England could get longer school days
ENGLAND’S Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has not ruled out lengthening school days or shortening summer breaks to help pupils in England catch up from coronavirus disruption.
Ministers yesterday announced an extra £400 million of funding and asked secondaries to deliver some summer teaching to counteract the months of classroom closures.
With all pupils in England set to return on March 8 in the first easing of the lockdown, the programme includes a one-off £302 million “Recovery Premium” for primary and secondary schools to support disadvantaged pupils.
It could include running additional clubs and activities in the summer, or opting for evidence-based approaches to help children from September.
A further £200 million will be available to secondary schools to deliver face-to-face summer schools.
Mr Williamson defended the level of expenditure after Labour and a teaching union said it was inadequate for the scale of the task ahead.
He said the funding was just the “immediate response” and that newly-appointed education recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins will investigate more extensive measures.
Pressed on whether extending the school day could be among the measures, the Education Secretary told Sky News: “He’ll be looking at how we can boost and support children in a whole range of different manners. But it’s not just about time in school, it’s about supporting teachers in terms of the quality of teaching and how we can help them.”
Mr Williamson told BBC Breakfast that “in the next few days” ministers will outline the “more granular detail” of how students will be assessed this year in the absence of exams.
The recovery package, which comes on top of the £300 million pledged in January, stopped short of mentioning the proposals to extend school days and shorter summer holidays. Both were previously described as “policy gimmicks” by the Association of School and College Leaders.
Summer provision will come in for pupils who need it the most, such as incoming Year 7 pupils, while one-to-one and small group tutoring schemes will be expanded.
Some £200 million will fund an expansion of existing tuition programmes for students – including the National Tutoring Programme – as well as funding additional language support for pre-school children.
Boris Johnson said “our next priority will be ensuring no child is left behind as a result of the learning they have lost”.
“This extensive programme of catch-up funding will equip teachers with the tools and resources they need to support their pupils, and give children the opportunities they deserve to learn and fulfil their potential,” he added.
REGIONAL diplomatic efforts to resolve Myanmar’s political crisis have gathered pace as protests continued in Yangon and other cities calling for the country’s military to stand down and Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government to be returned to power. Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi visited the Thai capital of Bangkok as part of her efforts to co-ordinate a regional response to the crisis triggered by Myanmar’s military coup on February 1.
Also making the trip to neighbouring Thailand was the foreign minister appointed by Myanmar’s new military government, retired army colonel Wunna Maung Lwin, said a Thai government official.
Another Thai official said Mr Lwin met with Thai foreign minister Don Pramudwinai as well as Thailand’s prime minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, himself a former army chief who first took power in a military coup.
There was no immediate word whether Ms Marsudi also met the Myanmar diplomat.
RESIDENTS in a South Wales city could see council tax increase by 3.7%, after the council’s cabinet revised its draft proposals.
Newport council’s cabinet originally proposed a 5% council tax increase, but on Monday a decision was made to reduce this to 3.7% after feedback from the public consultation.
This proposed change is set to cost the council £753,000.
The final budget proposals will go to a full council meeting on Tuesday for a final decision.
The leader of the council Councillor Jane Mudd said that, by reducing the council tax increase, she was responding to what people had said in the consultation.
She said the feedback on the budget proposals was positive, aside from the council tax increase.
It was also announced that charges for non-household waste to be taken to recycling centres would not be in the final budget proposals.
Cllr Mudd said the council would invest around £828,000 in social care, which will be funded in part by the increase in the social care workforce grant.
Leader of the Opposition, Cllr Matthew Evans, said: “One of the key points is that it is better than the 5% originally planned by the council.
“However, it is still an increase of 10% over the past two years, and it will be a bitter pill for residents to swallow, at a time when they are receiving less services from the council as a result of the pandemic.”
MASS vaccination centres across the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board area will reopen soon with one new site announced.
The vaccination centres in Rhondda, Merthyr Tydfil, Bridgend and Abercynon were all closed earlier this month due to a fall in the supply of the coronavirus vaccine.
The Abercynon site will not be reopening, but a new vaccine centre in the Cynon Valley will open at the Cynon Valley Indoor Bowls in Mountain Ash.
Six sites will reopen on Monday, March 1, including a new centre at Llantrisant leisure centre, along with original sites at Ystrad Rhondda Sports Centre in Rhondda, a site in Bridgend, Maesteg, Mountain Ash and Merthyr Tydfil Leisure Centre.
A new centre has also been announced and the Aberfan Leisure Centre will be turned into a mass vaccination site and operating by the end of March.
The mass vaccination sites closed temporarily due to a supply issue with the AstraZeneca vaccine but levels are due to return from the beginning of March.
While the two-week closure was in place, vaccine supplies were given to GP practises in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB area.
In a statement from the health board, a spokesperson said when the centres reopen on
Monday they will begin administering second dose vaccinations to health and social care workers and people aged 70 to 74.
It also added that GP surgeries are currently contacting groups five to six for them to have their vaccines at their own surgery.