[News] Coronavirus and schools: LIVE 30/6

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Welcome to the Tes coronavirus liveblog. The outbreak of Covid-19 is an uncertain time for everyone.Schools are facing unprecedented disruption with exams cancelled and many teachers working with small "bubbles" of pupils or delivering remote lessons.Here, we aim to help teachers in the UK and in international schools by gathering together all the relevant stories in one place and keeping you updated with the latest news and announcements as and when they happen.And, as ever, we also want to hear from you. What is different in your school, in your working life, because of the virus? If you have stories you want to share or information you think should be circulated, then contact us The chair of the DfE-backed national online academy has admitted he was initially disappointed to learn that just 60 per cent of virtual lessons are completed.But he now claims this is actually a “seriously impressive” figure, when compared to similar online resources.Ian Bauckham also revealed that English and maths are among Oak’s most po[CENSORED]r lessons, and around 70 per cent of users are accessing the site through laptops, while 15 per cent use tablets, and 15 per cent use phones.Read the full storThe chair of the DfE-backed national online academy has admitted he was initially disappointed to learn that just 60 per cent of virtual lessons are completed.But he now claims this is actually a “seriously impressive” figure, when compared to similar online resources.Ian Bauckham also revealed that English and maths are among Oak’s most po[CENSORED]r lessons, and around 70 per cent of users are accessing the site through laptops, while 15 per cent use tablets, and 15 per cent use phones.Read the full storySchools who struggled to get their online offer up and running at the start of the Covid-19 crisis may have a lack of government planning to blame, Google has suggested.James Leonard, head of education at Google UK, said many English schools were held up when the pandemic struck, as they did not have access to the kind of national edtech platforms found in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland."A lack of technical experience, and a lack of training from our perspective, slowed the move to a fully digital delivery in England, in comparison to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland,” he said.Read the full storyOak National Academy has the potential to collect large amounts of data from the pupils who use its resources.And there's "huge interest" in the data it could collect, Ian Bauckham, the chair of the government-backed virtual academy  told the House of Commons education committee today.Education data could be used to create something along the lines of "enormously rich" databases "for researchers to mine", he added.This raises all kinds of interesting questions about how this data be used and stored.For the full storyDespite reservations from heads, exams watchdog Ofqual will proceed with its plan to allow this year’s GCSE and A level candidates to take “the full suite” of exams in the autumn if they have been unable to receive a teacher-assessed grade or would like to improve their grades.However, it says coursework will not count towards exams to be held in October and November.But heads union ASCL said today it had concerns about how schools and colleges would be able to accommodate all these exams alongside the “huge challenge” of bringing all pupils back in September.Read the full storySchools in Leicester are set to close on Thursday due to rising covid-19 cases, in the first local lockdown to be imposed by the government.To one union leader, this - together with health secretary Matt Hancock's explanation that the closures are needed to "slow the spread" of the virus - suggests a change in position from ministers, who have previously played down the risks of coronavirus spreading through schools.What could this mean for ongoing negotiations about September school reopenings? Read the full storyNearly three quarters of secondary schools welcomed back Year 10s and/or Year 12s last week, according to new Department for Education figures.The DfE estimates that 74 per cent of secondary schools, excluding FE colleges and special post-16 institutions, were open to these year groups on 25 June, up from 60 per cent on 18 June.The first local lockdown has been announced, in Leicester, meaning that schools there will shut to most pupils from Thursday, and a planned easing of restrictions will be delayed.Schools will stay open for vulnerable children and children of critical workers.In a statement made at 9pm last night, health secretary Matt Hancock said children had been "particularly impacted" by an outbreak in the city.Although there had been much discussion about the likelihood of a local lockdown in recent days, it doesn't appear that schools were given a heads-up about the final decision before it was announced in Parliament.The move comes as the government is in discussions with teaching unions over fullWe'll keep bringing you the latest developments, and you can catch up on yesterday's updates