Free school meal vouchers for May half-term

We are pleased to be able to confirm that we have secured provision of supermarket vouchers for children eligible for free school meals over the May half term holiday, using Sodexo as the provider and distributing vouchers to schools and early years settings in the same way as we have been done previously.  This voucher scheme will be funded through the COVID Local Support Grant and therefore comes with timeframe restrictions with the vouchers needing to be redeemed by 20th June 2021.  

In order to make the process as streamlined as possible and to ensure that eligible children receive a voucher, we will:

• Ask schools to complete an online form stating the number of children eligible.  A link to this form will be sent out on Monday 10th May and will be available from 10th to the 14th May 2021 for schools to complete. The form will ask schools for separate numbers of vouchers required for
  • children eligible under the usual criteria
  • children eligible under the temporary COVID eligibility for families with no recourse to public funds
  • eligible children in nursery provision
• The council will then match the requests from the online form against the Easter holiday allocations for schools and may follow up with schools where there is a significant discrepancy in numbers.
• Voucher codes will be allocated on the basis of the number requested via the online form.  If no online form has been submitted by a school, the allocation for that school will be based on the numbers provided in the Easter holiday voucher allocation.
• We expect to receive the vouchers on 17th May and to upload them to Perspective for schools to download by 18th May at the latest. The upload will include the Sodexo Guidance and advice on communicating the timeframe for using the vouchers to parents.
• The council will be able to provide additional vouchers for children who become eligible up to the 28th May, if requests are received by that date. A form will be provided to request additional vouchers.

We will provide an update communication and a link to the online form next week.  We advise schools to collect the information on the numbers of eligible children in readiness for completing the online form on 10th May.

Please encourage parents to redeem any voucher codes they currently have from previous allocations as the redemption expiry date on these is in early June.

Children Missing Education webinar

The slides presented at this afternoon’s webinar are at this link and the recording is available at this link.

Birmingham Civic History Project

The Commonwealth Games presents a unique opportunity for children and young people in the city to learn more about where they live and celebrate Birmingham's successes – past and present.  There is scope within the National Curriculum to include local history which can create deep knowledge and develop affection and attachment to local communities and the wider city.

We are seeking a school to collaborate with BCC, the University of Birmingham and wider partners to deliver a civic history curriculum that will embrace all learners across the city. The curriculum will also explore the intersections of equality and highlight the life stories and achievements from all sections of the community. The civic history curriculum will be developed by July 2022 (coinciding with the CWG) with a roll out beginning September 2021. 

For more information on the project and to register for a Teams webinar at 4pm on Tuesday 11th May, contact Razia Butt (razia.butt@birmingham.gov.uk).

Update on the phased return to inspection

Please find at this link slides that were presented by Peter Humphries SHMI on the phased return to inspection at a recent BEP webinar.