Guidance Supporting vulnerable children and young people during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak - actions for educational providers and other partners
Attendance of vulnerable children and young people
Attendance of children and young people who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan
This group includes children and young people with an EHC plan attending all
educational settings. For all children and young people with EHC plans, we are
asking local authorities to follow the guidance to conduct a risk
assessment - in consultation with educational
settings and parents/carers - to determine whether children and young people’s
needs can be met as safely or more safely in the educational environment. We
are asking local authorities and educational providers to keep risk
assessments under review, in case circumstances change and a different
decision is more appropriate.
For children and young people with an EHC plan in mainstream settings:

those in year groups specifically targeted for return should return to school, where medical advice suggests they are not clinically vulnerable to coronavirus, informed by their risk assessments, and are not shielding and protecting people defined on medical grounds as clinically extremely vulnerable
those in other year groups should continue to attend or not depending on their individual risk assessments

Schools, colleges and local authorities should ensure risk assessments are
kept up to date so that pupils and students can be brought back in, in any
year group, where circumstances change, for example if it is becoming
unsustainable for parents and carers to care for their child week-round.
This includes children and young people who are placed in special units and
resourced provision attached to a mainstream school, since they are recorded
on the roll of the mainstream school.
Schools, colleges and local authorities have latitude to use special
educational needs and disability (SEND) risk
assessments also for children and young people who
have SEND without an EHC plan, where they feel it would be beneficial, for
instance for children on SEN support who have complex needs. This means they
can use this as a mechanism to bring back pupils and students with SEND who
need it, in other year groups, even if they do not have an EHC plan.
For all children and young people with an EHC plan in special educational
settings, such as special schools, special post-16 institutions and hospital
schools, settings should encourage attendance based on the child’s risk
assessment and on the ability of the setting to provide for their needs, and
not using the child’s year group as a primary deciding factor, both because
all children and young people in these settings are considered vulnerable and
because year groups may not be indicative of key transition points. In line
with the guidance on implementing protective measures in education and
childcare settings
and the guidance for special schools, specialist colleges, local authorities
and any other
settings, special schools and special post-16
institutions should:

consult risk assessments conducted and where children and young people are attending their specialist setting, they should continue to do so
work with local authorities and families to continually review risk assessments and bring children and young people back to face to face education where circumstances change, for example where it is becoming unsustainable for a family to care for a child week-round
consider how to increase the numbers of children and young people accessing on-site education from the week commencing 1 June, including where appropriate by considering what the key transition points are, and ensure that as many children as can be safely catered for are able to attend their setting
consider a range of options to enable as many children as possible to benefit from attending their setting, such as creating part-time attendance rotas

Hospital schools should:

aim to provide educational services for as many pupils in these settings as is possible, in line with risk assessment and social distancing guidelines and where headteachers agree with medical practitioners that it is safe and feasible to do so
use their discretion in considering how to provide education services - taking into consideration issues of safety, capacity and so on - and how to prioritise pupils if this is required, including through a phased return approach
work closely with hospitals and NHS trusts so that children and young people in hospital schools are able to receive their education, including through access to classrooms where appropriate

[EHC]: education, health and care
  [SEND]: special educational needs and disability