£1billion schools fund will help children catch up on learning lost during Covid-19 pandemic

Children in Southport will be able to catch up on learning they may have lost out on thanks to £1billion in funding.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson today announced the package which will help pupils in England to catch up on lost learning, including intensive tutoring for the most disadvantaged children.

Most schools in Southport have remained open during the Coronavirus lockdown, teaching children of key workers and those with special needs, although the vast majority of children have stayed at home since the outbreak began in March.

In Sefton, students in Nursery, Reception, Year 1, Year 6, Year 10 and Year 12 will now return from Monday (June 22, 2020). Many parents have done a committed job in home schooling during these past few weeks. The Government is now determined do all it can to help children to further catch up on their education.

Those most affected by the school closures enforced as part of the lockdown in March will benefit from a £350 million “national tutoring programme”, equivalent to about £14,000 per school.

Head teachers will be able to apply for grants worth a further £650 million to spend on initiatives such as extra teaching, technology or summer schools for all pupils.

The Education Endowment Foundation, which started four pilot tutoring schemes in recent weeks, has published a guide to help schools to decide how to best use the universal funding. It offers advice on strategies to support pupils, including intervention schemes, extra teaching capacity, access to technology or summer schools.

It follows the announcement earlier this week that the Government has pledged to provide a £120million Covid Summer Food Fund to give disadvantaged children free school meals over the Summer.

This means that around 1.3million children currently eligible for free lunches in England will get vouchers worth £15 a week that can be spent in supermarkets.

Southport MP Damien Moore said: “This £1 billion catch-up package demonstrates this Government’s commitment to ensure that our children maintain their level of education and don’t miss out on their life chances due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

“Every young person, no matter their age or where they live, should be able to access the education, the opportunities and outcomes that they deserve.

“The huge scale of this response demonstrates the enormity of the challenge faced, but it is one that is important to overcome.

“This funding will allow our head teachers in Southport to provide extra support to children who have fallen behind while out of school.

“The goal now is to try and ensure that all pupils are able to return to class at the start of the next school term in September and the Government hopes to be able to reveal more about that as soon as possible.”