Ofsted warns of risk to children ‘out of sight’ during Covid pandemic
REPORT HIGHLIGHTS ‘ALARMING TREND’TREND OF CHILD PROTECTIONCTION REFERRALS
THE invisibility of vulnerable children as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic should be a matter of regional and national concern, according to Ofsted.
Launching the annual report for 2019-2020, Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of education and children’s social care, said that school closures during the first national lockdown had a “dramatic impact” on the number of child protection referrals made to local authorities.
Fears over the “alarming trend” of rising numbers of incidents of harm concerning some of the youngest and most vulnerable children were echoed in the Yorkshire and Humber region.
Emma Ing, Ofsted’s director for Yorkshire and Humber, and the North East, said: “The annual report rt highlights the enormous efforts of those working in education and children’s services to overcome the many challenges the pandemic has caused.
“We have not been doing well in getting children off to a good start with reading, and the first lockdown has set back children’s reading skills even further.
“Child “Children need dt to be confident fid readers to access other areas of learning and areas of the curriculum as they get older.
“We know th that tt teachers h are working hard to help children catch up on the learning they have lost, but the pandemic has widened the inequality of opportunities.
“Worryingly, many children have not returned to school since March.
“We have seen an increase in home education and attendance figures across the region’s schools have got worse.
“Perhaps one of the most alarming trends that we’ve seen is the continuing rise in incidents of harm to the youngest and most vulnerable children.
“We have seen an 80 per cent increase in child serious incident notifications this year in the region.”
Ms Spielman said: “Almost all children, vulnerable or otherwise,
are missing out on a lot when they aren’t at school.
“Some will have a great experience, but other families will find it harder than they thought, and their children could lose out as a result.
“We know that many SEND children and their parents particularly struggled during lockdown, as many services were withdrawn.”
The annual report gives a state of the nation picture of the performance of early years, schools, further education and skills, and social care providers in England.
Ms Ing said: “The most important thing is to get children back into school and the main reason is, children need to learn.
“Parents have done a fabulous job and stepped into the breach, but it’s not the same as having a teacher in the same room.
“Another reason is, teachers are children’s protectors and they are really good at keeping an eye on children and being aware when things are not quite right.”
But there were positives to come out of the annual report, too.
Ms Ing said: “For me, one of the pleasing things was the inspection of Hull’s Ron Dearing UTC in March, one of the last inspections we did before the first lockdown, when it was judged to be outstanding.
“It was good to see the UTC doing so well when some of the secondary schools in Hull have been under-performing.
“There was excellent behaviour, really good attendance, a unique work-related curriculum and great leadership.”
The annual report presented a year of two very different halves, the “pre-covid” period of September 2019 to March 2020, and the “postCovid” period that followed.
Ms Ing said: “Covid-19 has created huge strains and challenges, but it has also brought communities closer together.
“I want to thank all those who are working to support, care for and teach our children and young people in these very difficult times.”