Ofsted inspections are to be postponed for the final week of term in order to give schools time to consider measures for potentially coping with the Omicron variant of the virus in January. Furthermore, the Department for Education (DfE) have stated that face-to-face teaching should still continue alongside the usage of face masks in communal areas for staff and pupils in Years 7 and above.
Additionally, isolation and contact tracing measures will still be in place, with any suspected/confirmed contacts of the Omicron variant being required to isolate for 10 days. As education secretary Nadhim Zahawi states: “we will continue to prioritise children’s and young people’s education and wellbeing, making sure education and childcare settings are as safe as possible and children continue to benefit from classroom teaching. ” Furthermore, Geoff Barton, general secretary of ASCL, has suggested that this new Covid variant imposes a further risk of increasing school absences: “it is therefore imperative that the government provides workforce funding to schools and colleges to help with the cost of supply cover for absent staff.”
This is why educators should look for alternative resources that can facilitate with any unforeseen absences, in advance. Online learning platforms such as CoreSciences are a great transitional tool to compensate for any potential in-class learning disruption. The flexibility of the platform enables a blended learning paradigm with ease. Not only can the platform be used remotely at home, it can also be used in class to support traditional learning methods – a perfect two in one system that prepares you for the unforeseen, but also complements any lessons that may already be planned. CoreSciences includes: required practicals via lab simulation, theory work, tests, worksheets, games and analytics – all the hard work is done for you so that you don’t have to.
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