Commenting as the government releases their weekly attendance figures for schools, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said:

“We want to see the minimum amount of disruption to education for children and young people this year. They have already missed out on so much, so keeping schools open is the priority. These figures show how hard schools are working to maintain provision for as many pupils as possible, but the support from the government is not good.

“Schools continue to need to spend money on safety measures and cleaning, and on supply staff to cover when teachers are out of school through illness or isolation. At present there is no additional money from the government to cover any of these costs. More than 26,000 people have now signed a petition to put pressure on the government to fund schools Covid costs in full. This could be the difference between maintaining these present high levels of attendance and yet more disruption for pupils.”

Press and Media contacts:

Steven George
NAHT Head of Press and Media
01444 472886
07970 907730

Rose Tremlett 
Senior Press Officer 
07545 354363

Email : press.office@naht.org.uk