How did we respond to lockdown and to COVID in general? 

The first thing to note is that we never really ‘shut down’. We did have a couple of weeks where we had key worker children only but after Easter, we soon went to around 20% and built up so we had over 90% of our pupils in by July. In fact, we only had four children we didn’t have into school at all, many managed part-time or full-time attendance. In terms of staffing, we responded to need. Our risk assessment changed on a weekly basis – all children had individual risk assessments and we worked closely with Family Support, Social Workers, the Virtual School and LA to try and get any child risk assessed as Red/ Amber into school.  
For some LAC children, their stable home meant that they were better at home building crucial relationships, at least part time. For many children outside statutory services however, this was a time of crisis.  We saw the number of operation encompass notifications almost double; many of these were around domestic violence and parental mental health.  In terms of escalation, we continued our normal practice and used the MARF/ MASH Team.  All Senior Leads in school had access to contact details and would alert services to any issues. 

What we did really well, and continue to do well, is build positive working relationships with parents and families. When a child starts (and even before), we work closely with their family to ensure a smooth transition and to understand the dynamic.  This academic year alone we have seen three children arrive on Child in Need plans which have been dropped quite quickly as our core offer supports the child and their family.  All children have a key worker in school and so do the families – sometimes that is the senior lead, class teacher or sometimes a particular TA. We support at CAMHS meetings for instance, and have also supported parents with specific issues around bedtime or routines.  

One of our biggest issues for our vulnerable children and young people was about ensuring food and ‘eyes on’, which is why we encouraged children into school.  This way we knew their exposure to county lines/ abuse/ peer on peer abuse was minimised. Our children are incredibly vulnerable as they are often socially isolated and are seeking fulfilling relationships. Food was an important factor in getting them in!  We catered ourselves and were able to provide really high-quality meals during lockdown which the children chose; this had an impact. We also worked with several local charities and the national scheme to deliver hampers and food vouchers to an area as wide as Monmouthshire, Powys, Shropshire and within Herefordshire to Ross on Wye and Colwall. For some families without access to cars or who were shielded with little support, we went shopping for them, did washing, accessed charities to get donations like furniture, bedding and clothing and picked up prescriptions.
 
This all meant that the last six months have been incredibly positive for us and families in terms of those relationships. We haven’t as yet seen the trend of children being taken off roll and parents/ carers have been really supportive of all the measures we have taken.  Relationships with social workers and other services also seemed to strengthen – via Webex mostly! So in general, a positive picture – very hard work keeping staff and pupils’ mental health stable but for us the biggest barrier is getting children to learn at home and from a safeguarding perspective I know when they are here that they are safe, well fed, warm and have access to clean clothing as well as studying.