Government distributes further 300,000 devices for disadvantaged children
A further 300,000 laptops and tablets have been distributed by the government to enable disadvantaged children and young people to learn at home.
The total number of laptops and tablets that have now been distributed under the Get Help with Technology Programme is 1.3 million.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “I know just how difficult the past [...]
Ofsted moves to remote inspections
Ofsted will carry out inspections remotely until February half-term following the government’s advice to ‘act as if you have the virus’.
The inspectorate has regularly sought advice from Public Health England and remains satisfied that their planned on-site activity would be safe and appropriate under current restrictions. However, given the new government messages and the practical [...]
Increase in school attendance risks undermining lockdown, warn heads
The demand for school places is at risk of undermining lockdown, the National Association of Headteachers has warned.
The NAHT says contradictory guidance from the government has increased the levels of attendance significantly which could undermine the efforts of lockdown in containing the spread of COVID-19.
A survey of its members revealed that almost three quarters (74%) [...]
DfE faces legal action over health risks posed to vulnerable children learning in school
Vulnerable children will be exposed to further Covid-related health risks due to the government’s failure to ensure all vulnerable children can learn at home, an organisation has warned.
The Good Law Project, a not-for-profit membership organisation that uses the law to protect the interests of the public, states that while poorer and BAME families are exposed [...]
Children’s services workforce need protecting as a matter of urgency
Social work leaders have urged the government to do all it can to ensure the children’s services workforce, including foster carers, are protected as a matter of priority.
The president of the Association of Director of Children’s Services, Jenny Coles, said the children’s services workforce including social workers, staff in children’s homes and education settings, have [...]
Schools should close for as short a period as possible, says Anne Longfield
Ministers must ‘strain every sinew’ to get schools open again quickly, the children’s commissioner for England has urged.
Now the government has announced schools will close, it is vital that this happens for as short a period as possible, Anne Longfield has stated. Schools should open again quickly and certainly before non-essential shops, theme parks, pubs [...]
