Pupils call for reduced school curriculum as PM set to announce reopening date Neil Puffett Monday, February 22, 2021
Young people have called for the school curriculum to be reduced in a bid to help them catch up on lost learning as Boris Johnson is expected to announce that schools will reopen on 8 March.
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Published:
7:00 AM February 17, 2021
A Rainham school is to be given 46 laptops thanks to a donation from Rainham Steel and Clarion Housing which was facilitated by MP Jon Cruddas.
- Credit: PA
A primary school in Rainham will receive the laptops needed for its students, thanks to the efforts of MP Jon Cruddas, Rainham Steel and Clarion Housing.
Newtons Primary School is to get 46 laptops over the coming weeks, which headteacher Una Connolly says will ensure devices are given to all 100 students entitled to the pupil premium grant.
Ms Connolly told the Recorder that she decided to approach Mr Cruddas last month when it became clear that the 54 laptops offered by the Department of Education (DfE) wouldn t meet the need.
Plans to help school students catch-up from a year of Covid disruption were thrown into doubt last night after teaching unions issued a fresh pay demand.
Britain s largest teaching union, the National Education Union (NEU), said any plans to lengthen the school day or extend terms dates would require a new pay deal.
It comes after Boris Johnson vowed to go flat out to help children catch-up on lost learning during lockdown - including the possibility of plans to extend the school year in England.
But while the NEU s joint general secretary, Kevin Courtney, said he was in favour of using school buildings for extra catch-up lessons, he said any that involve teachers working longer hours would require a new pay deal.
Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds found remote learning significantly more difficult than other students last year, a new study has found.
Non-profit body ImpactEd monitored 62,000 pupils in England through eight months of 2020 to assess the effect of online schooling during the pandemic.
Their report, Lockdown Lessons, found that among pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds – those at schools eligible for the Government’s Pupil Premium grant – only 45% said they understood their schoolwork in lockdown, compared with 57% among other students.
The survey assessed pupils using a range of measures including their home learning environment, their metacognitive strategies and their learning habits, in order to determine a “Covid-19 Learning Index”.
LONG-term disadvantaged pupils will see their academic performance affected by their situation, according to a report. Children across East Lancashire who come from disadvantaged families are struggling even more than before the Covid-19 pandemic, with a new report stating that those who have been living in poverty for a long time will also see this impact on their GCSE performance. The Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) compared numbers of secondary schools with a high level of long-term disadvantaged high impact pupils between 2017 and 2019, as well as analysing attainment at GCSE level, which has shown the disadvantage gap has increased for children.