Ipswich head teacher tells MPs that Covid continues to disrupt learning

Mr Green said the school's mental health nurse had been "swamped"

A head teacher has told MPs the Covid pandemic is continuing to disrupt classes due to high levels of staff and pupil absence.

Andy Green, the head of Copleston High School in Ipswich, was giving evidence to the House of Commons education committee on Tuesday.

The committee was examining the government's catch-up programme.

One in eight pupils in England were off school last Thursday with Covid-related absences, according to official data.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi says he is giving schools what they need to keep pupils in class.

The head teacher of Copleston High School said learning remained "disjointed" due to Covid

Mr Green told members the resumption of face-to-face learning was having a more positive impact on pupils than studying from home, but that the school faced "unprecedented levels of staff absence".

He said online teaching had helped but there had been "some disjointed learning" due to the staff absences.

Speaking about the issue of catching-up for pupils, Mr Green said: "Some students worked hard on the online curriculum, some even flourished."

But like other head teachers, rather than use the national catch up tutoring service, he had used the funding to train his own staff who had agreed to work into the evenings, providing extra tuition both online and face-to-face.

Mr Green said he would welcome further catch-up funding but argued it should not be restricted to pupil premium students.

The pandemic had taken a toll on students' mental health, Mr Green said

He also spoke of a significant increase in mental health and well-being issues.

He said he was glad his school had invested in a mental health nurse three years ago, and "she has been swamped with seeing people".

He said the problem was that if children had to be referred on to outside agencies there was a 54-week delay to be seen, "which is not what you want to hear".