Buckinghamshire County Council Corona virus (COVID-19) information for schools

Our information pages for schools and other education settings have been updated and expanded.

There is now comprehensive guidance around SEND and many other areas of school life.

Further updates are being made whenever there is new advice, so please check back regularly.

Corona virus information for schools

COVID-19 advice for educational settings
Page updated 8.00am 31st March 2020
Updates
31st March 2020 Added new safeguarding section, updated local area plan, early years, attendance, cleaning materials

27 March 2020 Added guidance on ‘COVID-19: safeguarding in schools, colleges and other providers’ to the collection.

Guidance for educational settings on GOV.​UK
All Government coronavirus guidance for educational settings can now be found in one place on GOV.​UK. Links to Government guidance around specific topics can be found on our pages below.

Gov.uk guidance for educational settings

Detailed local and national guidance and advice
HR guidance for schools and their staff – Anxiety, self isolation, caring responsibilities, remote working

School Provision – Provision of school places to children of key workers and vulnerable children

Local Area Plan – What to do if you are not able to open, information about hubs

The School Day – What are you expected to deliver, what is happening with testing, staff well-being

Safeguarding – DSL cover, single central record, mental health, LAC

Health & Safety – What to do if children fall ill, protective clothing, social distancing and first aid

Transport – The current situation with home to school transport

Early Years – Guidance for nurseries and childminders

Free School Meals – FSM providers, vouchers

SEND – Children with EHC plans, annual reviews, EHC needs assessments

Attendance – DfE returns, absence recording

Finance – purchasing cards

Miscellaneous – Budgets, product supplies

Thank you letter to Teachers – Gavin Williamson

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 to Sunday)
Please note: opening hours have been extended to cover weekends and the DfE are increasing the number of call handlers available to answer your calls.

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

Business continuity planning
Advice and templates for resilience policies and Business Continuity Plans are available in our emergency planning guidance page. (Login required)
Business Continuity Plan template

Government Coronavirus action plan
This document sets out what the UK as a whole has done to tackle the Coronavirus (COVID-19), and what it plans to do next.
Coronavirus action plan

Handwashing and other public advice
The most important thing individuals can do to protect themselves is to wash their hands more often, for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water. Public Health England recommends that in addition to handwashing before eating, and after coughing and sneezing, everyone should also wash hands after using toilets and travelling on public transport.
The latest guidance and video on hand washing can be found here:
Guidance for the public