Skip to content
26 April 2026

Tag: coronavirus

Coronavirus: Teach First drops 120 trainees as schools halt recruitment

Teach First has dropped 120 of its trainees after failing to match all of this year’s cohort with schools. Trainees said they had been told in a “generic email” to either defer their places or leave the programme, despite some having already quit jobs in preparation. We are hugely sorry that we’re not able to […]

Government sets up £120m ‘Covid summer food fund’ after free meal vouchers U-turn

The government has said it will provide free school meal vouchers over the summer holidays in a significant U-turn, following mounting pressure led by footballer Marcus Rashford. Until today, ministers had been adamant that the scheme, which has replaced school lunches for many disadvantaged children during partial closures, would end when schools break up in […]

Coronavirus: Over half of laptops STILL to be delivered in just two weeks

Just under half of the 230,000 laptops being distributed to help vulnerable pupils learn at home during the coronavirus pandemic have been sent out by the government – two months after the scheme was launched. This means the Department for Education has just two weeks to send an additional 115,000 laptops to local authorities and […]

Another 18 schools and colleges named as ‘edtech demonstrators’

The government has announced another 18 schools and colleges handed up to £150,000 each to become “edtech demonstrators”. They will help other schools to use technology to support remote learning after the programme was repurposed amid the coronavirus pandemic. The first 20 schools were announced in April. The scheme is part of the government’s £10 […]

Pressure mounts on ministers as study shows fifth of pupils do no schoolwork at home

Children not in school during the lockdown have been spending an average of 2.5 hours a day doing schoolwork, new research suggests. According to the UCL Institute of Education, which conducted the study, the figure is around half that suggested by previous research, “implying that learning losses are much greater than previously thought”. One fifth […]

Schools told they can’t claim back costs of preventative cleaning

The government’s exceptional costs reimbursement scheme must be extended to cover preventative measures as school reopen in the coronavirus outbreak, headteachers’ unions have said. Leaders of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) told Schools Week the scope of the scheme drawn up by the Department […]

Coronavirus: Six things we learned from Ofqual about exams in 2020 and 2021

Exams were the focus of an education select committee hearing this week, with senior staff appearing from the exams’ regulator Ofqual. Here’s what we found out.   1. Consultation on 2021 exam plans due before summer break Sally Collier, the chief regulator of Ofqual, told MPs schools needed to know what was happening with next […]