Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include (1) social, (2) emotional, and (3) spiritual development, in the help being offered to primary school children to catch up on missed education as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We want to support all young people to be happy, healthy and safe, to equip them for adult life and to make a positive contribution to society. As a result, all schools must offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based, and which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, and prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

The statutory relationships and health education curriculum includes teaching about mental wellbeing. The topic covers how to talk about emotions accurately and sensitively, the benefits and importance of physical exercise and community activities on mental wellbeing and happiness, and where and how to seek support if they are worried about their own or someone else’s mental wellbeing. A significant contribution towards developing primary school children’s social, emotional and spiritual development is also made by school ethos, effective relationships throughout the school.

The department has committed £1.7 billion additional funding to date to help pupils recover from the recent disruption they have experienced: £1 billion in June 2020, including a £650 million premium for schools, and a further £700 million in February 2021 to provide additional funding through a Recovery Premium, summer schools, expansion of tutoring programmes and early language support.

This new one-off Recovery Premium for state primary and secondary schools, building on the Pupil Premium, will be provided to schools to use as they see best to support disadvantaged pupils. To help schools use this funding, the Education Endowment Foundation has published a support guide for schools with evidence-based approaches to catch up and a further school planning guide, which are available at: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/national-tutoring-programme/covid-19-support-guide-for-schools/#nav-covid-19-support-guide-for-schools1 and https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/covid-19-resources/guide-to-supporting-schools-planning/.

The guidance is clear that interventions, including those focused on aspects of education such as behaviour or pupils’ social and emotional needs, are likely to be important to support those who have fallen furthest behind. Summer schools can also be effective in improving wellbeing, including through providing a mix of enrichment activities alongside academic content.

We have commissioned a mixed-methods research study that will examine schools’ recovery approaches to lost time in education as a result of COVID-19. This research will deliver an understanding of how schools are assessing the scale of any attainment loss, how the catch-up funding is being used, and the approaches schools are taking to catch pupils up – alongside any barriers/success factors to these approaches. The study will also assess how schools are helping pupils recover from any wellbeing or behavioural loss that may have occurred as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

To provide further support during the autumn and spring terms, the department has worked with our partners, the Department of Health and Social Care, Health Education England, Public Health England and key voluntary sector organisations, to launch Wellbeing for Education Return. This project, backed by £8 million, will train local experts to provide additional training, advice and resources to schools and colleges to help support pupil and student wellbeing, resilience and recovery.