To consider the above titled item.

Jo Capon, acting Headteacher at Newlands Girls School, explained what life had been like at the school since the pandemic. The main priority had been to keep the site safe and there had been teachers positioned on the front gate at the start and end of school each day. While this had been introduced during the pandemic, this was something that the school would be looking to continue with. Newlands was a different place now as more things started to resume but there had been an increase in anxiety, students needed the school in a different way to before. Staff were starting to see an increase in the number of safeguarding issues and a wellbeing practitioner had been employed to help deal with any issues. Newlands was prepared for the exams which were currently being sat by students in the key year groups, with additional tutoring money being utilised to help bridge gaps in education. Jo Capon concluded by saying that Covid levels at the school were currently very low. Newlands felt like a positive place and the school was already looking ahead to September, it was important to ensure that all students were supported with their mental health and wellbeing.

Helen Daniels, Headteacher at Cookham Rise Primary School, said that staffing at the school had been easier compared to any point across the rest of the year, things were in a much better place now. In reception and year 1, it was clear that there were some children struggling with socialising and communication. In year 2, there were gaps in writing. The pandemic had a wide effect on children, affecting their mental health while there had also been an increase in the number of eating disorders.

Sarah Cottle, Co-Headteacher of the Nursery Federation of Windsor and Maidenhead, felt that there had been a lot of celebration at being back in school. A priority of early years was making sure that key skills were up to standard, this was a generation of children that had been born during the pandemic and therefore might not have had the same socialising opportunities to those born earlier. It was clear that some children were lacking communication and language skills but they were now able to communicate and talk to people from outside of their household. Sarah Cottle mentioned that early years had been left out of the Covid recovery package which had been introduced by the government, however this would now be funded from September 2022.

The Chairman asked what the package from the government would include.

Sarah Cottle explained that the Department for Education had asked the local authority to nominate people as an area lead, experts and mentors. The area lead would lead, the experts would go into identified settings where there had been a need identified to work along practitioners. The mentoring would be done remotely to help support teams.

The Chairman commented on the mental health and anxiety of young people. He asked which interventions had been working well in school settings.

Helen Daniels said that most schools in the borough had ELSA (Emotional Learning and Support Assistants). More time and money was being prioritised and to provide support for families too, all schools had been offered access to mental health training.

Jo Capon said that there was a staff member who was currently moving onto the mental health lead programme. Newlands used newsletters and weekly bulletins to communicate more with parents, the format of these had been changed to make them more informative.

Councillor Baldwin believed that the central funding for early years would be £153 million spread over two years. He was unsure how much would actually filter down to a local level, there was a strict criteria for the various roles that were part of the scheme. Councillor Baldwin asked if there would be any challenges in filling these positions.

Sarah Cottle said that four or five settings had been identified so far and they were able to be self-referred. Nominations to the area lead needed to have Qualified Teacher Status, the Department for Education felt that these teachers would be able to better support and understand child development. Sarah Cottle said that she had to go through an application and interview process, the settings being supported were not always in the borough.

Clive Haines, Associate Director for Education, added that it was entirely run by the Department for Education and was not controlled by the council. Communication could be made with mentors in the area. The area lead was someone from our area.

Councillor Baldwin noted that Jo Capon had mentioned a music concert taking place over the next month at the school.

Jo Capon said that she would ensure that ticket details were advertised, they would be going on sale shortly.

Clive Haines said that he was happy to make the connection between Councillor Baldwin and the tickets for the show at Newlands.

Councillor Coppinger said that much of the focus on the educational impact of the pandemic had been on older children, many people had forgotten about the mental health and the impact of the youngest in society.

Helen Huntley, School Improvement Team – SEND Consultant, mentioned the ERSA (Emotionally Related School Avoidance) tool kit. This was a cohort of young people who struggled to leave home. A working party had created the toolkit which could be used by schools and was aimed at children who were not attending due to things like anxiety.

The Chairman passed on his thanks to all the teachers for their work and professionalism throughout the pandemic.