Phew - another hugely busy day for the education world. But the @tes team are with you every step of the way. Here's the main headlines from today 👇 (1/9)
We also learned that thousands of supply teachers are at risk of being "thrown to the wolves" with a sudden loss of earnings due to partial school closures, according to @NASUWTtes.com/news/coronavir… - via @Specktator100 (3/9)
Then we had the latest attendance data drop from @educationgovuk. Secondary school attendance plummeted – to just 14 per cent in one area – as the Covid crisis engulfed schools in the final week of term tes.com/news/coronavir… - via @JohnGRoberts (4/9)
And more than a third of primary pupils were not in school on the first day of this term, before the national lockdown began tes.com/news/more-thir… - via @JohnGRoberts (5/9)
Meanwhile, an almighty row kicked off over "inadequate" food parcels for children on FSM. Heads said the lack of an effective national school vouchers scheme was forcing schools to "piece together provision" themselves tes.com/news/food-parc… - via @CathImogenLough (6/9)
In a move that – unsurprisingly – provoked some derision, the government announced it was set to publish a "remote education framework" to help schools and colleges to identify "areas for improvement" in their distance teaching during the lockdown tes.com/news/coronavir… (7/9)
And we're finishing the day where we started: it's all about Ofsted. The watchdog has changed plans to go into schools after opposition from its own inspectors over Covid safety concerns tes.com/news/ofsted-u-… - via @JohnGRoberts (8/9)
Who else needs a lie down after that? And in all one day! Need to restock on caffeine for tomorrow. See you then. (9/9)
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Well, we've made it to the end of another jam-packed day for schools. There's been no let up in the news, so there's a huge amount to digest. I've done my best to sum up the headlines for you here 👇 - all via @tes (1/8)
Ah, who doesn't enjoy a dollop of uncertainty with their breakfast? This morning we reported that @BorisJohnson had told MPs that the reopening of schools after the February break will depend on "a number of things" tes.com/news/schools-m… - via @ClaudiaCivinini (2/8)
Then shortly afterwards we turned once again to attendance stats. According to a snap poll by @CharteredColl, eight out of 10 teachers say pupil numbers in class have "increased greatly" compared with the first lockdown tes.com/news/covid-exc… - via @ClaudiaCivinini (3/8)
The watchdog has received a flood of positive messages from parents since last week when education secretary @GavinWilliamson encouraged them to report their school to Ofsted if they were unhappy with remote learning. (2/7)
By Monday night, the inspectorate had received 11,000 emails from parents – many of whom spoke positively about their children's schools – up from 5,000 on Friday. (3/7)
🚨 NEW: Heads have reported that their pupils "can neither hear or see their remote lessons" due to issues with laptops provided by the government tes.com/news/coronavir… - me via @tes
More here 👇 (1/4)
Reports on social media suggest that some devices supplied by @educationgovuk have arrived with no sound driver installed, causing access issues for pupils learning from home. (2/4)
One headteacher posted on Twitter: "Our DFE laptops arrived last week and we were very excited to give them out....today we discovered they have no sound driver and ch [sic] can neither hear or see their remote lessons. Super 👍". (3/4)
More detail for my fellow data enthusiasts 👇 (1/5)
Around one in seven state school pupils (14 per cent) were in attendance on 11 January, including 20 per cent of primary pupils, and 4 per cent of secondary pupils. (2/5)
The figures also show that 11 per cent of open primary schools reported less than 10 per cent attendance, 47 per cent reported less than 20 per cent attendance, and 98 per cent reported less than 50 per cent attendance. (3/5)
Inspectors who are members of the @FDA_union have voted "overwhelmingly" to call on chief inspector @amanda_spielman to suspend on-site visits during the current Covid-19 lockdown. (2/4)
They have raised serious concerns about the risks posed to both pupils and staff of having Ofsted visit schools during the current public health crisis. (3/4)
So, we revealed today that the school tiers are going down the drain. And not a soul made it beyond Tier 1 (of 4). How did this happen? If you can bear to relive it with me, I'll attempt to piece it all together... (1/16)
Picture it: 28 August 2020. Eat Out to Help Out is still a thing. Life is... well, it's not rock bottom. Meanwhile, @educationgovuk reveals its "worst-case scenario" plan for Covid spikes in the form of a four-tiered system for keeping schools open tes.com/news/dfe-revea… (2/16)
This was:
🚨Tier 1: Face masks in secondary communal areas
🚨Tier 2: Secondaries on rota system
🚨Tier 3: Secondaries open only to vulnerable & key worker kids & some yr groups
🚨Tier 4: All settings open only to vulnerable & key worker kids, except AP and special schools
(3/16)