Returning to School: A partnership response to supporting emotional wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic This document was compiled to offer support and guidance for schools and settings with regard to the emotional wellbeing of staff, children and families. An introduction How often have we heard government ministers, colleagues and friends use the words ‘living in unprecedented times’? The last few months were not something any of us could have planned for and the experiences of our children and young people will have been multi-faceted and diverse. All CYP, however, will have experienced loss in one form or another. Barry Carpenter (Professor of Mental Health in Education, Oxford Brooks University) highlights 5 key areas of loss: routine, structure, friendship, opportunity and freedom. His focus is on the need for a ‘recovery curriculum’ where schools look to consider pedagogical frameworks that offer approach emotional wellbeing support as more children and staff return to school.. It is true to say that teaching is a relationship-based profession and it is through these relationships that CYP will start to move on and begin to re-engage with their learning and friendships. Following the lockdown we envisage that many people (children, young people and adults) will feel worried and anxious about returning to school and as a local area we wanted to offer a joined up approach that was flexible and responsive to school’s needs as they arose. We recognise the importance of getting wellbeing right before we focus on academic learning and progression. We are offering each school a single point of contact for a number of key teams within Bromley so that you can request support relevant to your school and regarding any specific issues that arise. The professionals connected to your school will also be aware of each other so can offer a joined up approach to supporting you. If safe relationships are the primary mechanism for support and recovery then it is important to maximise our support to schools to best enable staff teams to provide such relationships and support each other. It is important to remember we are all individuals and our responses in the pandemic will vary: we will not all need the same level or type of support. Rationale for this document To offer each school a multi-agency support team with a single point of contact to access help and guidance To facilitate teams across education, health and social care to work collaboratively with schools to improve community wellbeing and build relationships To recognise the need to talk about our shared and individual experiences and emotional responses as a way of making sense of them and moving on from them To offer evidence based intervention and useful resources to schools and settings To recognise that we must be vigilant at all times to the emotional health needs of children and staff The Anna Freud Centre We are excited to be working in partnership with the Anna Freud Centre for children and families (a registered mental health charity) who have been contracted by the DfE to deliver a national interim approach to joint working: The Link Programme. The focus of this work is to identify challenge in the locality as a result of Covid-19 and the developing situation. Colleagues from across health and education will work with senior representatives from Bromley schools, facilitated by therapeutic leads from the Anna Freud Centre, to plan an integrated support offer. Further information to follow. Which teams are available to offer support? What can they help with and who is your single point of contact (SPOC) for each team? Teams involved: Education Safeguarding Team (EST) Bromley Community Wellbeing Service (CWS) Educational Psychology Service (EPS) Bromley Education Welfare Service (EWS) Inclusion Support Advisory Team (ISAT) What can we help you with? Education Safeguarding Team Education Safeguarding are able to provide the school with support around safeguarding policy and procedures, advising around general safeguarding, support and advise schools around social care threshold and also signpost schools to support services for their children. Contact for all schools: Joan Keenan-O’Malley 0208 461 7266 Bromley Community Wellbeing Service (CWS) Bromley Y has successfully moved from the provision of services provided mainly face to face to a total virtual operation, providing assessments and on-line /telephone support to young people with a daily triage of the required support provided, including referrals onto more specialist services. The single point of access continues to operate as normal and although a decrease in referrals work is still taking place with ongoing treatment, safety causes and liaising and networking with other professionals and agencies. The work in schools continues under four main areas: Schools Wellbeing Service:-short term, early intervention support to schools under the trailblazer initiative. Delivery has included a universal offer of workshops to whole year groups, parents/carers and staff around emotional wellbeing, targeted group work and individual one to one sessions for both children and their parents/carers. As from March, contact has been maintained with all schools in the trailblazer and regular meetings (fortnightly or monthly) with mental health leads in schools have continues to discuss the wellbeing of pupils, families and staff. Regular feedback is encouraged to make sure this is the right offer at this time. The service continues to work remotely. Consultation: Regular meetings with a wellbeing practitioner in a cluster of schools to discuss how best to support the wellbeing of pupils and staff in schools. This work has continued through the lockdown. Each school has a named practitioner that they can contact for specific issues outside these meetings. Schools Outreach workers. These workers continue to offer support to schools and can be contacted through the single point of access. For general enquiries: 0203 770 8848 or [email protected] Educational Psychology Service (EPS) Although the majority of the Educational Psychology Service’s time continues to be focused on producing Psychological advice for EHC needs assessments the EPS is able to provide additional support in regard to the challenges of the current situation. This could consist of supportive consultation around issues that have arisen in regards to individual or groups of children and young person’s transitioning back into school, parental support, staff support, signposting to resources etc. The recent guidance for schools produced by the DfE and sent out to schools highlights some of the issues that may arise with certain young persons, which may be some of the things that you may find useful to discuss or seek support around including: The impact of being at home for an extended period of time Heightened anxiety related to the current situation Bereavements / loss separation Safeguarding concerns as a result of the lockdown We understand that this will be a busy time for schools with lots of new challenges being faced, so please do get in touch if you need to discuss any matters or feel that we can be of help in any way. Education Welfare Service (EWS) Our Team is a specialist School Attendance Support Service. The service carries out the Local Authority’s statutory responsibilities for CME, issuing penalty notice s and investigating cases of poor school attendance with the view to legal disposal. Our team has the experience, ability and skill to identify issues, signpost to other services or assist with and advise on CAFs or if safeguarding issues are identified, refer to Social Care. The EWS also offers a bespoke traded service which recognises relationships are vital. Our Team can assist with building and re-building bridges between schools and families going forward. In addition we can complete socially distanced home visits to conduct welfare checks and engage with the hard to reach families. Call our dedicated line or email your queries relating to school attendance/coding or to request advice and signposting to other services: 020 8313 4322 The phone line will be active for any enquiries Mon to Fri between 9am-4pm. If you prefer to email the Team please send your query/question to: [email protected] Inclusion Support Advisory Team (ISAT) The Inclusion Support Advisory Team (ISAT) is one of Bromley’s SEN advisory teams. ISAT works directly with SENCOs in mainstream schools, with a particular focus on SEN Support, and will continue to provide the following services during the COVID-19 pandemic period: timely professional information and advice relating to all aspects of SEN co-ordination in schools, including temporary adaptations during this time implementation of SEN Support Partnership Plans for children/young people who are now returning to school and who are causing concern production and sourcing of updated resources and training materials to support SEN provision remotely and on return to school, including regular updates to Bromley’s SENCO Hub distribution of special e-bulletins during the COVID-19 pandemic period to provide key updates relating to SEN and specific areas, including speech and language, autism and social, emotional and mental health SENCOs and Inclusion Managers are encouraged to directly contact their school’s attached SEN Support Partner or the ISAT Team Lead ([email protected]) regarding: a specific child/young person or cohort of pupils that they are concerned about at this