The Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Families,
Cllr Peter Fortune, attended the meeting to respond to questions
from the Committee. The Portfolio Holder gave a brief
introduction highlighting the following issues:-
- Over Christmas the latest lockdown was imposed and
very late in the day notification was given that schools would not
be reopening to all children in January. The Portfolio Holder stressed the importance of
recognising that schools were not currently closed, teachers were
working, children were learning and children from critical worker
families and vulnerable families were in school. Rather than being closed schools were working
differently at the moment.
- The restrictions placed on school attendance had
presented challenges for the Local Authority. Schools had been supported with the roll out of
meal vouchers and with re-opening in January – albeit in a
different way – and support with remote online learning was
also put in place.
- for the majority of schools are accessing the
national food voucher programme and the Committee noted that
Bromley had not experienced issues with the quality of food parcels
experienced by some other areas and reported in the national
media.
- Conversations had taken place with schools to
ensure that there was sufficient IT equipment in place.
- Four key issues had emerged in the past four
weeks:
-
Early Years –
there had been some concern around Early Years settings remaining
open. Settings had sought reassurance
about safety. Communications with the
settings had been maintained and conversations took place with MPs
who had asked conversations of the Minister. Locally support was provided to Early Years
providers to ensure that if they had to close there were no
ramifications.
-
Critical Worker
Children – in some provisions the numbers had certainly been
higher than in “Lockdown 1”. Local school leaders were having conversations
with parents and the Local Authority where there were areas of
concern and monitoring would continue.
-
Teacher Testing
– the Local Authority has written to schools and Early Years
to confirm that testing was available in the Borough and teachers
would be supported to access testing where necessary.
-
Exams – DfE had
confirmed that it would consult on what would happen with the
summer exams and the consultation had started last week.
- Communication was key and the Local Authority was
working hard to maintain communication with all school leaders,
providers, vulnerable families, and MPs. Weekly updates for Councillors had been reinstated
and these provided the local context and could be more widely
shared where necessary.
- Excellent work on the Domestic Violence agenda had
been undertaken and the Portfolio Holder had attended a workshop
delivered by ‘Drive’.
- The Corporate Parenting Board continued to
meet.
- The Ofsted Annual Conversation had taken place and
excellent feedback received.
The Portfolio Holder concluded his update by recognising
the extraordinary commitment and dedication demonstrated by staff.
Every single member of staff had been
focused on ensuring that children and young people were
safe.
Cllr Fortune then responded to questions
making the following comments:-
- In terms of the provision of IT equipment
for home learning, the Local Authority had been actively reaching
out to schools and colleges. Where
reports of families requiring help with technology were received
the Local Authority had been responding and using the full extent
of the powers it had. The Committee
noted that over 700 devices had been issued and the Local Authority
was working with schools to enable them to order additional laptops
direct from the DfE where necessary.
- It was important to recognise the heroic
efforts of teachers. Teachers were
teaching, although differently.
Additionally, it was also important to recognise that they had been
required to quickly adapt to different ways of
teaching. Teachers were currently doing
more work and working longer hours than normal in order to deliver
an online curriculum.
- Conversations had started around the
educational gap that would be an inevitable consequence of the
Lockdown. The Local Authority
would continue to think about working with partners and the various
agencies to ensure that everything possible was done to close
progress gaps.
- There was an expectation that additional
funding for Schools post lockdown would come forward, however the
situation remained very fluid and confirmation of additional
funding had not yet been received.
- Referrals to the MASH (Multi Agency
Safeguarding Hub) had increased by 24%.
Unsurprisingly during a lockdown situation, domestic violence
remained the predominant issue although there was a broad spectrum
of reasons for referral into the service.
The Committee thanked the Portfolio Holder for the update
and extended its thanks to staff for their commitment and
dedication.