PUPILS could be offered summer classes to catch up on lessons missed during lockdown, says a report.
Ministers are examining ways to make up for months of lost education due to Covid restrictions.
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Government officials are looking at whether to provide funding for catch-up classes aimed at kids who have fallen the furthest behind, the Daily Mail reports.
Whitehall sources said ministers were looking at whether a model used by some Harris Academy schools in London to offer half-day classes last summer could be rolled out more widely.
It comes as Boris Johnson admitted that children will take more than a year to catch up with their education.
On Wednesday, the PM announced that schools in England would not reopen fully until March 8 at the earliest – meaning at least another four weeks of remote learning for most pupils.
Only vulnerable children and those of key workers can currently attend school in person.
Mr Johnson pledged a further £300m in catch-up funding for schools earlier this week, and promised the government would devise a “long term plan” to minimise the impact of lost education.
Schools were closed for three months during the first national lockdown last year.
And while they remained open during the second lockdown in November, many pupils still faced significant disruption – with large numbers of students forced to self-isolate with Covid symptoms.
Experts have warned that sustained school closures have had a devastating impact on children’s mental health.
Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, said on Thursday that the education deficit caused by school closures could require a five year catch-up programme.
She told The Spectator: “As this goes on, we are talking about a cohort of children that probably, for the next three to five years, will need that kind of consideration of the loss they’ve had.
“Both in learning but also in that wider socialisation and confidence in their lives.”
Trending In The News revealed this week that kids in lower years are likely to go back first – with kids in key exam years also bumped up the list.
It means some secondary school kids face waiting longer – possibly until after the Easter break to go back.
