coronavirus | Schools Week

DfE pledges staff absence funding to keep schools open, but only after reserves are raided

The government has said it will help cover the costs of staff absences to keep schools open this term, but leaders will have to deplete their reserves before becoming eligible. The Department for Education has today announced the creation of a short-term “Covid workforce fund”, which will be backdated to November 1 and will cover […]

Christmas closure chaos as schools allowed to extend holidays

The government’s approach to schools closing early for Christmas was mired in confusion this week after two academy trusts were given the green light to shut a week early, just days after another trust was blocked from doing so. Schools Week revealed this week that Focus Trust cancelled plans to close its 15 schools across […]

Private schools got biggest top A-levels boost after grade U-turn

Private schools still saw the biggest boost in top grades at A-level following this year’s exams fiasco, despite the decision to issue centre-assessment grades. The Department for Education has published analysis of A-level grades issued this summer, following the decision to let school-provided grades stand if they were higher than calculated grades issued by exam […]

£30k starting salary pledge remains, and 5 other things we learned from the spending review

The chancellor Rishi Sunak has launched his spending review, which sets out how public services will be funded in the 2021-22 financial year. Most notably for schools, the spending review includes a pay freeze for public sector workers earning over the median salary. Here’s what we learned. 1. £30k starting salaries still the plan, […]

Spending review: National Tutoring Programme wins funding for a second year

The government’s flagship National Tutoring Programme has been awarded funding to continue for a second year, Schools Week understands. Documents from today’s spending review show a £400 million pot of cash has been allocated for education in 2021-22. This is listed as Covid education spending “including schools catch-up and supplementary support for free school meals”. […]

Covid: 1 in 10 pupils now absent as attendance drops again

Around one in ten pupils are now absent from school for Covid-related reasons after attendance slumped to 83 per cent. The latest attendance data from the Department for Education shows that up to 876,000 pupils – between 9 and 11 per cent of the total population – did not attend school for Covid-19 related reasons […]

Covid-19 winter plan: What does it mean for schools?

Education settings will be among those to trial regular Covid-19 testing as an alternative to self-isolation for those who have been in contact with confirmed Covid-19 cases, the government has said. The prime minister this afternoon launched his Covid-19 winter plan, which set out how restrictions will work from December 2, when the country comes […]

Comparable outcomes won’t help all pupils in 2021, admits Ofqual

Applying comparable outcomes to exam results in 2021 will not be enough to compensate for learning loss for all pupils, Ofqual has said, admitting it would only be a “partial compensation strategy”. The exams regulator has published research today on maintaining standards and the so-called “sawtooth effect” – which describes when outcomes dip following changes […]

4 of 5 most deprived schools don’t have devices for home-learning

More than four in five schools with the most deprived intakes don’t have access to the devices they need to help self-isolating pupils keep learning, a poll has found. Research by Teacher Tapp on behalf of Teach First found 84 per cent of schools in the most deprived quartile said they did not have access […]