Dear Colleagues,

Many thanks to those that responded to the transition day survey sent out last week. We had a return rate of 75% which was very helpful. 

Clearly the situation has moved on from last week given the Prime Minister’s announcements on Monday. We are also aware that the DfE has sent an email yesterday, directly to settings, with new guidance relating to many end of term activities. The DfE information is supplied below.

It is clear that ‘traditional’ transition days cannot operate this year. This includes early years children having taster days into reception and year 6 experiencing a taster day at their allocated secondary school into year 7. Whilst taster sessions are not totally banned the guidance is clear in that children within existing bubbles cannot mix with children from other bubbles. We therefore advocate that as far as possible all transition activities are conducted virtually. There may be exceptions to this, for example feedback from you suggested that, where necessary, 1-1 or small group (so long a bubbles are not mixed) sessions take place for those who may find transition very difficult. I will not name specific ‘vulnerable’ groups here as schools and settings know best which children may benefit from this additional work. Separate infant and junior schools should also liaise to determine if whole bubbles could attend a different setting without mixing with any other bubble. A robust risk assessment would be needed for any face to face activity and it may be felt by these settings to be more viable to also use virtual means. 

(Transition activity can still take place where children move internally within a school, for example year 5 visit their year 6 classroom/teacher, although this needs to be risk assessed and follow your system of controls.)

You are all very creative but I provide some suggestions below as to how alternative transition activities can be provided this year, which have been taken from the survey.

We ask schools to confirm their arrangements and communicate as needed with parents and/or feeder schools/settings as appropriate.

We know that there is huge value in transition and we were all hoping that traditional transition activities could go ahead, but in light of both the national and local picture this would be very unwise. Whilst our COVID numbers in educational settings continue to be low (thanks to all the work you are doing to keep the system of controls in place) they are rising. With regard to the local survey we completed, over 70% of schools agreed that traditional transition activities should not take place this year (however it is recognised that this figure would likely be higher if we were to conduct the survey again this week). I know you will all be disappointed but let’s hope this is one of the last hurdles we need to overcome. You have all worked so hard this year to manage COVID alongside the actual job of teaching and learning and I again admire your resilience and tenacity at this time.

Some of you have asked queries about other end of term events, for example arrangement for sports days and further information is provided about this from the DfE below. Please make sure that all activities are thoroughly risk assessed.

Thank you all for you ongoing support and understanding. Always stronger together!

Best wishes

Simon

Examples of Alternative transition activities

Please note: these are just suggestions. Schools are best placed to determine what will work for them.

• Make a virtual school or classroom tour which can be shared on the schools website.
• Ask key members of staff to record introductions to themselves to post on schools website.
• Provide as much information regarding uniforms, PE kit requirements, drop off pick up times, lunch facilities etc on the schools website.
• Answers to key questions that pupils or parents might usually be told at transition event.
• Use the initial day(s) of the Autumn Term as year 7 induction days.
• Use of summer school provision where available.
• 1-1 visits outside of teaching hours.
• Through induction packs.
• Group meetings between parents/carers and teaching staff over Teams.
• News feed and videos made available via school website.
• Virtual meetings between children and their new teacher.
• Virtual story time with new teachers.
• Virtual tour of intended school and new classroom.
• Access to online learning platforms, and sharing of work via Seesaw. Provision of iPads and dongles to support this where needed.
• Transition booklets so that children are able to talk about their new teachers to their parents/carers during the holidays, in order to familiarise themselves with their new settings.
• Use the August period (opportunity to have a guided tour in the summer when it is safer and quieter/ host appropriate meetings).
• Allow parents/carers or schools to drive to the school so that the pupils can see the building physically and a member of the leadership team go out to welcome the child.

DfE guidance released 15 June 2021

The Prime Minister’s announcement and what this means for some of your summer term activities

The government has always been clear that 21 June 2021 was an indicative date for progression to Step 4 of the roadmap, which would be guided by data and not dates. Yesterday the government announced a 4-week pause at Step 3. Step 3 restrictions remain in place, including those set out in the COVID-19 operational guidance for your setting. It is expected that England will move to Step 4 on 19 July 2021, although the data will be reviewed after 2 weeks in case the risks have reduced. The government will continue to monitor the data and the move to Step 4 will be confirmed one week in advance. It is our priority that all education and childcare settings deliver face-to-face, high quality provision to all children and students. At a time when further easing of restrictions has been paused, the current system of controls should continue to be implemented in education and childcare settings. This means settings should encourage staff, and students, where applicable, to continue to test twice weekly and student bubbles, where they exist, should stay in place.

Early years settings should continue to minimise mixing by keeping children in consistent groups. We will update schools, colleges and early years settings on plans for Step 4 as soon as possible. We know you may have questions following the Prime Minister’s announcement about what this means for some of your summer term activities. The general principle is that early years, schools and colleges must continue to risk assess and plan activities in line with the system of controls and should follow government guidance. We have set out some positions on common activities below.

Sports days
Sports days can go ahead. In line with the rest of the system of controls, pupils and students must remain in their bubbles, and early years children should remain in their consistent groups as is usual for your setting. Sports equipment should be regularly cleaned throughout the event. Spectators must adhere to current social distancing requirements. Where events take place outdoors, spectators can gather in separate groups of up to 30 – the legal gathering limit. Multiple groups of 30 are permitted. 

Leavers events
Currently, you should avoid hosting large group gatherings indoors for more than one bubble (or in early years more than one consistent group), such as assemblies or mass worship. The schools COVID-19 operational guidance states that children should be kept in separate, independent groups (for example, their bubbles). The early years guidance states you should minimise contact between groups within settings (for example, keeping children in consistent groups). The FE guidance also has advice on how to group students. Outdoor events are generally lower risk. Once you have undertaken a risk assessment and planned your event in line with your system of controls, you may consider an outdoor event (for example a leavers’ celebration or prom) that caters for more than one bubble or consistent group, as long as the groups continue to be kept separate. Any parents attending outdoor events must adhere to current social distancing requirements. Where outdoors spectators can gather in groups of up to 30 – the legal gathering limit. Multiple groups of 30 are permitted.

Transitional and open days
You should complete thorough risk assessments before running transitional, taster and open days in your setting, to ensure that they are run in line with your system of controls and align with the advice contained within the guidance for your setting and the roadmap out of lockdown. This means that traditional transitional and open days are unlikely to be feasible this academic year but we are keen not to restrict individual settings from designing events which maintain the integrity of bubbles or consistent groups, and adhere to the system of controls in place.

Singing
If you are planning an indoor or outdoor face-to-face performance in front of a live audience, you should continue to follow the latest performing arts guidance, and the guidance on delivering outdoor events. Registered early years settings, schools and colleges are, however, exempt from the requirement to limit group numbers to 6 for singing indoors.