Notice - Coronavirus Act 2020 Temporary Modification of Education Duties (No. 16) Notice (Northern Ireland) 2020

Article 58(1)(a) and (5)(a) of the Education and Libraries (NI) Order 1986  (the 1986 Order) require the Education Authority (EA), trustees or Board of Governors of a voluntary grammar school (VG) and the Board of Governors of a grant‐maintained integrated (GMI) school to secure the provision of  milk, meals or other refreshment for pupils of such description as the Department may determine who are in attendance at their schools.

The purpose of this further temporary modification Notice is to enable the EA and individual VG/GMI schools to continue to provide food parcels for collection/delivery to pupils entitled to FSM who are unable to attend school for 10 days or more due to Covid-19 restrictions and wish such provision. This Notice differs from Notice No. 15 in that it makes provision for the extreme circumstance where the parent has a significant underlying medical condition and on the advice of a medical professional the child should not attend school and is having to learn from home. This is in addition to the existing provision for pupils in attendance at school.

It relates to a small number of pupils who are:

• (or in extreme circumstances whose parent is) diagnosed with a medical condition or illness and who -

1. despite their absence from school, are registered by the school as being in attendance on the basis of medical advice that owing to their (or in extreme circumstances their parent’s) medical condition or illness it is medically unsafe to be in attendance at school;
2. can demonstrate evidence that they are being educated, or otherwise engaging in learning, whilst not in attendance at school;              

• self-isolating as a consequence of their own positive test for coronavirus disease;
• self-isolating as a consequence of a positive test for coronavirus disease of a member of their household and who are engaging in distance learning; and
• required by the school, on the advice of the Public Health Agency, not to attend school and who are engaging in distance learning.

Under paragraph 17 of Schedule 17 of the Coronavirus Act 2020 the Department is required to publish the notice and to take steps as the Department considers reasonable to bring the notice to the attention of those likely to be affected by it.