NEU issues Boris Johnson with catch-up plan for disadvantaged school pupils

At Wednesday’s daily press briefing Boris Johnson promised a “massive catch-up operation” would be announced next week to stop pupils falling behind as schools remain closed to the majority of students until at least September.

When questioned over the government’s decision to reopen zoos and shops but not schools, the Prime Minister said Education Secretary Gavin Williamson will be “setting out a lot more” next week.

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He added: “We’ll be doing a huge amount of catch up for pupils over the summer months, Gavin Williamson [will be] setting out a lot more next week about the catch-up programme.”

He later added the programme will continue to run after summer to “keep making sure kids get the remedial help they need for the stuff they’ve missed for months and months to come to genuinely make up for lost time”.

Johnson rowed back on plans to reopen all primary schools fully next month, with social distancing measures in place, earlier this week over fears of increased infection rates.

He said last night that the government would have liked to “be in a position where we have got the remainder of primary back for a couple of weeks before the summer holidays, we wanted to do that.”

The decision not to reopen schools over safety fears was welcomed by many but led to heightened concern over the impact on the most disadvantaged children.

Children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield said extending closures will mean children “will have missed out on the best part of six months of formal education”.

This will affect disadvantaged children “much more significantly”, she added. 

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A recent report by the Education Endowment Foundation suggests school closures could reverse progress made to close the attainment gap between poorer and wealthier students back to levels seen in 2011. 

Today (Thursday), the NEU has written to the Prime Minister laying out a 10-point plan to support “all children and young people, and in particular those who suffer from disadvantage and deprivation”.

The letter calls on the government to “invest significantly” in the plan which it says “seeks to address the sense of isolation which is being felt by many children through a summer holiday local offer”.

“It focuses, also, on poor children and young people who need significant additional support so that they can fulfil their potential now, and in their adult lives,” the union adds.

The 10 points laid out by the NEU are:

• Disadvantaged children and young people and their families must be a key priority. 

• Free school meals must continue to be provided over the summer holidays.

• Local authorities must be funded to make a summer holiday local offer with places for those on free school meals should be fully funded by government.

• Public buildings, such as libraries and sports halls, civic centres and religious buildings should be used to expand the space available to schools.

• Qualified teachers who have left the profession should be encouraged to return to teaching. 

• GCSE and A levels must be changed to provide a fair assessment of young people’s attainment. 

• Plans must be made for blended learning – pupils learning at school and at home – from September.

• Children and young people living in poverty and low- income homes must be given the resources they need to learn at home.

• Unemployment, training and benefits for the poorest pupils as well as direct support to schools.

• A national plan for children’s wellbeing.

Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the NEU, said:

“Schools and pupils have had to adapt quickly to extraordinary circumstances. They have done this remarkably well, often with little or unclear guidance from government. This cannot happen again.

“We need a clear national plan. The government must demonstrate leadership and the capacity to work with local authorities and education unions so that plans are implemented in all the regions.

“We look forward to speaking to government alongside other education unions and education professionals about how we get this right, and in good time, for both the summer holidays and September. Government cannot let schools struggle through this on their own.”

Ofsted’s chief inspector of schools Amanda Spielman is among those to express disappointment at the extended closure of schools and echoed calls for more to be done to support children and prepare for reopening in September.

Giving evidence to the Lords public services committee, she said: “So many people perhaps have been looking at this from the point of view of what they can’t do, rather than what they can.

“I would love to see more people in local areas really stepping up and saying – I could make this happen – and getting as much on the road as possible this side of the summer and real ambition for what happens in the autumn.”