Special Educational Needs: Coronavirus

(asked on 8th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to protect staff at SEN schools during the January 2021 lockdown.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 18th January 2021

The department has worked closely with Public Health England (PHE) to publish comprehensive guidance based on a system of controls which, when implemented in line with a revised risk assessment, creates an inherently safer environment for staff, pupils and students where the risk of transmission of the infection is substantially reduced. This provides a framework for all schools to put in place proportionate protective measures to measure risk effectively. New guidance has been published on the period during the national lockdown, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak#history.

We recognise that social distancing and other protective measures can be harder to implement in specialist settings, particularly when working with children and young people with complex needs, or those who need close contact care. The guidance for full opening: ‘Special Schools and other specialist settings’ has been developed with experts from PHE and provides advice on how special schools and other special education settings specifically can implement a system of controls to reduce the risk of transmission. Specialist settings should use their discretion and assess their own individual circumstances to achieve the greatest reduction in contacts. This should not unduly limit the quality or breadth of teaching, or access to support, specialist staff and therapists. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings#the-system-of-controls-protective-measures.

The government is delivering a programme of rapid asymptomatic testing from the start of January 2021 for staff, pupils and students in secondary schools and colleges. The DfE has provided guidance on delivering asymptomatic testing in specialist settings to support delivering testing in special schools and specialist colleges. More information can be found via this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings/mass-asymptomatic-testing-in-specialist-settings. The government also announced that all primary schools, including primary special schools, will receive testing kits for staff from the 18 January 2021.

The PPE portal can be used by residential special settings to access COVID-19 personal protective equipment (PPE). These providers will have received an email invitation to register with the portal. Depending on local arrangements, special schools and special post-16 settings may be able to access PPE for their COVID-19 needs via their local authority or local resilience forum.

Following the reintroduction of shielding, clinically extremely vulnerable staff are advised not to attend the workplace. Staff who are in this group will previously have received a letter from the NHS or their GP telling them this. Staff who are identified as clinically extremely vulnerable should follow government guidance on shielding and protecting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19.

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