Issue - meetings

During the national lockdown that was in place over the spring and summer terms 2020, all BCP schools remained open but were only able to offer places to children from vulnerable groups and key worker children.

The impact of the lockdown on children and families, and their readiness to resume full time education in September 2020 was unknown.  However, it was clear that some would require additional support to enable them to successfully transition back into school and a more ‘normal’ routine.

The Council worked with schools and partner organisations to prepare materials that would support professionals and families with this to address these concerns.  Two survey were also carried out to better understand the impact of the lockdown and what further support was needed.

The Director of Quality and Commissioning for BCP Council presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book. The report related to the first national lockdown, during the Spring and Summer months of 2020.

The report detailed the work that the Council had undertaken to support professionals and families with the September 2020 return to school, after the first national lockdown. The Director of Quality and Commissioning gave an overview of this work and provided further information on the Staying Connected surveys and the materials that were produced to support the return to school. The key points of the presentation were:

•       The Local Authority had produced materials for parents and educational professionals detailing the support that would be provided in the return to schools in September 2020.

•       Two surveys were undertaken relating to children with SEND.

•       Feedback from the surveys highlighted anxiety, isolation and lack of structure as the main impact on wellbeing.

•       Work was undertaken between the Local Authority and local schools to best meet the needs of children not attending school to continue with the education offer delivered at home.

•       The remote learning offer had developed over the course of the lockdown; however, the Local Authority must be aware of the impact of lockdown on children and the effects of not being in school.

•       It was hoped that children would be able to transition back to school successfully and pick back up on the experiences and socialisation they had missed.

Members of the Youth Parliament that were present provided some further information to the Committee. The Committee heard that the Youth Parliament had:

•       Conducted research into children’s responses to lockdown. These included the use of questionnaires and social media polls.

•       Overall, the prominent feelings of children were that of anxiety, stress and uncertainty.

•       Many changes had taken place since the initial return to schools in September 2020 and with the situation changing rapidly, more needs to be done to assess the feelings of children affected.

•       More than half the children surveyed said that they felt the remote education was unsatisfactory and that the loss of the classroom environment was the biggest negative impact.

•       Extra-curricular classes and activities were a big part of children’s lives prior to the pandemic and these opportunities had stopped for almost a year.

The Committee discussed the Report. Comments, questions and answers heard included:

•       How was wellbeing of children being monitored and was best practice advice being shared? The Committee heard that monitoring of the educational offer was a prime part of the monitoring process. This offer had developed over time alongside the monitoring of schools and quality assurance. For mental health, vulnerable children are tracked individually, and work is done with schools to ensure these children receive the necessary support. This is a large number of children and it therefore required  ...  view the full minutes text for item 126