COVID-19 variant and Public Health webinar

Additional testing is being made available within the Frankley Great Park ward and a specific area in south Northfield in Birmingham, where a case of the COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa has been found. Information about the testing programme is available on the council’s website at this link.

Information is available on the council’s website to support schools and settings in the targeted testing area at this link and Public Health Birmingham hosted a webinar for these settings earlier today.

Public Health Birmingham will be holding a further webinar for all schools and settings about this new variant and the testing programme next Tuesday at 3.30pm. To book a place, please use this Eventbrite link and a Teams link will be sent ahead of the session. The session will be recorded and shared with all schools and settings.

Secondary and primary offer day update

In 2020, new arrangements were successfully introduced for the acceptance and refusal of offers made on and after primary offer day. This was in direct response to the first national lockdown and the impact on schools and parents. The offer letters sent to families informed them that offers would be automatically accepted unless families emailed School Admissions to confirm they were refusing the offer. The new arrangements streamlined the process for parents and moved the system away from parents having to return paper slips to schools. This ensured that all parents, particularly those living in more challenging circumstances, retained a school offer. This resulted in a reduction in the numbers of children who were without a school place in September or who were at risk of becoming missing from education. Parents and carers who wanted to refuse a school place were still able to do so by email.

The process for primary offer day described above will be extended for the secondary offer day in 2021:

• Offer letters will state that unless the offer of a place is refused, it will be assumed that the offer has been accepted.
• A dedicated email address (AdmissionOfferRefusal@birmingham.gov.uk) will again be provided for parents to email us if they wish to refuse the place offered.
• All refusals received up to the stated deadlines (15th March for secondary and 30th April for primary) will be updated on our records, and places will be withdrawn accordingly.
• The School Admissions and Fair Access Team will be able to provide schools with an export showing any offers that have been withdrawn if this is required.
• As parents/carers will be informed that they are not required to confirm acceptance of the place that was offered to their child, offers that have been made must stand unless a refusal is received from parents/carers.

Schools should not withdraw any offer unless/until they are informed that a formal refusal has been received by School Admissions. Schools should follow-up with the parents/carers of any children who do not take up their place at the start of term in September through their normal attendance procedures.

The above approach will also help schools and the School Appeals team to defend any appeals submitted as school places will be retained by families unless they confirm in writing that they want to refuse.

The 2020 transfer round appeals process was delivered successfully in Birmingham using virtual panels, supported by a strong partnership between School Admissions, schools and colleagues in Legal Services. As the DfE has confirmed virtual appeal panels can continue, appeals for September 2021 places will continue in this way.

Year 7 offer day webinar for secondary schools: Tuesday 9th February 2pm-3pm

A webinar will take place next Tuesday afternoon at 2pm with School Admissions colleagues for any secondary schools with queries about the process for this year’s offer day on 1 March 2021.

Please book a place using this Eventbrite link and a Teams link will be sent to you before the session. The session will be recorded and made available to all schools afterwards.