COVID-19 | Schools Week

Covid workforce funds: Schools with ‘particularly high’ costs may have claims reviewed

Schools attempting to claim “particularly high” costs through the government’s new Covid workforce fund may have their claims “reviewed”. The Department for Education has published additional guidance on the new fund, which was unveiled last month and is meant to help schools cover the cost of absences during this half term. Where costs are particularly […]

Teachers report rise in non-Covid persistent absence

Three in ten teachers have reported a surge in non-Covid-related persistent absences, with the problem more acute in the most deprived schools. Polling by Teacher Tapp for the Centre for Social Justice think tank has found that 30 per cent of teachers said they had experienced more persistent absences that weren’t to do with illness […]

Hypnotherapist helps to overcome teacher stress

Teachers at an east London primary have teamed up with a sports hypnotherapist who improves “mental toughness” in elite athletes to combat the challenges and stress of the pandemic. The initiative, along with online parental support groups, support dogs and yoga, are some of the measures schools have introduced as they prioritise improving mental health […]

Covid: School attendance falls again after brief boost

School attendance has declined again following two weeks of improvement – with nearly 50,000 more children off last week for Covid-19 related reasons than the week before. The latest attendance data from the Department for Education (DfE) shows that between 7 and 9 per cent of the pupil population – up to 694,000 children – […]

Attendance gap between local authority areas has widened, new data shows

Attendance in state secondary schools still varies massively across England, according to the first regional data published by the government in two months. In fact, the gap between the areas with the highest and lowest attendance rates for secondary schools as of last week had actually widened to 40 percentage points, up from 33 percentage […]

Pupils 6 months behind and teachers ‘physically fatigued’ – Ofsted’s final ‘visits’ analysis

Ofsted has identified six months’ learning loss in some pupils, a “wide variability” in numbers returning to school and “physical fatigue” among staff in its latest report from interim visits to schools this year. The watchdog has published analysis based on 297 one-day visits carried out in November. Here’s what they found. 1. Some […]

Williamson orders Greenwich council to withdraw early closure request

A London council which urged schools in its area to move to online learning this week has been ordered to withdraw its instructions by the education secretary, in the first use of emergency coronavirus powers granted earlier this year. Gavin Williamson has issued a “temporary continuity direction” under the emergency Coronavirus Act 2020 ordering the […]

Government ‘will consider’ using legal powers to keep Greenwich schools open

A minister has said the government “will consider” using its powers under emergency Coronavirus legislation to keep Greenwich schools open, after the London borough asked leaders to move to remote education for the rest of the week. In a letter to Greenwich headteachers, seen by Schools Week, Gibb said he was “deeply disappointed and concerned” by […]

What does the latest attendance data tell us about the scale of the Covid problem?

The government must make better data available and provide more catch-up funding to stop pupils falling further behind, writes Natalie Perera. The question over how we support recovery of the education system post-Covid looms large for policy-makers, researchers and those on the front line. The reality is that we are all trying to find solutions […]