Agenda item
Impact of Covid 19 on children's learning
A presentation will be made at the meeting.
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received a verbal update on the impact Covid-19 is having on education in the borough, the steps taken to minimize disruption to children and the support provided to schools.
The Sub-Committee heard from Ms Christine McInnes, Divisional Director of Education and Partnership who stated schools had worked hard to meet the dual demands of having children of critical workers and vulnerable children in school as well as developing and running online learning packages for children at home. In addition to this, secondary schools have had to establish testing programmes for pupils. She said the Tower Hamlets Education Partnership (THEP) was analysing the evidence base on how schools can assess the learning gaps amongst different year groups and children and what could be done to address this. Ms McInnes said the lack of digital access and broadband had also impacted on individual students.
The Sub-Committee heard from Tracy Smith, Executive Director, Tower Hamlets Education Partnership (THEP) and Headteachers Mr Oliver Woodward, Headteacher of Columbia Primary School and Mr Paul Woods, Stepney All Saints School on their experience of dealing with the impact Covid-19 was having on schools.
Tower Hamlets Education Partnership
Ms Smith said the lockdown this time had been very different to the lockdown experienced in March 2020. She said teachers were more prepared, with a better-quality offer being in place than before.
The key points made by Ms Smith were:
- Since the return to school in September 2020, bubble closures had led to schools honing their remote learning practice.
- THEP had conducted a survey of schools to better understand the gaps in access to digital devices. There were six reports available on their website looking at Maths, English and Science in primary schools. Study programmes and resources were tailored to support the teacher in delivering the learning.
- Ms Smith cautioned against labelling children as the ‘lost generation’ and said language like this was unhelpful. She said children were resilient and THEP would continue to work with schools to close the gaps in learning.
- Schools were working together to share good practice with ten different clusters of schools sharing their ideas. Work was being driven through subject networks in primary schools and ‘teach and meet’ groups in secondary schools as well as peer review models.
- Access of devices was a problem, especially in areas where schools had a more disadvantaged community. Of the schools surveyed 64 responses had been received from which it was clear that at least 10,000 devices across the borough were needed to ensure every child has access to their own device.
- Schools were tracking the usage of devices and were sympathetic to the dilemmas facing families, especially if a single device was being shared by siblings.
- THEP had been fortunate to receive a £53,000 donation which it had used to procure IT equipment for distribution to primary schools. THEP was working alongside the Education Business partnership who had delivered 150 devices to local schools, however a lot more were needed.
Columbia Primary School
Mr Oliver Woodward, Headteacher at Columbia Primary School addressed the Sub-Committee and shared his experience of operating his School during the pandemic.
The key points made by Mr Woodward were:
- Columbia Primary School had been fortunate in that it hadn’t experienced any bubble closures since the opening of schools in September 2020, and therefore hadn’t experienced the full onset of remote learning during that period.
- In preparedness for January 2021 the school approached remote learning by easing children and families into this gradually. A quarter of the children in each year group, approximately 15 children, were still coming into school with the remaining accessing learning from home.
- Daily activities included a live register session each morning via Zoom or Google meets. Story time after lunch, with the class teacher reading a story plus well-being challenges being offered every week. Independent reading activities and typing practice also form part of the everyday thing’s children take part in, as well as curriculum topics of English, Maths, Phonics.
- One of the ways in which the School will be tackling the learning gap, is by using its most experienced teachers to work on a one to one basis with disadvantaged children or small groups of children to focus on maths, phonics or reading.
- The learning delivered is reviewed weekly, during the staff meeting. For example, in KS1 there is a real focus on early reading and phonics, with a broader curriculum for the older children in KS2, focussing on areas which will make a substantial difference to a child’s progress and attainment.
- Overall, the school is happy with the offer provided to children but are aiming to incorporate fun activities for children such as a scavenger hunt around the home to get children and classmates playing and interacting together.
Stepney All Saints School
Mr Paul Woods, Headteacher at Stepney All Saints School then addressed the Sub-Committee and shared his experience of operating his School during the pandemic.
The key points made by Mr Woods were:
- Stepney All Saint’s school had been open to key worker and vulnerable children since the first lockdown in March 2020. The home learning provision provided has evolved over time.
- Lessons were initially uploaded on Google meets and Google Classrooms, with the expectation that students would regulate their own activity by accessing the online work and submitting this to the teacher. However, teachers are now more active and accustomed to using technology to conduct lessons and therefore there is a greater online presence. Tweaks have been made along the way, with breaks introduced between lessons.
- The positives from the home learning experience has been the re-launch of their AAE (Application, Analysis, and Evaluation) Strategy. Mr Wood said the school had struggled with the notion of pre-learning but had introduced their strategy when students returned in September 2020.
- 60% of the school’s intake are children on pupil premium and therefore the school was committed to ensuring equality of access to all students. As a VA school the trustees agreed to fund the procurement of new laptops and all students in Year 7 to Year 13 have been issued with individual laptops.
- Mr Woods said students were resilient and were more focussed on their learning and had a positive attitude to learning online albeit they and their teachers are keen to be back in the classroom.
- Mr Wood praised THEP for their support over the lockdown period.
In response to questions from members the following was noted:
- The use of technology would last beyond the pandemic, with every Year 7 and Year 12 student being issued with a laptop. It would be an integral part of the teaching and learning strategy at Stepney All Saint’s school.
- In response to if the 10,000 laptops required were in addition to the government devices handed to Tower Hamlets, Ms Smith confirmed these would be on top of the DfE provision. The types of devices required, were laptops and Chromebooks. Demand is high so locally schools are fundraising or securing donations from existing partnerships.
- In response to if there is a criteria for the allocation of devices, Mr Woodward said they were initially promised 51 devices, were then told they would receive 10, before 51 devices were allocated by the DfE. He said the current challenge are those children who do not fit the ‘pupil premium’ criteria but live in substantially disadvantaged circumstances.
- Mr Woodward stated that all children were engaging and accessing online learning however the time spent maybe limited due to issues with shared devices. Younger children were being provided with paper copies, to help balance out demand for devices and parent time to supervise youngsters.
- Mr Woodward said lessons had been tailored to ensure engagement was across the year group, class and individually. He said staff had pinpointed the children who were struggling and made phone calls to remind them to log on in the morning or during the day. He said they had introduced a regular ‘drop in’ where children can ask their teacher for help on subject’s they are learning via Google meets.
- In response to how the Council could do more to support schools, given the budget constraints faced by schools and local government, Mr Wood said he felt THEP and Christine McInnes had supported local schools really well. He said when emerging from the lockdown support would be needed on ‘catch up’ and assessment of Year 10 and Year 12 students. He said it would be unfair for the Government to expect students to sit exams, given the pandemic. He said overplanning was a mistake as things seemed to change within a 24-hour period. Mr Wood recommended the lobbying of government and Ofqual to resolve this issue.
- Ms Smith concurred with Mr Wood and said the notion of recovery and catch up in education should never be driven by assessment. The curriculum should be served by assessment. Ms Smith said the danger was, if the Government did not budge on exams and assessments, there would be a massive gap in learning because children had not been in school. Ms Smith said collectively teachers and the local authority needed to bring their experience and wisdom to the debate.
- Mr Woodward added assistance with the procurement of laptop devices for primary schools would help his school and others.
- He said one of the big issues experienced related to families who fall outside of pupil premium and who required assistance with food. Not everyone was entitled to free school meals (FSM). The school community had aided such families with food parcels and food vouchers, but additional support was required.
- Not all teaching staff have access to IT Equipment themselves and the quality of the equipment can cause issues, such as cameras and microphones not functioning. There had been a shortfall for Teaching Assistant’s, who would not normally require IT equipment but THEP are hoping to address this with the additional laptops it had procured.
- In response to if the headteachers had a recovery plan in place and how this would address child poverty especially around the access to food; and if school kitchens were supplying food in addition to food vouchers, Mr Woodward said their school kitchen was open and cooking food for the children that were in school. He said they had used the Councils FSM voucher scheme and had provided food parcels during the first lockdown.
- Mr Woodward said school staff had assisted and raised awareness amongst parents regarding FSM. He said confusion existing because the national scheme provided FSM from Reception to Year 3, and some parents are under the impression that entitlement continued, without realising they need to apply again for Year 4 to 6.
- Councillor Begum, Cabinet Member for Children and Schools added the local authority were working on a communications strategy aimed at encouraging families to apply for FSM.
The Chair thanked the attendees for their contribution to the meeting and said their input had been invaluable to members in understanding the situation in schools.
The Chair summarised the main points of discussion as follows:
- Gap in access to IT equipment, with 10,000 devices required in Tower Hamlets. Commendable efforts had been made to close the gap, but the gap still existed.
- Innovative work had been undertaken in schools to ensure children are engaged and learning.
- Schools are the frontline of engagement with families and provide more than education. They are trusted organisations in the local community and as such Members must be aware of the pressures facing schools. Increasingly they are providing for the basics of life such as food and safety.
- Role for the local authority, to communicate to families their entitlement to FSM.