PM pledges huge catch-up plan before schools return

Volunteer army of retired teachers could be called up for summer push

FACED with a Tory revolt over his failure to reopen schools, Boris Johnson last night pledged a ‘big summer catch- up’ programme of education.

He said it would help pupils ‘make up for lost time’ after the Government u-turned on its vow to get primary children back before summer.

The plan could involve children being taught by a volunteer army of retired teachers.

The PM’s promise came after the Government faced a backlash over schools, with some experts describing the approach as an ‘absolute tragedy’. As well as abandoning the idea of getting all primary pupils back before summer, ministers have also been forced to admit that a full return for all pupils may not be possible in September.

The problems have been blamed on the two-metre social distancing rule and official guidelines that limit class sizes.

Ministers dictched their primary schools’ pledge on the same day zoos were given permission to reopen – leading some to question the Government’s priorities.

Yesterday, two former Tory education secretaries spoke out, with Justine Greening accusing ministers of ‘levelling down’ and Damian Hinds demanding ‘creative thinking’ to solve the problem. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said that every day children were away from school was a ‘tragedy’.

Meanwhile, education committee chairman Robert Halfon called for a ‘national education army’ of retired teachers to help pupils make up for lost time. Senior Tory backbencher Tobias Ellwood calld for the two- metre rule to be reduced, saying it would enable schools to resume more smoothly.

Speaking at the Downing St press conference, Mr Johnson reiterated that the ambition was for all children to return by September. But he also revealed that Education Secretary Gavin Williamson would announce plans for a summer catch-up scheme next week.

‘We’re going to get all schools back in September if we possibly can,’ he said. ‘But it’s going to be a big summer of catch-up, and not just a summer of catch-up – we’re going to keep making sure that kids get the remedial help that they need for the stuff that they’ve missed for months and months to come so that they genuinely make up for the lost time.’

He added that there was a ‘very big plan’ to get secondaries back now primary schools had started going back, saying: ‘We think we’re taking the right decisions at the right time to beat the virus.’ However,

he admitted the Government had been forced to move slower than it would have liked because the rate of infection of the virus is not low enough to relax social distancing in schools.

Downing Street did not rule out asking retired teachers to return to the profession to help schools over the summer.

It came after a revolt by former teaching chiefs and Tory MPs who have accused the Government of not having a plan to get children back to school.

Former chief inspector of schools in England, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said the Government’s approach to education has been an ‘absolute tragedy’. He said schools will need to put in place recovery programmes, appeal to teachers to

‘Ministers are levelling down’

run catch-up classes over the summer and even allow some of the worst affected to repeat their school year.

‘I would be appealing to staff to come in over the summer holidays and take catchup classes with those youngsters who need it,’ he said.

Mr Halfon called for a ‘national education army’ of retired teachers, students and Ofsted inspectors to save the school year.

He said the Government must help the disadvantaged to avoid an ‘epidemic of educational poverty’.

‘We want Primark to open, we want pubs to open, people to go to Southend beach. We don’t mind delivery workers delivering our supermarket goods... and yet we say it is not safe for the schools to go back – it is insane,’ he told the Daily Telegraph.

Former education secretary Justine Greening accused ministers of ‘levelling down’.

She said: ‘I think many people will be very surprised that there isn’t yet a government plan in place to help our schools get back open and there’s also not a government plan in place to help children that have been most affected by the schools shutdown to be able to catch up.

‘And the big risk for Boris Johnson’s government now is that unless they bring forward a proper joined- up strategy, then it won’t be a government that delivers levelling up in Britain, it will end up being a government that levels down and nobody wants to see that.’

Tory MP Jonathan Gullis also called for a volunteer army to teach children this summer. ‘As a former teacher I’m prepared to come out and work over the summer... if we don’t we are going to fail an entire generation,’ he said.

Speaking in the Lords, Chief Ofsted inspector Amanda Spielman said it’s ‘terribly disappointing’ more schools were not opening before summer and that the educational ‘gaps are almost certainly widening’.