school closures | Schools Week

DfE plans two-year extension to National Tutoring Programme

The Department for Education intends to extend its National Tutoring Programme for a further two years, Schools Week can reveal. Launched in November to help children catch up on learning lost during the pandemic, the £350 million scheme is due to run until 2022. It’s important that policymakers continue to assess the impact of the […]

Ofsted inspections to be done remotely after U-turn

Ofsted monitoring inspections will now take place remotely until half term, following a U-turn by the watchdog. The inspectorate had been due to begin in-person monitoring inspections of schools from next week. However, Ofsted announced tonight that following a review of its plans, it has decided that “all planned inspection activity will be undertaken remotely […]

Fact check: What does the guidance on key worker children attendance actually say?

Changing guidance and interventions from ministers has created confusion over which pupils should be attending school, putting further pressure on headteachers. After announcing last Monday that schools would remain open to vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers until February half term at the earliest, the government has since sought to encourage critical workers […]

Covid infections in school-aged children peaked over Christmas, ONS data shows

Covid infection rates among school-age children peaked over Christmas, new data shows, with as many as 1 in 18 older pupils in London testing positive. The Office for National Statistics has published its latest infection survey data, the first since Christmas eve. The survey shows that the ONS believes the proportion of primary and secondary […]

Calls for Williamson’s resignation amid chaos and confusion of partial school closures

Headteachers across England were left scrambling to implement last-minute partial school closures this week after a chaotic series of U-turns and confusing announcements by the government. After resisting repeated calls for further restrictions on pupil attendance over recent weeks, Boris Johnson announced on Monday night that schools would move to remote education until February half-term […]

Partial school closures guidance: What you need to know

The Department for Education has finally updated its main Covid guidance document to include details of how leaders should handle this year’s partial school closures. Many of the instructions on how to keep schools Covid-secure are similar to or the same as they were before, but there are some other important instructions. Here’s what we […]

Gavin Williamson update on spring partial closures: What did we learn?

The education secretary has given more information about the government’s contingency plans for schools, after it was announced that mainstream settings will move to remote education for most pupils. Here’s what we learned. 1. Teacher assessment to replace exams, but no algorithm The government had already announced that GCSE and A-level exams would not […]

SATs scrapped in 2021, Williamson confirms

SATs will be cancelled this year following the decision to partially close schools, the education secretary has said. Gavin Williamson said in the Commons today that the government recognised the primary tests “will be an additional burden on schools and it’s important we area very much focused on welcoming children back to the classroom at […]

UCAS extends 2021 application deadline by two weeks

Students will be given an extra two weeks to complete university and college applications following the announcement of partial school closures. The Universities and Colleges Admission Service has announced an extension of its equal consideration deadline to January 29 at 6pm in recognition of the “significant demands” on the time of teachers and careers advisers. […]