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COVID-19 and literacy: Primary Schools

Sunnyside Primary.JPG

Research into the impact of school closures on children's learning has provided a broad picture of the many challenges faced, in particular by those from lower income backgrounds. Access to devices and data for home learning is significantly more limited for this group. Some studies also indicated that children from disadvantaged backgrounds spent less time taking part in educational activities than their peers on an average day.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly worsened overall outcomes as well as widening inequalities. The share of pupils leaving primary school meeting literacy and numeracy benchmarks fell from 65% in 2018–19 to 59% in 2021–22. Children from more disadvantaged backgrounds may have fallen twice as far behind as the average child, in part due to worse experiences with home learning." Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2022

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  • Key Stage 1

    In the 2022 Key Stage 1 SATs, percentage achieving the expected standard or above in writing fell from 70% in 2019 to 59% in 2022. In reading, the percentage of pupils achieving this standard fell from 76% to 68% and in maths from 77% to 70%.

  • Key Stage 2

    In the 2022 Key Stage 2 SATs, 69% of pupils were assessed by teachers as meeting standards in writing, down from 78% in 2019. But there was an increase in standards of reading, with 74% at or above the national standard, compared with 73% in 2019.

  • The attainment gap

    A decade of progress in narrowing the attainment gap reversed between 2019 and 2022 as the disadvantage gap index increased to its highest level since 2012, suggesting that educational disruption had a greater impact on disadvantaged pupils. (DfE, 2022).

How we can help - Education Recovery

Further support for schools