coronavirus | Schools Week

Fair funding reforms won’t be fully rolled out for at least 3 years

Government reforms to make school funding fairer will now not be fully implemented for at least another three years. The Department for Education today launched another consultation over its national funding formula, asking schools how and when it should complete plans to end a “postcode lottery” between council areas. Steve Edmonds, director of advice and […]

What Step 4 means for schools: Everything you need to know

Masks, bubbles and contact tracing are all set to end for schools when the government moves to step 4 of its Covid roadmap on July 19. The Department for Education has published guidance today. Here’s your trusty Schools Week round-up of all the important bits. 1. Bubbles are gone… From July 19, bubbles will […]

Bubbles and masks go at step 4, but isolation rules in place to end of term

Schools will no longer be told to keep pupils in consistent “bubbles” from step four of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown, but isolation rules for close contacts will remain in place until the end of term. Updated guidance issued by the Department for Education states that at step four, “we will no longer recommend […]

More than 600,000 pupils off school due to Covid

More than 600,000 pupils were absent last week because of Covid, with around one in ten secondary pupils missing school. New Department for Education attendance survey data estimates 640,100 pupils, or 8.5 per cent of the total pupil population, were off school for Covid-related reasons last Thursday. This a 66 per cent rise from around […]

Government to remove school bubbles on July 19, says Javid

The government plans to remove bubbles and end routine contact tracing in schools on July 19, the health secretary has said today. On July 19 it is our plan to remove bubbles and to end the requirement for early years settings, schools and colleges to routinely carry out contact tracing Education secretary Gavin Williamson is […]

DfE: Schools may need to change curriculum ‘substantially’ to help kids catch-up

Schools may need to modify their curriculum “substantially” as part of their efforts to help children catch-up following lockdown learning losses. The Department for Education has today published non-statutory guidance for schools on “teaching a broad and balanced curriculum for education recovery”. DfE says schools should continue to teach a broad and balance curriculum in […]

Unions tell Williamson schools cannot run on-site Covid tests themselves

Heads’ and teachers’ unions have warned Gavin Williamson schools cannot be responsible for running daily on-site Covid testing themselves from September. The general secretaries of school leaders’ unions NAHT and ASCL and teachers’ union NEU have written a joint letter to the education secretary, voicing their “anger and dismay” over the government’s treatment of school […]

DfE told to reveal its working out on £90m pupil premium funding ‘stealth cut’

The government must publish a full breakdown of its pupil premium “stealth cut” analysis as the current explanation only reveals part of the story, a think tank has warned. Last week the Department for Education finally admitted schools would miss out on about £90 million in pupil premium funding. The admission comes after ministers discreetly changed […]

Covid: Poorer pupils missed 30% more school days last autumn

Poorer pupils missed almost 30 per cent more school days due to Covid in the autumn than their better-off counterparts, new data shows. The Department for Education has updated absences data for the autumn term with statistics broken down by pupil characteristics. It shows pupils eligible for free school meals missed 8.5 per cent of […]