The Department for Education out-of-school settings guidance has now been updated to provide more information on the position during the national lockdown.

The headlines are:

• For the duration of the national lockdown, out-of-school settings should only offer face-to-face provision for:

• children of critical workers, where it is reasonably necessary to support their parents or carers to work, seek work, attend a medical appointment, or undertake education or training
• vulnerable children and young people

• There is a list available outlining Children of critical workers and vulnerable children who can access schools or educational settings.

• Realistically, we know that the small numbers of children that are eligible to attend settings for face-to-face provision will mean that many out-of-school settings will likely need to move to online provision for the duration of the national lockdown.

• However, providers who offer face-to-face provision for the eligible children during the national lockdown should continue to follow the protective measures as outlined in our guidance. These are largely consistent with what you have already been doing, but given that there is likely to be fewer numbers of children in settings if they do choose to open, we have made it permissive for one member of staff to supervise up to two, small consistent groups of children if this is necessary.

The updated guidance documents are available at the usual links here: Protective measures for holiday and after-school clubs, and other out-of-school settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) & Guidance for parents and carers of children attending out-of-school settings during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Anne-Marie Mongan | Policy Adviser |Out-of-school Settings, Wraparound, and Integration UnitEmail: anne-marie.mongan@education.gov.ukgov.uk | Twitter | Facebook Sanctuary Buildings, 20 Great Smith Street, SW1P 3BT