Haringey Schools BulletinHaringey’s Educational Psychology Services has produced a new leaflet called Play and Interaction at Home during Covid-19 which includes useful tips.
School closures, remote working, physical distancing and restricted social gatherings are a lot to navigate for anyone, especially for parents. These handy tips can help parents to prioritise playing with their children in these difficult and uncertain times.
Importance of Play leaflet
Government guidance for educational settings
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19
Coronavirus (COVID-19) advice: Children and Young People
https://www.haringey.gov.uk/covid-19/children-and-young-people
SEND advice
https://www.haringey.gov.uk/children-and-families/local-offer/covid-19-guidance
School admissions appeals – new temporary regulations
Under the School Standards & Framework Act 1998 and the School Admission Appeals Code (2012) parent/carers have the right to appeal against the decision made by an admission authority to refuse their child a school place. In the case of community and voluntary controlled schools the admission authority is the local authority. For voluntary aided, foundation schools, free schools and academies the admission authority is the Governing Body.
In Haringey, the majority of own admission authority schools have delegated the responsibility of arranging appeal hearings to the Local Authority.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) – impact on appeal hearings
In accordance with the requirements set out in the School Admission Appeals Code (2012), appeal panels must be held in person. However, in light of the Coronavirus outbreak, this would break the current government restrictions on gatherings of more than two people. There may also be problems securing sufficient independent panel members and partial school openings and closures may impact on meeting certain appeal deadlines.
What will happen next? – new regulatory changes
The DfE will be making regulatory changes that will relax some of the current requirements set out in the School Admission Appeals Code and enable admission authorities to proceed with admission appeals during the summer term. The new regulations will come into force on 24 April. The new regulations, which will be in force until 31 January 2021, will:
• disapply the requirement that appeals panels must be held in person and instead give flexibility for panel hearings to take place either in person, by telephone, video conference or through a paper-based appeal where all parties can make representations in writing
• relax the rules with regard to what happens if one of the three panel members withdraws (temporarily or permanently) to make it permissible for the panel to continue with and conclude the appeal as a panel of two.
• amend the deadlines relating to appeals for the time that the new regulations are in force
The DfE have been clear that they will not be relaxing any requirements on clerking. Clerks carry out a key role in relation to appeal hearings and provide advice on admissions law as well as keeping an accurate record of proceedings.
Virtual appeal hearings to be arranged by the LA
We have started forming ideas on how we can proceed with appeal hearings during the summer term. We will be contacting all panel members and appellants to establish whether they have access to the necessary equipment to enable them to participate in a hearing by telephone or video conference. If appellants are not able to participate in this way, then an appeal may be heard in their absence and decided on the written information submitted. We will update stakeholders with further details on For further information on the new regulations that will come into force on the 24 April, please visit the DfE website. The DfE will be publishing guidance to support admission authorities and local authorities in carrying out admission appeals over the coming months to provide further details on these regulations.when and how appeals will take place after the complete DfE guidance is published.
Schools are experiencing exceptional circumstances and challenges during the current Covid-19 outbreak. The Government has placed restrictions on contact with other people and we have all had to adapt our usual working patterns to suit. Schools are providing an essential service for the children of key workers and vulnerable children.
The Government has provided guidance for schools which are remaining open for these children and schools should refer to this guidance to ensure staff and pupils are kept as safe as possible during the restriction period. Public Health England – GOV.UK.
Health and Safety regulations have not been relaxed during the restriction period and the HSE expect statutory inspection, maintenance and testing to be completed as usual. The Corporate Landlord is working hard to ensure these statutory requirements are met. The areas that schools have responsibility for should also be maintained. These will be:
• Weekly testing of fire alarms.
• Weekly flushing of little used water outlets (two minutes).
• Weekly and monthly visual inspections of passenger lifts (including in car communication systems).
• Monthly testing of emergency lighting.
The Corporate Health and Safety Team have provided guidance notes for schools to enable them to maintain suitable Health and Safety provision. Where schools have made local arrangements for statutory servicing of gas installations, fixed electrical testing, passenger lift annual thorough examination (LOLER) etc, contractors should be contacted to ensure they are able to attend the school and complete the required servicing.
Teaching and support staff must follow current Public Health England guidance in order to maintain good hygiene and to provide a safe environment which will help limit the spread of the corona virus.
• There is a dedicated helpline number for educational settings – please call 0800 046 8687 for any specific question not covered in this note.
• First Aid – Schools should complete a first aid assessment in line with DfE guidance.
Guidance for First Aid Provision. To assist you with your First Aid Risk Assessment you will find a flow chart for assessing requirements on appendix A.
Owing to the low population of students the requirements for first aid provision may be lower than during normal school occupation. As a minimum one trained first aider (paediatric dependant on age group) must be on site while children are present. Access to suitable first aid kits and welfare facilities should be maintained.
• Medicines must be stored and administered in line with children’s current care plans.
• Staffing levels should be in line with DfE guidelines appropriate to the number of children in the school.
• The schools general work activities Risk Assessment must be reviewed to ensure all controls already in place remain appropriate. It may be necessary to amend the controls to reflect the change in student and staff numbers.
• The school’s emergency evacuation plan must be reassessed to reflect the change in student and staff numbers. Use of the school may have to be limited to certain areas to ensure all children can be evacuated quickly and safely, ensuring there is adequate numbers of staff to effectively manage an evacuation.
• Maintenance of fire protection systems must be continued; this will include weekly testing of alarms.
• All other Health and Safety daily, weekly, monthly testing and maintenance of equipment and water must be maintained.
• Due to limited usage of the school it will be necessary to ensure that all little used water outlets are run for two minutes weekly. This will inhibit the proliferation of legionella and other bacteria in the water system.
• All Health and Safety arrangements should be reviewed regularly (weekly) and reassessed upon new government guidance.
Schools can contact Haringey Health and Safety Department by email using health.safetyadvice@haringey.gov.uk. This email address is monitored, and all emails will be responded to as soon as possible.
Appendix A
Foster Care Fortnight runs from 11 to 24 May and we will be raising the awareness of the amazing job that foster carers and our fostering team do, and what a huge difference they make to the lives of Haringey’s children and young people.
There is an urgent need for more foster carers in Haringey and we would like to encourage more potential foster carers to come forward. Please can you encourage the parents and carers at your school to consider this opportunity to start that journey to change a young person’s future?
Anyone interested in finding out more can contact the fostering team by emai: fosteringrecruitment@haringey.gov.uk or call us on 020 8489 3754 or visit our website at www.haringey.gov.uk/fostering.
TfL STARS Accreditation
We are waiting for a decision from Transport for London (TfL) about what will happen to STAR accreditations this year. We believe the current status will be held over. We know there are a few new applications going in this year so we will be asking for advice. Meanwhile, please do not upload anything as TfL are looking at the process.
Walk to School Week
In these uncertain times, Walk to School Week is a strange thing to promote, however it would be interesting if any children use the route to school as their daily exercise with their parents. This could build confidence when the lockdown is lifted not to go straight back into the car. Would you be interested in a project to promote learning the route to school?
We will be creating a new project, focused on International Walking Month in October 2020. If you have any ideas you would like us to investigate or work on, please let us know. Hari Bear’s Big Adventure was extremely popular, so we are happy to create a new adventure on this theme. Let us know.
Banners, lines and signs
Can you check your No Parking and Walk Zone banners and let us know if you need more or a replacement. Do you need more Walk Zone leaflets? If you have two school entrances let us know as you can get a banner for each.
The zigzag markings outside your school should be visible, plus there should be a pole with a sign telling people when the restrictions are in operation. If any of these are faded or gone! Send an email to Frontline@haringey.gov.uk and copy us in – smartert.travel@haringey.gov.uk
Cycling
All training has been put on hold, due to the lockdown. As have the 1:1 lessons for students and adults.
Lockdown Exercise? We still have the offer of Try Before You Bike, so if anyone would like a bike to train on, during this time of no school/college/work, Peddle My Wheels is still working.This scheme offers residents in Haringey to choose bike/s from their site, (including e-bikes, e-cargo and pedal cycles for Adult or child) the scheme means that you don’t pay money up front, but pay for them on a monthly basis, after six months you have option to return or to continue to pay for the bikes.
The Golden Lock
We have all the stock and boxes waiting for you all to return to school. Just let us know as soon as you want it. This is the scheme to encourage coming to school on bikes and scooters.
Road Safety
Transition to secondary school: This age group are the most at risk and feature high in road traffic collisions!
We normally provide your year 6 pupils with a Moving Up magazine, competition and deliver The Junior Citizenship programme with the Metropolitan Police.
There are questions at the moment as to whether we will be allowed to proceed with this year’s Junior Citizenship, however we are updating the magazine and competition, we have included information about Operation Fearless as we hear from parents and children that there is a barrier to travel caused by the issues emanating from gang, drug and knife crime.
If the schools re-open before the end of the school year, we will ensure this information has been distributed along with the lessons we normally send out. If it is a later return, we would really like to hear from secondary school head of year 7 to see if this can be included in their induction week at secondary school.
We know that road safety and active travel are important messages that we need to instil in every student.
Nursery
Although The Big Toddle is not going ahead as planned, on a grand scale, you and your little lovelies can still take part and have some fun with the free activities based on a jungle theme.
https://www.barnardos.org.uk/bigtoddle
School Streets Project
We have finished our assessment and waiting for a meeting with councillors to finalise, meanwhile if you would like more information or if you need to chat about the information above, please let us know.
Wendy Thorogood, Halema Uddin, Dilek Sabri and Georgia Law
Office 020 8489 5351
Active Travel and Health Officer
Smarter Travel Team
www.kooth.com offers free, safe and anonymous online support for young people.
XenZone is a provider of online mental health services for children, young people and adults. Kooth, from XenZone, is an online counselling and emotional well-being platform for children and young people, accessible through mobile, tablet and desktop and free at the point of use. For more information about XenZone, please visit xenzone.com
PET-Xi is offering fun maths videos aimed at years 9 to 11 which can be accessed through the free subscription to their YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_Zr7_c3j24Tu1d2es8HVyw
Find out more about PET-Xi’s programmes for schools here: https://www.pet-xi.co.uk/programmes/schools
Well done to Haringey Hero Fernanda at the Willow Primary School who cooked over 100 meals by herself to feed children at the school.
