The ISC is working closely with all of its member associations and the Boarding Schools' Association (BSA) to provide schools with advice and guidance in relation to the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19). However, please note that neither the ISC nor the other associations referenced are medical, statutory or legal authorities and advice must be read in that context.
Plans for reopening schools this September
The Government has today published its plans for the full reopening of schools this September. The Secretary of State Gavin Williamson spoke in Parliament this morning and will hold a press conference later this afternoon. In the Department for Education press release, he says: "I want to reassure parents and families that we are doing everything we can to make sure schools, nurseries, colleges and other providers are as safe as possible for children and staff, and will continue to work closely with the country’s best scientific and medical experts to ensure that is the case."
To support the full reopening, the Government has published the following pieces of guidance:
Guidance for full opening of schools.
Guidance for full opening of special schools and other specialist institutions.
Guidance for early years and childcare providers.
These are some key points from the schools guidance:
-
It states: "We expect independent schools to follow the control measures set out in this document in the same way as state-funded schools."
-
The guidance builds on the hierarchy of protective measures used during the pandemic but adds: "School leaders will be best placed to understand the needs of their schools and communities, and to make informed judgments about how to balance delivering a broad and balanced curriculum with the measures needed to manage risk."
-
Bubbles in secondary school can be a whole year group and a whole class in primary school.
-
All teachers and other staff can operate across different classes and year groups in order to facilitate the delivery of the school timetable.
-
Staff should socially distance from other staff and pupils where possible – while accepting this is more practical at secondary level. Children who are old enough should also social distance.
-
Local health protection teams will provide advice on who needs to self-isolate should a pupil or member of staff test positive for Covid-19, with a focus on those who have been in close contact with the infected person.
-
School attendance will be mandatory again from the beginning of the autumn term.
-
Schools are advised to "teach an ambitious and broad curriculum in all subjects from the start of the autumn term, but make use of existing flexibilities to create time to cover the most important missed content".
-
The expectation is that routine Ofsted and ISI inspections will restart from January 2021. Before then, ISI may carry out some non-routine inspections based on individual circumstances.
Ofqual consultation on summer exams 2021
Ofqual has today launched a consultation on next summer’s GCSE, AS-level and A-levels exams. The consultation is only open for two weeks and closes on 16 July. All schools are urged to respond as the arrangements will impact all Year 11 and 13 teaching next year.
The proposals recognise that teaching time has been lost due to the lockdown and that Covid-19 may cause further disruption. The consultation includes proposals and questions on the following areas:
-
Adaptations to exams and assessments that could free up teaching time.
-
Adaptations to exams and assessments to address obstacles that could be created by any public health safeguards.
-
Sampling of subject content.
-
The use of more optional questions in exams.
-
Changing the length of exams.
-
Changing the exam timetable (in particular, it proposes GCSEs could start after summer half term – so not until 7 June).
Ofqual has made proposals to manage content and assessment for each subject so you will want to involve your heads of department.
Running schemes over the summer
The Government has published guidance for providers running community activities, holiday clubs, after-school clubs, tuition and other out-of-school provision for children over the summer holiday.
The DfE has told the ISC: "Independent schools are free to organise summer school activities as they see fit, providing that guidelines on protective measures on Covid-19 are followed by the school and/or any external organisations supporting with the delivery of activities."
ISC coronavirus FAQs
There is a coronavirus FAQs page for schools on the Member Zone of the ISC website (login required), which is updated regularly.
Government guidance over wider opening for schools this (summer) term
Early years provision - Planning guide for early years and childcare settings
Primary schools - Planning guide for primary schools
Secondary schools - Guidance for secondary school provision from 15 June 2020
In addition, the DfE has published a collection of other guidance documents for schools. Key papers include:
DfE helpline
The DfE coronavirus helpline is available to answer questions about Covid-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:
-
Phone: 0800 046 8687
-
Opening hours: 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday
-
If you work in a school, please have your unique reference number (URN or UK PRN) available when calling the hotline.
The ISC will continue to share updates with schools when significant issues arise. Please also refer to our coronavirus FAQs, which are updated regularly.
|
