A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Council and councillors

Agenda item

ADDRESSING THE IMPACT OF COVID ON THE EDUCATION OF RUTLAND CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

To receive Report No. 127/2021 from Dawn Godfrey, Strategic Director of Children and Families

Minutes:

Report No. 127/2021 was received from Dawn Godfrey and Lizzie Papworth with an accompanying presentation (copy attached).  During the discussion, the following points were noted:

 

·         The Department for Education (DfE) would not be publishing examination results/education performance data for 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 due to the pandemic.

·         Early Years provision was all about the relationships and everyone had pulled together during the pandemic and a lot of support had been provided to parents and children.

·         A new level of need has been identified post pandemic with children in the early years setting regarding parental attachment and food issues.

·         The film regarding the Summer Camps – Health and Wellbeing Support can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy-IoK2dK1o

·         Councillor Wilby thanked all the presenters for an excellent report and presentation.  He stated that all the Rutland schools and the Local Authority staff had done a colossal amount of work during the pandemic.

 

--oOo---

Councillor P Browne joined the meeting at 20:05

---oOo---

 

·         Councillor Begy queried the wording regarding tutoring for Year 10.  Lizzie Papworth confirmed that the wording for Catmose College Year 10 tutoring should read ‘given’ and not ‘offered’ as stated in the presentation and that the school had seen a good take up by pupils for the English and Maths tutoring. 

·         Lizzie Papworth also confirmed that the same processes and standards had been undertaken by all three Rutland secondary schools. The schools had worked together and received Ofsted monitoring visits that ensured best practice had been put in place and shared.

·         Councillor Begy asked if there had been any reported differences between the state and private schools. Morag Tyler stated Resilient Rutland’s offer between the two was slightly different so no comparison of data could be done.  However, all they had all experienced increased issues regarding child anxiety.

·         Councillor Begy asked if there was any data regarding the number mental health requirements before, during and after the Covid lockdown.  Bernadette Caffrey, Head of Early Years, SEND and Inclusion confirmed that there had been an increase in the number of referrals for support, but this had shown a mixed picture for the support required, as it had also done nationally.

·         Councillor Begy stated that report item 3.6 stated that two nurseries had been inspected and enquired why it was not stated in the report that one of the nurseries had been classed as inadequate.     Dawn Godfrey replied that the report confirmed that two nurseries had been inspected but did not state the inspection result for either service provision.  However, the link to the full inspection reports had been included in the report for members to access and view for themselves.  Lizzie Papworth confirmed that the Head of Service and officers had met with the managers of the nursery to ensure actions were being carried out and that monitoring visits by the Local Authority had been arranged for September, November and December.

·         Councillor Coleman thanked everyone for the presentation and asked if school staff showed any signs of long Covid.  Sharon Milner confirmed that yes, she had four staff on a phased return to work due to long covid symptoms and this had resulted in staff shortages. 

·         Councillor Coleman asked when the Wellbeing for Education Recovery Programme for 2021-2022 (as stated in the report at 4.3.2) would be finalised.  Dawn Godfrey confirmed that it would follow on from the Wellbeing for Education Return, which was being done to gather sufficient and clear data that could be evaluated to ensure the continuation of the good work and support into the Autumn term.

·         Councillor Harvey stated that the report did not show the differences in support across the education provisions e.g. how many hours each year group did using remote learning in each school.  Sharon Milner confirmed that schools had received very clear guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) regarding the number of remote working hours for children and that schools had worked together to ensure pupils received the correct number of hours accessing remote learning.

·         Dawn Godfrey emphasised that Rutland schools had remained open to all vulnerable children during the lockdowns and not just those of key workers and that the LA continued to have weekly meetings with the DfE.

·         Councillor P Browne suggested that Resilient Rutland made a presentation to the Scrutiny Committee in the future regarding their sustainability plan for actions after July 2022.

 

RESOLVED:

 

a)    That the Committee NOTED the content of the report and the actions taken within the education sector to address the impact of COVID on the education of Rutland children and young people.

 

--oOo---

Lizzie Papworth, Sharon Milner, Lucy Lewin and Morag Tyler left the meeting at 20:34

---oOo---

 

Supporting documents: