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More than one in nine pupils in state schools were absent last week when schools in England reopened, according to figures from the Department of Education.
It is estimated that only 88% of the students from the reception classes onwards registered as present last Thursday, and the rest were described by the DfE analysis as “absent for reasons related to Covid-19 and not related to Covid -19 “.
In the fall of last year, official statistics show that 95% of the students on the school lists were present. According to DfE estimates, that suggests that around 400,000 more children than usual were not in school at the end of last week. The DfE estimates were compiled on a different basis than your usual attendance data.
The DfE did not provide a detailed breakdown of why the students were absent. But before the schools returned, several surveys suggested that some parents were still anxious. Responses collected this month by Parentkind, formerly PTA UK, found that 26% of parents did not want their children to come back.
While 99.9% of schools were classified as open by the DfE, only 92% were counted as “fully open”, meaning that 8% were unable to provide face-to-face instruction for all students or where more than 10% of the students had been asked to isolate themselves.
“Responses indicate that, for the majority of schools that reported that they were not fully open, this was due to reasons unrelated to Covid-19,” the DfE analysis said.
The new figures were based on a weekly survey of schools in England. The response rate was 73%, but the DfE adjusted the data to account for non-responses.
Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, said: “The best place for children and young people to learn is in the classroom, and it is encouraging to see that last week more than 7 million students returned to their classmates and teachers in schools. of all country. .
“I do not underestimate the work that staff have done to implement the necessary protective measures to reduce the risk of transmission. But as UK medical directors have already made clear, the risk of contracting coronavirus at school is low, meaning that the broader risks for out-of-school children are, in fact, much higher. ” .
But the figures came as directors this week reported increasing difficulty in obtaining Covid tests for staff, forcing many to isolate themselves until they could get a negative result.
Other schools reported having to send hundreds of students home, including year-round groups, due to staff or students testing positive.
In Taunton, Somerset, Parkfield Elementary School asked its sixth graders to stay home after a student tested positive, while the city’s Bishop Fox High School had 415 students self-isolated for 14 days, including seventh and eleventh year, after a The case of Covid-19 is there.
In Wiltshire, the Royal Wootton Bassett Academy sent nearly 300 students home on Tuesday after a case was discovered.
Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, has written to Williamson warning him of “the urgent need to introduce stronger protections to ensure the safe Covid work practices that the government has promised.”
A NASUWT survey of 900 teachers found that only one in four said that the safety measures implemented by their schools were effective.
Roach said the government would be held liable for a breach of duty of care or personal injury as a result of its failure to “provide robust guidance and measures nationwide.”
“For the avoidance of doubt, NASUWT is and remains committed to ensuring that schools remain open safely,” Roach told Williamson in his letter.
