Agenda item

The Committee will consider a report outlining the significant amount of work undertaken in relation to the emotional health of Buckinghamshire’s school pupils, particularly in the light of the Covid pandemic.

The report gives details of current issues, the profile of need, current work underway in schools and steps for the future.

Contributors:

Richard Nash, Corporate Director Children’s Services

Simon James, Service Director Education

Elizabeth Biggs, Public Health Principal

Gareth Drawmer, Head of Achievement & Learning

Dr Tim Jones, Principal Educational Psychologist

Councillor Birchley welcomed the Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services, Mrs Anita Cranmer, Mr Richard Nash, Corporate Director for Children’s Services, Mr Simon James, Service Director, Education and Mr Gareth Drawmer, Head of Achievement and Learning to the meeting. In addition they were joined by Dr Tim James, Principal Psychologist and Ms Elizabeth Biggs, Public Health Principal.

Councillor Cranmer thanked the Select Committee for bringing this report on emotional health in schools to the committee, noting that this was an extremely important subject particularly as it had been made more critical by the Covid-19 pandemic.  This report focussed on the work undertaken by schools but it was noted that many agencies contributed to the emotional support of children.

There had been many challenges for Buckinghamshire children during the lockdown periods, and as restrictions were lifted it was hoped that children would return to more normality. Work to support children during the pandemic had been both broad and extensive. Having time away from school was noted to be detrimental to children and the service had put in place a wide range of programmes to assist children.

Richard Nash thanked Elizabeth Biggs, Gareth Drawmer and Dr Tim James for their work. It was noted that the service had been pro-active in their support of schools during the pandemic.

Simon James considered the work in schools and with partner agencies to meet the educational and emotional needs of children in schools.  Both current and future work was detailed. The pandemic had led to new issues and made existing issues worse. 1 in 6 children has had emotional issues, exacerbated by school closures. Mr James outlined the current range of support programmes for schools including mental health support teams, provision of senior mental health leads, a robust return to school programme, the Anna Freud Centre link programme, and in-school training. It was noted that specific support to schools had been provided with regards to managing critical incidents. A new group has been set up to co-ordinate this support activity with four areas of focus; evidence based, work monitored, right support at the right time and evaluation of all new programmes. The outcomes of this work were outlined including how to refer to agencies, pupils provided with early support and staff support for own emotional needs.

In response to a question, Simon James noted that during the pandemic the partnership with schools had strengthened and the work detailed in the report would be for the longer term. The emotional health agenda was now mainstream and prioritised in schools. Dr Jones noted that communication links with schools which were initiated during the pandemic had aided the implementation of  programmes  such as senior leads for mental health in schools which would be rolled out nationally and continued at a strategic level. School liaison groups now had a framework which would continue to be used.

Simon James noted that needs analysis information was reported into the department, and live intelligence was gained weekly from both headteachers and the liaison groups and these elements aided targeting support work.  One key area was that of transitions; both coming into school from early years settings and moving into year 7.

In relation to closures, public health advice would be sought in the first instance, followed by work with schools. This built on the bank of learning from the different lockdown periods. All schools had contingency plans in place. The laptop programme had been rolled out successfully to those that were most in need and would continue to do so should working from home become necessary again.

In response to transitions, Simon James noted that there are additional needs if a child transitions into a school mid-year.  Extra help was offered to these children such as catch up groups or professional help. Early years providers had reported some differences to play behaviour, delays in being ready for school and differences based on parental capacity during lockdown. Schools were adapting their early years curriculum to ensure that the children moved through the curriculum in the most appropriate way.

Richard Nash noted the impact of Covid-19 on teachers and school staff and that their work had changed dramatically. Support for staff was focussed for the first time on headteachers with each headteacher offered specific support. Various opportunities were in place for headteachers to gain coaching and share information. Well-being return had focussed on teacher well-being as well as pupil wellbeing. The “Early Career” teacher programme now gave two years for additional time outside the classroom to support their development as opposed to one year offered previously. Headteacher huddles enabled the essential sharing of information between different headteachers. In addition, a wellbeing helpline had been set up for school leaders with an offer of coaching on a half-termly basis.

Families could choose to access other agencies as appropriate, often via health services. The family support service was noted to be part of the early help offer for families identified by professionals. Every family would be linked into health and education services; many factors determined how and which services they could access.

Action: The Chairman requested that details of the Oxwell survey could be reported back to the committee. Liz Biggs noted that this was the second year this had been undertaken, with 5,000 pupils completing it this year.

It was RESOLVED that:

(i)                   the Chairman write a letter to all schools in Buckinghamshire to thank their staff for their excellent dedication to their work during the pandemic to support pupils.

(ii)                Councillors who act as school governors, become involved in supporting the emotional wellbeing agenda in schools and

(iii)              A letter requesting clarity with regards to the exam process for schools in 2022 be sent to Nadhim Zahawi MP at the Department of Education.

The Chairman thanked all the Officers for their extensive work in supporting the pupils of the county.