Coronavirus daily round-up: Wednesday 3 June
Fiona Simpson
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Schools in Wales will reopen to all pupils on 29 June using a rota system to ensure no more than one third of students are in attendance at any time, the education minister has announced.
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Each day, CYP Now will summarise the key issues affecting the children and families sector as it tackles the effects of the pandemic. The daily update signposts children’s services practitioners and leaders to the latest developments, expert views, advice and resources.
Welsh schools to reopen this month
Schools in Wales will reopen to all year groups on 299 June, the education minister has said.
Kirsty Williams said only one third of pupils will be in school at one time with settings open for all year groups at limited periods during the week.
The summer term will be extended by a week to 27 June, Williams said, adding that waiting until September to open schools would be “to the detriment to the wellbeing, learning progress and mental health of our young people”.
The Welsh government will issue more guidance to schools and young people next week, it said.
School closures ‘will set attainment gap back a decade’
New research by the Education Endowment Foundation could reverse progress made to close the attainment gap between poorer and wealthier students back to levels seen in 2011.
Projections by the foundation suggest that the gap could widen by 36 per cent, however this could increase by as much as 75 per cent in the most disadvantaged areas, the research warns.
The foundation has called for the government to introduce extra catch-up provision, including assessment of lost learning and targeted support, to help reduce the effect of closures.
“However, it is unlikely that a single catch-up strategy will be sufficient to compensate for lost learning due to school closures. There is a risk that high levels of absence after schools formally reopen poses a particular risk for disadvantaged pupils,” research states.
More than four in 10 schools ‘did not reopen on 1 June’
Some 44 per cent of schools did not reopen to year groups suggested by the government on 1 June, a survey of 23,000 members of the National Education Union revealed.
The majority of the 44 per cent of schools remained open only for children of key workers and vulnerable children, the survey shows.
Just 35 per cent of schools reopened in line with government plans, with a further six per cent expected to do so by the end of the week, the union says.
A further 21 per cent of schools opened more widely to some pupils but not as many as expected by government, the survey adds.
Disadvantaged children given iPads to support home-learning
Around 300 children will be given iPads to support their education thanks to a £100,000 donation from founder of the Youth Sport Trust Sir John Beckwith to the charity.
The trust has been working with Apple and its Education Specialist Partners on the project.
It will now work with its network of 20,000 schools across the UK and insight from government departments to identify which young people are most in need of the donation, the trust said.
Beckwith added: “This pandemic has brought to the fore just how many children miss out because they do not have access to technology at home. It was an issue I felt strongly about before the pandemic struck but now with home schooling and remote learning due to continue for some time, there are too many children missing out.
“I also hope this donation can highlight how technology can play a part in active lifestyles and encourage active learning at a time when we know less than 50 per cent of children access the recommended 60 active minutes a day and the least active, are again, the most disadvantaged.”
Early Years Alliance launches ‘welcome back’ pack for childminders
The Early Years Alliance has launched a new collection of resources to support childminders with the reopening of settings as lockdown measures are eased.
The ‘Welcome Back Childminder’ bundle contains three resource packs developed to support childminders as they consider the implications for welcoming children back to their home or provision.
The first pack is centered around supporting the mental health and wellbeing of both childminders and children in their care.
The bundle is available free to members and costs £15 for non-members.
Young people lost most working hours due to Covid-19 shutdown
Young people suffered the biggest reduction in working hours as the UK shutdown due to Covid-19, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows.
Between January 2020 and March 2020, 16- to 24-year-olds saw their working hours drop by 5.9 per cent compared with the same period last year, the figures show.
The ONS says 21.4 per of young workers are employed in distribution services while a further 16.3 per cent work in the accommodation and food services industries - all of which were severely impacted by the pandemic.
“They also constitute a large proportion of workers on non-standard forms of employment for example, zero-hours contracts”, the ONS states.
The next most impacted age-group was those aged 65 and over whose hours dropped by 4.8 per cent and are largely employed in health and social work and education, the new report shows.
