COVID-19 | Schools Week

£30k starting salary pledge remains, and 5 other things we learned from the spending review

The chancellor Rishi Sunak has launched his spending review, which sets out how public services will be funded in the 2021-22 financial year. Most notably for schools, the spending review includes a pay freeze for public sector workers earning over the median salary. Here’s what we learned. 1. £30k starting salaries still the plan, […]

Spending review: National Tutoring Programme wins funding for a second year

The government’s flagship National Tutoring Programme has been awarded funding to continue for a second year, Schools Week understands. Documents from today’s spending review show a £400 million pot of cash has been allocated for education in 2021-22. This is listed as Covid education spending “including schools catch-up and supplementary support for free school meals”. […]

Covid: 1 in 10 pupils now absent as attendance drops again

Around one in ten pupils are now absent from school for Covid-related reasons after attendance slumped to 83 per cent. The latest attendance data from the Department for Education shows that up to 876,000 pupils – between 9 and 11 per cent of the total population – did not attend school for Covid-19 related reasons […]

Covid-19 winter plan: What does it mean for schools?

Education settings will be among those to trial regular Covid-19 testing as an alternative to self-isolation for those who have been in contact with confirmed Covid-19 cases, the government has said. The prime minister this afternoon launched his Covid-19 winter plan, which set out how restrictions will work from December 2, when the country comes […]

Comparable outcomes won’t help all pupils in 2021, admits Ofqual

Applying comparable outcomes to exam results in 2021 will not be enough to compensate for learning loss for all pupils, Ofqual has said, admitting it would only be a “partial compensation strategy”. The exams regulator has published research today on maintaining standards and the so-called “sawtooth effect” – which describes when outcomes dip following changes […]

4 of 5 most deprived schools don’t have devices for home-learning

More than four in five schools with the most deprived intakes don’t have access to the devices they need to help self-isolating pupils keep learning, a poll has found. Research by Teacher Tapp on behalf of Teach First found 84 per cent of schools in the most deprived quartile said they did not have access […]

38% rise in elective home education, and ‘stretched’ councils can’t keep track

The number of children withdrawn from school for elective home education has soared by 38 per cent in the past year, councils have reported. The Association of Directors of Children’s Services estimated that 75,668 pupils nationally are being electively home educated as of October 1, up from 54,656 at the same point last year. The […]

Faith schools waive church attendance requirements

Faith schools are amending requirements for prospective pupils to have attended places of worship in the wake of Covid-19 disruption. Last week, the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) approved a modification put forward by the governing body of Lowdham Church of England primary, in Nottinghamshire, to remove the need for pupils to have attended […]

DfE launches hiring spree for Covid response

A huge recruitment drive has been launched at the Department for Education to aid its response to Covid-19, with 100 jobs up for grabs. Job adverts for the 12-month contracts contain limited detail but state that people are being sought to work in “priority roles” that have been impacted by the pandemic and will be […]