CYP Now - Covid-19 restrictions could set back children’s development by six months, Ofsted warns

Repeated isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic has left many children across early years settings and schools “at least six months behind where they should be” in terms of learning and social and emotional development, Ofsted has said.

Amanda Spielman: We want to return to our usual work in a measured, sensitive and practical way. Picture: Ofsted

In a final series of reports by the inspectorate following 2,000 visits to schools, childcare settings, children’s social care providers and services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), chief inspector Amanda Spielman warns that “repeated absences due to Covid-19 outbreaks have resulted in pupils losing more learning.”

The reports add that “for a significant number of pupils, repeated periods of self-isolation have chipped away at the progress they have been able to make since September”.

Inspectors found that in more than half of schools visited, pupils in class or year group bubbles were sent home to self-isolate at some point during the term, with more children sent home in bubbles from secondary schools than primary schools.

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