Welcome to the Tes coronavirus liveblog. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is causing uncertainties for everyone.
Schools are facing unprecedented disruption, with classrooms currently closed to all but the children of key workers and vulnerable pupils.
Here, we aim to help teachers in the UK and in international schools by gathering together all the relevant stories in one place and keeping you updated with the latest news and announcements as and when they happen.
And, as ever, we also want to hear from you. What is different in your school and in your working life because of the virus? If you have stories you want to share or information you think should be circulated, then contact us at:
william.stewart@tesglobal.com, charlotte.santry@tesglobal.com and Mary-Louise.Clews@tes.com
DfE 'missed potential opportunities' to cut FSM voucher costs
It's no secret that the government's free school meals voucher scheme has faced its fair share of criticism.
But in a damning new report, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has shone new light on the DfE's perceived failings to negotiate a good deal.
The department "focused on firefighting" the problems with the voucher scheme, including "unacceptable delays" in processing orders and issues accessing the website, at the expense of "actively managing" its contract with supplier Edenred, according to the PAC.
Read the full story here.
Frightened teachers call for masks in classrooms
A Tes survey has revealed that most teachers want masks to be worn in classrooms, reporting that they feel frightened and worried regarding Covid-19 safety at work.
Over 7,000 teachers responded, with 44 per cent reporting they were worried about their Covid safety, and 14 per cent saying they felt frightened. And 56 per cent said they thought masks should be worn by all pupils and staff in schools.
A teacher at an independent secondary school in England said: "Always have thought that students should be wearing masks in school. I understand the difficulties with this, but think that anything we can do to mitigate the passing on of the virus should be done.”
Read more here.
Teachers want rotas for school reopenings
A Tes survey has revealed that most school staff want attendance rotas to be in place when schools reopen more widely.
In a survey of over 8,700 school staff, 58 per cent said they wanted rota attendance to be in place when their schools reopened.
One state secondary teacher in England said: “We are surely entitled to social distancing, plus rotas are our best chance of staying open. “I personally think we should have done this from September and we would have seen a lot less disruption to learning.”
Read more here.
Remote learning could continue until at least mid-March in Scotland
Scottish government advisers have recommended that there should be three weeks between each phase of the return to school, in order to fully assess the impact of increased face-to-face teaching on transmission of Covid.
If ministers follows their guidance, most pupils will not begin to return to school until the week beginning Monday 15 March, at the earliest. First minister Nicola Sturgeon revealed on Tuesday that the first phase of the return was due to start on Monday 22 February.
Read the full story here.
A month to go?
Good morning,
As the second month of this 3rd lockdown and second period of partial school closures got underway this week, the potential reopening date in just over a month's time on March the 8th is starting to focus minds.
A group of heads of mainly indpendent schools have said they are fully prepared to support the date as long as they can get the jab first.
Elsewhere a Sage member scientist warned that opening schools too early could spark a rise in infections across all age groups. His comments followed calls from some MPs to open schools to all pupils earlier in line with proposals in Scotland.
You can catch-up on all coronavirus news impacting schools here.
