Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance

Advice for schools and childcare settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including operating guidance and emergency contacts.

Updates and letters

Risk assessment tool (doc)
Individual risk assessment and support plan template (doc)
Infection control management
Children and young people Covid-19 infection scenarios
Staff Covid-19 infection scenarios

Letter to school staff: Joint letter raising awareness on Covid-19 vaccinations (pdf) - Letter from Public Health, Ealing Council (27 January 2022)
Vulnerable groups update for headteachers and safeguarding leads (News item 14 January 2022)

Vaccinations
Remote education

Government guidance

• Coronavirus (COVID-19) recovery premium funding: allocations and conditions of grant 2022 to 2023
  • Recovery premium funding
• UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) health protection in education and childcare settings
• DfE emergency planning and response
• DfE good estate management for schools
• 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
• Reducing the spread of respiratory infections, including COVID-19, in the workplace

DfE helpline: 0800 046 8687 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, weekends 10am to 4pm)

School operating guidance

Guidance for schools and early years providers during the pandemic.

• Attendance
• Bereavement
• Educational psychology
• Emergency contacts
• Facilities and buildings
• Free school meals
• Home working
• Planning and risk assessment
• Remote education
• Safeguarding
• School governance
• SEND
• Staffing
• Symptoms and testing
• Vulnerable groups
• Wellbeing and mental health

Attendance

Attendance guidance for schools.

Schools should be taking an attendance register and using the codes suggested on this page to record attendance and absence. All settings should submit daily attendance figures using the educational setting status form by midday every day.

Guidance for off rolling for children gone abroad April 2021

Bereavement

During the pandemic, schools may have to deal with the death of a member of staff as a result of the coronavirus or for other reasons. Read about what you should do when an employee dies and use our letter template to correspond with the next of kin in these circumstances

Educational psychology

Recovery, re-introduction and renewal: Safe and successful returns to school (a handbook by the Association of Educational Psychologists)

Educational psychology service delivery

Advice for schools: Transition and back to school during COVID 19

Emergency contacts and support

Local authority and Ealing Learning Partnership teams will do all they can to support schools. For urgent support, please refer to the emergency contact list. For other support requests, please contact Julie Lewis .

There are tactical groups in place to plan and communicate back to the emergency management response team to keep schools open and in relation to short and long term school recovery issues arising from COVID-19.

Facilities and buildings

Ventilation planning strategy

• DfE good estate management for schools
• ventilation of indoor spaces to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory infections
• webinar from Cath Noakes and Henry Burridge, Senior Lecturer in Fluid Mechanics
• a poster providing top tips on improving ventilation
• a poster providing top tips on using CO2 monitors
• a newsletter template which education and childcare settings can customise to inform parents and carers about their approach to using CO2 monitors and how they are helping them to manage ventilation.
• how to use a CO2 monitor
• how to use an air cleaning unit
• the DfE Education Hub Blog for tips on managing ventilation in colder weather
• a short video on ventilation and CO2 monitors in schools by Cath Noakes, Professor of Environmental Engineering for Buildings

Financial support

• Self-isolation payments for parents and carers (news item 25 March)
• Covid-19 catch-up premium: provisional allocations guidance (GOV.UK)
• Self-isolation payments (Ealing Council)

DfE guidance on furloughing staff now takes into account the sums you receive from government free entitlement payments and other sources of income you receive, including parental fees. Refer to the coronavirus job retention scheme guidance sheet (pdf). The income percentage calculator (xlsx) can help you work out the percentage you can claim through the coronavirus job retention scheme.

Free school meals

Holiday activites and food (HAF) programme Summer 2022 (news item April 2022)

Home learning

School can share this with parents and carers

Supporting your children's education during coronavirus (COVID-19) - Information, guidance and support for parents and carers of children who are learning at home. GOV.UK

Home learning support pack for parents and pupils of English as an additional language (pdf)

For staff

Courses and other online learning for staff.

Home working guidance

• DSE workstation checklist (word)
• Protect home workers (DSE) - Includes video on how to set up a workstation for temporary home working
• Microsoft Teams quick start guide (pdf)
• Communicating via Teams (pdf)
• CIEHF Home working and staying healthy (pdf)

Planning and risk assessment

• Risk assessment tool (doc)
• Individual risk assessment and support plan template (doc)
• Risk assessment example for pregnant workers (doc)
• Addressing individual staff concerns
• Health improvement recovery curriculum
• Guidance for professionals working with parents to support children’s return to school (ppt)
• Supporting your child's return to school booklet (Ealing Familes directory)
• Ealing COVID-19 outbreak prevention and control plan (Ealing Council)

Safeguarding

• DSL guidance for primary school pupils (pdf) (EGfL login required)
• DSL guidance for high school pupils (pdf) Updated October 2021 (EGfL login required)
• Safeguarding toolkit for school DSLs (doc) Updated January 2022 (EGfL login required)
• This is an updated resource to guide and support your DSL role in carrying out safeguarding duties both for children in school and those who are learning at home. It also provides contact details for professional support service.
• Private fostering during COVID-19 Updated March 2021(pdf).

School governance

Governing and trust boards should continue to take a pragmatic approach to meetings. Whilst face to face meetings are now possible this should be informed by the latest national COVID-19 guidance and the school’s risk assessment. Governing boards will need to collectively decide whether a blended approach of face-to-face and virtual meetings would be appropriate or to continue with online meetings but planning a schedule of visits by governors to monitor agreed key priorities as part of the boards monitoring role.

• DfE school governance update July 2022
• Wellbeing and workload guidance for governing boards (EGfL login required)
• Ealing governance news For any further information or advice please email governors@ealing.gov.uk.

Staffing

• Staffing guidance (pdf)
• Revised joint guidance on the conduct of schools on professional matters in light of the covid-19 pandemic (NAHT)
• Addressing individual staff concerns
• Wellbeing guide for staff working in schools and trusts
• All year round (AYR) support staff leave during the Covid-19 emergency (pdf)
• Letter template - Informal warning for failure to maintain social distancing (doc)
• Teachers and head teachers performance management during restricted opening (pdf)
• Agency/supply staff and casual/AWR staff guidance (pdf)
• Key roles in schools during the coronavirus pandemic (updated 26 May 2021) (pdf)

Symptoms and testing

Infection control measures
Children and young people Covid-19 infection scenarios
Staff Covid-19 infection scenarios

Vulnerable groups

How schools are working to overcome the challenges facing vulnerable groups of pupils during the pandemic:

• COVID-19 Vulnerable groups addendum report (pdf) March 2021
• COVID-19 Vulnerable groups report 1 (pdf)
• COVID-19 Vulnerable groups report 2 (pdf) August 2020.

Where schools have concerns including not have a designated safeguarding lead (DSL) they should contact ECIRS. Emergency contact list

Keeping in touch guidance for DSLs (word)
Please use this guidance to support members of staff keeping in touch by phone with parents of vulnerable children.

Guidance: keeping in touch calls for children with an EHCP (word)
To support members of staff keeping in touch by phone with parents of children with EHC plans.

Support your school's response if you have low attendance of vulnerable pupils:

• Ealing Safeguarding process to help increase attendance of vulnerable children during COVID-19
• Ealing Safeguarding guidance – Frequently asked questions COVID-19

Children and young people, social care

• Virtual child protection conference guidance effective 6 May 2020 - Social workers and child protection advisors (pdf)

• Virtual child protection conference guidance effective 6 May 2020 -Partner agencies (pdf)

• COVID-19 practice guidance (pdf)

Wellbeing and mental health

• Staff wellbeing during COVID-19 (pdf)
• Wellbeing and mental health support