According to the latest data from the Department for Education (DfE), one in 12 teachers were off last week, the highest number since July, when it was one in ten. Commenting on the figures Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said "the costs of bringing in the supply staff needed to maintain learning is crippling for schools and colleges". By Nicola Woolcock, The Times.

The DfE has revealed that at least 485 teachers have signed up to return to the classroom, adding that the data was from just 10 per cent of agencies, and that the total number was “likely to be much larger”. By Freddie Whittaker, Schools Week.

The National Association of Head Teachers has warned that the 485 former teachers who have signed up to help schools struggling with teacher shortages will “barely scratch the surface of the huge level of staff absence caused by COVID-19”. By Liam James, The Independent.

Official government figures suggest that school closures during the second lockdown caused children to lose the academic progress they made after their initial return to the classroom. By Camilla Turner, The Telegraph.

Mary Glasgow, chief executive of the Children 1st charity in Scotland, has warned that children born in the era of face coverings cannot empathise well with adults, adding "we hear of babies born during the pandemic who have only seen people out and about with masks on and are unable to read facial expressions". By Mark McLaughlin, The Times.

According to iNews, children are struggling to learn in cold classrooms because schools have no alternative for fighting COVID other than keeping windows open. By Will Hazell.

The DfE has advised schools to open classroom windows between lessons or only by a small amount, writing that ventilation “doesn’t mean pupils need to be cold”. By James Carr, Schools Week.

The Labour Party has accused the Government's National Tutoring Programme of "failing children and the taxpayer”, after official figures revealed that just 10 per cent of this year’s target for children receiving one-to-one or small group tutoring has been reached so far. By Sally Weale and Richard Adams, The Guardian.

Speaking at a conference for education recovery yesterday, Graham Archer, director for education recovery at the DfE, warned that "we're still clearly in the pandemic rather than on the way out of it". By Matilda Martin, Tes.

Schools Week takes a closer look at how schools have coped with the impact of COVID in 2020-21. By Freddie Whittaker.

A survey by Zoopla, the online property website, has found that almost a quarter of parents have bent the rules or played the system to ensure they got a child into the school of their choice. By Nicola Woolcock, The Times.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has told schools that exams will go ahead as planned this spring unless there is a dramatic change in circumstances around COVID in the months ahead. BBC News.

Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of Ofsted, has called for all home-educated children to be put on a register following the prosecution of the leaders of an illegal school in Sheffield. By Nicola Woolcock, The Times.

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