Calls for summer schools to close COVID-19 attainment gap

Teach First has called on the Government to help fund intensive recovery provision during the summer to help get children from disadvantaged backgrounds on track after school closures.

The charity has called for this provision to be launched in late summer if social distancing rules allow it, or alternatively to be phased into the next academic year and beyond. 

Teach First argue teachers need to be paid overtime to work in summer schools in person and that the Government needs to fully fund additional resources to make them a success.

A Teach First survey with Teacher Tapp has found that many teachers are supportive, with six in ten (61%) teachers saying they would be willing to working in a national summer school if the Government were to propose it. 

Of those, 32% of teachers would be willing to work for one week at a summer school and 29% of teachers would be willing to work for more than a week at a summer school – with the majority of these teachers willing only if they were paid overtime.

When asked to pick their top three most needed resources to do this: 90% of headteachers said they would need additional funding to pay staff overtime; 77% of headteachers said they would need additional funding to pay for pupil meals; and 36% said they would need laptops, books, and other kit  

What’s more, 27% said they would need a tool kit with tips on how to run an effective summer school.