COVID-19 | Schools Week

Retain ‘teaching technologies’ and online parents’ evenings after Covid, say NEU members

New ways of working with technology in teaching developed over the past year and online parents’ evenings should be retained as we emerge from the pandemic, members of the country’s largest education union have said. The genie is out of the bottle so there is no reason to stick by the dead wood of a […]

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 […]

Free school meals: 300k more pupils became eligible in first 7 months of Covid

The number of children eligible for free school meals surged in the first seven months of the Covid-19 pandemic, official figures show. Census data published by the Department for Education shows an additional 302,397 pupils became eligible for free school meals between the first nationwide lockdown in March and the October school census. During the […]

£200m summer schools funding details: the 5 things you need to know

Secondary schools will receive £59.70 per place per day to run summer schools this year, but only for a maximum of two weeks of activities, new guidance states. The money will also have to cover all costs associated with running the activities, including additional staff costs, free meals for eligible children and transport, and schools […]

Reopening schools ‘almost certainly’ responsible for Covid rate uptick among young people – PM

A slight uptick in Covid rates among young people is “almost certainly” the result of reopening schools, Boris Johnson has said. But a government medical chief said the case rates rise was not a “dramatic increase at this point”, and that the situation was “likely to become clearer over the next two weeks”. The latest […]

Ofsted plans ‘lighter-touch’ on-site inspections during summer term

Ofsted will undertake “lighter-touch” on-site inspections during the summer term before returning to full graded inspections next year, it has announced. The watchdog confirmed today that it would not resume a full programme of graded inspections until September, but its summer inspections could still result in a change of grade for schools. “Following extensive discussion […]