Pupils facing longer days and shorter holidays as school’s back
CHILDREN returning to school today could face longer hours in class and a shortened summer holiday under 18-month catch-up plans.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson also revealed a five-term year may be introduced.
He said: “We’re looking at holidays, we’re looking at lengthening the school day, we’re looking at a whole range of measures.”
He promised that education recovery tsar Sir Kevan Collins – whose background is in tutoring – would “leave no stone unturned” in the plan.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson said he is “very hopeful” the return of pupils will go smoothly and warned the risk of keeping classrooms closed outweighed a school-led Covid spike.
The Prime Minister echoed the warnings of education experts that more damage was being done to pupils by keeping them at home than having them return to face-to-face lessons.
He added: “The risk is actually in not going back to school tomorrow given all the suffering, all the loss of learning we have seen.” Children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield last month said it was “impossible to overstate how damaging the past year has been for many children”. And Ofsted head Amanda Spielman has expressed concern about eating disorders and self-harming among children.
She said pupils endured “boredom, loneliness, misery and anxiety” during the school shutdown since January.
But yesterday Ms Spielman warned similar catch-up plans to those being considered have failed in the past.
She told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “There’s no point adding time
here and ridding time there if you don’t get a groundswell of support.
“If children simply don’t turn up for extra time or summer schools for example, you could end up putting a lot of effort into something that doesn’t achieve the objective.
Distraction
“So my concern is to make sure we go with the grain of what parents will embrace to make sure all children get the very most out of their education.”
Teachers’ unions have branded the catch-up announcements a distraction
from efforts to get children back into England’s classrooms from today – a move they say should be phased like in Scotland andWales.
NASUWT general secretary Dr Patrick Roach said: “Teachers and school leaders do not need this distraction from the Education Secretary.
“Rather than dredging up tired ideas Gavin Williamson should be focusing his time and energy on supporting the work of teachers and schools, ensuring that schools reopen safely on Monday. And that everything that can be done is done to keep them open.”
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, cautioned ministers against piling fresh pressure on teachers.
He said: “Any proposals to change term times or holidays will need to consider that teachers already work more unpaid overtime than any other profession.
“And that excessive workload is the reason that many teachers and school leaders leave teaching.”
Mr Williamson insisted schools are ready to reopen today, marking the first step on the roadmap out of the national lockdown.
He confirmed they will remain open even if the coronavirus R reproduction number rises above one, showing the epidemic is spreading.
Mr Williamson said: “That is why we are taking a cautious approach because we intend for it to be an irreversible approach and that schools will continue to remain open.”
Dr Susan Hopkins, deputy director of Public Health England, also said she did not think the reopening of schools should be paused if the R number swings above one.
She said the three weeks before the Easter holiday gives experts time to look at the data “very carefully”. Dr
Hopkins explained the dynamics would change between case numbers and those needing hospital treatment or dying because of the fast vaccination rollout.
Attendance at school will be mandatory for all pupils when they reopen in England. However, youngsters who are shielding have been asked to remain at home for a bit longer.
Secondary school year groups can return on different days this week to allow for Covid testing – which has already started.
They will be checked three times in the first fortnight, then given two tests each week to use at home.
These lateral flow tests [LTF] involve taking a swab of the nose and throat, giving a result within 30 minutes.
All primary and secondary staff are also being offered twice-weekly rapid tests, and parents and carers can also get a twice-weekly check.
However, there have been fears false positive results could mean pupils and their families being forced to isolate unnecessarily.
Dr Hopkins said evidence from LTFs over the last eight weeks in real-life scenarios suggested the false positive rate was extremely low – less than one in 1,000.
Home tests also require a confirmatory second test but the health chief said the results of those conducted at school would stand as they will be taken by trained staff.