A new report from Salford City Council shows that, so far this term, school attendance has been 'typically' 86% but around 5% of pupils, or 2,000, have been isolating per week due to being contacts in bubbles.
"Most recent data at the time of writing this report shows that these numbers are decreasing to around 4% of pupils" states the report which will be discussed at Salford's Children's Scrutiny Panel on 9th December.
"We estimate that around 10% of all children in Salford 3,600 of the 36,000 of school age - have been impacted by COVID and haven't been able to attend school due to a COVID related reason (eg testing positive, have had to isolate due a household member testing positive at home, having to isolate due to being a contact of a positive case in school)" states the report.
It adds that "It is important to note that 32,400 children in Salford have attended school since September and have not been affected by COVID and have been able to attend school as usual and the vast majority of all children are in school."
Between 29th September and 23rd October, OFSTED made 380 visits nationally, including to Salford schools, and found that "Attendance is being affected by pupils self-isolating and not all pupils have come back since first lockdown..."*
Other findings included...
75% of schools have attendance that is as good as it was prior to lockdown.
Some families had gone abroad and not returned.
Not all children in special schools have returned and in special schools that have the children with most complex needs there is anxiety amongst parents to send children back due to increased concerns about infection vulnerability. Some children also have increased anxiety
Transport is sometimes an issue in special schools and AP [Alternative Provision]. This is because the transport is not in place or the escorts are not in place.
25% of schools visited had sent bubbles home. More often in secondary schools and in some cases very high numbers sent home (commonly15-80 but sometimes up to 400).
50% of schools visited had parents requesting home education of one or more children. 80% of these cases involved more than one child in the same family. Usually reasons are related to anxiety, or that they have a vulnerable family member in the household.
Some schools are reporting higher number of fixed term exclusions related to not having the full range of in-school sanctions such as isolation areas or use of other classrooms to remove pupils to.
Most secondary schools teaching all subjects. Some primary schools are not.
Not all services to children are fully up and running eg. speech and language or physiotherapy.
Remote learning not working for all pupils; particularly those in AP settings.
Some schools reporting better behaviour of pupils, but not all. Some say it is deteriorating due to increasing mental health issues, too much use of social media and falling out with each other, too much time spent on video gaming.
Increase in safeguarding issues/ concerns about the financial issues families are facing
Uncertainty over national exams and in particular GCSE
* This paragraph has been changed from the original article as it has been pointed out that the 380 visits were nationally.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
(3).jpeg)
.png)
(1).JPG)
