testing | Schools Week

Nine things we learned from Ofsted’s latest education recovery research

The watchdog found schools struggling with staff shortages, unclear Covid measures and identifying learning gaps

Schools battle to stay open amid Covid surge

Leaders take extra teaching and cleaning duties as secondary absences breach 10 per cent mark

Year 6 SATs don’t make children unhappy, says study

Researcher says findings counter ‘conventional narratives’, but critics question research based on 2012 data

Schools sent Covid tests with ‘incorrect instructions’

The Department for Education has clarified that ‘Orient Gene’ brand Covid test kits sent out to schools can be used by older pupils after admitting some contained “incorrect instructions” suggesting the contrary. In an email sent to school leaders, seen by Schools Week, the DfE said a “small number of boxes of Orient Gene test […]

Unions tell Williamson schools cannot run on-site Covid tests themselves

Heads’ and teachers’ unions have warned Gavin Williamson schools cannot be responsible for running daily on-site Covid testing themselves from September. The general secretaries of school leaders’ unions NAHT and ASCL and teachers’ union NEU have written a joint letter to the education secretary, voicing their “anger and dismay” over the government’s treatment of school […]

Attendance: 1 in 20 pupils absent due to Covid as isolations soar

More than one in 20 pupils were off school last week due to Covid, with more than a quarter of a million children isolating due to potential contact in school, new data shows. The latest attendance survey data from the Department for Education shows an estimated 384,500 pupils, or 5.1 per cent of pupils, were […]

School Covid outbreaks near six-month high as Indian variant spreads

Covid outbreaks in schools have reached their highest level since December as the Indian variant continues to spread, official figures show. School leaders called new data on the spread of the Delta variant first discovered in India “concerning”, and said it raised “serious questions” over the decision to drop face covering requirements in schools last […]

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 […]

Don’t hand out Covid testing kits to pupils’ families, DfE tells schools

Schools should not distribute Covid testing kits to members of their pupils’ households, the Department for Education has said, following the announcement that families will now also qualify for free twice-weekly tests. On Sunday, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced that households with children of school-age will get free equipment to test […]