Anne Longfield warned that there needs to be a ‘boost’ for children to catch up

One in six pupils may never be able to catch up on lost time in school, the children’s commissioner for England has said.

Anne Longfield warned that there needs to be a ‘boost’ for children to catch up.

She confirmed that she supports proposals for summer schools and longer school days in order for pupils to catch up.

“There needs to be a boost for children in terms of catch up in education terms in the classroom, potentially as well using some of those times in school holidays (and) the longer day,” she told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

She continued: “Part of that really needs to be as well about helping children to build back those social skills and that confidence.

“There’s a group of children who won’t make up the time they’ve lost, these are the ones who started behind, who are struggling.

“Potentially about one in six children if they don’t get that level of support and boost won’t ever catch up during their time at school.”

Primary schools could open

All primary and secondary schools across England closed when the country moved into a third national lockdown in January.

Only vulnerable children and children of key workers are currently allowed to attend schools for face-to-face learning, with teachers providing remote learning for all other pupils.

While nurseries and existing childcare bubbles were allowed to stay in place, all schools in England are set to remain closed until the 8 March at least, with the Prime Minister set to announce the “roadmap” out of lockdown on 22 February.

Ms Longfield added that she hopes primary schools can reopen sooner than secondary schools as trends across Europe show they can be managed.

She said: “That’s certainly something that countries across Europe have been doing.

“Those children are less able to work at home remotely, that their parents need to be there because they need a greater level of care and support to learn.

“And they’re much less likely to pick up that level of infection or indeed potentially transmit.”

She said countries such as France, Italy and Spain have already reopened primary schools, adding: “There are exam years as well that we need to look at for older children, but certainly for primaries there seems to be trend that actually smaller entities can be back open and can be managed.”

Universal credit

Ms Longfield also said the £20-a-week boost in Universal Credit, which is due to end in April, should be extended.

She told Ridge: “It’s had an important impact and that needs to continue.

“This isn’t the time for families to have that uncertainty or that drop in income.

“What we do know with very young children that are bearing some of the brunt of that increase in poverty, if you fall behind before you get to school you have very few chances to catch up during your school day.”

Additional reporting by Press Association