High attendance at Barnet schools after Covid lockdown UK News

Councilors welcomed the high attendance rates at schools in Barnet following the disruption caused by the coronavirus lockdown.

The district’s overall school attendance was 94.6% after students returned to class in March – above the national average of 90%.

Most children were unable to attend school from January 5 as part of a nationwide lockdown intended to stop the spread of Covid-19. Face-to-face classes for all students finally resumed on March 8.

Figures from the Ministry of Education, which date to March 25, were presented in a report to the Children, Education and Safeguarding Committee on Wednesday.

Speaking at the meeting, Chris Munday, the board’s director of children and youth, said: “We are very happy with our numbers in terms of school attendance. Overall, these are good results. ”

The council launched a campaign last year to help families and teachers support children’s mental health as they return to school after lockdowns.

Schools have completed comprehensive risk assessments and developed plans to enable social distancing and minimize the risk of infection.

But with attendance of children with special educational needs at 82.3% in Barnet, Mr Munday said the board needs to do more to encourage them to return to school and has developed programs to do so.

Cllr Felix Byers (Conservative, East Barnet) said it was encouraging to see school attendance so high in the borough and asked why Barnet had “been so successful in getting our kids back to school”.

Ian Harrison, the council’s director of education and skills, said the borough has historically experienced higher attendance rates than most other countries.

“I think the schools have worked really well with children and families through distance learning and so on. ” he added.

“I think it’s just a sign of the good job schools have done in keeping kids motivated and keeping parents engaged in getting kids to learn.”

Cllr Anne Hutton (Labor, Woodhouse) said she believed the borough had worked very well with schools over the past year. “I think a lot of work was needed for this,” she added.