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22 April 2026

Tag: COVID-19

Labour calls on DfE to ‘guarantee’ free school meals support over Easter

Labour is calling on the government to provide free school meals vouchers or cash payments over the Easter holidays, warning extensions to a Covid grant for councils and the holiday activities and food programme don’t go far enough. The government has said free school meals vouchers won’t be offered over Easter, although some councils are […]

Attendance: 1 in 10 secondary pupils not in school in second week of reopening

More than one in ten secondary pupils were not in school yesterday, the day attendance for older pupils became mandatory, new data shows. The latest attendance survey data published by the Department for Education shows 89 per cent of pupils were on-site in state secondary schools yesterday. The data also shows that tens of thousands […]

Government unable to back up promises on school mental health support

The government has pledged to accelerate the roll-out of mental health support teams (MHSTs) for schools – but was unable to provide figures to back up promises the programme will now reach more children. The NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, said that the MHSTs in schools will be rolled out to between […]

Gibb rejects call for 11-plus results to be linked to national pupil database

The schools minister has rejected calls to collect 11-plus data and link it to the national pupil database. His decision comes as new figures show that fewer poorer pupils passed the test in two of the country’s most selective areas. We do not intend to ask schools and local authorities to collect the data you […]

Ditch ideology and ‘knowledge-rich mantras’ to fix education, union leader tells ministers

Ministers must ditch “ideology, politicking and knowledge-rich mantras” and acknowledge a “relatively small number of changes” are needed to make education “world class”, a trade union leader will say this week. Could we now move beyond the ideology, the politicking, the knowledge-rich mantras Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, […]

Government asks Capita for cash back over cancelled SATs

The government is in talks over its £109 million contract with outsourcing firm Capita to manage primary school tests to see if it can get a reduction following the cancellation of SATs this year. Under a six-year contract worth just over £18 million a year, Capita manages the administration, processing and support for all primary […]

Inside the government’s plan to take tutoring mainstream

As ministers start the hunt for an organisation to run the National Tutoring Programme for its second year, Schools Week takes a look at what schools can expect from the expansion of government’s flagship catch-up scheme. Launched last year, the NTP provides heavily subsidised tutoring for disadvantaged students aged 5 to 16. The tuition arm […]

School claimed furlough cash then gave £64k payout to head

A junior school that claimed nearly £100,000 of furlough cash because of the “dramatic and potentially catastrophic” financial impact of Covid made a £64,000 redundancy payment to its executive headteacher. Accounts for St Stephen’s Junior School, a single-academy trust in Canterbury, Kent, show that executive headteacher Stuart Pywell was made redundant in August, and sent […]