Agenda item

Purpose of the report:

Regarding a verbal update on the reopening of schools to be received pursuant to a recommendation made by the Select Committee on 28 July 2020 following its consideration of a report on the council’s preparations for school reopening.

Witnesses:

Julie Iles, Cabinet Member for All-Age Learning

Liz Mills, Director – Education, Learning and Culture

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. The Director summarised that most Surrey schools had reopened as expected, but some had remained closed due to flooding. Some schools with a large number of high-needs children had initially adopted an approach of partial opening. Such schools were receiving targeted support to fully reopen. The council had published information encouraging parents to return their children to school. School attendance in Surrey was higher than the usual number of children. However, there had been a higher-than-average number of children being withdrawn from school to receive home education – targeted work on this issue was being undertaken. Social workers and Special Educational Needs teams were being equipped with materials to reinforce the back to school campaign. Some schools had experienced staff or student absences due to COVID-19, but all schools had risk assessment plans in place and were relying on ‘bubbles’ of children in school. Overall, the Director was pleased with the work that was ongoing between school leaders, the Schools Alliance for Excellence (SAfE), and public health teams, despite the receipt of Department for Education guidance at a late stage. Work to encourage vulnerable learners to attend school was continuing to go well, with a dedicated team monitoring this. Throughout the summer term, the Learners Single Point of Access (L-SPA) had launched and provided parents and professionals with guidance and support and had proved a positive addition, with 60% of enquiries resolved at first contact – the launch of the L-SPA was welcomed by the Chairman. Some of the additional central government funding obtained through the COVID-19 grant was being used to provide a support package to assist the narrowing of the learning gap that resulted from extended school absences and closures during the pandemic. Support pathways for vulnerable learners with anxiety who were struggling to return to school were being developed. Some concerns remained; for example, the Test and Trace system had created unsatisfactory waiting times for testing. The Chair of the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership had relayed these concerns to the Department for Education. Family interventions for vulnerable children and further targeted work with schools were needed; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the wellbeing of children was also a concern – enhanced training on domestic abuse was being provided to Designated Safeguarding Leads.

2. The winter flu season was a concern in terms of workforce resilience. The Service was supporting health colleagues with the delivery of the immunisation programme.

3. A Member asked what proportion of pupils who were expected to return to school had done so. The Director informed members that attendance was slightly lower than at the same time last year, albeit this figure was higher in Surrey than the national average. The Director assured the Select Committee that more work would be done to ensure all pupils who were expected to attend school were doing so.

4. A Member asked how many children and staff across the county had tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the new school term and what the standard guidance was for schools when a child tested positive. If a child or teacher was displaying symptoms of COVID-19,then the guidance was for them to self-isolate for fourteen days and seek a test. If the test returned positive, a conversation would take place with Public Health England; Public Health England would undertake a rapid risk assessment and a decision would be made on what the course of action should be, which could range from no further action to whole school closure. The Cabinet Member informed the Select Committee that, alongside the Local Resilience Forum and the Surrey Safeguarding Children Partnership, they had made representations to the Department for Education to express how difficult it was to keep school settings open if relevant tests were not prioritised.

5. A Member asked how the narrowing of the learning gap was to be achieved, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Director stated that there were a number of things happening to support disadvantaged learners and children with additional needs. Government funding was available for the recruitment of tutors and other support staff and each school had plans for how this would be spent. There was to be a particular focus on literacy as the subject enabled access to the rest of the school curriculum. A number of webinars were to be delivered to school leaders; an audit tool had been made available for schools; and a targeted plan was in place and was supported by the national leader for education. Over 1,500 laptops had been received from the Department for Education and had been distributed to relevant pupils by schools, although over double that number had been requested by schools; the Service was continuing to work with the Department to source additional devices. The Director foresaw at least some of children’s education being delivered digitally until the conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic; the Service was to continue its focus on home-based learning, and SAfE had focused resources on understanding evidence-based best practice in this respect.

6. A Member stated that some bus drivers were having to turn away children who were waiting for public transport to or from school and asked whether this could be explored to ensure that all children were able to attend school. The Director stated that she would make enquiries and inform the Select Committee of her findings. The Cabinet Member added that there was a campaign in Surrey for getting back to school safely, with targeted posts being used on social media. There had been a high number of late applications for home-to-school transport and an increased amount of government funding had been received to help the council address any capacity issues. The Cabinet Member was eager to promote active travel to school. 

7. A Member asked for further information on the reopening of special schools . The Assistant Director commended the response of special schools and informed the Select Committee that all pupils expected to return to these settings had done so. Guidance on personal protective equipment and the delivery of personal care had been provided to special schools by the Service in collaboration with health colleagues. The impact of limited testing under Test and Trace was being seen primarily in special schools due to the larger numbers of staff needed to support pupils. In special education settings, 7 children and 21 staff had tested positive between the beginning of term to 7 September. The Assistant Director offered to share the most recent figures with the Select Committee.

8. A Member stated that schools had incurred extra costs due to COVID-19 and asked what financial reimbursements would be made to help compensate schools. The Director commented that much of those costs were associated with increased cleaning (noting that teachers were cleaning classrooms between lessons), the provision of free school meals to eligible pupils who were self-isolating, and the provision of personal protective equipment and hand sanitiser. The Service had received government guidance to continue fully paying providers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, even where services were being not being delivered. Schools had been asked to use their surplus balances before making claims for the reimbursement of increased costs that were not met by specific government schemes. The Service would continue to lobby the Government for additional funding where necessary.

Actions

                                          I.    For the Select Committee to maintain a watching brief regarding transitions within and from education.

                                        II.    For the Assistant Director, Education to share with the Select Committee the numbers of children and staff in special education settings who had tested positive for COVID-19 since the reopening of schools.

                                       III.    For the Director – Education, Learning and Culture to ascertain why some children in Epsom and Ewell had been turned away from public transport to school.