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Secondary school re-opening: Good attendance and mask-wearing amid testing confusion

Government policy Whole-school issues Attendance Coronavirus
Despite confusion over the government’s contradictory Covid testing policy and continuing ambiguity over the face masks in classrooms, the full re-opening of England’s secondaries has gone smoothly with good attendance in the majority of schools.

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) reports a high take-up of Covid tests and pupils “generally following policies on wearing face coverings in secondary classrooms”.

A snapshot survey on Monday (March 8) found that of 729 schools and colleges, 54 per cent saw on-site Covid test take-up of between 90 and 100 per cent; a further 24 per cent saw take-up of 80 to 89 per cent.

Furthermore, of 706 schools and colleges, 73 per cent reported that more than 90 per cent of students were complying with school/college policy on face coverings in classrooms. Only two per cent said compliance was below 70 per cent.

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