Only 30% turnout in primary re-opening; remainder suspended
"The school is not quite deserted," said the Ghost. "A solitary child, neglected by his friends, is left there still." (Happy 150th, Charles!)
While they aren’t all quite as deserted as this, our survey on Friday (you can still take it here) showed that 60% of primary schools opened to more children last week. Only half of these were fully open, Monday to Friday; around one in five are open a limited number of days and the remainder are offering a range of alternative scheduling.
In these re-opened primary schools, just under half of Y6 pupils were back in school - ie 30% of the cohort, with only 25% of the early years cohort attending.
Just under half of the staff in these schools feel that the measures put in place by their schools are keeping children safe, while just over a third feel that they are keeping staff safe. We received hundreds of comments expressing concern about the situation again – our third such Covid-related study – and many teachers will be relieved at today’s announcement that primary schools will not have to re-open to other year groups until September, earliest.
The relief will be accompanied by a high degree of concern for the progress of pupils, however. Teachers with school age children will also be struggling with the decision – theirs were some of the most heartfelt comments about the workload generated by the current situation as they juggled remote teaching and looking after their own home learners.
Schoolzone’s research with education staff – between 3,000 and 5,000 of you responded to the three surveys so far – helped contribute to the body of knowledge that led to the government’s change of heart on this issue. Ours were among the biggest studies published. We don’t want to claim responsibility and certainly weren’t in any way campaigning (indeed, commercially we’d far rather see all schools open asap) but it’s good to know that decision-makers do listen.
More detail from this report can be found here.
If you haven’t completed the survey yet – we also ask staff from all phases about current workload and how you’re coping with it – you can still do so here.
See also, our Covid research collection.
“Breakings-up are capital things in our school-days, but in after life they are painful enough. Death, self-interest, and fortune's changes, are every day breaking up many a happy group, and scattering them far and wide; and the boys and girls never come back again.”
On which cheery note...