Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to allocate funding from the public purse for the provision of summer schools for children in the state sector during the 2020 summer holidays.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government have announced a universal catch-up premium of £650 million which will be shared between all state-funded primary, secondary, and special schools in England. This premium will be in addition to schools’ core budgets for the 2020/21 academic year.
The universal catch-up premium has been set up to support schools to provide catch-up provision for those who need it most as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. It is for schools to decide how to allocate it in the most effective way, as they will know best their specific needs.
Provision could include, for example, intervention programmes, extra teaching capacity, access to technology and / or the provision of summer schools. The Education Endowment Foundation have published a COVID-19 Support Guide for Schools to make best use of this funding: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/covid-19-support-guide-for-schools/. This includes advice on summer schools and links to the Teach First Toolkit that is specifically focussed on the provision of summer schools.
In addition, the government has confirmed £9 million of funding to support Holiday Activity and Food programmes in 17 local authorities across England.
A wide range of charities, youth and sports providers will also be offering developmental programmes for young people over the summer including, for example, the National Citizen Service (NCS). NCS will be providing a range of activities to further education colleges and schools over the summer and autumn to support young people develop life knowledge and re-engage with education.
The Government understands the importance of holiday activities in providing opportunities that allow children to socialise and interact with others outside of their household whilst promoting their wellbeing. The Department for Education has therefore published guidance for providers of community activities, holiday and after-school clubs as well as other out-of-school provision for children over the age of 5, which sets out the protective measures that need to be in place to ensure that such settings can open as safely as possible.
Alongside this, the Department has published guidance for parents and carers on the precautions they should be taking if they are thinking of sending their child to any provision over the summer period.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many requests he has received to meet with the The Black Curriculum; and what plans he has to meet with that organisation.
Answered by Nick Gibb
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education received a request directly from The Black Curriculum organisation asking for a meeting and a response has been sent. At this stage, the Department’s work responding to the COVID-19 outbreak and other diary pressures make it difficult for the Secretary of State to arrange a meeting. However, the Secretary of State’s reply makes clear that officials have met with the organisation previously and are happy to meet with them again to discuss these matters.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will create a standardised home learning framework to help maintain educational standards throughout England during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Getting more children back in school is vital for their education and their wellbeing – particularly for the most disadvantaged children. Time out of school leads to lost education now but will also affect children’s ability to learn in future.
We believe the very best place for children to be from the Autumn is back in schools. For the vast majority of children, the benefits of being back in the classroom far outweigh the very low risk from COVID-19 and schools can take action to reduce that risk even further. On Thursday 2 July we published guidance for schools reopening to all pupils. This sets out key principles for curriculum planning so that all pupils – particularly disadvantaged, special educational needs and disability (SEND) and vulnerable pupils – are given the catch-up support needed to make substantial progress by the end of the academic year. This includes a section on remote education and can be found here:
Whilst children are unable to attend school, we are committed to ensuring that all children can continue to learn remotely in a number of ways, and as such are supporting sector-led initiatives such as the Oak National Academy. This new enterprise has been created by 40 teachers from schools across England. It will provide 180 video lessons for free each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from Reception through to year 10. By 28 June, 4.1 million unique users had accessed the Oak National Academy website and 14.7 million lessons had been viewed. Further remote education support can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remote-education-practice-for-schools-during-coronavirus-covid-19.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding has been allocated to schools in the London Borough of Ealing in relation to (a) online tuition and (b) teaching materials.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Ealing is receiving an extra £10.1 million for schools this year, an increase of 3.7% per pupil taking total funding for 2020-21 in Ealing to £250.8 million.
It is up to each school to determine how to deliver education to its pupils, and how best to use their funding. We recognise that many schools have already shared resources – both online and printed resources – for children who are at home, and we are committed to ensuring that all children can continue to learn remotely in a number of ways during these very difficult circumstances.
We are committed to ensuring that all children can continue to learn remotely in a number of ways for as long as they are unable to attend school, and are supporting sector-led initiatives such as the Oak National Academy. By 21 June, 3.9 million unique users had accessed the Oak National Academy website and 13.2 million lessons had been viewed.
The Government has also committed over £100 million to boost remote education. This includes: providing devices and internet access for those who need it most, ensuring every school that wants it has access to free, expert technical support to get set up on Google for Education or Microsoft’s Office 365 Education, and offering peer support from schools and colleges leading the way with the use of education technology.
The Government have announced a package of support of £1 billion to ensure that schools have the support they need to help children and young people make up for lost teaching time, with extra support in the form of a tutoring programme for those who need it most. We will provide more information on exactly how this funding will be distributed in due course.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department plans to take to reduce the gap in provision between state and private schools after the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are committed to ensuring that all pupils continue to learn remotely where they cannot attend school due to COVID-19. The Department has published guidance to support state-funded schools in providing online lessons, and using high quality digital and printed curriculum resources.
To support state schools to provide education online, the Government has committed over £100 million to boost access to remote education. This includes providing laptops and tablets and internet access for those who need it most, ensuring every school that wants it has access to free, expert technical support to get set up on Google for Education or Microsoft’s Office 365 Education, and offering peer support from schools and colleges leading the way with the use of education technology.
The Department is also supporting sector-led initiatives such as Oak National Academy. This new enterprise has been created by 40 teachers from schools across England. It will provide 180 video lessons for free each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from Reception through to year 10. By 21 June, 3.9 million unique users had accessed the Oak National Academy website and 13.2 million lessons had been viewed. Additionally, the BBC has developed resources for families as part of a comprehensive new education package, which is now available on TV, BBC iPlayer and online at BBC Bitesize.
We expect all pupils to return to school in September, and the Department published guidance on Thursday 2 July. Given the possibility that groups of pupils need to self-isolate, such as for a local lockdown, all schools will be expected to have remote education contingency plans in place. The guidance sets out what is expected from schools for their remote education provision.
We are also providing a package of support worth £1 billion to support catch up for all pupils in state schools next academic year, including extra support for the most disadvantaged.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the additional number of pupils that can attend school in the event that social distancing guidelines are lower to one metre.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We want to get all children and young people back into education as soon as the scientific advice allows because it is the best place for them to learn. We know how important it is for their wellbeing to have social interactions with their teachers and friends. Our intention is for all children to return to school from September.
We have published further information and guidance to help schools prepare for September. The guidance is available here:
We will be guided by the latest scientific advice and are working with the sector to ensure our guidance provides schools with the further details they need. Any protective measures that may be necessary to keep children and teachers as safe as possible, advice on group sizes, staffing advice and transport considerations can be found in the guidance.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to split primary and secondary classes into multiple bubbles to minimise the risk of covid-19 transmission.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We want to get all children and young people back into education as soon as the scientific advice allows because it is the best place for them to learn. We know how important it is for their wellbeing to have social interactions with their teachers and friends. Our intention is for all children to return to school from September.
We have published further information and guidance to help schools prepare for September. The guidance is available here:
We will be guided by the latest scientific advice and are working with the sector to ensure our guidance provides schools with the further details they need. Any protective measures that may be necessary to keep children and teachers as safe as possible, advice on group sizes, staffing advice and transport considerations can be found in the guidance.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department plans to take steps to weight the exam results of children from less affluent households that have not had access to IT equipment during the covid-19 outbreak and whose parents have not attended higher education to reflect those disadvantages.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We recognise that students who are studying GCSE, A level or equivalent courses, and are due to take exams and assessments in 2021, will have experienced disruption to their education. We are working with Ofqual and the awarding organisations to develop our approach to next year’s exams and assessments in light of this.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to tackle unequal access to education as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Schools are continuing to receive additional funding in the form of the pupil premium – worth around £2.4 billion annually – to help them support their disadvantaged pupils. This includes those who have been in receipt of free school meals at any point in the last six years, and looked after and previously looked after children.
The government has also committed over £100 million to support vulnerable and disadvantaged children in England to access remote education, including by providing laptops, tablets and 4G wireless routers. The department has ordered over 200,000 laptops and tablets for vulnerable and disadvantaged children who would otherwise not have access and are preparing for examination in Year 10, receiving support from a social worker or are a care leaver.
We are providing over 50,000 4G wireless routers to disadvantaged children with a social worker in secondary school, care leavers and children in Year 10 who do not have access to a suitable internet connection through other means. We are also working with the country’s major telecommunications providers to make it easier for children in vulnerable and disadvantaged families, who are relying on mobile data, to access online educational resources.
To support the hard work of schools in delivering remote education, 40 teachers have come together to develop the brand-new Oak National Academy, launched at the start of the summer term. The Oak Academy provides 180 video lessons for free each week, across a broad range of subjects, for every year group from Reception through to Year 10. Education resources are also available offline. Children will be able to draw on support from the BBC, which is broadcasting lessons on television, and may choose to access the many hard copy resources offers which have been produced by publishers across the country.
We recognise that, for some children, there will be a need for additional support where they have not been able to learn in the same way that we would have expected this term. We are working with a range of partners, including the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), to establish how schools can best help their pupils – including those from disadvantaged backgrounds – to make up lost ground. In particular, we are very supportive of the work being taken forward by the EEF and other organisations to pilot online tutoring for disadvantaged pupils during the summer term.
Asked by: Virendra Sharma (Labour - Ealing, Southall)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has taken steps to monitor the potential effect of care proceedings on children who have had their contact with their birth family suspended.
Answered by Vicky Ford
The potential effect of care proceedings on children who have had their contact with their birth family suspended will continue to be considered by judges as part of individual care proceedings.
The department has published guidance on children in care and contact with their families while the government’s social distancing guidance remains in force. The guidance makes clear that contact between looked-after children and their birth parents must continue but may be more appropriate to take place virtually at this time: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-childrens-social-care-services/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-local-authorities-on-childrens-social-care.
We are also aware that the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory commissioned an urgent new research project, Understanding how children’s connections to birth families are being managed during social isolation. This showed that those taking part in our study reported widespread use of video calls by and for children in residential, foster and kinship care.