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The number of schools in England badly affected by Covid-19 cases among students and staff has quadrupled in the space of a week, and the number of pupils absent rose by 50%, according to estimates released by the Department for Education.
The DfE’s figures revealed that 4% of state schools were classed as “not fully open” last week because of Covid-19, compared with 1% of schools seven days before, including cases where entire year groups had been sent home.
Nine hundred schools were affected, in a week during which many headteachers and parents complained they were unable to access coronavirus tests, forcing those showing symptoms to be kept away from the classroom and self-isolate. Including independent schools at a similar rate would bring the figure for England close to 1,000 schools.
The DfE defines schools as “fully open” if they are able to provide face-to-face teaching for all pupils on roll for the whole school day and they have not asked a group of pupils to self-isolate. A further 2% of settings were not fully open but the reasons were not classed as Covid-related.
The DfE noted that 99.9% of state schools were open, and that the majority of schools that were closing were doing so only for some pupils, such as classes or year group bubbles in close contact with a suspected case.
Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, said: “As we would expect, this data shows a small number of pupils are self-isolating in line with public health advice, and schools, colleges and early years settings across the country continue to work tremendously hard to ensure protective measures are in place to reduce the risks of transmission.”
The figures, based on a survey of three-quarters of England’s state schools, showed that more than one in eight pupils were absent last Thursday, rising to one in seven in secondary schools, meaning that more than a million children were out of school. Typically fewer than 5% of pupils are absent, according to a different dataset, which suggests 600,000 may have been absent for coronavirus-related issues.
The number of pupils in school nationally also fell compared with the previous week, which had been the first full week for almost all schools to be open after the summer holidays.
Just 87% of pupils were recorded as attending, compared with 88% the previous week. But even in schools classed as “fully open” by the DfE, the overall attendance rate fell from 90% on 15 September, to 88% on 22 September.
Special schools and alternative provision such as pupil referral units appear to have been hit hardest by absences, although both tend to have higher absence rates than mainstream schools. The DfE estimated that independent schools had attendance rates of 91%.
State secondary schools recorded attendances of 86%, meaning that more than 500,000 pupils were absent. It highlights the struggle that schools face in preparing their year 11 and year 13 pupils for 2021’s GCSE, BTec and A-level exams, with most having already missed more than a term of their courses last year.
Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “It is clear from the latest statistics that the government is failing in its duty to reduce the infection rate and to provide pupils and teachers with tests in a timely fashion. This is eroding trust among parents, and it will be an uphill struggle for it to be regained.”
Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, tweeted that her son, who is in the middle of GCSEs, had missed months of school and had been sent home this week to isolate, adding: “What the hell is the government going to do for kids like him and his classmates?”
Ofqual, the exam regulator for England, is still to announce the dates for next year’s exams, after suggestions by Williamson that they could be delayed by two or three weeks.
Ofqual’s leaders have said the organisation is working on contingency plans, including online exams, in the event of Covid-19 outbreaks or lockdowns further disrupting schools and students.
The Scottish government is considering scrapping in-person exams for National 5s – a qualification equivalent to GCSEs – and instead awarding results using school assessments.
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