Dear colleagues,
Hello and welcome once again to Heads Up.
It was good to hear that keeping schools open was the absolute priority and that the education and mental wellbeing of our young people is at the forefront of the Government’s thinking. However, none the less challenging with the new restrictions coming into place.
With the launch of the NHS’ new tracing app yesterday, it is becoming increasingly clear that keeping transmissions down is key to sustaining something approaching what was normal. Of course, it relies on people doing the right thing, complying with seating and protective measure arrangements and self-isolating if and when they get the notification that they have been in close contact with a positive case.
The numbers of children who are having to self-isolate has caused some consternation but I believe that needs some perspective. The rates change daily as groups return to school or new groups have to isolate. A pattern we all appreciate will move through.
What I want to stress is how well we have done and how far we have come. The national average for pupils missing school because of Covid-19 has been reported as being around 5%. In Warwickshire, our daily average is under 2% of all schoolchildren. That is a fantastic performance in the middle of a global pandemic and testament to all of your hard work and planning. Please, don’t lose sight of that achievement.
You will have received guidance on who to notify in the event of a positive case and children having to self-isolate. I urge you to make sure that you fully understand the process map for reporting this and that you act upon it. We need to know on a daily basis what the numbers are via your daily DfE returns and we need you to keep us fully in the picture as it evolves.
What will help to keep transmission, and therefore pupil and staff absences down, is how people behave and here is another area where you may be able to help. We have issued you with some social media messages around what parents need to do when collecting their children. It is critical that they don’t congregate or chat among themselves while they wait for their children. If you can, please urge parents not to arrive at the school gates until their children are leaving the premises. We are also politely asking that they wear a face covering if they can. This has caused queries among some parents on social media, but we need to stand firm. This is absolutely in line with the Government guidance and ‘Hands, Face and Space’ message and not something that we, as a local authority, are mandating.
Similarly, the behaviour of some of the young people on public transport is critical. It is imperative that they are well-behaved on transport, sitting in the same seat, wearing a face covering if required and maintaining a safe social distance where possible. If you could reiterate its importance to pupils and parents/carers, that would be another measure we can take to reduce the risk of transmission.
In other news, the Safe Education Partnership has met this week and it was reassuring that together with all of the work going into keeping our schools safe during the pandemic, the other safeguarding work that keeps our children safe online or in our communities has continued.
We also are very much aware of the pressure on school leaders and would remind you of the range of support available including wellbeing and mentoring.
Finally, a thank you. We have seen, in the last few days, some real progress in clearing the backlog of requests for places at schools and the Admissions Team has been able to process a good portion of the outstanding requests. Thanks for your swift responses to any requests around your capacity. There is still work to be done before the Pupil Census on 1st October, but you have helped us make a tremendous push. Please carry on the good work if you receive any requests from the Admissions Team.
Thanks again for everything. As ever, do look after yourselves and take the time at the weekend to decompress. Pace is also important, this is going to be a long haul. We will support you in your work but cannot be there at the weekend to force you to relax. We are going to have to rely on you to prioritise your own wellbeing and take some time out.
Best wishes,
Ian Budd
Assistant Director for Education Services