Testing to monitor and suppress spread of COVID-19 variant

The council is working closely with Public Health England and the national NHS Track and Trace team to support measures to curb any potential spread of variants; this will include significantly increasing the testing offer in a targeted way. We have contacted schools in areas where we are currently conducting surge testing. These are certain postcodes in the following wards:

• Ladywood
• Soho and Jewellery Quarter
• Alum Rock
• Glebe Farm and Tile Cross
• Bordesley Green

Surge testing happens in a defined area which is designed to try and capture any potential community spread and is smaller than the whole ward area. The postcode checker at this link confirms if settings are in the affected areas.

Specific information for education settings, including how to order drop and collect test kits is available on the council’s website at https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/50233/support_for_residents_during_the_coronavirus_covid-19/2319/surge_testing_for_covid-19_variant/4

Queries can be sent to edsi.enquiries@birmingham.gov.uk

Free school meal vouchers

We are extremely grateful for schools’ continued support in accessing and distributing free school meal vouchers for eligible families over the past year. Government funding has been extended and we will be using this for a week of vouchers for the May half term. Details of when these vouchers will be available to schools will be shared as soon as possible.

Birmingham Audit has identified specific controls which will help strengthen audit processes for the implementation of current and future voucher schemes. We would be grateful if schools could consider the below recommendations from Audit:

• School records should include;
  • An audit trail of all vouchers received on behalf of families including voucher number/code, value, date received. 
  • An audit trail of all vouchers issued to eligible families including date issued to families. For vouchers printed on behalf of the families, a signature and date by the families confirming receipt of the voucher should be obtained. 
  • A record of all families where vouchers have been requested on their behalf.  This should include detail of the evidence factor used/seen to support the NRPF school meal voucher claim. N.B DfE guidance does not require copies of evidence provided to be maintained.
• Voucher codes which schools do not allocate and issue to families must be returned to BCC in a timely manner using the online form set up for returns, requests and confirmations. Schools should also keep a record of the returned voucher codes.
• There should be a division of duties between person(s) requesting, recording and issuing of vouchers to families.  Appropriate roles should be assigned for consistency. Where this is not possible a compensating control should be put into place whereby a second individual periodically reconciles vouchers ordered to vouchers received and issued.

Internet Watch Foundation campaign launched to raise awareness of “self-generated” child sexual abuse material

In the last year, “self-generated” child sexual abuse imagery has increased by 77% and is a third of all child sexual abuse material identified and removed from the internet. These included images of girls aged 11 to 13 whose abuse had been recorded via a webcam in a domestic setting.

To help prevent the creation of this type of abusive imagery, a campaign has been launched by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) backed by the Home Office and Microsoft. It aims to help raise awareness of this type of criminality among parents and carers of young teens, empower and educate girls aged 11 to 13+ to spot the techniques used by sexual predators and give them the knowledge to Block, Report, Tell someone they trust.

It is a national campaign running from Wednesday 21 April for six weeks. You can find out more on the IWF website, as well as specific sites for parents and young people.

FREE Professional SEND Webinar - Inclusion and Equity

Speaker:  Professor Mel Ainscow, CBE

Date: Monday, 10th May 2021, 4pm

In this webinar we will discuss the challenges that exist in the English education system with the emphasis on inclusion and equity. Professor Mel Ainscow will draw from experience working with education systems, in this country and overseas, to promote equitable development and will argue that, under the right conditions, learner diversity can be a catalyst for educational improvement.

Professor Mel Ainscow is internationally recognised as an authority on the promotion of inclusion and equity in education. He is Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Manchester, Professor of Education at the University of Glasgow, and Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology. A long-term consultant to UNESCO, he is currently working on international efforts to promote equity and inclusion globally.

To register for this event please use this Eventbrite link.  Once you have booked you will receive an invite to the event 45 minutes before. The event will be held in TEAMS. All webinars are recorded.