Summer holidays 'should be cancelled' for kids to catch up, says former Ofsted boss

26 May 2020, 11:58

He believes children's education should come first and they need to use the time wisely.

A former Ofsted boss has claimed summer holidays should be cancelled completely as children need to catch up on the work they've missed due to coronavirus.

Sir Michael Wilshaw has stated he believes that schools could indeed stay open through what would be the summer holidays and at weekends to get vulnerable children back up to speed with their education.

This would mean that school staff - a lot of whom have been working throughout the pandemic supporting children of key workers - would have to continue working without the time off they're promised.

Wilshaw, the former boss the school regulation board has urged ministers to ignore teaching unions and tell parents directly that it's fine for classes to continue.

He added that he believes this lockdown has impacted the education of children massively and that it could create a "lost generation of youngsters".

And Sir Michael also said: "it is a great tragedy because our education system has made huge progress over the last few years and the results published last year show that.“It is a great shame that this could unravel that progress.”

Boris Johnson has stated the government plan to reopen schools in England from June 1, starting with only reception, years one and six in primary schools.

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However, there's been a huge negative response to this with endless councils covering thousands of schools warning they won't be reopening their schools on June 1.

The former Ofsted boss has added that when schools are back open, headteachers should be scheduling extra lessons on the weekend and in the holidays in order to ensure children are all caught up.

As well as this, he suggested that some pupils sitting exams like GCSEs and might have to repeat the year, telling Sky News: "I suggested that might have to happen for some children taking examinations.

"I suggested that might be something that is considered with year groups who are about to take examinations, Year 10 groups in secondary schools, Year 12 groups, Year 5 in primary school.We’ll wait and see.

“What is absolutely clear is that a lot of youngsters have lost a considerable amount of time while this lockdown has taken place.”

Michael continued: “It is the responsibility of schools and head teachers when this thing is over and lockdown ceases and they get the full school cohort in, to really show that recovery programmes are put into place.

“That might mean working with whole years and it might mean weekend work with examination students, I’m sure the head teachers will be thinking about that now.”