Welcome to my December News Update.
Congratulations on getting to the end of a very challenging year. I do hope that you are all going to have a restful and relaxing winter break to ensure that you are fully recharged for the year ahead.
This is my final update for 2020, outlining some the documents and information published in the last month.
What maintained schools must publish online – Updated 12th November
This guidance contains the information that schools maintained by their local authorities must publish on their websites. A new section has been added for ‘Schools that do not have a website’ and ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium’. Sections on the following have been updated ‘Admission arrangements’, ‘Exams and assessment results’, ‘Curriculum’, ‘Pupil premium’, ‘Year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up premium’, ‘PE and sport premium for primary schools’, ‘Equality objectives’, ‘Special educational needs and disability (SEND) information’, ‘Governors’ information and duties’.
What academies, free schools and colleges should publish online – Updated 12th November
Similar updates to the above document.
Safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care – Updated 13th November
This guidance contains information about preventing and controlling infection, including the use of PPE, in education, childcare and children’s social care settings during the coronavirus outbreak.
This document has been updated to include ‘What specific steps should be taken to care for children with complex medical needs, such as tracheostomies?’ to include guidance on aerosol generating procedures (AGPs) in education and children’s social care settings.
This is the additional guidance:
Aerosol generating procedures (AGPs)
AGPs that are commonly performed in education and children’s social care settings include:
- non-invasive ventilation (NIV)
- bi-level positive airway pressure ventilation (BiPAP)
- continuous positive airway pressure ventilation (CPAP)
- respiratory tract suctioning beyond the oro-pharynx [footnote 1] [footnote 2]
Procedures that are not classed AGPs include:
- oral or nasal suction
- the administration of nebulised saline, medication or drugs
- chest compressions or defibrillation
- chest physiotherapy
- the administration of oxygen therapy
- suctioning as part of a closed system circuit
- nasogastric tube insertion and feeding
Education and children’s social care settings, health providers and local teams should work together to build on existing processes in place when implementing coronavirus (COVID-19) adjustments.
Education and children’s social care settings should lead on assessments for their setting. The child, young person or learner’s lead health professional should oversee their care assessments. PHE local health protection teams can advise on infection prevention and control concerns about the child, young person or learner, or the setting. Settings should work with the lead health professional to coordinate any assessments required, with input from PHE local health protection teams as needed.
Settings should be supported by local partners to review and build on existing risk assessments. This will allow the setting to consider any adaptations that they may need, for example, designating a room for undertaking AGPs, or if within a classroom, making sure that all other staff, children, young people and learners are at least 2 metres distance away (as recommended by infection prevention and control guidance and the system of controls set out in sections 1 to 8) with a window opened for ventilation.
The DfE expect children, young people and learners with complex health needs will be able to return to their education or social care setting without settings needing to make significant changes to their ways of work beyond required adherence to the system of controls (as set out in sections 1 to 8). We do not envisage that settings will generally require specialist equipment, for example, tents or airflow systems.
New National Restrictions: Advice and guidance for children and young people with SEND from the Minster for Children and Families
Vicky Ford, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, has written an open letter to children and young people with SEND, their families, carers and all those who support them. In line with previous open letters written since the first lockdown it provides updated advice and guidance with regards to the current lockdown. You can find a copy of the letter on the nasen website: https://tinyurl.com/y3yvubcx
Ofsted reports on the effects of lockdown – Blog Post – 10th November
The second report from Ofsted, based on their recent “visits” to schools, highlights some of the impacts of the pandemic on schools and pupils, and therefore the importance of schools staying open during the current period of restrictions and beyond.
https://dfemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/11/10/ofsted-reports-on-the-effects-of-lockdown/
The full report can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/y29b8cqk
School food standards: resources for schools – Updated 17th November
This guidance offers resources to help schools plan and provide healthy food in schools. It has been updated with added information on food supply chain changes.
Teacher training: physical health and fitness – 19th November
Practical training materials for primary and secondary schools to use to train staff to teach about physical health and fitness.
Teacher training: healthy eating – 19th November
Practical training materials for primary and secondary schools to use to train staff to teach about healthy eating.
Catch-up premium: coronavirus (COVID-19) – 19th November
This document contains information about which schools are eligible, what the funding is for, when payments will be made and how funding can be used to help pupils catch up on missed education.
National Tutoring Programme – Frequently Asked Questions – 19th November
Since the launch of the NTP there has been a huge amount of interest from schools, with thousands of enquiries made to Tuition Partners to arrange tutoring for pupils. They have also had many questions from schools. You will find the 10 most common questions answered here:
https://nationaltutoring.org.uk/news/10-common-questions-about-the-national-tutoring-programme
Free data for disadvantaged pupils from Vodaphone – 18th November
Vodafone UK announced it is giving free connectivity to 250,000 children across the UK to help them access school work from home, catch up on lost learning during school holidays, and continue with their education if they are required to isolate. The Vodafone schools.connected support – in the form of data SIMs – is available to primary and secondary schoolchildren in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Something’s not right – Home Office
These free-to-download lessons from the Home Office, for key stage 3-5 students, support the ‘Something’s Not Right’ campaign on recognising and making disclosures about different forms of abuse.
How we’re supporting schools in the run up to Christmas and 2021 exams – 25th November – Blog Post
The Prime Minister has reiterated the importance of children being in school and restated his commitment to ensuring learning continues in classrooms across the country.
The Department’s commitment rewarding teachers – Blog Post – 26th November
This Blog appeared the day after the Chancellor’s announcement about public sector pay freeze!!
https://dfemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/11/26/the-departments-commitment-rewarding-teachers/
Teaching about relationships, sex and health – Updated 1st December
This document contains information about support and training materials for schools to help train teachers on relationships, sex and health education. They have been updated with a new teacher training module on families.
The Ofsted annual report 2019/20 – Blog Post – 1st December
Thanks to the efforts of staff in nurseries, schools, colleges and children’s homes, Ofsted’s annual report shows that the standard of education and care remains high across the board.
https://dfemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/12/01/the-ofsted-annual-report-2019-20/
The full report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ofsted-annual-report-201920-education-childrens-services-and-skills
Remote education webinars – Updated 2nd December
This guidance on how to access school-led webinars on remote education to help share good practice has been updated with new webinars for middle leaders
Extra measures to support students ahead of next summer’s exams – Press Release – 3rd December
Students sitting exams and other assessments next year will benefit from a package of exceptional measures to make them as fair as possible and manage the disruption caused by Covid-19, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced on Thursday 3 December.
Building on the three-week delay to exams to free up extra teaching time announced in October, the new measures include:
- more generous grading than usual, in line with national outcomes from 2020, so students this year are not disadvantaged;
- students receiving advance notice of some topic areas covered in GCSE, AS and A levels to focus revision;
- exam aids – like formula sheets – provided in some exams giving students more confidence and reducing the amount of information they need to memorise;
- additional exams to give students a second chance to sit a paper if the main exams or assessments are missed due to illness or self-isolation; and
- a new expert group to look at differential learning and monitor the variation in the impact of the pandemic on students across the country.
Guidance to support the summer 2021 exams – 3rd December
This guidance contains what schools, colleges and students need to know about taking GCSEs, AS and A levels and other qualifications in summer 2021.
Actions for schools during the coronavirus outbreak – Updated 3rd December
This guidance for the full opening of schools has been updated in the following areas:
Clinically extremely vulnerable group: The advice for pupils who remain in the clinically extremely vulnerable group is that they should return to school from 2 December, at all local restriction tiers, unless they are one of the very small number of pupils or students under paediatric or NHS care (such as recent transplant or very immunosuppressed children) and have been advised specifically by their GP or clinician not to attend an education setting.
Inspections: For state-funded schools, the intention is that routine, graded Ofsted inspections will not be reintroduced until the summer term. During the spring term, it is intended that inspectors will conduct monitoring inspections in schools most in need of support – inadequate schools and some schools that require improvement.
Primary assessments: To recognise the challenges that primary schools are facing, primary assessments in summer 2021 will focus on assessments in phonics, English reading and writing, and mathematics.
The key stage 1 tests in English reading and mathematics, and the English grammar, punctuation and spelling tests at key stage 1 and 2, will be removed for one year. There will also be no requirement to undertake and report on teacher assessments in science at either key stage. In addition, the introduction of the multiplication tables check will be postponed a further year, whilst still enabling schools to use it on an optional basis.
We are also enabling schools to take a more flexible approach to the administration of the key stage 2 tests, and the phonics screening check, by extending the original timetable variation windows by a further week until 26 May and 25 June respectively.
For 2020 to 2021 academic year only, schools will be required to administer a past version of the phonics screening check to year 2 pupils during the second half of the 2020 autumn term. Year 2 pupils who meet the expected standard in the autumn check will not be required to complete any further statutory assessments in phonics. Year 2 pupils who do not meet the expected standard in the autumn check will be expected to take the statutory check in June 2021.
The statutory rollout of the reception baseline assessment has been postponed until September 2021. During the summer term 2020, schools had the opportunity to sign up to the 2020 to 2021 early adopter year.
In light of the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the 2020 to 2021 academic year will be a transitionary year (subject to the necessary legislation being made) to allow schools time to prepare for, and start embedding, the engagement model. The engagement model is the new attainment framework (replacing P scales 1 to 4) for pupils working below the standard of national curriculum assessments and not engaged in subject-specific study.
The 2020 to 2021 academic year will be a transitionary year where schools that have prepared to implement the engagement model will be able to report against it and schools that need more time to implement this change will have the option to assess against P scales 1 to 4, for one final year. The engagement model will become statutory from September 2021 and further information can be found at the engagement model.
I have produced a summary of all the relevant documents on primary assessment on my website. https://lpec.org.uk/?p=3454
Remote education minimum expectations
Where a class, group or a small number of pupils need to self-isolate, or local restrictions require pupils to remain at home, we expect schools to have the capacity to offer immediate remote education. All pupils not physically unwell with coronavirus (COVID-19) but who are at home as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19) should have access to remote education by the next school day. Schools are expected to consider how to continue to improve the quality of their existing curriculum, for example through technology, and have a strong offer in place for remote education provision.
DfE understands that, thanks to the dedication of teachers and school leaders, the vast majority of schools are already delivering remote education when it is needed and continually improving their provision in line with expectations and emerging best practice. Schools should be aware that any DfE and Ofsted engagement concerning remote provision will always take into account the circumstances of the school and its pupils, including staff absences related to coronavirus (COVID-19).
Note that the expectations set out in this guidance are for schools rather than for individual teachers.
In developing their remote education, we expect schools to:
- teach a planned and well-sequenced curriculum so that knowledge and skills are built incrementally, with a good level of clarity about what is intended to be taught and practised in each subject
- use a curriculum sequence that allows access to high-quality online and offline resources and teaching videos and that is linked to the school’s curriculum expectations
- give access to high quality remote education resources
- select the online tools that will be consistently used across the school in order to allow interaction, assessment and feedback and make sure staff are trained in their use
- provide printed resources, such as textbooks and workbooks, for pupils who do not have suitable online access
- recognise that younger pupils and some pupils with SEND may not be able to access remote education without adult support and so schools should work with families to deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum – for pupils with SEND, their teachers are best placed to know how to meet their needs
When teaching pupils remotely, we expect schools to:
- set assignments so that pupils have meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects
- set work that is of equivalent length to the core teaching pupils would receive in school, and as a minimum: primary: 3 hours a day, on average, across the school cohort – secondary: 4 hours a day, with more for pupils working towards formal qualifications this year
- provide frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher or through high-quality curriculum resources or videos
- have systems for checking, at least weekly, whether pupils are engaging with their work, and inform parents immediately where engagement is a concern
- gauge how well pupils are progressing through the curriculum using questions and other suitable tasks, and provide feedback, at least weekly, using digitally facilitated or whole-class feedback where appropriate
- enable teachers to adjust the pace or difficulty of what is being taught in response to questions or assessments, including, where necessary, revising material or simplifying explanations to ensure pupils’ understanding
We expect schools to consider these expectations in relation to the pupils’ age, stage of development or special educational needs, for example where this would place significant demands on parents’ help or support. We expect schools to avoid an over-reliance on long-term projects or internet research activities.
The DfE have now published a temporary continuity direction which makes it clear that schools have a duty to provide remote education for state-funded, school-age children unable to attend school due to coronavirus (COVID-19). This came into effect from 22 October 2020. The direction poses no additional expectations on the quality of remote education expected of schools beyond those set out in this guidance.
Ofsted: phased return to inspections – Press Release – 3rd December
Maintained schools and academies
From January, Ofsted will resume monitoring inspections of schools judged inadequate at their previous inspection and some schools graded as requires improvement. These will not result in a grade.
Emergency inspections of schools will continue as they have done throughout the pandemic, in response to any serious concerns raised with Ofsted.
Routine inspections, which result in a school being awarded a new grade or being confirmed in its current grade, will resume in the summer term.
Area special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
From January we will resume joint interim visits with the Care Quality Commission. These visits aim to support improvement and will not result in a published letter or graded judgement.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ofsted-phased-return-to-inspections
Extended powers SEND tribunal: national trial – Updated 4th December
The trial was due to end on 31 August 2020. However, given the pressures local areas are under as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19), the government believes it is not the right time to introduce any changes to this policy. We have therefore decided to extend the trial until 31 August 2021.
Early years foundation stage profile handbook – Updated 8th December
This handbook supports EYFS practitioners in making accurate judgements about each child’s attainment. This updated version should be used to help complete and moderate early years foundation stage profile judgements, so that outcomes are accurate and consistent across all early years settings. The guidance has also been aligned with the 2021 teacher assessment guidance for key stage 1 and key stage 2. The early years foundation stage (EYFS) profile is statutory for the 2020 to 2021 academic year, except for providers legally exempt under relevant regulations.
The handbook does not apply to schools participating in the EYFS profile early adopter year in 2020/21. These schools should follow the Early adopter schools: EYFS profile handbook instead.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-adopter-schools-eyfs-profile-handbook
CONSULTATION: Keeping children safe in education: proposed revisions 2021 – 10th December
The DfE are seeking views on proposed changes to the statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ with a view to making changes for September 2021. The closing date for this consultation is 4th March 2021.
Guidance for full opening: special schools and other specialist settings – Updated 10th December
This guidance on what all special schools and other specialist settings will need to do during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak from the start of the autumn term to support the return of children and young people with special education needs and disability (SEND)has been updated once again!
The main changes are in the following sections:
- Clinically extremely vulnerable pupils – A small number of pupils and students will still be unable to attend in line with public health advice to self-isolate because:
- they have had symptoms or a positive test result themselves
- they live with someone that has symptoms or has tested positive and are a household contact
- they are a close contact of someone who has coronavirus (COVID-19)
Children who live with someone who is clinically extremely vulnerable, but who are not clinically extremely vulnerable themselves, should still attend school.
- Assessment and accountability – This section has been updated with all the information regarding inspections, primary assessment and exams in 2021. It also references the Engagement Model – The 2020 to 2021 academic year will be a transitionary year where schools that have prepared to implement the engagement model will be able to report against it and schools that need more time to implement this change will have the option to assess against P scales 1 to 4, for one final year. The engagement model will become statutory from September 2021.
- Remote education expectations – The updated special school guidance may need to be referred to when thinking about students with EHCPs
- DfE expect schools to have the capacity to offer immediate remote education. By this, they mean the next school day
- Settings should work collaboratively with families, putting in place reasonable adjustments as necessary, so that pupils with SEND can successfully access remote education
- Where a pupil has provision specified within their EHC plan, it remains the duty of the local authority and any health bodies to secure or arrange the delivery of this in the setting that the plan names
- If pupils are self-isolating decisions on how provision can be delivered should be informed by relevant considerations including the types of services that the pupil can access remotely, on a case-by-case basis, avoiding a one size fits all approach
- Schools should be aware that any DfE and Ofsted engagement concerning remote provision will always take into account the circumstances of the school and its pupils, including staff absences related to coronavirus (COVID-19)
- The expectations set out in this guidance are for schools rather than for individual teachers.
Special schools and specialist settings have access to an experienced, expert workforce including: educational psychologists; speech and language therapists; qualified teachers of sensory impairments; other therapists; teaching assistants, often with specialist knowledge. Designing home learning may require input from any or all of these.
In developing their remote education, DfE expect schools to:
- teach a planned and well-sequenced curriculum so that knowledge and skills are built incrementally, with a good level of clarity about what is intended to be taught and practised in each subject
- use a curriculum sequence that allows access to high-quality online and offline resources and teaching videos and that is linked to the school’s curriculum expectations
- give access to high quality remote education resources
- select the online tools that will be consistently used across the school in order to allow interaction, assessment and feedback and make sure staff are trained in their use
- provide printed resources, such as textbooks and workbooks, for pupils who do not have suitable online access
When teaching remotely, the DfE expect schools to:
- set assignments so that pupils have meaningful and ambitious work each day in a number of different subjects
- set work that is of equivalent length to the core teaching pupils would receive in school, and as a minimum: Primary aged: 3 hours a day, on average, across the school cohort – Secondary aged: 4 hours a day, with more for pupils working towards formal qualifications this year
- provide frequent, clear explanations of new content, delivered by a teacher or through high-quality curriculum resources or videos
- have systems for checking, at least weekly, whether pupils are engaging with their work, and inform parents immediately where engagement is a concern
- gauge how well pupils are progressing through the curriculum using questions and other suitable tasks, and provide feedback, at least weekly, using digitally facilitated or whole-class feedback where appropriate
- enable teachers to adjust the pace or difficulty of what is being taught in response to questions or assessments, including, where necessary, revising material or simplifying explanations to ensure pupils’ understanding.
The DfE expect settings to consider carefully these expectations in relation to activities that would place significant demands on parents’ help or support.
Specialist settings will need to work with parent carers to agree an ambitious yet pragmatic approach to supporting children and young people with complex needs to access appropriate remote learning and support, where they are not able to be in school.
Testing in North East London, Kent and Essex: your questions answered – Blog Post 11th December
The Health Secretary has announced that hundreds of thousands of tests will be offered to secondary school and college age children in a targeted effort to drive down rapidly rising cases. Mobile testing units will be used in areas across north east London, parts of Essex and parts of Kent to test secondary school and college aged children and young people, their families, and school and college staff.
This blog answers questions about this testing.
Actions for schools during the coronavirus outbreak – Updated 14th December
This guidance on what all schools will need to do during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak from the start of the autumn term has been updated with information about self-isolation reducing to 10 days from the day after contact with the individual tested positive (from 14 days).
The following documents have also been updated with the same information.
What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak – https://tinyurl.com/y75dox6y
Coronavirus (COVID-19): test kits for schools and FE providers – https://tinyurl.com/yag3c4wb
Guidance for full opening: special schools and other specialist settings – https://tinyurl.com/yd7ly6go
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!