Theme 1 news Covid Pupil attendance falls again as Covid closures double Despite overall Covid absences falling, the number of pupils missing school due to closures doubled to 34,000 James Carr 4y James Carr 4y Covid 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 Freddie Whittaker 4y Freddie Whittaker and Tom Belger 4y Covid Schools battle to stay open amid Covid surge Leaders take extra teaching and cleaning duties as secondary absences breach 10 per cent mark James Carr 4y James Carr 4y Covid Majority of schools host just one week of Covid summer school Over 336,000 pupils attended summer schools last year James Carr 4y James Carr 4y Covid Pupil self-isolation advice slashed to 3 days Heads question guidance changes and end to free testing as Covid continues to disrupt schools Freddie Whittaker 4y Freddie Whittaker 4y Covid Covid: In-school vaccination programme to end this week Schools still asked to ‘signpost’ alternative vaccination routes for pupils James Carr 4y James Carr 4y Covid New teachers won’t have to extend induction because of Covid absence New teachers will be able to progress to second-year induction even if they miss more than 30 days, with… Tom Belger 4y Tom Belger 4y Covid Free school meals permanently extended to pupils with ‘no recourse to public funds’ Children of families subject to immigration control were temporarily given access to free meals in April 2020 Freddie Whittaker 4y Freddie Whittaker 4y Covid 270 million in-person school days missed due to Covid last year Absences rose more than five-fold in first full year of the pandemic Freddie Whittaker 4y Freddie Whittaker 4y Newer 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 19 Older Must Read Covid Exclusive DfE threatened with legal action over ‘unlawful’ Covid attendance rules The government is being threatened with legal action if it fails to update attendance guidance for vulnerable children and… James Carr 4y James Carr 4y Covid Academy trusts’ cash stash rises to £3bn despite pandemic pressures Academy trusts boosted their reserves and surpluses last year despite the upheaval of Covid, official figures show. New Department… Tom Belger 4y Tom Belger 4y