Commenting on a new report from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) today (Thursday 2 September), funded by the Nuffield Foundation, that looks at the impact of Covid-19 on schools serving deprived communities, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“It is true that many children from deprived backgrounds have had a very different pandemic to their more affluent peers. The challenge facing schools in helping these children to recover is formidable.

“Fortunately, there already exists a wealth of knowledge within the profession about how to narrow achievement gaps. We can trust schools to put in place a long-term approach based on what they know about the needs of their pupils.

“Ultimately, though, their success depends on the funding and resources they are given by government. Overall the government’s investment in schools during the pandemic has been risible. Their recovery plan and the money put into it was almost universally dismissed as miserly and insufficient.  A recent NAHT survey found that 87 per cent of school leaders do not believe that the Covid recovery funding they have received to date is sufficient to meet the needs of their pupils.

“Recent IFS data shows that it is those schools serving the most deprived pupils that have seen the biggest losses from real-terms funding cuts over the last decade. And it is also worth remembering that the government chose the middle of a pandemic to implement a change in pupil premium reporting that has meant thousands of children who would have become eligible for free school meals and additional help due to their families’ circumstances have been denied any additional funding. Much of the government’s investment in recovery has immediately been swallowed up by this ‘stealth cut’.

“Sadly, it seems clear that education and children’s futures, especially those from deprived backgrounds, are not a priority for this government.”