Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

As schools begin to re-open, it is important to consider the wide range of needs and emotions of young people and staff whose lives and education have been disrupted by the pandemic. Pupils and staff may be anxious or hesitant about returning to school and may require additional support. Consider:

• Encourage schools to identify learning of what went well and what could be improved based on their experience of previous lockdowns - and use this learning to improve planning
• Identify the current capacity of services and forecast potential demand for social services to which schools may refer children and families. Create additional capacity where forecasted demand exceeds current capacity
• Work closely with schools to monitor school attendance and identify children who have not returned or are showing signs of distress:
  • Encourage school staff to reach out to families to understand the challenges that they are facing in returning to school
  • Enhance partnerships between schools and social services, to ensure any child who needs additional support is identified and appropriate support is offered
  • Ensure schools refer families who are identified as struggling or in need of additional support to specialist services
• Assess the impacts of further disruption and change for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their carers/specialist teachers/support staff in mainstream schools:
  • Staff illness or self-isolation may mean that schools do not have adequate levels of staff with vital specialist training - schools should inform local authorities to discuss alternative arrangements for vulnerable children in this event
  • Encourage schools to complete risk assessments and begin to plan for how one-to-one specialist teaching will take place safely and potential disruptions identified and actions taken to mitigate their occurrence
• Allocate funding to provide additional mental health support in schools for pupils and staff who may have experienced trauma, separations from or loss of loved ones or whose family may be struggling financially, e.g. due to job loss
• Encourage schools to prioritise children's wellbeing especially in the first few weeks, avoid rushing to reinstate routines or adding pressure on teachers and students to catch up
• Request a temporary suspension of school inspections to give staff time to implement and adjust to new procedures that may be required, such as health and safety protection measures