The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound effects on education in both mainstream and special schools. Education in England was considerably disrupted during the 2020/1 and 2021/22 school years. There were two periods of partial school closure when most pupils stayed at home (March-May 2020 and January-March 2021). Schools were asked to prioritise…

In the United Kingdom, the Coronavirus Act relaxed the duty on Local Authorities to provide all of the support set out in pupils' educational, health and care plans (EHCPs). They were expected to use 'reasonable endeavours' to deliver as much of this as possible. This relaxation was lifted in September 2020, meaning that from that point the…

Since the initial closure of schools to most children on 20th March 2020, mainstream education has been disrupted as a result of COVID-19. When most pupils returned to school in March 2021, they regained some of their usual routines, but schooling was far from 'back to normal'. Building on the National Foundation for Educational Research's…

This qualitative study set out to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mainstream schools and their pupils in summer 2021. The interviews reported here took place with 50 leaders of mainstream primary and secondary schools in England, most of which were serving disadvantaged areas. This report expands on the interim report (Sharp and…