The Committee will receive a verbal update on the current situation, particularly in relation to schools.

The Committee received a verbal update from the Director of Education which outlined new developments and significant changes to the current situation, particularly in relation to schools. 

The main points within the verbal update included:

• That secondary schools and colleges were staggering the start of term to enable pupils to take Lateral Flow Tests on site;
• The key changes in schools for the autumn term, which were that schools were no longer required to keep pupils in groups referred to as “bubbles” to reduce mixing, that close contacts of positive cases would be identified by NHS Test and Trace rather than the school and that face coverings were no longer mandatory in secondary schools;
• That all schools, colleges and daycare settings had completed a risk assessment and put in place infection control measures and outbreak management plans;
• That the Council would continue to provide support to schools and monitor the number of positive cases;
• The changes in self-isolation rules for close contacts, emphasising the importance of children displaying even mild symptoms not being sent to school;
• Asymptomatic testing arrangements for pupils in Year 7 and above; and
• The current position on the vaccination of children and young people.

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

• To thank officers for their work during the pandemic;
• Children who were still abroad due to travel restrictions;
• Being prepared to respond to a further spike in cases, taking learning from previous experience;
• The importance of parents and governors supporting the new arrangements;
• Take-up of the vaccine among 16- and 17-year-olds; and
• Examination arrangements for the new academic year.

The Director of Education advised that, as schools were only just re-opening for the autumn term, information on the number of children who were still in countries on the ‘red’ list or were in quarantine on return from those countries was not yet available and she would provide more information on this at the October meeting.  She advised that, due to their previous experience of providing remote learning and working in school under tighter restrictions, schools were much better prepared now than they had been at the start of the pandemic, knew what worked and could quickly set up any arrangements needed if the situation changed.  She informed Members that she and the Director of Population Health and Wellbeing had sent a letter to parents and carers via schools which provided them with an update, thanked them for their support so far and asked for their continued support during this new phase.  She advised that communications were also being sent to School Governors.

In response to a Member’s question about reactions to the Pfizer vaccine, the Executive Member for Health and Care advised that GPs could provide advice on this but that she would liaise with the Public Health Team and respond to the Member.  She assured Members that supporting schools and colleges was a key aim of the 12-point action plan for dealing with COVID-19 during the next few months.  She advised that work would continue to increase the take-up of vaccines by 16- and 17-year-olds and that this would include communications with young people through a range of platforms and regular pop-up vaccination centres at sixth form colleges.

In response to a question from the Chair about whether some schools were continuing to group pupils in bubbles, the Director of Education advised that some schools had found that some of the measures that they had had to put in place due to COVID-19 had had a positive impact, for example, staggered lunch breaks making the lunch period calmer, and that some schools might choose to retain these; however, she advised that, even if schools retained some of these arrangements, it was no longer the case that close contacts of a positive case had to self-isolate so there would not be whole groups of children being required to self-isolate as had happened previously.  She reported that at the moment the intention was that examinations would go ahead in 2022 and that examination boards might release details to schools of which topics would come up in the examinations so that they knew which areas to focus on.

The Chair requested that the Committee receive a written report next time, including statistical information, and suggested that the Committee receive a written report approximately every three months with verbal updates at the other meetings.

In response to a Member’s question about school attendance, the Director of Education advised that she did not yet have last year’s national attendance data.  The Chair asked that this be provided to the next meeting.  A Member emphasised the importance of ensuring that Ofsted inspectors carrying out inspections of Manchester schools were made aware of the disproportionate impact that the pandemic had had on the city.

Decision

To request that the Committee receive a written report at its next meeting, with statistical information, including national school attendance data from 2020/21 and data on children who were still in countries on the ‘red’ list or in quarantine on return from those countries at the start of the school year.