Peter Shreeve, Assistant District Secretary of the National Education Union, shares his comments on the latest attendance data for education settings published yesterday by the Government, showing levels of pupil and staff absence at the start of term. In his own words. Ed
Almost 1 in 20 of all school staff were absent due to Covid last Thursday. Coronavirus related pupil absence in all state-funded schools fared slightly better with just over 1 in 25 pupils absent.
There is no reason to believe this will dramatically drop next week.
Must ensure children’s education is as uninterrupted as possible
Unfortunately, we do not have the data for the Isle of Wight, but there are ever more compelling arguments to protect the school community with proper mitigations to slow the spread of Covid.
We must ensure that children’s education is as uninterrupted as possible and the health and wellbeing of students, staff and the community at large is protected.
Summer exams
Older exam students’ thoughts are nervously turning to their summer exams. Data from FFT Education Data Lab shows Year 11 students nationally missed the most amount of school during the autumn term – an average of over half a day of schooling per week.
An unwelcome hurdle.
Proper ventilation needed
For this reason, Government needs to act decisively and give schools the equipment they need to ensure proper ventilation in schools and colleges in an attempt to keep Covid infection as low as possible.
Relying on a workforce of retired teachers appearing from thin air and in record time is just not enough to meet this challenge, especially as so many schools are financially challenged.
Weekly school attendance reports
In addition, Government school attendance reports must now also return from being fortnightly to weekly. In the same format as before last summer too.
This is a critical time for schools and colleges, pupils and staff.
We must see emerging trends more quickly and be proactive, rather than just glance at them in the rear-view mirror.
Image: tabor-roeder under CC BY 2.0
