What is your current attendance?
There has been a rise in the number of schools whose attendance rate has been affected by coronavirus.
The latest figures show pupils isolating in 46% of secondary schools and 16% of primary schools.
Overall attendance has worsened from 90% to 89%. What are your attendance figures? Let us know in the comments below.
Covid-19 impact on attendance
The Department for Education has published a figure showing how many schools were only partially open because of having to send home groups of pupils – which had risen to 21%.
Around 13% of schools had sent home 30 or more pupils.
Overall, around 5% (400,000 pupils) are out of school because of Covid-19 outbreaks.
Around 0.3% of schools are completely closed.
Julie McCulloch of the ASCL head teachers’ union said the latest figures showed the “high level of disruption” from Covid outbreaks.
She said schools “haven’t received enough support from the government” over access to testing and health advice – and a helpline set up for schools by the Department for Education had proved “patchy” in its usefulness.
What could the current attendance mean for exams?
There could be a subsequent effect from attendance on next summer’s exams.
The Government’s School Minister, Nick Gibbs said that exams remained the fairest system – but there was a particular concern about how exams could be fair between pupils who have missed different amounts of time in school, with those in high infection areas likely to have missed the most.
The other issue that really worries me more than any other issue we’re having to grapple with at the moment is the unfairness and unevenness, where different students have had a different experience of missing education during this period.
And that is something that is something that we’re working with the exam boards and Ofqual to seek to address.
He acknowledged that “some students will have suffered greater lockdowns, greater propensity to be self-isolating than students in other schools.”
He said it was important all year groups were:
… able to catch up as swiftly as possible on the lost education that has been caused by this pandemic.
We do not want this generation of schoolchildren to suffer long term as a consequence of having to close schools to most pupils from March to the summer.
How to ensure student catch up isn’t halted by attendance figures
EDClass can support students catch up lost learning, ensuring teaching can continue away from mainstream classroom and can help prepare students for exams.
Through EDStarz, students can undertake a diagnostic which can help to identify strengths and weaknesses. Then using a tailored learning platform on EDClass, students can receive targeted learning direct to their needs.
Access to 11,000 lessons, live and recorded teaching, learning resources and assessments mean you have all the resources available to ensure students are back on track.
Safeguarding is also ensured through eyes-on learning, alert mechanisms and questionnaires. Students can also reach out using the learning platform or by interacting with teachers.
To find out more call 01909 568 338.
