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27 April 2026

Tag: coronavirus

School attendance bounces back to pre-pandemic levels, DfE reports

Attendance in state primary schools has returned to pre-pandemic levels, with attendance in all schools now the highest it has been during the pandemic. The Department for Education’s latest attendance survey data shows that primary attendance hit 96 per cent last Thursday, which is “broadly in line with attendance in a typical academic year”, and […]

Study to track Covid’s long-term impact on pupils’ life chances

A new study will track Covid’s long-term impact on the life chances of thousands of year 11 pupils. The £4.6 million Covid social mobility and opportunities (COSMO) study will look at the pandemic’s long-term consequences for 12,000 participants’ education, careers and wellbeing. Researchers at the Sutton Trust think tank and University College London plan to […]

DfE still short of 1.3 million laptop target despite Gibb promise

The Department for Education had still not fulfilled its pledge to deliver 1.3 million free laptops to disadvantaged pupils a month after schools fully re-opened, figures show. The latest official data on the provision of devices shows the DfE fell just short of schools minister Nick Gibb’s pledge that all laptops and tablets would be […]

UCAS teacher training applications data: 7 things we learned

Applications for teacher training have surged as the pandemic fuels interest in the profession, with new figures showing applicant numbers have reached their highest in at least six years. UCAS data shows a 16.7 per cent annual increase in applicants during the 2020 recruitment cycle for courses in England and Wales. Experts said the figures […]

Attendance data shows stark divides in Covid disruption across England

Some areas of England had more than one in ten secondary pupils absent because of potential contact with Covid in school towards the end of last term, new attendance data shows. The Department for Education has published attendance data by local authority area for the second half of the spring term. It comes after national […]

Profile: Dr Robin Bevan, NEU president and grammar school head

Given newspaper headlines about militant union bosses plotting against ministers’ plans over the past year, it is perhaps surprising that the president of the generally anti-selection National Education Union is the headteacher of a boys’ grammar school. But Dr Robin Bevan, who has found himself having to help lead the country’s largest education union at […]

‘Use pupil premium cash to boost teaching’, says recovery commissioner

The government’s recovery commissioner has said schools should be spending half their pupil premium cash to improve teaching. It comes after the Department for Education told school leaders this week that how they use the funding must be “informed by research evidence”. Schools must also start using DfE templates for the pupil premium strategies they […]

Teachers ‘treated with contempt’ during Covid, says NASUWT leader Roach

Teachers have been “treated with contempt” by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic, the leader of NASUWT will say today, as he warns school staff must not take the fall for another exams fiasco. In his speech to the teaching union’s annual conference, general secretary Dr Patrick Roach will say that teachers have been “applauded […]