Dear colleagues, 

Hello and welcome for the last time in 2020 to Heads Up.

Obviously any look back on the year has to reference Coronavirus (COVID-19) so, before I do, a couple of news items.

Firstly, it came to my attention in this week’s call for education leaders that some of you had not been made aware of the very sad death of Miles Marriott. I myself was not aware of it until after the call. There had been a glitch in communications and news had not reached the education community. We are putting in place a protocol to make sure that all news, however sad, reaches us and you.

Miles was known to many of you for the tireless work he did to help safeguard our children. The reaction to his passing shows the depth of affection for him not only among his colleagues in the County Council but also in the school community. We are working with our ICT team to establish an online book of condolence for schools to complement that for County Council staff.  Please find a link to an online Book of Condolence where you can pay tribute, should you wish, to a true friend of education settings in Warwickshire – a ‘legend’, as he has been described.

Secondly, I would like to thank those who joined us for the call on Tuesday to hear guest speaker, Wayne Simner HMI regional lead for the West Midlands for Ofsted, who presented a helpful summary of the findings of his interim visits this term. Wayne was particularly impressed with the attendance and what he described as the ‘energy and sense of purpose’ on the call.  I join Wayne in taking my hat off to all who were able to muster such vigour after the year we have had.  

So, speaking of years, that brings me to this year.  Every year brings its own experiences – the rich tapestry of life, as they say – but I think we will all bid farewell to 2020 with a profound sense of relief. But before we do, I would like to reflect on the positives that have come out of 2020.

Firstly, I honestly feel that the strength of the links between the local authority and schools, colleges and early years settings has grown as we have all embraced the new ways of working we have been faced with together.  This will only stand us in good stead as we make our plans to get our learning back to something more normal.

We have added resilience and adaptability with a huge amount of online learning being assessed and made available.  Again, it’s not how we would have chosen to take this forward but that doesn’t detract from how valuable a project it was during lockdown nor from its future value in our bag of educational tools.

And, for you, it must have reaffirmed the bonds between you, your staff and the reason that we all do what we do – the children.  Not having many of them around during Lockdown 1 must have been so difficult for you and that has shone through in your responses to reopening and also in how hard you have all worked to keep them safe and keep them in school.

The senior leaders at the County Council have been effusive in their praise for how schools have adapted and, as other parts of the community were made subject to restrictions in the second lockdown, there was a real commitment to supporting you.  It showed me just how integral what you do is and how deeply it is valued.  Not that I ever had any doubts, mind you.

So please accept on behalf of all at the County Council our sincere thanks for all that you, and your colleagues and governors, have done.

As we approach the Christmas break, the numbers of staff and children absent continues to fall significantly. Let’s hope that the great majority of families will be able to enjoy a Christmas where members of their households aren’t isolating. Vigilance will continue to make a difference.

There are attachments in this edition that outline the expectations for head teachers in terms of reporting any positive cases over the Christmas holidays and a bespoke tab on the Coronavirus pages will give further information.  We sincerely hope for so many reasons that these will be minimal, not least so that you can all get the break that you so richly deserve.

Thanks again and – in a festive change of message – have a good break. See you in the new year.