Warwickshire County Council’s Chief Executive has praised the ‘total commitment and dedication’ of the education workforce throughout Warwickshire following the announcement that all eligible...
Warwickshire County Council’s Chief Executive has praised the ‘total commitment and dedication’ of the education workforce throughout Warwickshire following the announcement that all eligible learners would have a place at a school, college or early years setting throughout the whole of the Easter holiday period.
Monica Fogarty was reacting to the announcement that schools, colleges and early years settings have plans to provide safe childcare for the children of key workers and vulnerable children throughout the Easter period. County Council staff are continuing to work during their holidays to track all of the young people, establishing that they are either in a school or that they are safe at home.
Speaking as the announcement on Easter period provision was made, Warwickshire’s Chief Executive, Monica Fogarty, said: “The response from our education leaders and community around the county has been magnificent from the beginning of this crisis and their total commitment and dedication has not wavered.
The news around Easter holiday provision follows the very encouraging response by parents and carers in the first week of schools being closed, in which numbers of children attending school were lower than the regional average, steadily reducing as the week went on.
While education leaders worked with the County Council to maintain places where eligible children could be cared for, the message to families remained constant: wherever possible, it is safer for children to be kept at home.
This was reflected in the number of children attending a school reducing considerably over the course of last week. Of 85,055 learners in a state funded school, 1,893 (2.23%) attended on Tuesday 24 March; this figure fell to 1,198 (1.41%) by Friday 27 March.
Monica added: “School closure has been a key element to the strategy for social distancing. But it has not been simply a case of closing the doors. Closing schools to help to maintain social distancing and to protect our communities has had to be set against looking after our vulnerable young people and enabling critical workers to carry on doing their essential work. It is to the great credit of all those involved that, in Warwickshire, we have achieved this balance.”
Further information on school closures for parents and carers and for the education settings and school leadership.