Information for schools and academies

Yesterday it was recommended that from 4 July 2020 people keep two metres away from others as a precaution or one metre when the risk can be mitigated by taking other precautions in the staying safe outside your home guidance. Over the coming weeks the Department for Education will publish further information and guidance to help schools prepare for a full return in September.

Primary schools should continue to operate in groups of no more than 15 and secondaries should not exceed 25% of year 10 and year 12 pupils in at any one time. The recent announcement will give more heads and teachers the confidence to maximise capacity within classrooms, ahead of all pupils returning from September.

Primary pupils do not and have not needed to be kept apart in the classroom, and we are encouraging primary heads to use the capacity they have and the flexibility we have given them to bring more groups of children back into school, if they can work within the protective measures.

The latest staying safe outside your home guidance can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staying-safe-outside-your-home

The guidance on implementing protective measures in education and childcare settings can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings

Updated guidance on actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak

We have updated the guidance for childcare services, early years settings, childminders and local authorities. This includes updating the guidance to reflect that early years providers are now able to open for all children, an update on funding and flexibility for parents, further details on managing school pick-ups and drop-offs and new information on childminder agencies and carrying out quality assurance visits.

The guidance can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures

Early Career Framework reforms published

We have published information on the Early Career Framework which includes:

the professional development available to early career teachers at the start of their careers, underpinned by the Early Career Framework. how selected schools can sign up for early roll-out from autumn 2020 how the offer will help all early career teachers and schools to respond to the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19).

The information can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/early-career-framework-reforms

Directed letter (update 1) – continuity of education allowance (CEA) – regulatory flexibility in response to coronavirus (COVID-19)

We have added a directed letter to the information page for service personnel and their families which includes additional information on payments and repayments.

The directed letter can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/dcyp-covid-19

Procurement Policy Note 04/20

Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Note (PPN) 04/20 sets out information and guidance for public bodies on payment of their suppliers to ensure service continuity during and after the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. It updates and builds on provisions contained in PPN02/20. PPN 04/20 is effective from 1 July to 31 October 2020.

PPN04/20 and additional guidance to support users can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/procurement-policy-note-0420-recovery-and-transition-from-covid-19