Schools and settings are working tremendously hard during the crisis in supporting children, families and their communities. It is a privilege to work with you all.
SAfE is working in close partnership with the Directorate of Education, Life-long Learning and Culture and Phase Councils to provide a co-ordinated education response for Surrey. We are leading on two of the four strands of the Surrey Schools and Settings COVID-19 Recovery Plan: Organisation and People and Learning and Narrowing the Gap.
Our website continues to provide a range of support for school and setting leaders, teachers and governors as we move into the next phase as schools welcome back more pupils and beyond. For more information on narrowing the learning gap and how this is being impacted by COVID-19 and school closures, visit our COVID-19 Catch up under our Vulnerable Learners segment.
On this page you will find links to Surrey County Council guidance and support for COVID-19, and Guidance from external sources.
If you need individual support or guidance or have any questions please contact the SAfE team at: admin@schoolsallexcel.com
An Educational Psychologist’s perspective
Heads are doing an enormous amount to support families but reflected that they are not experts in all aspects of parental well-being, and certainly not in the context of a pandemic! We are pleased to share a resource that we know will help. There is no cost to schools for this.
We have commissioned Dr Alison D'Amario, Educational and Child Psychologist to record a 30-minute clip that our Primary Head teachers can share with their community of parents.
The clip covers three areas:
The clip is embedded in this downloadable Pdf. We invite you to share this with your families in addition to any other school specific information that you would like to share with them.
SAfE has produced a document detailing safeguarding arrangements and data and privacy considerations whilst children and young people continue remote learning during the national lockdown. You can download this document here.
Our children and young people will be learning remotely for at least the first half of the Spring term, and we felt it may be helpful to share a reminder of the evidence-based practice for excellence in remote learning. The pdf document accessible here offers a shortlist of useful material for school leaders to reference easily if a reminder of best practice is helpful.
With the announcement on February 22nd of all pupils attending school, and with even more focus given to supporting pupils with missed learning, Oak have turned their attention to all of the ways they can continue to support you through this period.
Resources and support are available to help relieve some of the pressure and reduce workload for teachers. Access their resources for Catchup Planning!
Guidance available here provides step by step instructions to access Google Classroom via XBox or Playstation devices.
Please check with your school/setting IT support to ensure that any in-school firewalls, online security systems and IT policies can accommodate the use of these devices.
With the release of further guidance from the DfE yesterday, we are aware that there is now additional pressure and demands placed on schools and Heads are being expected to make decisions in extremely stressful circumstances.
Our Heads of maintained nursery schools, schools with attached nurseries and infant schools have been especially affected and placed in sometimes untenable positions in attempting to meet the needs of parents while maintaining the well-being of staff and receiving contradictory and ever changing demands from the DfE.
In this context we would like to provide some advice and assurance so that as Heads you feel supported and do not feel entirely isolated in the difficult decisions you are required to make.
SAfE has hosted two COVID-19 Contingency Planning webinars, beginning with a presentation from Chris Runeckles of the Education Endowment Foundation exploring evidence to support school leaders as they prepare contingency plans for remote learning.
SAfE then followed this presentation with a webinar (17/09/2020) focused on supporting schools for contingency planning in Surrey. You can view this webinar below, and find guidance and templates that may be useful for Surrey schools in their contingency planning.
Contingency planning for remote learning webinar September 2020 from Schools Alliance for Excellence on Vimeo.
Please find below the following supporting documents for this webinar - click on the title to download:
Webinar Slides
Contingency Planning Guidance from SAfE
Rushey Remote Learning Contingency Plans for Autumn
Local Area Restrictions & Staff Absences
SAfE Remote Learning Contingency Planning Template (with examples)
SAfE Remote Learning Contingency Planning Template (blank)
The latest FAQs from Surrey County Council
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