pandemic | Schools Week

Covid legacy will ‘damage prospects of a generation’, warn MPs

Committee warns pandemic will ‘entrench disadvantage’ without further intervention from government

GPs should help ‘risk-averse’ parents send kids back to school, says Ofsted

In evidence to the Education Committee’s persistent absence inquiry, Ofsted said GPs and pharmacies could help parents ‘get the right perspective and balance’

Let schools use catch-up cash for mental health support, says study

High levels of psychological distress among 16 and 17-year-olds have risen by almost a quarter, a new report finds

Headteacher support plea as anxiety levels double during Covid

‘Shocking’ Covid impact on heads sparks calls for government intervention to ‘shore up sustainable leadership’

Covid: Pupils have lost a third of learning time since pandemic began

Pupils in England have lost nearly a third of their learning time since the Covid-19 pandemic started, but fared slightly better than those elsewhere in the UK. The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and the University of Exeter has today released its analysis of learning loss variation across the Home Nations. It […]

Pandemic learning loss has undone up to two thirds of disadvantage gap progress

Learning loss among poorer primary school pupils as a result of the pandemic has undone as much as two thirds of the progress made over the last 10 years in closing the disadvantage gap, a new government report has warned. The Department for Education has today released the second and third reports from its research project […]

Did the government take its eye off the ball on pandemic planning?

In 2008, the DfE produced detailed guidance on how to continue learning if schools closed due to a pandemic. But when Covid-19 hit, the government stood accused of being unprepared to ensure youngsters can learn at home. So, what happened? Twelve years ago the government published a plan of action to be taken by schools […]