Covid 19 Updates

We will update this page as soon as we receive information - please do call or email us if you need any support and we will try to help

6.1.22

Latest government guidance updated to include wearing of masks in school, link below:

What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges during COVID-19

 

25.8.2021 Update for Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Children and Young People and those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Here are the resources from the recent Public Health England webinar.  We will upload the webinar as soon as we receive it.

 

19.1.21

The Sutton Parent Carer Forum has been working very hard to raise awareness of the Sunflower Hidden Disability Scheme in Sutton. We know many families use it and find the extra support it provides in some settings, such as supermarkets and airports, really helpful. We are delighted to announce that the Nonsuch Vaccination site will be using the scheme and that staff will be trained to recognize the Sunflower logo and understand that people wearing the lanyard or badge etc. may need extra time, support and understanding. We would like to say a huge thank you to Michelle Rahman from NHS South West London CCG, for responding so promptly to our request for this and for making it happen.  Please click on the link The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower (hiddendisabilitiesstore.com)to find out more about the scheme and how it can help you. 

7.1.21

The Department for Education has launched a new pilot scheme working with a selection of mobile networks to increase mobile data allowances for children and young people years 3-11.
This is available to children and young people who:
- don’t have access to a fixed broadband connection
- cannot afford the additional data needed to access educational resources or social care services
- have access to a mobile device that uses a participating network
- are facing disruption to their face-to-face education, or have been advised not to attend school
The current participating phone networks are:
- EE
- Three
- Sky Mobile
- SMARTY
- Tesco Mobile
- Virgin Mobile
More information can be found at the link below
Please be aware that your school needs to apply on your behalf for this increased data. If you are eligible, please contact your school directly.
As always, we would be keen to have feedback on how well this is working.

31.12.2020 UPDATE INFECTION RATES RISE RAPIDLY IN SUTTON

The number of COVID-19 cases are rising rapidly across the whole of London. The weekly incidence rate of COVID infections in Sutton as of 29 December, stands at 783 per 100,000. 

There have been a total of 1,617 cases of COVID in Sutton during the seven-day period ending 29 December - this is a 50% increase from the previous week and is leading to an increase in hospital admissions. 

The whole of Sutton is a hotspot at the moment due to the increasing infection rate and all residents need to be aware of the urgency of the situation.

It is too early to see the impact of the introduction of the Tier 4 measures, but officers are carefully monitoring the data for any impact on local infection rates.

UPDATE ON COMMUNITY TESTING

A new community testing facility at Hill House opened on 29 December and already has over 1,200 bookings for a rapid test this week. 

An additional community testing site will be opened by 11 January at The Quad in Carshalton. These community testing sites provide the rapid (Lateral Flow Test) tests to residents and are only for those who do not have any symptoms. 

These two new sites will complement the existing five testing sites in the borough for residents who do have symptoms. Further information is available through the council website.

Any Sutton resident can currently book a community test, but the area are particularly encouraging residents in wards with the highest infection rates to do so. The wards where the area are currently strongly encouraging people to participate in community testing are Beddington North, Beddington South, Belmont, Nonsuch, St Helier, Stonecot and Wallington North. 

   

 16.12.2020   Testing update from Kieran Holliday 

Asymptomatic testing in schools over the Christmas holidays

In advance of the national testing programme announced to roll out from January next year, Sutton has secured additional testing capacity to test priority cohorts in school settings across Sutton over the Christmas Period. As the number of positive cases has increased in the local area this is excellent news and will help us prepare for a safe return to school in the new term. In line with Government guidance we have written to primary schools, secondary schools/college sector and special schools offering them the following routes to get a test before the return to school:

  • Primary Schools - Home test kits will be delivered to all primary schools on Thursday 17th December to disseminate to staff so that they can test before they return to school.
  • Secondary School / Colleges - staff, pupils and households of pupils can now access our local testing sites. 
  • Special Schools - we are making local testing sites available for all secondary age pupils with SEND but also making home test kits available for those that would prefer to test at home.

Government guidance remains for the Early Years sector that testing is not a priority because of the reduced risk of transmission in these settings. If you have any questions about testing over the christmas period please contact your school in the first instance or alternatively educationsendfeedback@sutton.gov.uk

 

 

 

Urgent Message for communities - St Helier Hospital 6.10.2020

 

Sutton

 

Message from Dr Dino Pardhanani, GP Borough Lead for Sutton

 

 We would like to reassure you that St Helier Hospital remains open, A&E remains open, and we are urging people to continue to attend any planned appointments they may have at the hospital.

 

 Joint Medical Director Dr Ruth Charlton, said: "A small number of people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the Renal Department and Intensive Care Unit at St Helier Hospital. 

“The safety and wellbeing of our patients and staff is our priority and those who tested positive have been isolated from other patients, with arrangements in place to maintain safe and high-quality care. 

The situation is isolated to the hospital and there is currently no indication of wider community transmission, but we, alongside our partners in the community, will continue to carefully monitor the situation. 

We continue to follow all relevant infection prevention and control guidelines. 

Visiting has been restricted in some areas, but as soon as clinicians are confident that the measures can be lifted in a way that is safe for patients and staff, they will be.

The Trust will continue to provide hospital-grade surgical masks at the entrances to our hospitals, and will ask that all visitors wear one throughout their time on site.”

 

UPDATE 13.7.2020

We have been working with social care and Liam Roberts to identify safe outdoor spaces for Sutton families with children and young people with additional needs and no access to enclosed outdoor space. Tweedale Children's Centre are  now offering bookable slots for families to use their outdoor space.   They will need to manage the number of bookings per session to ensure it is sustainable, socially distanced and that they are able to keep the areas clean and safe. There will be access to the toilets. If you would like to book to use the outdoor space and equipment for your family, please contact Clare Beeney, Centre Manager, by email clare.beeny@sutton.gov.uk or call : 020 8770 5801

 

We would love some feedback from families about how this is working

Update 5.6.2020   Letter from Vicky Ford MP Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families

To all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), their parents/carers and families, and others who support them

 

Update 22.05.2020

Educational Psychology Community Call Back Service

 

We are pleased to share that we have just been informed of a new service, by Nicholas English, Principal Educational Psychologist, that may be very helpful for parent/carers at the moment:

"Following feedback from headteachers, school staff and parents we are providing an Educational Psychology Community Call Back Service. We recognise the unprecedented circumstances that the COVID-19 outbreak has presented to our schools, children and their families and would welcome calls on any concerns or themes that have emerged during the pandemic period.

 

The Cognus Educational Psychology Service Community Callback is open to all parents and carers who live in Sutton and school staff who work in Sutton. We hope to be able to offer you a safe and reflective space in which you can share any questions you have or anxieties you may be experiencing during this time.

 

Calls are available on: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays during the school and setting closure period with some evening slots available.

 

Here is the link to the form to book a slot "Educational Psychology Service - Phone discussions for parents & school staff": 
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=fd6Dozd9VkCF2QUHb7pgPy9SMFEpFFtAmQzeRXc4iuhUQUVZVzlQUEJTVk00VE1FQ0tZTk5NSko5Ri4u

 

We hope you find this useful and would welcome any feedback from your experience of using our Call Back Service."

 

 

May 2020 Direct Payments Update

  

We asked Luke Addams, Assistant Director of Social Care, if families can use their Direct Payments more flexibly in the current emergency situation.  Luke has agreed and we have  worked with Social Care and Liam Roberts from Commissioning on some guidelines in the form of Frequently asked Questions to explain what they can be used for during this period; these have now been updated to include weekly spending guidelines  

 

12.5.2020 Changes (temporary) to the SEND law re Education, Health and Care Plans

 

The Department for Education have issued guidance for parent carers, young people and parent carer forums to explain the key changes that are allowed on a temporary basis due to Covid 19.  You can download the Powerpoint presentation here or as a PDF document here

 

6.4.2020 WARNING FREE SCHOOL MEAL VOUCHER SCAM

 

Cognus have asked us to let families know that there is a scam email being circulated which states:

'as schools will be closing, if you are entitled to free school meals please send your bank details and we will make sure you are supported'  

Cognus are confirming that no bank details are required for this scheme and if parents/carers receive any such request to ignore it and treat it as a scam email. LBS will be putting out some social media posts to alert families also.  

In addition, those eligible should contact their school if they have not already heard from them.

23.3.2020       

The Government has today published its emergency Coronavirus Bill. The bill has sweeping measures aimed at enabling the country to respond to the crisis to every aspect of people's lives caused by caused by COVID-19.

 

The Bill contains several measures impacting on existing legislation protecting disabled children, and also on The Care Act 2014. They have given public law Barrister Steve Broach much cause for concern about the removal of disabled children's and vulnerable adults rights.

The petition is below and the page also has links to the vlog by Steve Broach which he has recorded for Special Needs Jungle which includes this statement  '...what we are talking about here is eroding the hard-fought-for rights of disabled children and young people, children young people with special educational needs and their families......'

 

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/covid19-bill-disabled-and-vulnerable-adults-and-children

 

Steve's vlog can be accessed here 

https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/steve-broach-public-law-barrister-on-the-coronavirus-bills-implications-for-disabled-children/

 

 

21.3.2020 Sutton update re vulnerable children and young people attending educational settings from Monday 23.3.2020 can be downloaded here

21.3.2020 Cognus letter that will be sent to all families currently in the process of applying for an Education, Health and Care Assessment can be downloaded here

 

Education Bulletin extracts - Sutton is responding to the announcements made by the Education Secretary, Gavin Williams yesterday evening. 

Schools/educational settings will be closed from Monday 23 March for the majority of pupils until further notice but will need to remain open for children of key workers and for vulnerable children. Vulnerable pupils are defined as any pupil with a social worker or with an EHCP. Whilst we are expecting guidance on the definition of a key worker to be issued by the Cabinet Office shortly, we believe that these places are intended to ensure staff from NHS, public and vital private sector services are able to keep the country running. Educational settings are also being asked to remain open, where possible, for these pupils during the Easter holiday period.
This is a challenging ask in extraordinary circumstances. It is very encouraging to see how well prepared our schools and education settings have been for such an eventuality. Many schools have set up online learning opportunities for pupils, have been arranging work to be sent home with pupils and are putting in place measures to stay in touch with their more vulnerable pupils to ensure that they are OK through these unsettling times. Sutton Council has been working closely with schools, education and childcare settings to plan and implement contingency plans as well as coordinate our own efforts to support young people and families throughout the Borough.

Some brief updates:

1. Local Area Coordination - we will be setting up a coordination group between LA officers and representatives from schools and education settings to help coordinate activities and share information about our collective response as the situation develops. 

2. Volunteering - we know that there are going to be a lot of people wishing to volunteer to help out in these challenging circumstances. We are coordinating all volunteering activity through Sutton's Volunteer Centre - anyone wishing to put themselves forward to volunteer can use the webform below. It may be possible for schools/educational settings to access volunteers (they will be coordinating DBS checks) - we are in the process of identifying how organisations can request help from volunteers and will update shortly

Volunteer Centre Sutton
020 8661 5900
https://vcsutton.org.uk/volunteer/covid-19-registration-for-volu-2/
 

It should be noted that volunteering opportunities are separate from opportunities to redeploy our existing workforce (including LBS, Cognus, educational settings and across other public sector partner organisations). 

3. SEN Transport - in order to provide SEN transport we are going to need to know which pupils we are providing transport for. Our expectation is that schools/educational settings will be coordinating with their families on who will be attending schools/educational settings. Colin Hagreen in the SEN transport team will be contacting schools/educational settings today and tomorrow to gather this information where it is available. Colin can be contacted via the following email address SEN.Transport@cognus.org.uk 

4. Free School Meals guidance has been published today. This guidance explains what schools should do to make sure eligible pupils have continued access to free school meals where:

(i) the pupil has to stay at home because they and/or wider family members are displaying coronavirus (COVID-19) related symptoms
(ii) the school is only open for certain groups or is closed temporarily

Schools that have their own in house catering team or private catering provider will need to coordinate their own activity, LBS has written to schools who are part of the Caterlink contract to see how these arrangements can work. 

5. Children’s social care staff have met with key school representatives from the Local Safeguarding Children’s Partnership (LSCP) to discuss collaborative working arrangements over the next couple of weeks. A school representative will attend the daily children’s services daily meetings and will feedback to schools and education settings. In principle we are seeking ways in which social care staff can support schools and vice versa to meet the need of our most vulnerable children and young people.

Education and Health Care Plan Needs Assessments - in the near future Cognus will send a letter to parents and carers where the EHCNA process has commenced and to those with existing EHCPs. This will also include a reference to travel assistance (SEN Transport). Our aim is to support schools and to make sure we are clear with parents and pupils about the impacts on process and the timeframes as a result of the current unprecedented circumstances and availability of all professionals at this time. We will engage with Sutton Parent Carers Forum to support this and get the messages out through as many routes as possible.