Two-thirds of primary schools say there's not enough money to help pupils catch-up after Covid
A new survey shows students trying to catch up after Covid need more funding
Two-thirds of primary school head teachers say they haven't got enough money to help pupils catch up after Covid absences, according to a new survey.
68% of primary school senior leaders reported receiving insufficient catch-up funding this year according to the survey by the Sutton Trust.
Secondary school heads reported making several cuts
In the Sutton Trust survey many reported they have had to cut teaching assistants.
35% said they had cut support staff, and 32% said they had cut IT equipment.
Secondary school heads reported being less affected, with 53% reporting that funding had been sufficient.
However, a significant number of secondary school heads reported making cuts, including 24% reporting cuts to teaching staff, 28% to assistants, and 31% to support staff.
The survey also found that 33% of school heads reported dipping into the pupil premium fund for poorer students to plug gaps in their general budget.
Monumental challenges" facing schools
Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust and chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation, said the survey results showed the "monumental challenges" facing schools as a result of the pandemic.
"Today's polling shows that schools are facing monumental challenges as a result of the pandemic, with schools having to cut crucial staff and support for pupils," he said.
"With all these ongoing pressures, dedicated funding for poorer pupils through the pupil premium is more crucial than ever. It's a disgrace that a third of heads still report using pupil premium funding to plug budget gaps.
"The Government must make an enormous investment in education recovery so that all pupils are given a chance to succeed".
Fleetwood MP Cat Smith is raising the issue to the Government
She said: "I think Government could do an awful lot more to give schools what they need by listening to teaching professions. By making sure when they award funding to schools it's flexible and that the teachers in that school are able to really direct their funding towards what they need in that specific school for those particular children.
"Speaking to teachers right across Lancaster and Fleetwood, they tell me that they have far more children with language delays, emotional needs and children starting school not being reliably toilet trained.
"Children have been hugely impacted by lockdowns, school being interrupted and often done in a hybrid of virtual and online and occasionally in person. Particularly in primary schools, a lot of the social development they would've had under normal circumstances just didn't go ahead.
"It's crucial we put extra funding into schools. The current Covid Catch-up programme isn't so far meeting the demand we have from our children and our young people.
"Teachers are now being expected to deal with a whole load of extra workload because of the impact of lockdowns."