Free school meals: National voucher scheme

Earlier today the Secretary of State provided information about the national voucher scheme that will be in place from next week. The DfE has confirmed that any support provided since 4 January 2021 through lunch parcels or locally arranged vouchers can also be claimed back.

The council strongly recommends that schools make use of this national voucher scheme as the best way to support families at this time.

Support with lateral flow testing: Message from Public Health Birmingham

• We are planning to stand up weekly webinars from next week to support schools in rolling out Lateral Flow Testing (LFT) and provide ongoing access to public health advice as the situation evolves. Information about the date and time of the first webinar will be sent as soon as possible.
• We are working to establish training support for LFT at the National Indoor Utilita Arena and we will share details on how to access this later this week. This will provide an opportunity for your staff involved in testing to attend socially distanced practical training.
• The DfE has a policy of offering daily testing to close contacts of positive cases to minimise disruption in school attendance. We recommend schools focus their roll out of LFT on weekly mass testing to gain confidence in the process before offering it on a daily basis to close contacts of positive case(s). Where contacts are not offered LFT or consent is not obtained, they should be following the guidance to isolate for 10 days.

Safeguarding Update for School Closure

In accordance with Keeping Children Safe in Education 2020, we would like to remind schools that they should always have a trained DSL available on site. Where this is not possible, the following arrangements should be in place:

• a DSL from the school who is working off-site is contactable via phone/video call and arrangements are shared with staff on site
• agreement is in place with another school to share DSL support with access arrangements in place
• in addition to either option, a senior leader should take responsibility for co-ordinating safeguarding on site

To ensure that your school is making appropriate checks on vulnerable learners, please follow the guidance below:  

Universal support for all pupils

• Schools should be sharing information with parents/carers on the school website and where appropriate, by text message  
• This will include information about school closure, where to get help and support, arrangements for online learning, links to sources of education and entertainment, who to contact if help is needed and brokerage support for key worker/vulnerable pupil arrangements

Targeted support for vulnerable pupils (CiN/CP/CiC)

• In addition to universal support, schools will have identified more vulnerable families and should maintain contact to ensure that they are accessing the range of support available to them, including learning opportunities
• Schools should continue to complete the DfE daily attendance return. 
• DSLs should continue to risk assess vulnerable children to consider who is engaging and who requires a more specialist approach.
• Where vulnerable children have not taken up the offer to attend school, and there is continued vulnerability causing your school concern, information should be shared via the online form here.

Specialist for vulnerable pupils who may be at risk

• Children at the edge of a threshold who may become more vulnerable due to the impact of Covid 19, should not be overlooked and schools should continue to offer a place.
• A comprehensive guide for working with vulnerable children and families during home visits is set out in Stronger and More Consistent Approach to Home Visits During Pandemic (attached).
• Schools should continue to use the threshold criteria Right Help Right Time and if they are concerned that a child is at risk, or that their needs appear to be significant and complex, then schools should refer children to Birmingham Children’s Trust through a written referral. 
• Schools must tell parents that they are making the referral for support and seek consent to share information.
• If a school is concerned that there are child protection concerns, consent is overridden and schools should not delay in contacting the Trust through CASS.

Information about those children eligible for a school place can be found here.

Birmingham Children’s Partnership Approach to Home Visits During the Pandemic

The Birmingham Children’s Partnership agreed position for working with vulnerable children and families during home visits is described in the attached note, referred to above. There are four agreed scenarios to improve consistency of practice across Birmingham. All partners are adjusting their procedures to support the changes.

The basic principle: where a visit would normally take place, if the risk of not visiting (for the child) is greater than the risk of visiting, then visits should take place with appropriate safety measures in place so far as is practicable (PPE, hand-washing, social distancing, etc).

Disability Discrimination and the link to SEND Code of Practice webinar: Monday 18th January 2021 4pm

Speaker: Tom Cross

Our aspiration in Birmingham is ensure that all schools are fully inclusive and compliant with equality legislation. We have been working closely with settings to supporting you to make the reasonable adjustments needed to ensure accessibility for all pupils and in particular to support building and environmental adaptations which will enable pupils with physical disabilities to access education in their local mainstream school.

This presentation will outline the main duties on schools to avoid disability discrimination against pupils and will provide real life worked examples. This advice will support settings in undertaking reasonable adjustments as well as accessibility planning. There will be an opportunity to ask questions.

Link to book places:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/legislation-and-disability-discrimination-tickets-130273817495

About the speaker:

Tom is ranked as a leading junior at the UK Bar in the field of Education law (Chambers and Partners and Legal 500). He acts for and advises all parties, including HEIs, schools, local authorities, parents, young people and interest groups. His work includes both private (including commercial) ad public law disputes. He is also co-author of Education and the Courts (Jordans: forthcoming). Recent high-profile examples of his work in this field include: Christ Church College v Dean Martyn Percy (acting for the College in disciplinary proceedings against its Dean); R (An Academy Trust) v Medway Council (about when a mainstream Academy must admit a child with special educational needs); and Ofsted v Al-Hijrah School (whether segregation of boys and girls in a mixed school was discriminatory). He frequently represents parties in school’s disability discrimination cases.