Vulnerable children online form

Last week we shared guidance for schools regarding vulnerable pupils that included this online form for schools to complete on a weekly basis where vulnerable children have not taken up the offer to attend school, and there is continued vulnerability causing your school concern.

As a reminder the form above does not replace the referral process and schools should continue to use the threshold criteria Right Help Right Time. If schools are concerned that a child is at risk, or that their needs appear to be significant and complex, schools should refer children to Birmingham Children’s Trust through a written referral in the usual way. 

Staff testing in primary schools

The DfE has confirmed that primary schools, including school-based nurseries and maintained nursery schools, should expect to receive a delivery of home testing kits this week for testing of staff to start from next week. If you have not received a delivery by close on Monday 25 January, or have missing or damaged items, please contact the DfE coronavirus (COVID-19) helpdesk on 0800 046 8687. You do not need to start any testing before the week commencing 25 January.

Primary schools including school-based nurseries will receive sufficient test kits to test their primary and early years staff. Maintained nursery schools will also receive testing kits to offer to their staff. Private early years providers will be eligible for regular asymptomatic coronavirus (COVID-19) testing through local community testing programmes.

Together with NHS Test and Trace, the DfE is hosting a series of webinars for primary schools that will both provide information on testing and an opportunity to discuss any issues that may arise. The webinars that took place today will be available on the DfE’s sharing platform shortly. Further webinars on reporting and recording results will take place tomorrow. Schools can join the webinars using the links below:

Reporting and recording of results.

Early Years testing

Attached is a letter from Vicky Ford MP with an update on asymptomatic testing for early years staff.

Accessing nurses to provide assisted testing support

The route for schools to access resources to provide assisted testing support is through the DfE Covid Helpdesk by phone or email, specifying your school’s requirements.

The helpline can be contacted on 0800 046 8687 or via the DfE.coronavirushelpline@education.gov.uk  

This will result in the school receiving a referral form to complete and send to the DfE who will identify appropriate candidates.

Message from Birmingham Children’s Partnership: Emergency and ongoing help for Birmingham

As the third national lockdown begins, we are aware that families will be facing another difficult period in a myriad of ways.  The Birmingham Children’s Partnership wants to ensure that any family in Birmingham which needs help is aware of how to find it quickly and easily.  The attached letter contains information on where to get help including:

• Emergency Food Assistance
• Mental Health Support
• Financial Assistance
• Domestic Abuse
• Early Help

We would be pleased if you would pass this information on to all your parents so that they are aware of all the support that they can access quickly during this period and beyond.  If you require any further information or help, please do not hesitate to contact us through www.birmingham.gov.uk/BCP.

Risk assessments webinar: Wednesday 20th January 2021 2pm - 3pm

Officers from the council’s safety services and education infrastructure teams will be holding a webinar for schools next Wednesday 20th January 2pm-3pm to discuss risk assessments.

Please book places at this link https://risk-assessment-200121.eventbrite.co.uk and a Teams link will be sent to you ahead of the session.

The webinar will also be recorded so that any schools unable to attend are able to watch it afterwards.

Public Health lateral flow testing webinar: Wednesday 20th January 12pm – 1pm

Schools are invited to a webinar with Birmingham Public Health regarding lateral flow testing on Wednesday at 12pm.

Please book places at this link https://lft-200121.eventbrite.co.uk and a Teams link will be sent to you ahead of the session.

The webinar will also be recorded so that any schools unable to attend are able to watch it afterwards.

New Commonwealth Challenge educational resource to help children stay active at home during the pandemic

Birmingham’s Commonwealth Games are next year. Sport Birmingham want to make sure that, despite the challenging circumstances presented by COVID-19, our city’s children are as healthy and active as possible when the Games arrive. 

Families with primary school age children can earn prizes for their school and travel the globe by completing 15 minute activity challenges at home during the school closure.

Families that complete the challenges will enter a prize draw for…

1. 3 x £50 shopping voucher
2. A day with a Team England Athlete for their school.
3. £350 of sports equipment for their school.

Sport England data shows that 3 in 10 children are less active than usual during the pandemic, and 40% of children now do less than 30 minutes of physical activity a day. In Birmingham, 2 in 5 children are classified as obese in year 6, and this figure is expected to increase because of the school lockdown.

The aim of the new resource is simple - reverse the declining health trends by engaging children in activities that are safe and easy to complete; even for the busiest of families that may be juggling homeschooling with work commitments.

Each day of the challenge provides a different link to a fun and exciting activity.

On some of the days, children are prompted to learn facts about the countries and cultures that will be visiting Birmingham for the Games in 2022. 

Families can access the resource here: https://www.sportbirmingham.org/commonwealth-passport-and-map

Completed resources should be submitted to: schools@sportbirmingham.org