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16 April 2026

Tag: schools reopening

Exam changes can’t compensate for Covid hit to disadvantaged pupils, says government

Changes to next year’s exams cannot compensate for pupils’ divided experiences during the pandemic, the government has said, even as research from its own exams regulator laid bare the disruption to disadvantaged children’s education. On Monday, Ofqual and the Department for Education published a consultation on measures to “help mitigate the impact of disruption” for […]

Pupils three times more likely to be self-isolating in north-east than London

Secondary pupils in parts of northern England are more than three times as likely to miss classes while they self-isolate as their peers in London, according to new figures. The average pupil between year 7 and year 10 in a sample of north-east schools missed more than a third of their time in school last […]

DfE raids existing budgets for a third of £4.3bn Covid spending

Almost a third of the Department for Education’s extra Covid spending will be taken from existing budgets or underspends in other areas, according to a new report. Education unions said it reinforced their fears over the Treasury’s commitment to education recovery, and accused the government of “creative accounting”. The research, published by the Institute for […]

Study to track Covid’s long-term impact on pupils’ life chances

A new study will track Covid’s long-term impact on the life chances of thousands of year 11 pupils. The £4.6 million Covid social mobility and opportunities (COSMO) study will look at the pandemic’s long-term consequences for 12,000 participants’ education, careers and wellbeing. Researchers at the Sutton Trust think tank and University College London plan to […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

DfE knew about new strain before issuing Greenwich direction, admits top civil servant

The Department for Education knew about the highly infectious new Covid-19 variant before ordering Greenwich council to rescind its request for schools to close early for Christmas, its most senior civil servant has admitted. Susan Acland-Hood, the DfE’s permanent secretary, has written to Robert Halfon, the chair of the education select committee, to apologise for […]