coronavirus | Schools Week

Pressure on government grows for September schools plan

The government is under increasing pressure to produce a proper coronavirus plan for schools, particularly the renewed pledge to get all pupils back in school by September. The fall-out follows the government dropping its “ambition” this week to get all primary pupils back to school before the summer. Critics from across the political spectrum have […]

GCSE entries: Stats, citizenship and Spanish up, PE, media and engineering down

GCSE entries increased this year as the number of 16-year-olds rose, Ofqual has reported. According to the exams regulator, there have been 5,281,745 entries for GCSE exams this year, up from 5,185,840. The increase of 2 per cent is more than double that seen last year, but is to be expected as it corresponds with […]

Schools need to know 2021 exam plans before summer, says Ofqual chief

Schools need to know what’s happening with next year’s exams “before the summer break ideally”, the head of the qualifications regulator has acknowledged. Sally Collier, the chief regulator of Ofqual, told the Parliamentary education committee this morning that a consultation process on plans for next year will start “in the coming weeks”. “Schools and teachers, […]

Coronavirus: Just 52% of primary schools reopened to more pupils last week, DfE data shows

Just over half of of primary schools reopened to more pupils last week, official government figures show. Attendance data from around 18,500 educational settings shows just 52 per cent of schools that normally educate nursery, reception or years 1 or 6 pupils welcomed back at least one of those year groups last Thursday, June 4. […]

Ministers to drop ambition to see all primary pupils back before summer – reports

The government is to drop its ambition to see all pupils return to primary school before the summer, according to reports in several national newspapers. Ministers had hoped to see all primary-age pupils return for at least a few weeks before the break, but have faced pressure to drop the aim after a mixed response […]

Extend free school meal vouchers over summer holiday, says senior Tory MP

The government’s national free school meal voucher scheme should be extended to cover the summer holidays, the chair of the Commons education committee has said. Robert Halfon, a former Conservative education minister, has written to children’s minister Vicky Ford to express “huge concern” that the scheme will stop in mid-July. It comes after food charity […]

Coronavirus: Private school closures will put pressure on state

The closure of private schools unable to weather the economic hit from Covid-19 will put more pressure on state schools as they welcome back additional pupils while social distancing. Two long-standing prep schools announced this week they would close permanently. One, the 180-year-old Ashdown House Preparatory School in Sussex, is an alma mater of prime […]

Coronavirus: Trust was warned over local spike days before it was forced to close school

An academy trust forced to close one of its schools days after reopening because of a coronavirus case had previously been warned about a rise in infections in the area. The David Ross Education Trust closed Cedar Road Primary School, in Northampton, on Wednesday after a member of staff tested positive for Covid-19. The government’s rush to […]

Coronavirus: Heads struggle to keep up with DfE guidance updates

School leaders have had to read almost 100 updates to government guidance during the coronavirus crisis – a quarter of them published during antisocial hours. Analysis by Schools Week found the government has published 29 guidance documents or announcements for schools about the pandemic since mid-February, and issued 94 coronavirus-related updates for the sector. The […]