www.boarding.org.uk No images? Click here Dear membersThe latest BSA advice regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from March 30, 2020, can be found on our website. A brief advice update will be issued on Monday with fuller essential advice re-issued on April 20, 2020, post-Easter.If any pupil does become infected by the virus, please can you let me know (robin@boarding.org.uk) so we can track the number of cases. Policy reviewsA number of members have been in touch as they use the lockdown period to review boarding policies. If you would like any best practice support around this area, please contact Dale Wilkins, Director of Safeguarding, Standards and Training via dale@boarding.org.uk. Webinars and virtual day seminarsBSA are delighted to announce that, as well as organising an increased number of webinars to support members in their CPD during this period of restricted travel and, for some, furlough, we will also be continuing to offer our summer term day seminar programme online. These virtual day seminars will be delivered in two intense training bursts and still allow engagement with other attendees and the trainer. A place on our virtual day seminars is £125, and anyone who had booked to attend the day seminar before the end of March will receive a credit note for the difference on their place. To look at our event calendar, click here, and to review the titles in our growing BSA webinar series, please click here. In House consultancy serviceWe are aware many schools are reviewing their boarding strategies as a result of the current challenges facing the sector. BSA’s In House consultancy service is able to offer support to schools on this, or on other areas such as policy or staffing reviews. Although this is a chargeable service, we are reducing fees for this by 40% between now and the end of the academic year to recognise school budget pressures. If anyone is interested in this service, please email me directly: robin@boarding.org.uk BSA Register of GuardiansFollowing many requests from members, last week the BSA launched the 'BSA Register of Guardians'. BSA provides this as a support to schools who may wish to contact guardians themselves or pass on details to parents. While the details listed are part of the 'BSA Register of Guardians', in making these available to schools directly, or parents indirectly, BSA is not endorsing, certifying or accrediting any provider in any way. BSA recommends that anyone using the list should ask a number of key safeguarding questions that are detailed on the register. Please visit the member area of the BSA website to access the list. KCSIE consultation postponedThe DfE has suspended the 2020 Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) consultation due to coronavirus, COVID-19. It is not known when the consultation is likely to resume but DfE is monitoring the situation closely. Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) 2019 remains statutory guidance. Guidance for schools and colleges to support them keeping children safe, including online, during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is available and should be read alongside KCSIE. IICSAThe Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has published new research exploring the many challenges staff in residential schools face to safeguard pupils and handle child sexual abuse. The ‘Safeguarding Children from Sexual Abuse in Residential Schools’ report explores the views of staff, pupils, parents and local authorities. Researchers held interviews and focus groups with more than 150 people, as well as examining the safeguarding logs of 15 residential schools across England and Wales. The research findings will feed into the Inquiry’s investigation into residential schools. The research report can be accessed on the Inquiry’s website here. The report says that the distinct environment in residential schools poses many challenges due to the responsibility for ‘round-the-clock’ care, such as managing children’s online safety and peer relationships. Other key research findings include:
The Inquiry’s research team is also analysing the experiences of victims and survivors of child sexual abuse in schools who have participated in the Truth Project. This will be published later this year. Government relationsOn Tuesday, I had a call with England Schools Minister Baroness Berridge, during which I again raised the financial difficulties facing all boarding schools. Since speaking to the minister, BSA now has a call set up with the ESFA to discuss state boarding funding. It has also been in touch directly with the education minister’s department at the Northern Ireland Assembly and received an acknowledgement that funding issues for state and independent boarding schools in the Province are being looked at. UKVI updateUKVI has updated its guidance online for visa customers in and outside of the UK. The updated guidance can be found here, or via these factsheets: COVID-19 outreachHuge thanks to all of our member schools and colleges who have responded to our call for offers of accommodation for NHS workers and Vulnerable Groups. As of 4 pm, Thursday, 2 April we had received offers of 7,390 beds from 58 schools.
If you are able to offer accommodation please use the hyperlinks above and copy to chris@boarding.org.uk as we are sending a daily update of accommodation offered to government and ISC. Please do let us know when your accommodation is being used and send us a news article which we will post on the news section of the BSA’s website as well as on our social media platforms. Please tag your stories with #BSAHeroes. BOSSA Report of Chinese Students OverseasBOSSA (Beijing Overseas Study Service Association) has shared their report on the impact of Chinese students overseas affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To view the report, please click here. Resources and activitiesOne of the positive results we are already seeing in response to the widespread lockdown in response to COVID-19 is the range of free online resources and activities being made available. We're happy to share some that we've come across and if you know of any others and want to share, do let us know via bsa@boarding.org.uk.
Best wishes
BSA AcademyConferences - BSA Boarding AwardsThe deadline for entries to the BSA Boarding Awards has been extended until the end of May 2020. Winners will be announced during the rescheduled Heads' Conference in September. For more information on the Awards please visit our website, and email Amy Wilson if you have any questions. WebinarsBSA is working to expand our webinar offering so that staff can continue to access useful information and resources to better support the young people in their care, and develop their own CPD. As such, we have organised a number of webinars in the coming weeks that we feel are of particular relevance at this time. All our webinars are available indefinitely after their live stream. To see the BSA webinar series as a whole, visit the dedicated page on our website. From there, you can order a recording of any of our webinars at a small fee. Workplace resilience and staff wellbeing The management and control of drug-related incidents Supervision: safeguarding the protectors To see more webinars, please check our Events calendar. Accredited Boarding Practitioner SchemeThe BSA Accredited Boarding Practitioner scheme, which recognises the experience and skills of boarding staff, now has more than 300 members from over 190 schools worldwide. It is an individual recognition of those boarding staff who are making a personal, professional commitment to best boarding practice. To be considered, all applicants are expected to meet the following core commitments:
There are four levels recognising staff who have completed at least one year in boarding and undertaken key training and met the key commitments (Level 1) to 12 or more years in boarding and has completed the BSA Diploma or equivalent and has made a significant contribution to boarding beyond their own setting, as a course tutor or similar (Level 4). For more information on applying for this scheme, or nominating a colleague, please email Senior Training Manager, Liz McDonald. More information is also available on our website, here. SPONSORED CONTENT:Bloxham School – Case StudyFor many independent schools, constructing a new building can seem a daunting task. The bursar of Bloxham School knew he had to find a creative way to utilise a space that seemed unusable, whilst sticking to tight deadlines, and keeping to budget...something that seemed virtually impossible. This is what Modulek did for Bloxham School. Modulek worked with the Bursar and Headteacher of Bloxham School to design and manufacture a fully bespoke modular solution that could be delivered during the school holidays, whilst using a space that had limited options, and keeping to budget. The new building had to blend in with the existing listed buildings…something that Bloxham School couldn’t believe could be done with modular construction methods. Modulek’s award winning design team did it! The Modulek tailor-made solution meant that Bloxham School had a new building delivered into a previously unusable space, on budget, in half the time of a traditional building project. “The single most important thing that impressed me about my experience with Modulek was the ability to build with minimal disruption to the school” Please click here to view our video click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSuIV757bOM&feature=emb_title Member ServicesPlease note the BSA office is now closed and the team is working remotely, if you would like further advice from the BSA, please email bsa@boarding.org.uk or contact the team directly:
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