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Boris Johnson to launch £700million summer school programme to help pupils catch up
Good idea?
Secondary schools are being asked to offer face-to-face summer schools as part of a multimillion pound catch up programme for children.
An additional £400 million of funding has been pledged, on top of the £300m pledged earlier this year in January.
The catch-up scheme is set to help children whose education has been disrupted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Part of the scheme involves summer provision for those pupils who need it the most, such as incoming Year 7 pupils, with one-to-one and small group tutoring schemes set to be expanded.
The programme includes a one-off £302m ‘Recovery Premium’ to help disadvantaged pupils in both primary and secondary schools. The money is set to fund the running of additional clubs and activities in the summer, or for evidence-based approaches to help students from September.
Face-to-face summer schools for secondary schools will also be funded by a further £200m.
However, Labour points out that the funding totals to 43p per pupil per day, and is less than the amount spent on the now controversial Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
Mr Johnson said: “When schools re-open and face to face education resumes on March 8th, our next priority will be ensuring no child is left behind as a result of the learning they have lost over the past year.
“This extensive programme of catch-up funding will equip teachers with the tools and resources they need to support their pupils, and give children the opportunities they deserve to learn and fulfil their potential.”
Sir Kevan Collins was appointed as the education recovery commission earlier this month by Boris Johnson to help oversee the government’s catch-up programme for pupils.
Collins is set to develop long term plans for evidence-based interventions to address the impact of Covid-19 on learning, after engaging with schools, colleges, charities and parents.
Sir Kevan said: “We know that ensuring all children and young people can make up for lost learning will be a longer-term challenge, and the range of measures announced today are an important next step.
“But this is just the beginning and I’ll be engaging with the sector, educational charities as well as families, to ensure this support is delivered in a way that works for both young people and the sector and to understand what more is needed to help recover students’ lost learning over the course of this parliament.”
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson added: “Our package of measures will deliver vital support to the children and young people who need it most, making sure everyone has the same opportunity to fulfil their potential no matter their background.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Summers schools will be of value for some pupils but it will be important not to overwhelm students. Recovery cannot happen in a single summer.”
He added: “Fortunately, there already exists a wealth of knowledge within the profession about how to narrow achievement gaps. We need to trust schools to put in place a long-term approach based on what they know about the needs of their pupils.”
General secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, Geoff Barton said it is ‘frustrating’ the £700m package has been ‘salami-sliced to such an extent that it may reduce its effectiveness’.
Explaining, he said: “Our view is that the total sum of the money should go directly to schools, colleges, and early years providers, rather than being diverted into other pots or ring-fenced.
“By allocating a large sum of money to the National Tutoring Programme and apparently earmarking another large sum of money specifically for summer schools, there is less available to schools and colleges to use for catch-up support in general.”
The measure was called a ‘promising start’ by founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, Sir Peter Lampl but he added that there were ‘no quick fixes’ and called for a consistent multi-year recovery plan.
He said: “The strongest evidence for accelerating learning is for increasing time for high-quality teaching. Targeted summer schools are one way to achieve this, and it’s good that schools will have flexibility to decide what will work best for them and their staff.
“However, it’s important to recognise the problem of teacher burnout that could be exacerbated by additional workload.”
Shadow education secretary Kate Green said: “This is not adequate and will not make up for the learning and time with friends that children have lost.
“There is no specific mention of supporting children’s mental health or wellbeing, which is fundamental to enabling their recovery from this pandemic.”