Schools: Coronavirus

(asked on 25th March 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to shorten the school summer 2021 holidays to help students to catch up on learning missed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 14th April 2021

The Government recognises the COVID-19 outbreak and associated education restrictions have had an impact on children and young people’s education.

The Government has appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to oversee the long-term plan. Sir Kevan will engage with parents, pupils and teachers to develop this proposal and review how evidence-based interventions can be used to address the impact the COVID-19 outbreak has had on education. We are considering all options to address lost education to ensure the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak is addressed as comprehensively as possible.

Term dates for the current and next academic year have already been set and published by local authorities, governing bodies, and academy trusts, but schools are free to offer summer activities to pupils should they so wish. We are making £200 million available to secondary schools to fund a short summer school, offering a blend of academic teaching and enrichment activities. We are recommending a focus on incoming Year 7 pupils, but schools are free to target those most in need of support.

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