schools reopening | Schools Week

Reassure parents about safety of schools if you want them to return to work, heads tell PM

The government must reassure parents it is safe for their children to return to school if it wants people to return to work, a headteachers’ union has said. Boris Johnson announced today that the government will be relaxing its “work from home” advice from August 1, allowing employers to decide whether to ask staff to […]

STA plans autumn phonics check for year 2s who missed June test

Schools will be asked to administer a phonics screening check for year 2 pupils in the autumn, after the June test was missed because of coronavirus. The Standards and Testing Agency announced in its most recent update for schools that it is proposing an autumn check to avoid all year 2 pupils having to take […]

Proportion of schools open more widely falls as end of term nears

The proportion of schools open more widely to pupils in selected year groups has begun to fall as the end of term nears. New attendance data published by the Department for Education estimates that around 91 per cent of schools and colleges were open in some capacity on July 9, down from 93 per cent […]

Almost all pupils were set work during partial closures, but half of year 11s and 13s missed out

Almost all pupils were given some remote learning tasks by their teachers during partial school closures, but year 11 and 13 pupils were far less likely to receive work to do at home, according to new research. Analysis of a survey of 40,000 UK households by the National Foundation for Educational Research found 90 per […]

Council says it will back schools if they stagger return of year groups

Lancashire County Council has promised to back schools if they choose to stagger the return of year groups this September – in defiance of ministers who say all pupils must return full-time from the start of the autumn term. But Conservative MP Robert Halfon, chair of the education select committee, said the council should be […]

Ofsted visits: ‘Serious issues’ may lead to ‘immediate action’

“Serious issues” identified during lighter-touch Ofsted visits in the autumn could result in “immediate action”, the watchdog has said. The inspectorate promised its new programme of visits, which will start in September and target mostly ‘inadequate’ schools, will be collaborative, and not about “passing judgment”. A letter setting out the outcome of discussions over back-to-school […]

Attendance rates continue to rise as proportion of reopened schools flatlines

The proportion of schools that have reopened more widely has flatlined, but pupil attendance has continued to rise, new figures show. The Department for Education estimates that 88 per cent of primary schools and 75 per cent of secondary schools were open to at least one of the returning year groups as of last Thursday, […]

Primary art and D&T ‘missing’ from Oak’s initial 2020-21 lesson plans

Lessons in primary art, secondary relationships, sex and health education and design and technology do not feature in the Oak National Academy’s initial lesson plans for 2020-21. The online platform is due to publish plans for thousands of lessons today, but admitted it is still “missing some bits”, and that schools will have to wait until […]

Ofsted: New ‘school visits’ will allow ‘appropriate challenge without passing judgment’

Ofsted has said its new school “visits” will allow inspectors to provide “appropriate challenge” to school leaders without “passing judgement”. It was confirmed last week that proper Ofsted inspections will not start again until January next year at the earliest. But Ofsted will start to “visit” schools after the summer holidays to “reassure parents, ministers […]