SEND News and Reforms
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
On Tuesday 29 March, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, set out the next steps for living with COVID-19 in England from Friday 1 April.
Key changes include:
- adults with the symptoms of a respiratory infection, and who have a high temperature or feel unwell, should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people until they feel well enough to resume normal activities and they no longer have a high temperature.
- children and young people who are unwell and have a high temperature should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. They can go back to school, college or childcare when they no longer have a high temperature, and they are well enough to attend.
Regular asymptomatic testing is no longer recommended in any education or childcare setting, including in SEND, alternative provision and children’s social care settings. Therefore, settings will no longer be able to order free NHS test kits through their previous routes:
- if they do choose to test, adults with a positive COVID-19 test result should try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for 5 days, which is when they are most infectious. For children and young people aged 18 and under, the advice will be 3 days.
- residential SEND settings may be advised by their local health protection team to re-introduce some time-limited asymptomatic testing. This would be an exceptional measure, for targeted groups of staff and pupils or students (secondary age or above) in the event of a possible COVID-19 outbreak.
Most of the DfE COVID-19 specific guidance for education and childcare settings has now been withdrawn from GOV.UK. Guidance specific to education and childcare that settings should now refer to includes:
- UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) health protection in education and childcare settings
- DfE emergency planning and response
- DfE good estate management for schools
New and updated UKHSA guidance for the general population, which will also be relevant to education and childcare settings, includes:
- guidance for people with symptoms of a respiratory infection including COVID-19, or a positive test result for COVID-19
- living safely with respiratory infections, including COVID-19
- ventilation of indoor spaces to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory infections
- COVID-19 guidance for people whose immune system means they are at higher risk
You can access a webinar at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7WKDcUd71g giving an overview from DfE and UKHSA officials on the changes, and what they mean in practice for education, childcare and children’s social care settings.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
In this newsflash, DfE would like to draw your attention to two items:
Autism Education Trust’s new ‘Let’s Learn about Autism’ packs:
To celebrate Autism Acceptance Week this year (28 March to 3 April), the Autism Education Trust (AET) have been working with their Autistic Young Expert’s Panel to produce their Let’s Learn About Autism Packs. The fully resourced packs are designed to help all education professionals to plan their Autism Acceptance Week lessons and lead conversations about autism and understanding difference. Please see the AET website for further information and how to download: https://www.autismeducationtrust.org.uk/celebrate-autism-acceptance-week-our-lets-learn-about-autism-pack
NHS Keyworker update:
Keyworking services move from the pilot phase towards full geographical cover: the NHS Long term Plan includes a commitment that ‘by 2023/24 children and young people with a learning disability and/or who are autistic with the most complex needs will have a designated keyworker’. Keyworking services have been introduced in pilot and early adopter areas to work with young people, families and services to avoid unnecessary admissions to mental health hospitals and to facilitate timely discharge with the right support in place. This next stage sees the remaining areas of the country developing plans for their Keyworking service. Visit the NHS England and NHS Improvement website for more information on how Keyworking is making a difference to young people’s lives in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale at https://www.england.nhs.uk/learning-disabilities/care/children-young-people/keyworkers/success-and-learning-from-heywood-middleton-and-rochdale-keyworking-service/ and South Yorkshire at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/learning-disabilities/care/children-young-people/keyworkers/success-and-learning-from-pilot-sites-the-south-yorkshire-keyworking-service/.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
The Schools White Paper 'Opportunity for All' has been published today: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/schools-white-paper-delivers-real-action-to-level-up-education
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
Ambitious about Autism has today launched the UK’s first online platform for autistic young people – please find further details at https://ambitious-youth-network.ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk/page/ambitious-youth-network
This will offer autistic young people aged 16 to 25 a safe and moderated online space to help them understand their autistic identity and reduce isolation and loneliness that many feel. Young people will be able to take part in peer support sessions, share experiences and find volunteering, work experience and employment opportunities. There will also be opportunities for them to work together and campaign for change.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
DfE SEND division have updated the SEND and specialist settings: additional COVID-19 operational guidance to reflect new public health information and guidance issued yesterday. Updates have been made to the section on tracing close contacts and isolation. The section on when someone develops COVID-19 symptoms or has a positive test has also been revised.
'On February 22nd the Prime Minister set out the next phase of the government’s COVID-19 response ‘Living with COVID-19’. COVID-19 continues to be a virus that we learn to live with and the imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education remains.
This guidance does not change the testing approach for specialist settings. Settings should continue with the approaches they have been using over the past year. Some Lateral flow device (LFD) tests ask for a combined nose and throat swab. However, we know that some children and young people find throat swabs difficult, and we want to confirm that whichever LFD brand that you are using, if a combined nose and throat swab is not possible then a nose swab from both nostrils can be taken. Similarly, if for some reason a nasal swab is not feasible, a throat swab alone will suffice.'
- Written by: Brian Lamb
Sign Health, working in coalition with a number of other charities, is launching this report today on the Health Accessible Information Standard.
They would like to draw attention to the urgent priorities that are included which they believe would significantly improve people’s access to and experience of health and social care.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
DfE SEND division colleagues understand that some parents and carers have concerns about vaccinating their children. They have listened carefully to their worries and have sought to provide some reassurance and clarification below, including for children who are clinically vulnerable.
'Our priority is for the delivery of face-to-face, high-quality education to all pupils and students. We are confident that vaccinating children and young people will increase their protection against COVID-19 and will reduce the need for them to have time away from education.'
Please click on the link below to access the document:
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