Agenda item

Agenda item

COVID-19 Update

Oral report of the Director of Education

 

To include information on any new developments or significant changes to the current situation, particularly in relation to schools.

Minutes:

The Committee received a report of the Director of Education which provided a further update on the impact of COVID on schools and settings in the city.  It reported that schools and colleges were looking forward to welcoming back all of their children and young people and focused on the wider reopening of school and colleges from 8 March 2021 which was announced by the Prime Minister on 21 February 2021. The report gave a brief outline of the Government guidance in relation to wider opening and support for education recovery; information on how this was being implemented by schools and colleges and the support provided by the Local Authority.

 

The Director of Education provided the Committee with an update which included:

 

·         The re-opening of primary schools to all pupils;

·         The re-opening of secondary schools to all pupils, including testing of pupils for COVID-19;

·         The rules of the wearing of face coverings in schools; and

·         Education recovery.

 

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

 

·         What steps were being taken to ensure that the buses children were using to travel to school were COVID-secure;

·         To recognise the work of the Director of Education and her service, headteachers and school senior leadership teams in the way the re-opening of schools to all pupils had been managed;

·         The positive impact on children of being able to return to school;

·         Secondary and college students self-testing for COVID-19; and

·         Education recovery.

 

The Director of Education reported that she had contacted Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and asked for written assurance of the measures in place to ensure the safety of children travelling to school by bus.  She offered to share their response with the Chair, once she had received it, to which the Chair agreed, stating that he would share it with the rest of the Committee.  She explained that, if a pupil self-tested at home as positive for COVID-19, they would have to self-isolate but also be given a PCR test through a testing centre before they would be classed as a positive case.  She advised that she could circulate a table of information which explained what would happen following the test result, depending on the circumstances.  In response to a Member’s question, she explained that, after learning how to carry out the COVID-19 test at school, if a pupil still struggled to carry it out at home, schools could still provide on-site testing for these pupils.  She confirmed that her service was monitoring the level of consent to testing at schools across the city and, in areas where it was low, working with schools, the Communications Team and Neighbourhood Teams to encourage parents and pupils to participate in the testing.

 

In response to a Member’s question, the Director of Education advised that part of education recovery could include summer schools and it was likely that individual schools would have discretion over this but that on site summer schools did not necessarily need to be run by school staff and other providers could be brought in.

 

In response to a Member’s concerns that some schools were not putting in place the same level of safety measures for teaching assistants as they were for teachers, the Executive Member for Children and Schools advised that the Council had communicated clearly that all school staff should be given the same level of consideration and explained how the Council was working with trade unions and schools to address these issues.

 

Decision

 

To note that the Director of Education will share TfGM’s response, once she has received it.

Supporting documents: