Director's Message - 6th July 2020

Dear Colleagues,

The Department of Education issued the guidance on 2nd July following the announcement from the government about the return of all children to school in September. DfE's expectation is that all pupils, in all year groups, will return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term. This represents the most significant moment for schools since the partial national school closure was announced in late March.

Within the DfE Guidance there are many issues that schools need to consider and specific aspects that schools must plan for, and I am sure that many schools will be doing this carefully over the coming days.  

While schools are advised by the government to plan the full reopening in September, these are the key points of the guidance issued by the DfE:

·  The government has set out its intent and plan for all children to return to school full time from the start of September. It is based on a twin strategy of limiting contact between pupils and implementing hygiene measures (these are described in more detail within 'system of controls' in the published guidance - see section one).

·  Schools are told that "all elements of the system of controls are essential", but "the way different schools implement some of the requirements will differ based on their individual circumstances".

·  Schools will be familiar with many aspects of the system of controls already, e.g. thorough and regular hand-washing and promoting good respiratory hygiene (the 'catch it, bin it, kill it' approach)

·  The main changes relate to how contact between individuals is to be limited in schools; contact is to be limited in two main ways: 

1.    By ensuring pupils remain in consistent groups ('bubbles') wherever possible, thereby minimising the number of contacts between different people across the school 

2.    By maintaining distance between individuals wherever possible ('social distancing').

·  Schools are told that it is a legal requirement that they now revisit and update their covid-19 risk assessments

·  Schools are also being asked to prepare a 'plan b', i.e. arrangements to allow remote learning to take place should a partial or full closure of the school be required, at any point in the next academic year. The government has set out in its guidance expectations around what those arrangements should include (see section five). It has also outlined the optional support that will be offered to schools in the coming days and weeks to help them develop such arrangements. 

·  The DfE states "if schools follow the guidance set out here, they can be confident they are managing risk effectively."  

Ofsted will be visiting schools, further education and skills, early years and children's social care providers this autumn. Ofsted said inspectors will use the visits to work collaboratively with leaders, listening and providing appropriate challenges, without passing judgement. Read more about how these visits will work as detailed in Ofsted's Autumn 2020 Plans.

While the long-awaited guidance gives school leaders a degree of clarity, I recognise the scale of challenge that you face in making these plans work in practice. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your strong leadership in preparing for September's full reopening to receive all pupils. 

Please continue to work together with similar settings to share good practice, especially with logistical planning; we will highlight good practice via LEAP. If you require any support or would like to discuss strategic preparations for September 2020, then you can contact us via email education@hillingdon.gov.uk. My teams will provide you with the necessary advice and guidance during these challenging times. 

This week's DfE updates are also available via our FAQs. 

Regards,

Dan