EDUCATION bosses in North Yorkshire have rejected calls to lengthen schools days and cut school holidays to enable pupils to catch up following lockdowns.
A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive heard the authority was supporting a “tailored approach” that would see teachers’ assess young people’s needs and individual pupils being offered help.
The policy announcement was prompted by Swale division councillor Annabel Wilkinson questioning what the council was doing to help children catch up who had struggled during lockdowns.
While the government has given £1.7bn for catch-up support in England, earlier this month think tank The Education Policy Institute said some £13.5bn was needed to reverse the damage to pupils’ education caused by the pandemic.
It claimed pupils had lost up to two months of learning in reading, and up to three months in maths and called on the government to extend the school day.
The council’s executive member for education Councillor Patrick Mulligan told members the last year had been difficult for…
