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:-
- The 5 weeks since the last meeting had
been busy as a result of pressures around the pandemic. Prior to the start of the meeting the Portfolio
Holder had circulated an update to elected Members setting out the
work that had been undertaken by the Department to support children
and families across the Borough.
- The Portfolio Holder paid tribute to
parents, teachers, and staff in education settings who had only
just emerged from an “incredibly testing” period over
the last three months. It was
highlighted that throughout the period of partial school closure
teachers and key worker children had remained in
schools.
- The Portfolio Holder recognised that it
had been a very challenging period for the children and students
themselves, it was important to note that there was an ongoing
collective responsibility to ensure that the gap in education that
had been created by the pandemic was filled.
- Schools fully reopened on Monday
8th March and so far the reports had been very
good. The Director of Education and his
Team had remained in contact with schools and the feedback was that
there was adherence with all the safety measures that had been put
in place and testing was going particularly well.
- It had been a year of almost
insurmountable challenge and it was important that everyone in the
community felt protected and supported.
To this end further details would be circulated setting out a suite
of measures in respect the support offered to children and families
to address the various impacts of the pandemic. A digital health and wellbeing toolkit had been
sent to schools. Furthermore, a
dedicated MASH line for teachers had been opened to facilitate
direct contact with the Local Authority in the event that schools
identified concerns. A parenting
support booklet had been circulated and there were dedicated single
points of contact for all the schools.
The Council was also working very closely with Bromley Y to provide
extra wrap around support for mental health
consultation.
- With just over 2 weeks until the Easter
Holidays, attention was now turning to the provision of holiday
activities in compliance with the restrictions that would still be
in place and extending the opportunity for food vouchers to support
those families requiring this support.
- The Department was continuing to support
Early Years settings with most of the settings now fully open and
operational.
- A keen eye was being kept on the children
for whom the Local Authority had Corporate Parenting responsibility
and a number of Members had recently attended the celebration
events.
- In terms of the allocation of secondary
school places, figures were now available, and these demonstrated
that Bromley remained above the London average in terms of the
children allocated their first-place preference.
- The Portfolio Holder thanked the PDS Committee for
its welcome challenge over the last 12-month period. The Portfolio Holder paid testament to the
extraordinary staff for their “continued grit, determination,
dedication, commitment and compassion” during what had been
an extremely challenging period.
Cllr Fortune then responded to questions
making the following comments:-
- Funding for the holiday program was for
holiday activities rather than academic catch up. Separate academic
recovery funding had been made available to schools to help
teachers provide extra lessons and extra support to narrow the
inevitable gaps that will have emerged as a result of the
pandemic. The Local Authority was
working with schools to provide support and best
practice. Narrowing the attainment gaps
would be a key focus going forward.
- In terms of teacher assessment of the
impact of home learning, there would be wider teacher assessments
once children had settled back into school. The priority for the first week back had been the
welfare of children. Members noted that
teachers were used to undertaking this type of baseline assessment
and identifying strategies to ensure that children made the
necessary progress.
- Schools were keen to ensure that the
environment was safe for teachers, staff and students and reports
had indicated that compliance with the safety measures within
schools had been high.
- The pandemic had hit industries in a
range of ways and there had been a clear impact on entrance jobs
for young people, particularly those young people for whom the
local authority had responsibility. The
situation was being closely monitored and steps were being taken to
ensure that young people were adequately supported. An Education, Employment and Training (EET)
Strategy had been developed to focus on those young people that
become Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET) to ensure
that as recovery from the pandemic started those young people were
provided with the support they need.
- The opening of Council premises was being
reviewed corporately. Throughout the
pandemic Children’s Centers had been opened but to a greatly
reduced footfall. Over the next few
weeks there would be a review of how premises could fully reopen,
and staff could be safety brought back to deliver
services. There would also be a review
of any new ways of working that would be required. It was clear that a flexible approach would need
to be adopted which enabled the Local Authority and its staff to
respond to situations as they arose.
The Committee thanked the Portfolio
Holder for the update.