System delivers for children and young people despite pandemic
At the Strategic Board meeting on 23rd November 2020, members shared their concerns about the increased pressures on the education system and urged others to share the pressures their schools were under in any meetings they had with the DfE.
For its part, the Local Authority explained the financial constraints it was experiencing as a whole, but said that many its education services were operating well, if differently, during the pandemic. LA officers were working hard to maintain their usual workload alongside the additional work created by the pandemic. Many meetings and forums were taking place online and school improvement traded services were responding to changing needs. Some services, such as school improvement visits and targeted youth work were returning to in-person meetings.
School members praised their teachers for the ‘superhuman’ way in which they had stepped up to the challenges they were facing, but there were still many areas of concern and uncertainty. Worries included: the financial burden associated with extra staffing and cleaning costs; digital poverty or domestic abuse affecting some pupils forced to learn from home; uncertainty over centre assessment for this year’s public exams; the logistical and financial pressures as more and more staff and pupils are being required to self-isolate; and the senior management time taken up with reporting procedures for positive cases.
Members also had sight of the data return spread sheet prepared by the Inclusion sub-group to support pupils at risk of exclusion and learnt about the process that would take place in January 2021 to renew and refresh school membership of sub-groups and the Strategic Board, as the initial two-year term had come to an end.
