The government may think that Covid has “disappeared from the scene”, but the illness is “rampaging” through our schools as cases nationally continue to rise.
As Covid infections increase in the general population, staff and pupil absences have risen sparking renewed calls for the reinstatement of free Covid testing in schools.
The amount of money being raised by school PTAs continues to fall despite volunteers putting in more hours.
The latest school attendance figures have been stripped of any data on Covid-related absence as ministers try to “pretend that the pandemic is over”.
“We continue to hear a sense of deep frustration from school leaders as they struggle to deal with the significant and on-going disruption caused by Covid – while the government removes every measure ...
School leaders have urged the government to continue to make free Covid tests available from April 1 after the recent improvement in infection rates proved to be a “false dawn”.
This summer’s SATs should be cancelled given that the results will be “useless”, school leaders have urged.
As Covid-related pupil absence falls markedly, families are urged to continue to remain vigilant and to continue to follow government guidance on testing and isolation.
Can we rely on families “doing the right thing” and keeping children off school if they have symptoms or test positive for Covid? That is the key question playing on the minds of school leaders as ...
Boris Johnson’s plans to scrap all Covid restrictions, including the need to self-isolate after testing positive, risk causing chaos in schools without clear guidance.
Slowing rates of Covid infection and absence among pupils and staff have been welcomed, but schools still face “significant operational challenges” and would like more acknowledgement of this fact ...
Questions are being asked over the fairness of holding SATs this summer given the continuing and stark increases in both student and staff absence from schools.
The children’s word of the year for 2021 has been revealed as “anxiety”, reflecting the mental health and wellbeing challenges caused by the pandemic.
The evidence continues to stack up that schools want to be funded to deliver their own “catch-up” tutoring interventions and are shunning the struggling National Tutoring Programme (NTP).
A teaching assistant looking after 90 pupils in the school hall. An untrained cover supervisor teaching a full timetable. The Covid staffing crisis is worsening significantly with schools screaming ...
After having battled with Covid-related staff absence for much of the term, schools have been hit by the news that the newly re-opened workforce fund will only cover a short period before Christmas.
“Last half-term there was a sense that government was simply sitting back and watching Covid numbers rise – we do not want to see that again this half-term.”
With the end of term in sight, less than half of the government’s promised 300,000-plus CO2 monitors have been delivered to schools.
Ofsted is being urged to grant deferral requests from schools that find themselves in “crisis mode” due to the sharp increases in Covid-related absence of pupils and staff.
Remember what happened a year ago? There is a palpable sense of déjà vu as teachers and school leaders issue increasing desperate pleas for government action to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 among ...
Substantial progress has been made by schools during the summer term 2021 to recover learning “lost” during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Increasing levels of staff absence due to Covid continue to wreak havoc in schools, with budgets at breaking point and the majority of heads warning that teaching and learning is suffering.
Some schools are reporting up to 10 per cent staff absence due to confirmed or suspected cases of Covid-19.
“We can’t afford a caretaker or a SENCO” – primary school headteachers have laid bare the financial difficulties they are facing as one in four predict a deficit budget this year based on current ...
Schools should take action to improve ventilation if CO2 readings are “consistently higher than 1500ppm” but should still continue to use the room in question, Department for Education guidance has ...