school closures | Schools Week

Reopening schools: DfE’s ‘illogical’ Covid testing policy puts pupils in isolation

The government’s “nonsensical” Covid testing policy that pupils tested on-site must self-isolate without taking confirmatory lab tests has seen youngsters needlessly kept off school after being sent home within hours of returning. Parents warn they will no longer consent to their children being tested due to the disruption, which they blame squarely on the government. […]

Attendance: Almost 1 in 5 pupils were in school the week before reopenings

Almost one in five pupils were in school last week, just days before wider reopenings, new attendance data shows. Survey data from the Department for Education shows 18.7 per cent of pupils were in attendance at state schools nationwide last Thursday, up from 18.3 per cent the week before. The data also shows a large […]

Government medic warns of school disruption as Covid testing regime beds in

Schools may see a “larger number” of children forced to self-isolate during the first weeks of reopening while new Covid testing regimes bed in, the government’s deputy chief medical officer has said. Dr Jenny Harries told the Downing Street briefing this afternoon she expected to see an impact on transmission rates as pupils return to […]

DfE ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ after admitting £705m for catch-up isn’t all new money

The government stands accused of “robbing Peter to pay Paul” after finally admitting that a £705 million Covid catch-up package is not all new money. Ministers announced last month that they would spend an additional £405 million on top of £300 million announced in January for a range of measures to help address lost learning. […]

Mandatory school attendance will ‘pit heads against parents’

The decision to reintroduce school attendance enforcement will “pit heads against parents” and risks costly legal action from families that include shielding members, it has been warned. All schools are due to reopen next week. The government has said attendance will be mandatory for primary pupils from Monday and for secondary pupils from the following […]

Data reveals huge variation in spring term school attendance across England

Attendance in schools has varied hugely across England this term, new data shows, with rates in the week before half term up to eight times higher in some parts of the country than in others. Analysis by Schools Week of government data on attendance by local authority area shows secondary attendance on February 11 ranged […]

Longer days and early appointments on cards as schools gear up for ‘mammoth’ Covid testing effort

School leaders are exploring staggered starts and extended days to ease the “mammoth logistical task” of mass Covid testing returning pupils. Boris Johnson announced on Monday that schools would begin reopening from March 8, with secondaries testing pupils three times on-site in their first two weeks back. Some leaders said that larger schools would struggle, […]

Lost learning study: Pupils in poorer-intake schools further behind in reading, and 4 other key findings

Pupils in schools with the poorest intakes are further behind in reading than their counterparts in schools with more affluent rolls, a study into lost learning caused by Covid-19 has found. The Department for Education has released the first report from a research project run by Renaissance Learning and the Education Policy Institute, which was […]

March 8 school reopening guidance: 13 things we learned

The government has confirmed its school reopening plans, with all settings expected to reopen on March 8. Secondary schools will be given flexibility on how they manage testing in the first week back. The need for face coverings will also be extended to secondary school classrooms. Prime minister Boris Johnson confirmed the plans in Parliament […]