice, it is especially important that you explain what else you feel could and should be done to ensure you are able to work in ‘safe conditions’.

Thank you for your continued hard work and efforts during such challenging times.

 

Name  
Will you be attending school this week?  
If no, please explain the reason why not and the mitigations to our Covid-19 risk assessment that would need to be made to enable you to return to the classroom.  

 

 

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Spring Term Return Dates

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SENT ON BEHALF OF GARETH DRAWMER, HEAD OF ACHIEVEMENT AND LEARNING

Dear Colleagues,

In line with the guidance that we set out yesterday this graphic from the DfE hopefully helps to clarify expectations that have been placed upon schools.

 

I am aware that during an interview with breakfast TV this morning (Thursday), the Secretary of State implied that remote learning was only to be delivered for exam years for the week beginning the 4th  January.  This appears to be at variance with the graphic above, and as such we hold to our guidance from yesterday for secondary schools: “only vulnerable pupils and children of keyworkers should attend, for all other pupils as far as possible there should be remote learning, with pupils who are in exam year groups receiving as close to normal lessons as possible remotely”

Currently our area is not under the contingency framework and schools should maintain an approach in line with Tier 4 guidance.

I have had several enquiries today regarding the ‘Major Incident’ that was declared yesterday and whether this changes the situation with regard to the contingency framework.  The major incident relates to the number of beds available in our hospitals, which as we know are under extreme pressure at the moment.  Whilst we all have a part to play in supporting the NHS, the decision to implement contingency planning from the DfE is not directly related to this.

We will, of course, update you if we have any further information or updates.

Warm regards,

Gareth Drawmer

Head of Service

Achievement & Learning

Start of the Spring Term

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SENT ON BEHALF OF GARETH DRAWMER, HEAD OF ACHIEVEMENT AND LEARNING

Dear Colleagues,

I am sure you will have seen the announcement from the government today regarding the start of term and changes that need to be made in light of the national situation regarding the start of the spring term. I know that you will be working hard to understand how this affects you and your school. We have reviewed the announcement and believe the implications for schools are as follows:

Primary Schools

Week beginning 4th January – Schools are expected to resume face to face teaching from the 4th January as planned. Schools should review their risk assessments to ensure that they are robust and are being followed in the classroom and in all other areas of the school. Testing of staff in primary schools is likely to start before the end of the month, when we have more information on this we will share with school leaders and offer support at that time.

Secondary Schools

Week beginning 4th January – only vulnerable pupils and children of keyworkers should attend, for all other pupils as far as possible there should be remote learning, with pupils who are in exam year groups receiving as close to normal lessons as possible remotely. Testing resources are due to be delivered on the 4th January and schools should prepare to test all staff as soon as is practicable. Pupils in Years 11 & 13 should be bought in for testing during this week.

Week beginning 11th January –  vulnerable pupils and children of keyworkers should continue to attend school with pupils in Years 11 & 13 attending too. Pupils in other year groups should be bought in for testing during this week and continue to be educated remotely.

Week beginning 18th January – all pupils should be attending face to face education. Staff should be tested weekly as well as contacts of any positive cases.

Special Schools

All pupils in special schools, due to the fact that they have EHCPs, are classified as vulnerable. Schools should therefore be preparing to re-open fully to pupils from the 4th January, allowing for any INSET days that are already planned. Shielding advice is currently in place in tier 4 areas, and so all children and young people still deemed clinically extremely vulnerable are advised not to attend school. Guidance specifies:

Those who remain under the care of a specialist health professional may need to discuss their care with their health professional at their next planned clinical appointment – more advice is available from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.

Where a pupil is unable to attend school because they are complying with clinical or public health advice, we expect schools to be able to immediately offer them access to remote education. Schools should keep a record of, and monitor engagement with this activity but this does not need to be formally recorded in the attendance register.

For pupils who are self-isolating, or shielding and are within our definition of vulnerable, it is important that schools put systems in place to keep in contact with them, offer pastoral support, and check they are able to access education support. Our published definition of vulnerable children includes children and young people who have a social worker or an education health and care (EHC) plan or those who are deemed otherwise vulnerable by the school or the local authority.

Staffing

Guidance states that:

In local restriction tier 4 areas, individuals who are clinically extremely vulnerable are advised to work from home and where this is not possible, they should not go into work. Individuals in this group will have been identified through a letter from the NHS or from their GP and may have been advised to shield in the past, most recently in November 2020.

Staff should talk to their employers about how they will be supported, including to work from home where possible. Schools should continue to pay clinically extremely vulnerable staff on their usual terms.

All other staff in local restriction tier 4 can continue to attend work, including those living in a household with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable.

Remote Learning

We sent out a Remote Learning Guidance and Template last week which we hope will be a useful aide memoire to use when reviewing the quality of your remote learning provision.  I have attached this again for your convenience.

Remote Learning Guidance and Template FINAL

The School Improvement Team will be here if we can support you in any way, please contact the team by emailing sis@buckinghamshire.gov.uk.  We are awaiting additional information from the government on mass testing in schools, following the announcement of the deployment of armed forces support for schools yesterday, and will send information as soon as it becomes available. We know that this is a very difficult time and that information is coming out very rapidly, thank you for your professionalism and

dedication.

Please remember to log your partial closure on SchoolsWeb, instructions are at the bottom of this email.

Warm regards,

Gareth Drawmer

Head of Achievement and Learning

How to log an partial closure via SchoolsWeb

 

  1. Log into SchoolsWeb and click ‘Emergencies’ from the
  2. Click on ‘Register a Closure’ to go to the Closures
  3. On the form, under ‘Add new closure’, fill in the closure’s dates; this defaults to the current day, returning to normal the next
  4. Select the Status: this creates an automatic headline to indicate the reason for a

 

Please select:  Partially closed – specific circumstances

Use the following (or similar) wording:

Following Government guidance we will be open only for children of Key Workers, pupils with an EHCP and vulnerable pupils from the 4(5)th (delete as appropriate) January.  For pupils eligible for Free School Meals our arrangements during this time can be found at <insert link here>.

Please revise this on a weekly basis until the 18th . We would recommend that you set a reminder to yourself to review it the day before.

 

King Regards

 

Gareth Drawmer