Pupils: Coronavirus

(asked on 23rd February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that school pupils who are required to self-isolate due to the covid-19 outbreak do not fall behind at school.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 1st March 2021

We recognise teachers have been working exceptionally hard and making tremendous efforts to provide high quality remote education with much being achieved in recent months.

Until 8 March 2021, we continue to expect all primary and secondary schools in England to provide remote education for the majority of their pupils, with the exception of vulnerable children and young people and the children of critical workers, who can attend school in person. Where vulnerable children and young people and children of critical workers do not attend school, we expect schools to provide them with remote education.

From 8 March 2021, attendance will be mandatory for all pupils of compulsory school age. Schools affected by the remote education temporary continuity direction are still required to provide remote education for pupils where their attendance would be contrary to government guidance or legislation around COVID-19. This includes, for example, where such guidance means that a class, group or small number of pupils need to self-isolate, or that clinically extremely vulnerable children need to shield.

Where secondary schools are operating a phased return of pupils during week commencing 8 March to allow for testing, we expect schools to provide remote education for all pupils not yet expected to attend on-site.

Where it is needed, both now and after 8 March, schools are expected to offer pupils 3 to 5 hours of remote education that includes time for independent study and also either recorded or live direct teaching. This includes either recorded or live direct teaching alongside time for pupils to work independently to complete assignments that have been set. Online video lessons do not necessarily need to be recorded by teaching staff at the school. Oak National Academy lessons, for example, can be provided in lieu of school-led video content.

Schools are expected to have a system in place for checking on a daily basis whether pupils are engaging actively with their work. Schools will need to work with families to swiftly identify where pupil engagement is a concern and find effective solutions. A comprehensive package of support continues to be available to schools to help them meet these expectations. Schools can find further support via the Get Help with Remote Education page on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-help-with-remote-education.

In January 2021, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister, committed to working with parents, teachers and schools to develop a long-term plan to help support pupils make up their learning over the course of this parliament.

We also recognise that extended restrictions on attendance at schools and colleges have had a substantial impact on children and young people’s education. The Department has appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner, to advise on this plan and will say more on this in due course. More immediately, we are making available £700 million to put in place a range of additional measures to give nurseries, schools and colleges the tools they need to target support to their pupils.

In addition, we announced a catch-up package on 24 February 2021 which will build on the £1 billion catch up package announced in June 2020 and form part of the wider response to help pupils make up their lost learning over the course of this Parliament.

Finally, a range of high-quality online resources will be available for all teachers and pupils, starting from the summer term and throughout summer holidays, provided by Oak National Academy, to help give pupils the confidence they are ready for the next academic year.

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