Commenting on the launch of NEU proposals for Local Government to
be funded and supported to co-ordinate a Summer Holiday Local
Offer (attached), to support vulnerable children and young people
over the summer holiday, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary
of the National Education Union, said:
“The NEU is today publishing positive recommendations for the
summer holiday. They focus on engagement, exercise, creativity,
and preparing young people to be ready to learn come September.
This ‘Local Offer’ will also make a vital contribution to
children's physical and mental health.
"The summer of 2020 will be a unique situation, and it is vital
we respond to what young people are facing. We are calling on the
Government to fund and give urgent support to local government to
make it possible for councils to plan a summer holiday Local
Offer for children eligible to FSM and other vulnerable children.
"Local councils need advice and funding to decide how children
and young people can get outside in supervised and safe
situations this summer, given the ongoing importance of social
distancing. Local councils are best placed to audit and
co-ordinate what could work in their area, given local infection
rates, and to devise a realistic plan so that children eligible
for free school meals will have access to positive and healthy
activities, so they are ready to learn in September.
"We think this Local Offer would be hugely beneficial for
families eligible for free school meals but could also be a
lifeline for other families who face particular challenges,
identified through local services.
“To make safe summer schemes possible this August, and seek
sufficient numbers of volunteers, we think local authorities need
urgent specific additional funding from the Chancellor. It is in
the Government’s gift to make this happen, and to ensure that
those teachers, youth workers, supply staff, support staff and
others who would volunteer to lend their expertise and make a
Summer Holiday Local Offer possible can be paid appropriately.
"This builds on the union’s National Education Recovery Plan,
published last week. The Government has been slow to put forward
its own proposals. It is time for them to listen to the
profession.”
