schools reopening | Schools Week

Staff safety questions remain as PM urges parents to send children back to school

Schools must have “very clear Covid-secure measures” for all staff, England’s largest education union has warned, as the prime minister appealed directly to parents to send their children back to school next month. The National Education Union has also called on the government to employ more teachers and secure extra teaching spaces “to allow education […]

Ofsted director seconded to help government plan for reopening of schools

A senior Ofsted director has been seconded to a government team planning for the return of pupils to schools. Sean Harford, the watchdog’s national director of education, moved temporarily to the Cabinet Office this week to work on the government’s response to the pandemic. He will be there until the end of the year. Schools […]

Coronavirus: Don’t ‘read too much’ into ‘work in progress’ data on transmission in schools, says minister

A health minister has warned against reading “too much” into data from an incomplete study on the transmission of coronavirus in schools. Edward Argar’s intervention follows claims from his colleague the education secretary that the unpublished research supports the government’s drive to get all pupils back in September. Early findings from an ongoing Public Health […]

What Oak Academy has done well, and how it can do better

The Oak National Academy has gone from nothing to national institution in just a few months. Here, its principal Matt Hood sets out his end of year report. As teachers, we all know the power of feedback in helping our pupils improve. So as the end of term finally arrived, we worked with ImpactEd to […]

Government to hand councils £40m to help with home-to-school transport

Councils will receive £40 million in funding from the government to help get children to school in September amid warnings of huge problems with transporting pupils safely. Announcing the funding today, the Department for Education said it would be used “to ease pressure on public transport as children return in September”. Councils will be able […]

Pupils in local lockdown areas ‘will be returning to school in September’, insists Gibb

Pupils in areas currently under local lockdowns will return to school in September, the schools minister has insisted. Nick Gibb told the Today programme this morning that all children will be returning to school in September “including in those areas that are currently subject to a local lockdown”. But he admitted the government can’t “decree” […]

Schools should be ‘first to open, last to close’ in future lockdowns, says children’s commissioner

Schools should be “first to open, last to close” in any future coronavirus lockdowns, the children’s commissioner for England has said. Anne Longfield’s office has published a briefing paper called Putting children first in future lockdowns, in which she insists education should be “prioritised over other sectors” if the country locks down again. If a […]

Minimum secondary school per-pupil funding to rise to £5,150

Secondary schools will receive at least £5,150 for each pupil from 2021, the government has announced. Ministers have set out the minimum funding levels for schools that will apply under the second year of their three-year funding settlement. Schools in inner London are set for the lowest increase (2.3 per cent), while schools in the […]

Concerns over school meals as two major caterers announce redundancies

Fears about the capacity of school catering teams to provide meals from September have been raised after two of England’s largest education catering firms announced plans to cut staff. Caterlink and Chartwells, which work with around 3,400 schools and colleges between them, both told Schools Week they were making redundancies in anticipation of falling demand […]