Children need help to catch up on school days lost to the pandemic - especially those children and young people who are disadvantaged or who are experiencing SEND.

The years 2020 and 2021 have been the most disrupted years for children and young people for nearly a century. 

The Children’s Commissioner has said that the pandemic and lockdowns have stolen 840 million days of schooling from children and young people in the UK - that’s roughly equivalent to 19 weeks per pupil. 

Children need help to catch-up these 19 weeks – especially those children and young people who are disadvantaged or who are experiencing SEND. Children and young people are counting on all of us to make sure that they’re prepared as possible for the start of the next school year. 

Achievement for All are stepping up with AfA’s Summer of Literacy to support all children and young people to catch up and be school or work ready, building the skills and resilience through learning activities that engage them to explore and apply all areas of literacy, including speaking and listening, reading and writing, and even singing. 

AfA’s Summer of Literacy includes three events available to all early years, schools and post-16 settings: the AfA record-breaking 200 million minutes reading challenge, Joffre White’s Wonder Words Writing Challenge, and the AfA 10 Year Birthday Song Writing Competition. 

The event offers schools, early years settings, childminders, and parents a range of tested and effective learning activities that develop children’s wider literacy and communication skills - not just reading. It will take place online, at home, in school, and at events funded by the government’s holiday activities and food programme, in partnership with the HAF Alliance. 

Leaders, teachers, parents, carers, volunteers, catch-up tutors, children and young people are invited to join. 

You can learn more about AfA’s Summer of Literacy here.

Improving The Provision Of SEND Services 2021

AfA’s Chief Executive Officer, Sonia Blandford, will speak at the Institute of Government & Public Policy’s Improving the Provision of SEND Services 2021 event on 10th June. 

Sonia will speak on providing support and infrastructure that supports professionals, parents and children in the SEND landscape. 

Improving the Provision of SEND Services 2021 will explore what the future landscape looks like for SEND access, funding and service quality as we emerge from the Covid-19 era. It features high-level updates from senior bodies and case studies covering early years education through to post-16 education.

View the full agenda and learn more about the Improving the Provision of SEND Services 2021 event here.