SCHOOLS in Bury are ‘adapting hour to hour’ to fast moving changes as they attempt to establish some normality of education, councillors have heard.

A meeting of Bury Council’s overview and scrutiny committee discussed a report on performance in schools just weeks after pupils started back at the start of September.

Cllr Tamoor Tariq, cabinet member for children, young people and skills told the meeting that “massive efforts” were made by heads, teachers and education staff over the summer term so that pupils could return safely.

He said: “The service was working flat out right through summer term and the holidays.

“We have regular meetings with advisory groups of heads of primary and secondary schools and weekly meetings with teaching unions.

“We did education authority risk assessments for reopening plans and are providing support to all schools.

“Schools have clear challenges ahead, heads and governors are firefighting.”

Cllr Claire Walsh paid tribute to the work of school leaders during the unprecedented period

She said: “Heads and teachers are doing an amazing job in a situation none of us can get a grip on.

“There is no teacher handbook for this, no way to say ‘this is what we did 10 years ago, when this happened’.

“The job of a teacher changes hour to hour and they are doing a fabulous job in the most ridiculous of times.”

Deputy cabinet member, Cllr Susan Southworth said she was not convinced the authority ‘had got a grip’ on the effects on pupils’ education.

She said: ” We need to find out from schools what’s actually is happening on the ground.

“I’m not not convinced the things that have been put in place are actually improving the outcomes in schools.

“We’ve a lot more work to be done on comparisons.

“We need to come back later and see how the bad weather affects learning.

“I’m not convinced we’ve got a grip.”

The meeting heard that Bury was the first authority in Greater Manchester to provide a list to government of disadvantaged pupils and as a result 850 new laptop computers had been given to them should they need distance learning.

Cllr Tariq said that any school inspections from Ofsted until January would not focus on attainment.

He said: “They will be focussed on schools’ responses to Covid , their policies and home learning.

“Some will be chosen for inspection at random but those previously requiring improvement may be the ones they visit.”

The meeting heard that schools were working to improve distance learning for pupils sent home to self-isolate and were keen to have a ‘best practice’ approach

Julien Kramer, interim assistant director for education and inclusion, said: “We do have local expertise and that’s been shared among schools.

“On the resources for distance learning we are researching what is good, what’s been shared and what is less good and what we should stop doing.”