COVID-19 | Schools Week

‘All ideas on the table’ says catch-up tsar as Johnson won’t rule out extending school term

All ideas to address lost learning should be “on the table”, the government’s new catch-up tsar has said, after the prime minister failed to rule out extending the summer term. Sir Kevan Collins, the former head of the Education Endowment Foundation, told BBC News that the government was “going to have to ask teachers to […]

Covid-19 has hit exam years hardest, finds study of 62,000 pupils

Exam students have been hit hardest by Covid-19, a new report has found. A study by non-profit research organisation ImpactEd also found that those children who struggled the most were not always those previously identified as vulnerable. The study tracked things like wellbeing, anxiety and home learning in a group of more than 62,000 pupils […]

Will £6m Institute of Teaching’s legacy be shortlived?

The government’s new Institute of Teaching could be freed from its obligations to the government within just four years, prompting fears about the project’s longevity. The Department for Education told potential providers that it does not expect to reprocure the contract to run the Institute of Teaching at the end of its initial framework agreement. […]

How schools are coping with the Covid teacher recruitment boom

The pandemic-spurred boom in teacher recruitment has continued this year with the arrival of another wave of potential recruits. But, as schools are forced to limit on-site attendance amid a third lockdown, can they handle this influx of new trainees? A Covid recruitment boost saw the number of people starting initial teacher training (ITT) courses […]

Covid-19 vaccine denied for special school staff – and then reinstated

A clinical commissioning group has apologised for the confusion it created after cancelling Covid-19 vaccine appointments for special school staff – before reinstating them. Schools Week revealed last week that thousands of special school staff had been offered the vaccine. But the approaches nationwide vary, with some local authorities including staff in the priority roll-out […]

Alternative provision in crisis: deficits, closed sites and restructures

A leading alternative provision setting is being forced to close a specialist site due to a creaking high-needs funding system exacerbated by Covid. Others facing six-figure deficits are considering restructures. The London East Alternative Provision (LEAP) will have to close the Tommy Flowers Vocational Centre in Whitechapel at the end of the year despite delivering […]

Leaders forced to cap places as school attendance rises

Primaries are being forced to cap pupil places amid soaring school attendance rates as the Covid crisis takes its toll on families. Attendance peaked at 1.2 million last week, meaning that 15 per cent of pupils were in school, the highest level recorded this term. The rise has been driven by an increase in primary […]

Williamson won’t commit to delivering laptops before schools reopen

Schools will be able to order the remaining 300,000 promised laptops from next week – but the education secretary will only commit to delivering “the majority” by the time they are due to reopen. Data released by the Department for Education (DfE) on Tuesday showed the number of laptops dispatched to schools had fallen for […]

DfE names 21 free schools approved in wave 14

Twenty-one more free schools have been approved under wave 14 of the programme, which is again dominated by multi-academy trusts. Ministers have announced the first successful free school projects since June 2019. It follows substantial delays to the application process launched two years ago. Wave 14 was first launched in January 2019 by former education […]