Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance the Government has provided to local authorities on summer school provision during the covid-19 outbreak for children of (a) key-workers, (b) low-income families and (c) all children.

Holiday clubs and out-of-school clubs for children will be able to restart over the summer, with safety measures in place. These clubs will be part of Step 3 of the recovery strategy (from 4 July). We have provided guidance for the sector on how to implement the protective measures necessary to minimise the risk to children, teachers and parents who attend their schools by reducing the risk of infection and transmission of COVID-19, as well as advice to 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.

Whilst we are not asking schools to open over the summer holidays and there is not the expectation that schools should open for vulnerable children and children of critical workers over this period, we are aware that some headteachers may be considering using their catch-up premium to provide summer school activities for their pupils. Where this is the case, they have the flexibility, discretion and autonomy to decide how they want to do this. To support schools in planning how to use the catch-up premium, the Education Endowment Foundation has produced a guide which includes advice on summer schools and contains a link to a Teach First toolkit specifically focused on summer schools.

On 22 June, we also announced the 17 local authority areas that our Holiday Activities and Food programme will operate in this summer, providing thousands of disadvantaged children with access to healthy meals and holiday activities.