One in five secondary schools not fully open over virus

NEARLY ONE in five state secondary schools were unable to fully open last week – and most were due to Covid- related reasons, figures show.

The proportion of state schools that were fully open has dropped, but pupil attendance has risen slightly, according to the Department for Education’s ( DfE) latest statistics.

It comes as education unions call for students due to take their GCSE and A- level exams next year to be prioritised for Covid- 19 testing to reduce “ongoing disruption” to their learning.

Around 82 per cent of state secondary schools were fully open on October 1 - down from 84 per cent a week earlier.

Schools are considered to be not fully open if they are unable to provide face- to- face teaching for all pupils for the whole school day and have asked a group of students to self- isolate.

Overall, approximately 92 per cent of state schools were fully open, down from 93 per cent on September 24.

The cause of schools not being fully open was mostly “due to Covid- 19 related reasons”, the DfE said.

However, pupil attendance increased in secondary schools from approximately 84 per cent to 86 per cent. About 90 per cent of pupils in all state schools were in attendance, up from 88 per cent a week earlier.

The DfE suggested that groups of pupils being asked to self- isolate “are becoming smaller”.

Yesterday, Otley- born Children’s Commissioner, Anne Longfield told MPs that more needs to be done to help pupils catch- up with their studies.

She told the Commons Education Select Committee that the Government needs to be taking steps now to empower schools to help, and support, those families facing poverty as a result of losing their jobs.