Dear Members,

With Joe Biden starting work as the 46th President of the United States this week, BSA sends best wishes to its member schools in America, and 34 other countries around the world, as they continue to manage the many challenges of Covid.

While the pandemic and global lockdowns continue, BSA will as ever endeavour to support members with COVID-related queries, guidance, advice and UK government lobbying.

BSA Prep Boarding Forum meeting

The next BSA Prep School Forum meeting will take place from 11:00-12:00 on Friday, February 5 via Zoom. Invites will be sent out shortly by email - if you would like to attend or add any items to the agenda, please contact Chris Ryan, Member Services Director, to register your interest.

Boarders returning survey

We would like to gain an insight into how many boarders there are currently on-site at our members’ schools and colleges across the UK. Please may we ask you to complete a very short survey detailing how many boarders you have registered and how many are actually on site. Please click here to access the survey.

BSA Boarding Conference

Hosted by Gavin Horgan, Headmaster of Millfield School and sponsored by Engage, we will be joined by over 30 speakers at our virtual conference for deputy heads, heads of boarding and boarding staff.

The conference theme is 'Sharpening our focus' and will be joined by expert speakers including: Tom Rogerson (Cottesmore) and Emilie Darwin (IAPS), keeping us updated about supporting our younger boarders; members of the ISI team; and Irfan Latif (DLD College) and David Bara (We Can Access) focusing on how to further develop inclusion work in our schools. Helen Harrison (Fettes College) and James Murphy O’Conner (Haberdashers' Monmouth) will share their leadership tips; Eleanor Sharman (Rendcomb) will help us to focus on review areas relating to finance within our schools; whilst Robert Fletcher, Gemma Gray (Fettes), and Hannah Hamilton (Stamford Endowed Schools) discuss current and future marketing strategies.

For more information on this event please visit our website BSA Boarding conference. We are delighted to not only offer a delegate rate for this event but also a whole school rate, meaning you can have as many as your team attend for a set price.

Conferences

You can also secure your spot at the joint BSA/BAISIS Supporting international students in British independent schools conference on March 11, and our BSA Annual Conference for Heads on May 4-5.

You can book places or find out more about these sessions, along with other events already in the diary for 2021, in the BSA Academy section below. You can also see our full 2020/21 training calendar for an up-to-date list of all our events.

Scotland: Revised national guidance for child protection - consultation extended

The consultation on the revision of the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland was due to close on January 17, but In light of the current COVID situation, the consultation deadline has been extended to January 31.

For more information on the consultation, including details of how to respond, please click here.

England: National Minimum Standards consultation

The consultation on the National Minimum Standards for Boarding Schools is open until February 23.  The proposed new standards are available here.

BSA is holding a free short webinar on Friday, February 05 at 10.00 to discuss the proposed standards. Click here to book . Member schools are asked to share their views with BSA as well as submitting their own responses to the consultation. BSA will also be responding, in conjunction with both ISC and SBF.

England: KCSIE update

Earlier this week, the DfE in England updated guidance 'Keeping children safe in education - for schools and colleges' to reflect legal changes following EU exit, including guidance on checking the past conduct of individuals who have lived or worked overseas.

Paragraph 172 references NARIC, the National Recognition Information Service for the United Kingdom. BSA and other associations are seeking further information from NARIC as to how the system is intended to operate:

• 149. From 01 January 2021 the TRA Teacher Services system will no longer maintain a list of those teachers who have been sanctioned in EEA member states. Advice about how information about a teacher’s past conduct may be obtained can be found at paragraph 172.

• 165. The bullet points below set out the minimum information that must be recorded in respect of staff members (including teacher trainees on salaried routes). The single central record must indicate whether the following checks have been carried out or certificates obtained, and the date on which each check was completed/certificate obtained:
  • (point 5) further checks on people who have lived or worked outside the UK (see paragraphs 172);
• 172. Individuals who have lived or worked outside the UK must undergo the same checks as all other staff in schools or colleges (set out in paragraphs 154 and 160). This includes obtaining (via the applicant) an enhanced DBS certificate (including barred list information, for those who will be engaging in regulated activity) even if the individual has never been to the UK. In addition, schools and colleges must make any further checks they think appropriate so that any relevant events that occurred outside the UK can be considered. These checks could include, where available:
  • criminal records checks for overseas applicants - Home Office guidance can be found on GOV.UK; and for teaching positions
  • obtaining a letter of professional standing from the professional regulating authority in the country in which the applicant has worked. Advice about which regulatory or professional body applicants should contact is available from the National Recognition Information Centre for the United Kingdom, UK NARIC.
    
    Where available, such evidence can be considered together with information obtained through other pre-appointment checks to help assess their suitability. Where this information is not available schools and colleges should seek alternative methods of checking suitability and or undertake a risk assessment that supports informed decision making on whether to proceed with the appointment. Although sanctions and restrictions imposed by another regulating authority do not prevent a person from taking up teaching positions in England, schools and colleges should consider the circumstances that led to the restriction or sanction being imposed when considering a candidate’s suitability for employment. Further information can be found in DfE Guidance: Recruit teachers from overseas.

Members are reminded that the consultation into the proposed Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance for 2021, and that on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment in Schools and Colleges, which links to Part 5 of KCSIE are still open.

BSA Awards 2021 - entries now open

The annual BSA Awards are our chance to celebrate the achievements, hard work, and dedication of schools and individuals in boarding. We're delighted to announce that nominations are now open for this year's awards, which will be announced at our BSA Annual Conference for Heads 2020-21 on May 4-5. 

For more information on this year's categories and how to enter, please visit the Awards page on our website. The deadline for submitting any entries is Friday, March 26.

Best wishes, 

Robin Fletcher
Chief Executive, BSA and BSA Group

COVID-19 update

UK

Travel corridor temporary suspension

As we announced on Monday, the Government has suspended all travel corridors and anyone arriving in the UK must have proof of a negative Covid-19 test result taken in the previous three days. In addition, they must self-isolate for 10 days (five days if they use the Test and Release scheme). 

There is a suggestion that the Government may bring in compulsory self-isolation in hotels. In England, the DfE has confirmed to BSA that, if this happens, boarding schools will be able to quarantine their pupils instead.

Additionally, there are limited flights abroad and none to certain countries e.g. China, Hong Kong, and Turkey.

England

Supporting international students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Following BSA's letter to the government last week, the DfE has confirmed:

The definition of vulnerable children and young people includes children who have a social worker, an education, health and care plan (EHCP) or who may be vulnerable for another reason at local discretion (“otherwise vulnerable”).

School may therefore consider the mental health of international students when reading this guidance.

Wales

Update via WISC

You may be aware that Public Health England have today announced the pausing of Daily Contact Testing (DCT) in England, other than for schools already involved in further evaluation. We have received some media enquires in relation to this and thought it may be helpful to provide you with the latest position.

We still believe that Daily Contact Testing may provide an opportunity to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on in person learning, however this will only be introduced if it is safe to do so. Since the announcement of the schools and colleges testing programme in December, we have seen the emergence the new variant of the virus which has been shown to have increased transmissibility.

Welsh Government have continued to be led by the latest scientific advice and it is right that we consider again whether the balance of risks around the use of DCT is affected by the new variant.

We will work with the UK Department for Health and Social Services, Public Health England, Public Health Wales and our Technical Advisory Group to understand what the latest data is telling us so that we can consider what impact this has on our approach to testing in Welsh schools and colleges. We will notify you of the outcome as soon as we can.

The regular routine testing of special school teachers is not affected. We will of course keep you updated with developments on this and are grateful for your continued engagement.

BSA COVID-19 supplier list

BSA has a list of suppliers of vital equipment on our website, and the list continues to grow. BSA does not officially endorse any of the products listed. Schools are urged to perform their own due diligence checks on any company they plan to approach:

• Active Sanitiser & Protection Tunnel: PTC XtraSAN
• Branded Face Masks: Funky Face Mask 
• Goldpro (please see the BSA Supplier page for full details of Goldpro)
• Cleaning and fogging: Pelsis Group - Hurricane ES
• Disinfectant: Safe Tech Installations Limited
• Liquid hand sanitiser: ClearWater Hygiene
• Software: AssetPool Covid19 Safeguarding Compliance & Verification Software who have now also set up a “back-to-school” blog on how to be safe with AssetPool
• Pre-flight test certification: Belgravia Guardians
• Testing: Chronomics
• Testing: COVID-19 Rapid Test: Fortress Diagnostics
• Testing: LATUS Health
• Testing and fast-track medical services: Sirkka Networks
• Testing and Tracking: Elite Anglo-Chinese Services
• Testing and Tracking: Taylor Education: Covid-19 testing and tracking app
• Thermal Temperature Camera System: Eclipse Strategic Security Ltd  
• Tracking: WerAreWe.

For more detail on each of the suppliers, please visit the BSA COVID supplier page here.

UK Immigration

EU citizens and their family members (including non-EU citizens) need to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) to continue living in the UK after 30 June 2021. The EUSS is free and the application deadline is 30 June 2021. EU citizens must have started living in the UK by 31 December 2020 to be eligible to apply to the EUSS in their own right. If EU citizens and their family members apply successfully to the EUSS they’ll be able to continue to live, work and study in the UK. Successful applicants will get either settled status or pre-settled status meaning they will continue to be eligible to access the benefits and services they do now. Children of all ages (0-18) require their own immigration status and are not covered by a parent’s application to the EU Settlement Scheme. An application must be made for every eligible child within a family. More information on the EU Settlement Scheme can be found here and applications can be made on online on GOV.UK using a computer, tablet or mobile phone.

Please note – The new and improved Child Student route, which falls under the UK's new points-based immigration system, is open to EU, EEA and Swiss students as well as international students aged between 4-17 years old, but EU, EEA and Swiss students who were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 should not apply through this route. These students, and their family members, are eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. Those who were resident in the UK by 31 December 2020 have until 30 June 2021 to make an application to the EU Settlement Scheme and it is free to apply to.

EU, EEA and Swiss students coming to study in the UK must apply through the Child Student route ahead of arriving in the UK and this will incur monetary costs. Further guidance for EU, EEA and Swiss students can be found here.

The Home Office does not expect schools to make applications on behalf of their students; parents and guardians need to make applications for themselves and their children. A child can also apply in their own right, but we strongly encourage a child’s application to be made with support from an adult. 

Sponsor guidance update: Meanwhile, GOV.UK has updated its Sponsor guidance appendix D: keeping records for sponsorship advice. The guidance has been revised to include clarifications on record-keeping duties for sponsors.

Global Health Insurance Cards - applications open

Applications are now open for the new Global Health Insurance Cards (GHIC) which replace the EHIC. Over 16s can apply by themselves, otherwise it needs to be a parent or guardian, although Boarding school teaching staff can apply on behalf of any children in their care.

To apply, please click here.

Certified Guardian and Agent schemes

The BSA Certified Guardian and Agent Schemes continue to grow, providing reassurance for schools and families.

The schemes' training and certification programmes assure BSA boarding schools that they are dealing with educational guardians and agents who have the highest standards in the safeguarding of children, safer recruitment and training of staff and host families, and careful liaison with parents and schools. The schemes are a clear demonstration to BSA boarding schools of the quality and intention of the educational guardians and agents who reach certified status.

BSA Certified Agents

We are delighted to announce that Sino-UK Arts & Cultural Bridge Ltd (China) has joined the BSA Certified Agent scheme. Welcome to the BSA family!

• Abby Plumb Education Guardian Service (China and Hong Kong) (Certified Agent and Certified Guardian)
• Academic Asia (China)
• Academic Families (worldwide) (Certified Agent and Certified Guardian)
• Barbara Glasmacher Internationale (Germany)
• Better School! Internatsberatung (Germany)
• BOSSS UK (China)
• Britannia StudyLink (HK)
• Chamberlain Educational Services (Hong Kong and China) 
• Cherry Education Consultancy (China)
• Connexcel (China) (Certified Agent and Certified Guardian)
• Crest Education (China)
• Dickinson School Consulting (Germany and worldwide)
• i-Learner (Hong Kong)
• IQ Consultancy (Russia)
• ITEC (Russia)
• J3 Group (HK)
• JD Consultancy (China)
• Mark Brooks Education (Ghana, Nigeria, worldwide)
• Overseas Personal Development Services (China)
• Panoba (Nigeria and Saudi Arabia)
• Rise Smart Overseas Education Centre (Hong Kong)
• Sarah Jochums Internatsberatung (Germany)
• School Britannia (France)
• NEW: Sino-UK Arts & Cultural Bridge Ltd (China)
• The Independent Education Consultants (worldwide)
• The Watanabe Office (Japan) 
• UK Education Guide (Middle East, worldwide)
• UK Tuition Services (China) (Certified Agent and Certified Guardian).

For more information on the BSA Certified Agent scheme, please visit our website.

BSA Certified Guardians

We are delighted to announce that ECA Education Consultancy has joined the BSA Certified Guardian scheme. Welcome to the BSA family!

• Abby Plumb Education Guardian Service (Certified Agent and Certified Guardian)
• Academic Families (Certified Agent and Certified Guardian)
• Amber Education
• Belgravia Guardians
• Berkeley Guardians
• Boarding Schools Ireland
• Cambridge Guardian Angels
• Clarendon International Education
• College Guardians
• Connexcel (Certified Agent and Certified Guardian)
• Cotswold Guardians
• NEW: ECA Education Consultancy
• Edinburgh Guardian Angels
• Elite Anglo-Chinese Services 
• English Country Guardians 
• Gabbitas
• Genesis Education Planning
• Guardians International Support
• High Schools International
• Hostlink UK
• JD Consultancy (Certified Agent and Certified Guardian)
• Overseas Personal Development Services (Certified Agent and Certified Guardian)
• Regent Guardians
• St George’s Guardians
• Study Links
• ​The Guardian Family Network
• Trusted Guardianship
• UK Guardians
• UKGuardianship
• UK Tuition Services (Certified Agent and Certified Guardian)
• Ying Lang Guardian, Glamour Edu Ltd

For more information on the BSA Certified Guardian scheme, please visit our website.

We have also had a number of requests from schools for our BSA Certified Guardian logo to use on admissions information or school websites - you can access a copy of the logo by clicking here.

BSA Academy

Accredited Training

The BSA's programme of Professional Development and training is the most comprehensive CPD package offered to staff in boarding schools. It includes a series of professional practice Certificate courses specifically designed to meet the practical needs of boarding staff and provide an internationally-recognised qualification in Boarding Education. For more details on our Certificate courses, please click here.

Listed below are a selection of our upcoming courses - to find out more, or to book your place, please click on the course title. If you need any further information about our Accredited Training programme, please contact Liz McDonald, Senior Training Manager, at liz@boarding.org.uk.

COURSES

• BSA Advanced Certificate in Boarding Practice (Pastoral Care)
  Study dates: January 28, 2021; April 21, 2021; May 25, 2021; September 21, 2021. Guest speakers joining us this year will include award-winning speaker, lecturer and Mental Health consultant Victoria English; independent esafety expert Karl Hopwood, and a representative from children and young people's charity YoungMinds.
• NEW - Online Certificate in International Boarding. Dates: January 26, 2021 and March 24, 2021
• NEW - BSA Advanced Certificate in Boarding Practice (Pastoral Care). Dates: February 02, 2021; April 22, 2021; June 08, 2021 and September 23, 2021
• NEW - BSA Certificate in Professional Practice - Mental Health First Aid & Wellbeing. Dates: March 11, 2021; April 20, 2021 and May 19, 2021

Virtual conferences

• Boarding Conference, 2020/21: February 02-03, 2021
• BSA / BAISIS Conference: Supporting international students in British independent schools: March 11, 2021
• Annual Conference for Heads 2020-21: May 04-05, 2021
• Annual Health & Wellbeing Conference 2020-21: July 06, 2021

Virtual day seminars

• BSA / AGBIS virtual day seminar: Better boarding provision, a seminar for Governors: January 27, 2021
  Virtual day seminar: Critical incident planning - keeping it simple: February 08, 2021
• Virtual day seminar: State of the Boarding Nation: February 09, 2021
• Virtual day seminar: Supporting senior boarders: February 10, 2021
   

Sacpa DSL Training: This training will enable you to meet statutory responsibilities referenced in Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children. The course is suitable for staff in the role of designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and deputy designated safeguarding lead (DDSL).

It is delivered by an NSPCC-accredited trainer and qualified social work manager of 20 years. Dates: March 08 and July 08. 

Sacpa Safer Recruitment Training: This training will enable you to meet statutory responsibilities referenced in Keeping Children Safe in Education and Working Together to Safeguard Children, and required by OFSTED. The course is suitable for staff in the role of designated safeguarding lead (DSL) and deputy designated safeguarding lead (DDSL) as well as members of management teams with recruitment responsibilities, including HR and Governors/Trustees. Date: May 13.

Webinars

• BSA webinar: Promoting staff development and CPD in boarding: January 26, 2021
• BAISIS webinar: Assessment in the Context of Blended Learning: January 26, 2021
• BSA webinar: Checking in - mental health resilience self-assessment: January 28, 2021
• BSA / AGBIS webinar: Foundations for boarding school Governors - the roles and responsibilities: January 28, 2021

To see the entire 2020-21 training programme, click here.

Become a BSA Accredited Boarding Practitioner

BSA Accredited Boarding Practitioner status 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:

• Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
• Achieving the best boarding practice and the best outcomes for boarders
• Reflecting on practice and undertaking regular training
• Working collaboratively with other boarding colleagues.

Find out more here.

University of Buckingham education courses

Our colleagues at the University of Buckingham have advised us that they have updated their list of online courses beginning in September 2021. For a full list of courses, please visit the University of Buckingham website by clicking here.

(Our thanks to Barnaby Lenon for sharing this update with us)

Keep in touch

Please 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:

• Chief Executive - Robin Fletcher
• Chief Operating Officer - Aileen Kane
• Director of Safeguarding, Professional Development and Accreditation - Dale Wilkins
• Member Services Director - Chris Ryan
• International Director - Caroline Nixon

• Director of Guardianship and Inclusion - Ammy Davies-Potter

• Head of Member Services - Beth Waddington
• Senior Training Manager - Liz McDonald
• Communications and Partnerships Manager - Andrew Gray
• Finance and Administration Manager - Danielle Cuthbert
• Business Support Manager - Ellie Reed
• Member Services Co-ordinator - Chantelle Howell-Walker.

T. +44 (0)207 798 1580
E. bsa@boarding.org.uk
W. www.boarding.org.uk