Dear colleagues, 

Hello and welcome once again to Heads Up. 

Although it is good to see some sort of normality returning, we have seen your hard work and preparation paying dividends. Learner attendance is already above 91%. Staff attendance is high. Everyone is into new routines for the school day. Thank you to you and your colleagues for all the work that has gone into new school year.

We have also had the challenge of some schools reporting positive cases and the necessity for some groups to go home and self-isolate. In recent weeks, when I have spoken to colleagues in Public Health, and they have assured me that plans were in place to deal with any such cases in schools, I am impressed by the depth of their planning and by the processes that they have in place.

Nevertheless, there is always a nagging doubt until it is tested.  The planning and preparation that Public Health has done with schools faced the acid test on several occasions this week and, while it was terribly unsettling for all involved, each time, the process worked. Only individual cases and no outbreaks. As more and more schools return, we are likely to encounter cases of children showing symptoms of the virus.  We can now go forward with more confidence, knowing that our systems to protect against the spread of the virus in schools are robust and appropriate. Having said that, I should take a moment to wish all involved a full and speedy recovery and hope that we can keep encouraging behaviours that prevent the virus spreading.

As more and more schools reopen fully, it is ever more important that attendance data is returned to the Department for Education.  We still need to have an accurate picture of what the landscape looks like in Warwickshire so that we can continue our planning and preparation.  The vast majority of schools are doing this, and I extend my thanks.  But if your school is not doing so, can I urge you to do this as a priority.

Another critically important message is behind admissions.  As the academic year starts and the housing market has heated up after being closed, the team desperately needs schools to return emails asking about capacity quickly so that they can process applications and get these children into a school as soon as possible and ahead of school census day.

Our ‘new normal’ will see the weekly all-heads calls continue to take place on Tuesdays and the Consortia chairs’ calls on Thursdays.  The onset of Covid-19 has made this necessary.  Or, you might say, it has made it possible.  These are excellent fora through which to share best practice, reach out for solutions and be supported by peers.  I hope that as many of you as possible take the time to join these and to benefit from the support of Warwickshire’s family of education.  Covid has thrown up a lot of learning as well as problems.  By sharing the former, we may be able to tackle the latter.

Finally, I am about to end on a happy note.  You may have seen the following link.  It captures the joy of our parents, staff and, most importantly, children as they have been able to go back to school, see their friends and resume their learning.  Please share this video on your social media sites.  It has been a long, hard road getting to this point.  The two minutes it takes to watch this video is eloquent testament to how it was all worth it.

I really can’t improve on some of the words spoken in this so I will take my leave and wish you all a great weekend.

Ian and team.