This week I report on the announcement of a ‘catch-up’ programme for pupils to help with missed education due to the pandemic, the publication of some new guidance for schools to help identify gaps in understanding, planning a curriculum to teach at school and home and curriculum planning for a phased return; as well as information on two Schools NorthEast webinars and the announcement of extra mental health support for pupils and staff.

Catch-up operation for pupils to be announced
This week the Prime Minister promised catch-up activities over the summer for pupils who have missed education because of the coronavirus and the Education Secretary will provide information on this catch-up programme next week. The Prime Minister also suggested the programme would run after summer to help children with the work they had missed and would be an “educational catch up and economic bounce back at the same time”.

The DfE hasn’t yet confirmed if schools will be open during the summer break and if teachers will be expected to provide activities as part of the catch-up programme. The Prime Minister is under increasing pressure to publish a plan to get all pupils back to school in September.

Today the DfE has published some new guidance for schools on identifying and addressing gaps in pupils’ understanding, planning a curriculum to teach at school and at home and supporting staff in curriculum planning for a phased return, which you might find useful.

Schools NorthEast webinars
There are two free webinars for school staff (including governors) being offered by Schools NorthEast as follows:

• Live Q&A with Ward Hadaway Law Firm on the wider opening of schools – Monday 15 June at 3.00pm: Graham Vials from Ward Hadaway will be delivering this webinar and will answer questions on topics including Risk Assessment, Staffing, Governance, PPE and Liability.  Register using this link.
• Recruiting staff in schools through COVID-19 Lockdown and beyond – Wednesday 17 June at 2.00pm: Sarah Louise France-Gorton, Head of Resourcing Solutions at NYES will discuss how other schools have carried on with recruitment where possible, considering innovative and dynamic ways to recruit talent including virtual interview methods, platforms to use, task and assessment ideas, the future of recruitment and recruitment tips.  Register using this link.

Both webinars are free for school staff and £50+VAT for non-school delegates.

Extra mental health support for pupils and teachers
The DfE has announced new online resources designed by health and education experts will be provided to schools and colleges to boost mental health support for staff and pupils, encouraging them to talk more confidently about the anxieties and concerns they feel as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The DfE has confirmed grants worth more than £750,000 have been awarded to the Diana Award, the Anti-Bullying Alliance and the Anne Frank Trust to help build relationships between pupils, boost their resilience, and continue to tackle bullying both in person and online. As well as announcing a new £95,000 pilot project in partnership with the Education Support Partnership focusing on teachers’ and leaders’ mental health, providing online peer-support and telephone supervision from experts to around 250 school leaders.

The School Standards Minister has also written to members of the DfE’s Expert Advisory Group on education staff wellbeing, accepting its recommendations including a commitment to develop a wellbeing charter for the teaching sector. The charter will help create an open culture around wellbeing and mental health, breaking down stigma, and will include commitments from the Government to regularly measure staff wellbeing, and to embed this into training, guidance and policy making.

This week I report on the latest DfE school governance update as well as updated guidance on actions for schools during this pandemic, young carer awareness sessions for education professionals being offered by the North Tyneside Carers’ Centre and additional funding for a coalition of charities to provide targeted help to vulnerable children and young people affected by the pandemic.

DfE school governance update and updated guidance on actions for schools
Yesterday the DfE published its latest school governance update which aims to share practical planning advice as well as further detailed guidance, including frequently asked questions for governors and trustees. A further update was made to the guidance on actions for schools and the DfE has now helpfully started to list what these changes/additions are at the beginning of the document.

Carers Week activities for professionals
The North Tyneside Carers’ Centre is an independent charity and the only generic carer support service in North Tyneside supporting both young and adult carers. This year’s Carers Week takes place from 8-14 June and the Centre is offering Young Carers Awareness sessions for education professionals as follows:

• Monday 8th June at 11am (Primary Schools session)
• Wednesday 10th June at 11am (all schools)
• Friday 12th June at 11am (Secondary Schools session)

They are also hosting two Q&A webinars (via Microsoft Teams) to discuss the impact caring has on young carers during COVID-19 and how professionals can help identify those young people who may have caring responsibilities. These will be held on Tuesday 9th and Thursday 11th June 2020 and you should contact the Centre on tel: 0191 643 2298 for further details.

£7 million for new coalition of vulnerable children’s charities
The DfE has pledged more than £7 million to a coalition of charities to help vulnerable children most impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The See, Hear, Respond Service will provide targeted help to vulnerable children, young people and their families affected by the virus and the measures put in place to stop its spread. Led by Barnardo’s, it will work alongside local authorities, schools and colleges, police forces, healthcare professionals and other vital services involved in protecting these children. The funding will provide:

• Access to an online support package to children and families ensuring they have readily available, accessible and interactive information
• Online and telephone referral service by trained professionals who can source further help and support from charity workers within the partnership
• Online counselling or therapy for those experiencing high levels of anxiety, trauma or other mental health issues that can be safely addressed through digital means
• Youth interventions and face-to-face crisis support, particularly for those at risk of or experiencing various forms of exploitation, including criminal exploitation

This week I report on updated guidance from the DfE supporting the Government’s continued desire for a phased reopening of schools from 1 June, the recording of a free webinar for governors on safeguarding during this pandemic, funding for a project to place social workers in schools to work with teaching staff and the announcement of an emergency fund to support home education for pupils with SEND.

Updated DfE guidance to support schools reopening from 1 June and scientific evidence underpinning this decision
Amid much media speculation on whether the Government will be able to meet its five key tests by 28 May, the day it makes its final decision on whether to reopen schools from 1 June, the DfE continues to update some of its guidance to help schools as they plan for more children to return. In particular, safeguarding guidance and procedures for planning remote education strategies and teaching remotely have been updated, as well as new guidance on writing end of year reports following the cancellation of this year’s summer exam series and primary assessments.

It has also published information for parents and carers on how they can support their children’s home learning whether they are in primary or secondary school.

The scientific evidence underpinning the Government’s decision to reopen schools to more pupils from 1 June is expected to be published today. However, some schools and academy trusts have already indicated they are taking a cautious approach and will only reopen when they believe it is safe to do so.

Recording of a free webinar on safeguarding during the coronavirus pandemic
As reported in last week’s Update, Governors for Schools in conjunction with Better Governor hosted a free webinar yesterday on safeguarding during the current pandemic. You can use this link to view the recording of the webinar.

Social workers to work with teachers in schools
At yesterday’s Hidden Harms Summit in Downing Street the Education Secretary announced nearly £10 million for projects aimed at boosting the educational outcomes of vulnerable children, and to keep them safe from harm.

This included £6.5 million to involve more than 150 schools in a project that will place social workers in schools to work with teaching staff, reflecting that the second largest source of referrals to children’s social services is schools (18%).

£10 million fund launched to support home education for pupils with SEND
The Government has set up an emergency £10 million fund to help around 19,000 children with special education needs with home education to spend on a variety of equipment including computers and educational toys. The announcement comes alongside confirmation the £26 million Family Fund (providing grants to low income families with seriously ill or disabled children to help with the cost of equipment, good or services) will continue next academic year. 

This week I report on the Prime Minister’s pledge to set out a plan on how schools can re-open, the publication of new guidance on temporary changes to the law on EHC needs assessments and a review of the first Northern Governance Conference webinar that took place earlier this week.

Plan to be announced on schools re-opening
At yesterday’s daily briefing the Prime Minister promised to set out a comprehensive plan next week to explain how children can get back to school. It comes as the Education Secretary has said pupils are expected to return to school “in phases”.  Earlier this week the Government’s top medical expert warned that re-opening schools too early could increase the spread of infection and the teaching unions have said schools must not reopen until it is safe to do so.

A research review carried out by academics at the University of Exeter and London School of Economics found school closures could leave disadvantaged children with a “learning loss” of up to six months. The Northern Powerhouse Partnership, backed by 55 MPs and peers, has called for a “catch-up premium” for disadvantaged pupils once the lockdown lifts.

Changes to the law on education, health and care needs assessments and plans due to coronavirus
Some aspects of the law on education, health and care (EHC) needs assessments and plans are changing temporarily to give local authorities, health commissioning bodies, education settings and other bodies who contribute to these processes more flexibility in responding to the demands placed on them by Covid-19. Given that the changes to the legislation are temporary, the statutory guidance, the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years will not be updated.

However, the DfE had issued new guidance confirming which key elements of the processes over EHC needs assessments and plans are unchanged. Notably this includes that a local authority must still consider requests for a new EHC needs assessment, must still secure all of the required advice and information in order to be able to issue a plan, and must have regard to the views and wishes of a child, the child’s parent or a young person when carrying out its SEND functions under the Children and Families Act 2014.

Review of the first Schools NorthEast Northern Governance Conference webinar
This year’s conference from Schools NorthEast has been split into 3 webinars and the first session took place earlier this week. We heard from 3 keynote speakers as follows:

• Emma Knights, CEO of the National Governance Association: “What does good governance look like?” – Emma kicked off by talking about why governance is so important in making a difference for pupils and that with no performance league tables next year and Ofsted currently paused, governing body accountability is particularly important. She explained that good governance = ethical governance + accountable governance + effective governance. She discussed ethical governance in terms of governing bodies being the guardians of a school’s vision, ethos and values. In terms of accountability governing bodies should hold themselves and their school to account and they are answerable to other stakeholders. In Governing body meetings, we often talk about how we can engage stakeholders and Emma provided some great examples of strategies that can be used. She also discussed the 8 elements of effective governance and touched on how governing bodies are governing in these challenging times.
• Kaley Foran, Lead Content Editor of The Key: “Reopening schools after coronavirus – pastoral challenges and how governors can help” – Kaley suggested the re-opening of schools was likely to be phased and highlighted the pastoral challenges that schools were likely to face including pupils having to reintegrate into school routines and expectations; behaviour; anxiety and other mental health concerns, bereavement; safeguarding; staff workload and well-being and pupils missing key transition points.  With the long break from school Kaley suggested pupils would be keen to be with their friends and socialising was likely to be their priority, staff would need to rebuild relationships with pupils and in practice learning might not necessarily be the key focus in the early part of the return to school.  She surmised that governing bodies might need to reconsider their budgets to respond to some of these issues as they could become the school’s new priorities.
• Graham Vials, Partner at Ward Hadaway Law Firm: “Exclusions and Independent Review Hearings” – Graham took participants through a whistle stop tour of exclusions, advising that the DfE guidance on exclusions should be a starting point as it provided in plain English the legislation on exclusions. He outlined the basic process and the do’s and don’ts.

The next webinar takes place on Wednesday next week when the keynote speakers will consider governing in the ‘next normal’ phase of school development and what 5 questions governors will need to ask themselves, the changing roles of the governing body and understanding disadvantage.

This week I highlight some of the new and updated guidance published by the DfE for schools and parents in relation to COVID-19 and information from Schools NorthEast on its Northern Governance Conference which is now being delivered as a series of webinars.

New and updated guidance from DfE in relation to COVID-19
The DfE continues to provide new and updated guidance for schools and parents on a range of issues including:

• Complaints – confirmation it doesn’t expect schools to handle new or existing complaints while they are closed but should engage with parents where they can.
• Online learning support package – children “in the most vital stages of their education” will be given free laptops and tablets to make remote learning easier. These devices will be available for disadvantaged pupils in Year 10, pupils who receive support from a social worker, and care leavers, with schools able to keep the devices once they have reopened.  The Government will provide 4G routers to vulnerable pupils who do not have access to the internet and major telecommunications providers. The Education Secretary has also backed a national online academy providing a “comprehensive” virtual curriculum for schools to use during the pandemic. Oak National Academy provides a “sequenced” plan of hour-long lessons and curriculum resources, compiled by 40 teachers from schools across the country.
• Furlough guidance – state schools that have private income streams, such as catering, sports facilities lettings or boarding provision, can furlough staff in these areas. However, the Government doesn’t “in general, expect state schools to furlough staff”.
• Managing school premises – guidance on maintaining the school premises with reduced occupancy.
• Halting of ‘all but essential’ data collections – this aims to “help reduce the burden” on schools and councils amid the coronavirus outbreak.
• Proper notice regarding schools re-opening – the Education Secretary has pledged that schools, parents and children will be given proper notice of when schools will reopen. He is unable to give an exact date yet because the Government needs to be confident it can meet five tests which are: confidence that the NHS can continue to be protected, a fall in daily death rates, confidence in testing, appropriate PPE capacity, and confidence that changes to the Government’s approach won’t risk a second peak of coronavirus infections.
• Calculated GCSE and A Level grades – it has been confirmed calculated grades will be published on the dates originally planned for this year’s results days: 13 August for A-levels and 20 August for GCSEs.
• Admissions appeals – in order to protect parents’ right to appeal to any school which has refused their child a place, new regulations will relax some of the rules surrounding appeal panels. They provide Admission authorities with scope to convene panels remotely in line with advice on social distancing. Also amended are the rules in relation to deadlines, with the DfE recommending that appellants be given at least 28 days written notice of a new appeal deadline.

Schools NorthEast Northern Governance Conference 2020
Due to COVID-19 the Northern Governance Conference has been transformed into a series of online events. The event will be held via webinar every Wednesday for three weeks on 29 April, 6 May and 13 May from approximately 10.30 am to 12.30 pm.

The full programme includes keynote speeches from Sir David Carter, Executive Director of System Leadership at Ambition Leadership and ex National Schools Commissioner, Emma Knights, CEO of The National Governance Association and Emma Ing, Regional Director North East, Yorkshire and Humber, Ofsted.

The cost is £60 per delegate or £100 for your whole Governing body. All delegate and school bookings will receive a recording of all three webinars along with a CPD certificate.

In my final update this term I report on the latest DfE guidance produced in light of the current coronavirus situation as well as support provided by the NGA and Governors for Schools to assist governing bodies during this time.

DfE guidance
Safeguarding in relation to COVID-19
This week the DfE published new guidance on safeguarding for schools during the coronavirus outbreak, advising them to review and revise policies as the epidemic evolves.

It states that while schools will have an effective child protection policy in place for use during normal operations, it is likely that the policy will not accurately reflect new arrangements in response to COVID-19.

The policies should reflect any arrangements to support children the school is concerned about who do not meet the ‘vulnerable’ definition. Schools should also consider what arrangements are in place to keep children safe while they are not physically attending school, as well as how victims of peer-on-peer abuse might be supported given the very different circumstances schools are now operating in.

COVID-19 Free school meals guidance
This week the DfE also published guidance on providing free school meals whilst schools are closed. Schools can continue to provide meals for collection or delivery themselves, but where this is not possible, a new national scheme will allow schools to provide £15 weekly vouchers electronically or as a gift card for those without internet access.

The vouchers can be spent on food at a range of shops including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose and M&S, with the DfE working to get more shops to join the scheme as soon as possible.

Changes to induction for newly qualified teachers
The DfE has recognised that the current coronavirus outbreak will likely have a profound impact on the number of absences newly qualified teachers (NQTs) take this academic year.

Current arrangements state that ad-hoc absences totalling 30 days or more automatically extends induction by the aggregate number of days absent. However, Government intends to amend the regulations to ensure that any absence related to the current coronavirus outbreak, including school closures, sickness or self-isolation, will not count towards this limit. This means that NQTs who are currently undertaking statutory induction can complete their induction this academic year as expected, provided they meet the Teachers’ Standards.

KCSIE consultation suspended
Given the current circumstances the DfE has suspended the 2020 consultation on revisions to Keeping Children Safe in Education statutory guidance.

Governance support
NGA webinar on virtual governance
On Friday last week the NGA delivered a webinar on virtual governance and also made its GOLDline advice service available to all governing bodies that have questions about maintaining their business in the current circumstances. You can contact GOLDline by emailing gold@nga.org.uk or by calling 0121 237 3782.

Governors for Schools
School governance during the coronavirus pandemic
Yesterday a webinar was held to provide governing bodies with an understanding of key, relevant Government advice and to secure governors confidence in holding schools to account during the coming months.

Microsoft Teams for school governing bodies
A webinar in conjunction with Microsoft will be held on Tuesday 7 April 2020 from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm to help schools get the best out of working remotely using online communication and collaboration platform Microsoft Teams.

The webinar will look at how the platform can support schools to hold productive governing board meetings online and deliver remote learning for pupils effectively. Microsoft Teams is currently free for all schools and educational institutions.

You can sign up to the webinar using this link.

This week I highlight the latest DfE Governance advice, a new publication from the NGA on business continuity and holding virtual governing body meetings and a new texting service to support teacher wellbeing.

Latest DfE Governance advice
As you are all aware the DfE published updated governance advice yesterday and its key advice for governing bodies was:

• Boards can agree to hold meetings via telephone or video-conferencing without having to meet first. The chair or clerk can contact governors directly to agree to alternative meeting arrangements during this lockdown period.
• Please note: the department will not be making any changes to the statutory governance functions in any upcoming regulations related to COVID-19. The School Governance (Roles, Procedures and Allowances) (England) Regulations 2013 (regulation 14) allows for governing bodies in maintained schools to approve alternative arrangements for governors to participate or vote at meetings of the governing body, including by telephone or video conference. The model articles of association for academy trusts state that trustees can attend meetings remotely subject to certain stipulations set out in article 126.
• The department urges governing boards to be pragmatic in what they cover in meetings during this time, and to be proportionate in the decisions that they are planning to take. We expect governors to focus on urgent, time-bound decisions. We understand that you are likely to want to defer non-urgent decisions/agenda items until future meetings.
• Boards should prioritise providing support to their school leaders and staff where needed, to allow them to get on with operational matters. School leaders should stay in touch with the governing board in a proportionate way, including providing information on the welfare of staff and pupils, so that they can retain a strategic overview of the situation and the school.
• We urge schools’ Get Information About Schools (GIAS) gatekeepers and individuals who have their details on GIAS to keep email addresses up to date. Important information being communicated from the department may require quick and effective action.
• We also recommend governing boards have in place contingency plans in case the chair and/or vice chair become unavailable, so that there is clarity about who will be the conduit of information for the board.

I have already taken part in a successful virtual governing body meeting this week using Zoom (a videoconferencing app) and will liaise with Chairs and Headteachers to ensure that we can move forwards in the Summer term with virtual governing body arrangements. Bearing in mind the advice from the DfE agendas will be modified to ensure key information is provided from the school and urgent decisions are prioritised.

NGA Governing in challenging circumstances – Business continuity and holding virtual meetings
This week the NGA published new guidance on how the work of governing bodies can continue during these uncertain times. It provides helpful information on business priorities, how governing bodies can meet virtually and the work of panels.  It also includes a sample protocol governing bodies can follow when using alternative arrangements to participate and vote in meetings.

New text messaging service launched to help teacher wellbeing
A free text messaging service is being launched to support the wellbeing of teachers during the coronavirus crisis. The TeachTogether service will send weekly text messages to teachers including supportive quotes from other professionals, advice and links to useful activities during school closures and beyond.

It is being launched by The Chartered College of Teaching and the Behavioural Insights Team following a pilot of a similar service in the United States and Canada for teachers and emergency service call handlers.

To join the messaging service, teachers will need a UK mobile number or email. To sign up visit chartered.college/teachtogether

Closure of schools and list of key workers
Clearly the situation regarding COVID-19 has changed considerably since this time last week.  Schools will close their doors this afternoon to the majority of children until further notice. Only children of key workers – those considered critical to the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic – and vulnerable pupils will attend schools for the foreseeable future.

In guidance published late yesterday evening, the Cabinet Office and DfE published a list of roles that are considered to be those of key workers, and these are listed below as published.

The Government has also clarified that vulnerable children include those who are supported by social care, those with safeguarding and welfare needs, including child in need plans, on child protection plans, ‘looked after’ children, young carers, disabled children and those with education, health and care plans.

The Government has said that “many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home”, and that “every child who can be safely cared for at home should be”.

It has also been confirmed, in separate guidance for parents, that children will be eligible to attend school even if just one parent or carer is identified as a “critical worker”.

List of key workers

• Health and social care – includes but is not limited to doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers; the support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector; those working as part of the health and social care supply chain, including producers and distributers of medicines and medical and personal protective equipment.
• Education and childcare – this includes nursery and teaching staff, social workers and those specialist education professionals who must remain active during the COVID-19 response to deliver this approach.
• Key public services – this includes those essential to the running of the justice system, religious staff, charities and workers delivering key frontline services, those responsible for the management of the deceased, and journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.
• Local and national government – this only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of the COVID-19 response or delivering essential public services such as the payment of benefits, including in government agencies and arms length bodies.
• Food and other necessary goods – this includes those involved in food production, processing, distribution, sale and delivery as well as those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example hygienic and veterinary medicines).
• Public safety and national security – this includes police and support staff, Ministry of Defence civilians, contractor and armed forces personnel (those critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs and essential to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic), fire and rescue service employees (including support staff), National Crime Agency staff, those maintaining border security, prison and probation staff and other national security roles, including those overseas.
• Transport – this includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during the COVID-19 response, including those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.
• Utilities, communication and financial services – this includes staff needed for essential financial services provision (including but not limited to workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure), the oil, gas, electricity and water sectors (including sewerage), information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the COVID-19 response, as well as key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including but not limited to network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services), postal services and delivery, payments providers and waste disposal sectors.

Governance during this time
As you are aware I have been emailing you all the latest NGA guidance as it has been published.  During these uncertain times school governance should continue albeit virtually/electronically. I am liaising with Headteachers and Chairs to agree how we will conduct our business going forwards.  I will be in touch via email to share our plans in due course.

In the meantime I will continue to send you the latest Government and NGA guidance to keep you updated.

This week I report on the Government’s plans in relation to education should the coronavirus escalate, the updating of RPI so that maintained schools can enjoy the same benefits as academies and the announcement of a multi-million pound Government investment in the future of UK science.

Pupils could be sent elsewhere under UK coronavirus plans
The Government is drawing up a series of emergency laws should the coronavirus escalate. Children and teachers could be made to transfer to alternative schools if their own is shut but the Prime Minister played down the risks of widespread school shutdowns at a press conference to deliver the Government’s coronavirus “battle plan” on Tuesday. He didn’t believe schools should close in principle but confirmed that school authorities should follow the advice of Public Health England.

The legislation is expected to permit the relaxing of constraints on class sizes and the sending of pupils and teachers to other schools if theirs is closed or demand is created by staff being off sick. The powers would be strictly temporary, either through the inclusion of a sunset clause or by allowing the legislation to lapse once the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer declare that the disease is no longer an epidemic.

Risk Protection Arrangements (RPI)
The DfE’s RPI have been updated with new membership rules for community schools, voluntary aided, foundation and foundation special schools and voluntary controlled schools, as they can now save money by joining the scheme (provided by industry professionals on behalf of the DfE) rather than purchasing commercial insurance.

Local authority maintained schools can join the RPA using the DfE’s online portal from mid-March with cover starting from 1 April. The cost is £18 per pupil, per year and £18 per place, per year, for special and alternative provision academies, special schools and pupil referral units. For academies, this covers the academic year 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2020 and for local authority maintained schools this covers the financial year 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

Multi-million government investment in the future of UK science
To mark the start of British Science Week, Business Secretary Alok Sharma and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson have announced funding to support up to 11,000 students through 41 Doctoral Training Partnerships, as well as encourage more young people, particularly girls, to study STEM subjects at school and university, and pursue a STEM-related career. The investment includes:

• £179 million for PhDs, formally known as Doctoral Training Partnerships, at over 40 UK universities in physical sciences, maths and engineering to develop the skills for ground-breaking research and high-tech industries like cyber security and chemical manufacturing.
• £8.9 million to continue funding science education programmes including Science Learning Partnerships and Stimulating Physics Networks, which aim to improve science teaching and increase the take up of science at GCSE level and A level and ultimately encourage young people to pursue a STEM-related career.