Minutes:
1) Mr Long (Cabinet Member for Education and Skills) said on 8 March 2021, schools and colleges re-opened to all pupils with asymptomatic Covid-19 testing in place. Students in secondary school settings were to take three Covid-19 tests as they returned to the classroom at existing school testing facilities and following the initial programme of three tests in school which was carried out by the student but supervised by an adult, students were to be provided with two rapid tests to use each week at home. Staff in secondary schools were also to be supplied with test kits to self-swab and test themselves twice a week at home. The latest stance from Public Health England was that whilst it was preferable for students to have both the throat and nasal swabbing, one form of testing was better than none and this could only be carried out with parental consent. Thanks were given to schools that had fully opened and thanks were given to the community testing centres who had helped to speed up the return of students into classroom settings.
The Government had announced that GSCE, AS and A Level exams would not be going ahead as planned in the summer. Students were to instead receive grades determined by teachers, with pupils only assessed on what they had been taught and not what they may have missed. This would help to ensure that students could progress to the next stage of their education or careers and not be disadvantaged by the disruption of last year. Whilst there was much work yet to be done to mitigate increased teacher workloads, an influx of appeals and grade inflation, KCC supported the stance taken by government to avoid a repeat of the issues faced last year whereby students’ grades were calculated by the Ofqual algorithm. The news was welcomed and it was felt it provided sufficient time to get processes in place ahead of the exam season.
National Offer day was on 1 March. A total of 22,264 parents/ carers (18,273 from Kent) applied for a place for their child in a Kent school for September 2021, which was an additional 594 applications when compared to 2020. Despite this, 95.38% of Kent families (17,428) were offered a place at one of the schools they selected.
As parents/carers selected their six schools before knowing their child’s Kent Test results, many named first preferences their child did not end up being eligible for and therefore it was expected that the number of pupils offered a place at their first preference school –12,736 pupils (69.7% of the Kent cohort) – would be significantly lower than last year’s 77.65%. However, a total of 2,577 children (14.1% of the Kent cohort) were to be offered a place at the school they put as their second preference, up from 11.68% last year.
· Parents/carers had until Monday, 15 March 2021 to accept or refuse their offer and return waiting list forms.
· Parents/carers had to lodge any appeals for their named schools by Friday, 26 March in order for them to be heard on time.
· KCC was to reallocate places from schools’ waiting lists sending out a second round of offers on Wednesday, 21 April.
· After Wednesday, 21 April, schools were to maintain their own waiting lists and parents/carers can apply to schools direct to ask to be placed on the waiting list.
KCC staff members were ready to speak to parents and carers to answer any questions as well as offer information, advice and support.
Thanks were given to teachers and support staff for going above and beyond to continue to educate and support Kent’s children and young people in extremely challenging circumstances. Praise was also given to pupils who embraced remote learning and parents and carers who had supported their sons and daughters with home-schooling, many while working from home themselves.
In line with the work that was being done around the Reconnect Programme, the government had also announced that there would be a £700m funding package allocated to schools to put on classes and wellbeing sessions during the summer holidays. Mr Long said he very much looked forward to the prospect of working with schools to review ways in which this money could be best utilised to develop the universal offer to children and young people across Kent as part of the Reconnect programme and reporting back to Members on its progress.
In response to questions, it was noted:
· With few exceptions, most schools in Kent accepted the Kent Test for admissions for selective education and children only had to sit one test.
· The Department for Education had not indicated what would happen in 2022.
2) Mrs Chandler (Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services) said she was honoured to be a part of the Spirit of Try Angle Awards ceremony which was to take place virtually on 12 March. The Try Angle Awards, which were in their 26th year, recognised and rewarded the outstanding efforts and achievements of young people and groups who tried their best whether at school, work, college, in business or in their wider community across Kent, often with little recognition and in difficult circumstances. The awards would go to those who had been nominated under the eight categories, including: Art, Music, Sport, community action, courage, personal development, positive intervention and good friends and young carers. This year had been exceptionally difficult for children and young people who had faced additional challenges since the outbreak of Covid-19, Mrs Chandler was to be present at the award ceremony, on behalf of KCC which recognises and applauds their perseverance, excellence, and exceptional achievements.
At Budget County Council, it was mentioned that a comprehensive programme was being developed which addressed the broad range of measures that KCC were putting in place to help all children and young people in Kent recover from the effects of the Covid pandemic. The programme had been developed in recognition that every child and young person had lost something as a result of the pandemic and KCC were working with schools, colleges and settings to ensure that all our children and young people were a priority over the next 12 to 18 months moving forward and out of lockdown. The broad aim of the Reconnect Programme was to help all Kent Children and Young People Reconnect to, Health and happiness, economic wellbeing, sports activities and the outdoors, missed learning, family, friends and community. The programme was likely to be organised under these workstreams and would pull on a broad community base, businesses and partner buy-ins across Kent to help develop a fantastic range of activities. An outline report of the proposals was to be presented to Cabinet on 15 March and Members would be updated as this work progressed.
Between 20 November and 18 December 2020, local authorities were invited to submit applications for funding to support them with costs incurred as a result of caring for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who are now care leavers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Submissions had been assessed and on 26 February KCC received confirmation from the Department for Education that it had been successful in securing £794,333 from the governments Covid-19 fund.
With regard to UAS numbers, there had been a slow and steady rise in new arrivals since the start of the new year. There had also been a trickle of transfers out of Kent and work was continuing with the Home Office to try to ensure that any potential upsurge in UASC arrivals did not result in KCC being unable to safely accept them again. In addition, in accordance with our commitment to the Council, Oakwood House had been vacated and had been returned to the Council’s use.
The Annual Report of the Kent Safeguarding Children Multi-Agency Partnership was pending imminent publication.
3) Mr Dunkley (Corporate Director – Children, Young People and Education) said thank you to all staff in CYPE and in schools for their response to the pandemic and continued efforts.
A one year funding settlement from central government was imminent and there would be a new comprehensive spending review, which would be an interesting budget challenge. The budget for 2022-23 was anticipated to be predicated on the CSR settlement. There were major reviews in all areas of work including all social care services and special educational needs.
In response to a question regarding funding of the Re-Connect programme, work was being done to amalgamate the additional funding relating to Covid-19, contributions were being sought from partners and to look at what underspends could be used towards the activities.