Sheffield MP warns ‘futures are at risk’ if the government doesn’t step up, as the scale of lost face-to-face learning for Sheffield schoolchildren is revealed.
Sheffield MP Louise Haigh says the Conservatives’ meagre support plan for schools will put ‘futures at risk’ as shock new analysis reveal Sheffield schoolchildren lost out on ten weeks of face-to-face learning during the last academic year.
The Conservatives current plans will see nearly two million pupils across the country leave secondary education without support to recover lost learning or wellbeing over the next four years, hampering development.
And speaking as figures reveal schoolchildren across Sheffield lost an average of 53 days learning last year, Louise Haigh urged the Conservatives’ to ‘dramatically increase’ support for schoolchildren whose education has been thrown into chaos by the pandemic.
The government’s former expert catch-up tsar resigned over the meagre catch-up plan for schoolchildren which he said ‘does not come close’ to meeting the needs of children. It is just a fraction of the funding being commitment by our international partners to ensure their schoolchildren catch up following the pandemic.
Louise Haigh said Labour’s own recovery plan promises to match children and young people’s ambition and optimism for their own futures.
The £15bn package would give all schools the resources to deliver new activities, from sports and drama to music or book clubs, alongside targeted academic catch-up and small group tutoring for all who need it.
She said: ‘Schoolchildren and teachers have done an extraordinary job in challenging times, but these shock figures show the impact of the past eighteen months on face-to-face learning.
‘The Conservatives meagre catch-up plan fails to match the scale of this crisis. It risks holding back a generation of kids and putting futures at risk. ‘Ministers must dramatically increase their ambition, or our children will suffer.
‘Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan would give every child the support to learn, play and develop after this pandemic, delivering them a brighter future. It’s time for the Conservatives to get behind Labour’s plan and match our ambition for children’s futures.’
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