COVID-19 | Schools Week

Revealed: The 50 school rebuilding projects selected to split £1bn capital cash

The government has named the first 50 school rebuilding projects that will benefit from £1 billion in capital cash in the coming years. The Department for Education has named the schools that will form the first tranche of its new 10-year school rebuilding programme. Money spent will average £20 million per school. The rebuilding projects […]

PM warns reopening schools faster could force Covid recovery ‘into reverse’

Boris Johnson has said it is “much better” to stick to the “prudent and cautious” approach to reopening schools so the plan to beat the pandemic is not “forced into reverse”. The prime minister was challenged during today’s Downing Street briefing on his plans to wait to reopen schools until March 8 at the earliest. […]

Covid testing: DfE confirms arrangements for extra school funding

The Department for Education has set out how it will allocate funding to schools to pay for Covid testing of pupils and staff. A £78 million funding pot was pledged in December, but further details about how funding would be allocated were scarce. The DfE was also forced to pledge to reimburse schools that stood […]

Ventilation moved up the priority list, and 5 more updates to DfE Covid-19 guidance

An important Covid-19 guidance document for schools has been updated today to place more importance on ventilation and strengthen language around self-isolation. Here’s what you need to know about the update to Restricting attendance during the national lockdown: schools document. 1. Ventilation moved up the priority list The DfE has updated its system of […]

School attendance rises to 15%, highest level recorded this term

School attendance rose to 15 per cent last week, the highest level recorded so far this term, new data shows. Attendance survey data published by the Department for Education shows that 1.211 million pupils, 14.9 per cent of the total pupil population, attended school last Thursday. This is up from 1.147 million, or 14.1 per […]

Pupil wellbeing ‘dashboards’ to help school support

Schools in Manchester will be able to use a pupil wellbeing dashboard to see how well their students are coping in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A £900,000 pioneering programme, led by the University of Manchester and the mental health charity Anna Freud Centre, aims to survey between 30-50,000 year 8 and 10 pupils […]

Boards back down on exam fees demand

Schools can now delay paying exam fees after boards offered concessions following a backlash about their plans to raise prices in a year when exams will not be held. A Schools Week investigation revealed last week that boards had increased their fees across GCSEs and A-levels between 2 and 5 per cent. They had pledged […]

Joining live lessons won’t be ‘the norm’, says Ofsted

Ofsted has reassured schools that inspectors will not be joining pupils’ live lessons as “the norm” during its remote monitoring inspections this term. New guidance last week said inspectors could join online lessons to “understand how education is being provided by the school”. The announcement prompted concern from teachers who feared that the practice would […]

Why the government’s £400m laptops roll-out is crashing

An “amazing achievement”. That’s how Nick Gibb, the long-time schools minister, describes the progress of his department’s £400 million scheme to deliver laptops to disadvantaged children. He told MPs the delivery of 876,000 laptops, since the scheme launched in April last year, was an “amazing logistical exercise” amid a “demanding global market”. But headteachers say […]