Pupils to be offered extra tuition in schools catch-up plan - what you need to know

Pupils in England will be offered extra tutoring sessions under a multimillion-pound school Covid catch-up plan.

Up to 100 million hours of tuition is promised as part of the government programme for children who lost learning while schools were closed due to coronavirus lockdowns.

A further £1.4billion of funding will be made available for catch-up, the Department for Education (DfE) announced, on top of the £1.7billion already pledged.

As part of the recovery package, some Year 13 students will be given the option to repeat their final year if they have been badly affected by Covid.

Schools and colleges will be funded by the DfE to help accommodate the additional student numbers.

Funding package a ‘damp squib’

But education unions have described the £1.4 billion funding package as “hugely disappointing” and a “damp squib”, with one school leaders’ union boss warning that the announcement “lets down the nation’s children”.

It was announced as Labour published its two-year £14.7 billion education recovery plan, which called for extracurricular activities to be expanded and mental health support in schools to be improved.

Shadow education secretary Kate Green said the Government’s scheme “makes a mockery of the Prime Minister’s claim that education is a priority”.

The DfE programme includes £1 billion to support up to six million, 15-hour tutoring courses for disadvantaged pupils, as well as an expansion of the 16-19 tuition fund which will target subjects such as maths and English.

A further £400 million will go towards providing high-quality training to early years practitioners and school teachers to ensure children progress.