Webchat with Vicky Ford MP, Minister for Children, Friday 15 May at 2.15pm

[RowanMumsnet]

Hello

We're pleased to announce a webchat about COVID-19 and schools with Vicky Ford, Conservative MP for Chelmsford and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, at 2.15pm on Friday May 15.

As lots of you will already know, the government has recently announced plans to start sending Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 children, as well as nursery children, back to school and nursery settings from June 1. We know lots of you have questions about this, and about policy and plans for schools and schoolchildren in the COVID era more broadly. Vicky will be coming along to give us the government’s response to your concerns and questions.

Vicky was elected MP for Chelmsford in 2017, and has been Minister for Children since February 2020. Before joining Parliament she was an MEP for the East of England constituency in the European Parliament. In a previous life she worked in finance.

Please join us here on Friday at 2.15pm. If you can’t join us on the day, please post up your question in advance.

As always, please remember our guidelines - one question per user, follow-ups only if there’s time and most questions have been answered, and please keep it civil. Also if one topic is dominating a thread, mods might request that people don't continue to post what's effectively the same question or point. (We may suspend the accounts of anyone who continues after we've posted to ask people to stop, so please take note.) Rest assured we will ALWAYS let the guest know that it's an area of concern to multiple users and will encourage them to engage with those questions.

Many thanks,
MNHQ

Why has Wales and Scotland interpreted ' the Science' differently. The North East is the worst at the moment. Why is it ok to send schools back up here?

I still remain concerned about the emotional impact

Oh I forgot to add mine earlier. Doing it now.

There are lots of children and young people with mental health issues who were sat on waiting lists which have now been extended. Covid19 and lockdown will be causing more issues in some of these cases.

What are the government planning to avoid these children being written off?

My child was already behind, had a specialist assessment six months after being accepted and was waiting another six month to start treatment - now delayed.
What can we expect to even up the playing field for GCSEs next year?

I run a busy 60 place out of school provision based in a primary school. We provide childcare care for over a 100 children in a week. As a sector how are we supposed to provide support for working parents when we are not allowed to mix the children? If we only have 5 Y6 children attending we cannot provide 1 member of staff for just 5 children. There has been no financial support and virtually no guidance for our sector and yet we are vital in allowing parents to return to work.

Please explain how scientific evidence tells us we can mix children in 'bubbles' of 15 in classes in school, but these same children will be unable to mix with the same group of children once out of school? Our children will ask these questions and quite rightly so. It is difficult to understand the thinking. They also watch as parents are given face coverings to wear in work situations and yet their teachers and they aren't required to wear them.
You say the children are at a lower risk of contracting and transmitting the virus, so why are other areas of the UK taking a different approach?

I understand the logic of limiting transmission by having 'bubbles' at school. However, those bubbles do not follow the children or the staff home. They are then free to potentially transmit the virus to their families, who may then go on to transmit the virus further.

I agree we have to learn to live with it. Tracking, tracing and testing is vital so we can move forward but by your own admission above tracking and tracing is being 'developed'. The government is asking schools to be ready to open to more year groups when one of the most fundamental tools to help us is still in development.

Why is the government releasing guidance piece meal instead of all at the same time. How do they expect schools to plan effectively when they release guidance in dribs and drabs

@Unformidable

Hello. I would like to know what will happen with A Levels next year. Ds is in Y12 and has had 5 months of teaching, and I've been told the college won't now hold end of year exams. He Is aiming for an Oxbridge place in 2021, and will have to apply in October 2020. He has nothing to apply with, and will have an almost blank personal statement. Can you confirm situations like these will be looked at? Thank you.

My heart goes out to you - I've had all 3 of my own children go through their A levels in the past 5 years and these years preparing for public exams are extremely important. This is why we have asked Schools and Colleges to especially priorities Y10 and Y12 as well as other students in FE who are facing public exams. Schools and colleges should consider how to best use the additional face to face support for Year 10 and 12 students, who are starting their final year of study for GCSEs, A levels and other qualifications next academic year.

We recognise that these students will have experienced disruption to their education this year. We are working with Ofqual and the exam boards to develop our approach to next year’s exams in light of this.

Good luck with Oxbridge - its great to have so many excellent universities in the UK.

The point made above about Boris Johnson’s aspiration for all primary children to return to school for one month of education before the summer needs addressing. How can schools keep children in groups of 15 or less if all children are in. They cannot suddenly double the size of their buildings overnight. Are you suggesting all children attend part time?

Can I please ask, with the government referring to how there's evidence that children have milder symptoms or none at all, wouldn't this be actually a negative point with regards to spreading as we will not be able to easily tell who has the virus and who hasn't? There is not enough studies or data to prove that children aren't superspreaders. In Spain measures have been partially lifted and there has been already an increase in the percentage of minors (under 9) that have been infected, hospitalised and in ICU

You say that these bubbles will not mix with other adults and children....until they go home to 16 different households. Children with siblings in different bubbles either within the same school or in different schools. The children of teachers in different bubbles in different schools. How are these bubbles actually avoiding contact with others?

My husband and I are both teachers. We have a Y6 child and one in Y10 so as a family we are in four schools per day. I work in an AP primary and many of our pupils spit and bite.

I'm keen to understand how our family 'bubble' might work; if I am in contact with a pupil who has symptoms, all four of us will have to isolate for 14 days. Would my own children's classmates and my husband's students have to do the same? That's a fairly large bubble!

t is still important to reduce contact between people as much as possible, and we can achieve that and reduce transmission risk by ensuring children, young people and staff where possible, only mix in a small, consistent group and that this small group or "bubble" stays away from other people and groups.

With this in mind, and thank you for the above, are staff in schools therefore discouraged from mixing with people from outside their work place as this would mean that they were in two 'bubbles' - their work 'bubble' and their home 'bubble'

If my child (in one of the eligible groups) returns to his school then he's going to be in a 'bubble' there and a 'bubble' at home and obviously spending time with me so mixing the 'bubbles'.

Can you explain why the governemnt are encouraging face to face meetings without the use of masks?

If local councils are rejecting the latest stay alert messages, and operating under stay home save lives, how can their schools follow the June 1st guidance?

www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-tyne-52667492

@Glenthebattleostrich

The lockdown is going to cause a huge mental health crisis amongst children and the people looking after them. What is the government going to do to help mitigate this?

You raise an important point about mental health and wellbeing Glen. We know that social isolation, reduced exercise and loss or bereavement may be impacting children and young people’s mental wellbeing during this difficult time.

We’ve included resources that can help support mental wellbeing in our resources list and work is taking place across government to support mental health charities, including £5 million extra funding from the Departmental of Health and Social Care. This is being co-ordinated by Mind.

For young children and families, Anna Freud have published guidance on supporting children through this time and for children in secondary school, Public Health England’s Rise Above platform may be useful.

The NHS is now also running a 24/7 mental health support line for those needing urgent mental health support. This is now available in most English mental health trusts. It's for all ages.

There have been some very good examples of this working in other countries.

If you are using other countries as examples, why have you gone for a ‘bubble’ number of 15-higher than those other countries have set? Why have you also not put, in your guidance to schools, measures that those other countries have, such as paying for extra washing facilities in playgrounds to be installed, assistance in removing all unnecessary furniture and resources from classrooms to ensure better social distancing and thermometer machines? Why have you only suggested for schools to buy lidded bins?

We are in a similar position SE13Mummy and as a result I am concerned for my elderly parents who I am also shopping for.

Is there any possibility that experts at the DfE that are writing these guidelines could come into schools to show us how to manage these bubbles with the same level as protection as we (won't) have?

@FranticBanana

The guidance tonight is that rotas should not be used in primary schools. However, my question is not about the hours of planning that have been wasted in light of this drip feed of stipulations.

Given that many schools will be at capacity for space and staff once the priority year groups (Nursery, Reception, Y1, Y6) have been welcomed back alongside the key worker and vulnerable children who have been provided for all along, what would you say to the parents of children in year 2 to 5 who will not be able to go back to school? As all staff will be working with either priority year groups or the key group, will the government be providing high quality online learning with feedback and support for these year groups and their parents?

Schools and colleges should use best endeavours to support pupils attending school as well as those remaining at home, making use of the available remote learning support.

We’ve committed over £100 million to support remote education. We are providing laptops and tablets to disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examination in Year 10, those receiving support from a social worker, including pre-school children, or are a care leaver.

We have also published guidance for parents and carers who are supporting their children learning at home as well as a list of online resources which parents and carers may find helpful to supplement work that the school has provided.

There have been some very good examples of this working in other countries.

Which countries? Other countries are operating with much smaller class groups for this age range. Denmark has joint primary and middle schools and so more space and more staff to divide their smaller class sizes between (groups no more than 10, lower when younger.) Denmark have had less than 600 deaths.

We can't compare school systems just like we can't compare health systems. Especially when the the heath systems here regarding testing, tracking and tracing haven't been the same as other countries in the first place.

My year 10s will cough on me or lick me for fun. How do I keep 6 ft boys away from each other when they won't ?

When would you expect schools to get a definitive answer as to whether the return on 1 June is to go ahead, because the 5 tests have been met? When will the cut-off for making this decision be please?

@hackneyLass

Question: what is the government's plans for supporting kinship carers who tend to be older and poorer than other parents (many being grandparents and in the self-isolating group) and have additional needs and pressures.

I am a special guardian to my 2 nephews and we and other kinship carers I know feel desperate during this current lockdown. As a group we are more susceptible to Covid-19, worried about keeping isolated and who will look after our children if we get ill, and financially on a knife edge. We really need not to be forgotten by the government. One valuable policy would be access to hardship grants, perhaps administered by a charity (and funded by the government).

Follow-up: my nephews have special needs arising from their early life experiences, are considered vulnerable, and one has an EHCP. They would benefit on many levels from the continuity of being in school, and the rest of the household would benefit from respite from their challenging behaviours (which they display at home not school). However we have really struggled to get their schools to take them. One goes 1-2 days a week and the other has been refused. Both schools have said they are essentially open only for the children of key workers.

Question: do you have plans to work with the Secretary of State for Education to issue more forceful advice to schools that they MUST make provision for vulnerable children and those with EHCPs.

Thank you

Thank you so very much for all you are doing. Kinship carers are an amazing group of people. And I want to do what I can to support kinship care families during this very difficult time.

On your two specific points you raised, we have provided an extra £3.2b in additional funding to local authorities to help with additional pressures they have because of the coronavirus. This would include providing support to vulnerable families such as kinship care families. You should ask your local authority to assess your needs.

Kinship families whose children left care through Special Guardianship Orders are eligible for therapeutic support through the recently announced Adoption Support Fund COVID-19 scheme. The scheme will pay for different types of therapeutic support for families whose children have experienced trauma or abuse in their early life and as a result be made more anxious during the current coronavirus crisis. We have just increased the amount of funding available for this Fund by £8 million so do please apply if you need support.

We are also working with sector organisations such as the Family Rights Group and Grandparents Plus who represent kinship carers to understand the challenges and identify opportunities to increase the support available to them. We are, for example, currently looking at providing additional funding for charities who support kinship carers.

On the schools attendance issue, we have asked local authorities and schools to consider children who may be vulnerable. This would include children in kinship care arrangements especially as you say many carers will be older and may already have health issues in addition to the threat of Covid-19. You should contact your local authority and ask them to speak to the school on your behalf. You should ask to speak to a person called the virtual school head, who should be able to help you.

We know that social isolation, reduced exercise and loss or bereavement may be impacting children and young people’s mental wellbeing during this difficult time

What support is being put in place for the school staff who are going to be trying to support children and young people's wellbeing whilst suffering from bereavement themselves?

My children's teachers are exemplary and I hope that they are being looked after at this time and when any return to working in the school building happens. One of them is recently bereaved and I want to know that she is supported for her benefit and for the benefit of the children that she will be looking after. This is as important as supporting the children and young people.