COVID-19 Updates

July 3, 2020

** This information is received from the Government and regularly updated

02/07/2020

Plans for all children and young people to return to full-time education at the start of the autumn term

The Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, announced our plans for all children and young people to return to full-time education at the start of the autumn term in Parliament today.

We have published the supporting guidance that provides schools, colleges and nurseries with the details to plan for a full return. The guidance has been developed in close consultation with sector stakeholders and medical experts from Public Health England.

Nurseries and other early years providers, including childminders, have already been welcoming back children of all ages since 1 June, with a range of protective measures in place. From 20 July, restrictions on group sizes for nurseries, childminders and other early years providers will be lifted, increasing capacity for more children to return, as set out in the updated guidance.

The schools guidance sets out a range of measures to protect children and staff. This guidance applies to all mainstream schools, alternative provision, independent schools and boarding schools and sets out advice on how you can minimise contact and mixing. Separate guidance has also been published for special schools.

We have also published guidance for parents and carers on the plans for the autumn term to help reassure them about what to expect for their children.

The guidance for the full opening of schools from the start of the autumn term can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-schools-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak

The updated guidance on actions for early years and childcare providers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak can be found here:

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

The new guidance for the full opening of special schools and other specialist settings from the start of the autumn term can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-full-opening-special-schools-and-other-specialist-settings

The new guidance on what further education colleges and providers will need to do from the start of the 2020 autumn term can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-further-education-provision

The guidance for what parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges in the autumn term can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/what-parents-and-carers-need-to-know-about-early-years-providers-schools-and-colleges-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak

The updated guidance on re-opening buildings and campuses for higher education (HE) can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-he-providers-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak


The information below has not changed since yesterday.


Collection of guidance for early years, children’s social care, schools and further education providers on GOV.​UK

The Department for Education’s coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance has been grouped by subject and audience on GOV.​UK to help you find the information relevant to you. In response to your feedback, future updates to guidance will also include a summary of the changes that have been made.

Guidance on what early years providers need to do during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak can be found here:

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

Guidance on what school leaders, teachers and school staff need to do during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/guidance-for-schools-coronavirus-covid-19

Guidance on what colleges, universities and other providers need to do during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/further-and-higher-education-coronavirus-covid-19

Guidance on what local authority children’s services need to do during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/local-authority-childrens-services-coronavirus-covid-19

You can sign up to alerts on GOV.​UK to be notified by email when new pages are published or existing pages change. You can set the frequency at which you receive these emails and unsubscribe at any time.

Sign up to GOV.​UK updates here:

https://www.gov.uk/email-signup?link=/government/organisations/department-for-education

Department for Education coronavirus helpline

The Department for Education coronavirus helpline is available to answer questions about COVID-19 relating to education and children’s social care. Staff, parents and young people can contact this helpline as follows:

Phone: 0800 046 8687

Opening hours:

8am to 6pm – Monday to Friday
10am to 4pm – Saturday and Sunday

If you work in a school, please have your unique reference number (URN or UK PRN) available when calling the helpline.

Handwashing advice

It is essential that everyone washes their hands more often, using soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Hand washing with soap employs mechanical action that loosens bacteria and viruses from the skin, rinsing them into the drain. Drying hands afterwards makes the skin less hospitable to the virus. Hand sanitiser can be effective if soap is not available or the situation makes using soap less feasible (i.e. when outside) but using hand sanitiser provides none of the virus-destroying friction that rubbing your hands together and rinsing with water provides.

The latest guidance and video on hand washing can be found at:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/best-way-to-wash-your-hands/

The e-Bug project is led by Public Health England and has a dedicated webpage for learning resources on hand washing and respiratory hygiene. E-Bug has published posters on hand hygiene, and covering coughs and sneezes, to display in bathrooms, classrooms and shared spaces.

The hand and respiratory hygiene posters and other educational resources can be found here:

https://e-bug.eu



Categories:

COVID-19 Uncategorized