Private schools are offering their buildings and grounds for summer catch-up lessons for 'disadvantaged' state pupils left behind by lockdown

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Some of Britain's top private schools are willing to offer their buildings and grounds for summer catch-up courses for state children who have missed out most during the coronavirus pandemic, it was revealed today.

Julie Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), said a number of fee-paying schools have greater capacity to help as their normal events bookings over the summer have been cancelled.

Six large independent schools - including King's College School Wimbledon and Bury Grammar School - are already looking to run their own summer catch-up provision at their own cost, Ms Robinson said. 

Highgate School will be offering a Summer school programme for up to 90 pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds at six local state schools in August. 

Head Adam Pettitt said 'We will be offering lessons in core subject areas to bridge the learning gap for Year 10 pupils from our partner schools. These are some of the pupils who will have been impacted most by Covid-19. They will have missed almost six months of schooling by September, and we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to counteract the emotional and educational disruption this has had on some of the most vulnerable children in our community.' 

Most of the private schools, who have been teaching their own children online, are still discussing who will be eligible, what these courses would look like and how they'd deliver them, MailOnline understands. It is likely to include the rental of marquees for their large grounds to ensure social distancing.

The offer of help came as many private schools are planning to and open at the new academic year 'come what may' regardless of what the Government advice is - as parents paying fees put pressure on them to reopen or withhold cash.  

King's College School Wimbledon are among the private schools offering to open their doors to state school children this summer - and will also pick up the bill 

Julie Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council (ISC), has offered help as Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is set to  announce details of its summer catch-up programme this week

The ISC, which represents more than 1,300 private schools, has written to the Education Secretary to offer their support in hosting catch-up courses in August to help 'close the disadvantage gap'.

The letter to Gavin Williamson said: 'If a national scheme can be organised and catch-up courses can be delivered regionally, independent schools will willingly support extra tuition provision in whatever practical ways they can: providing classrooms, catering and other staffing as far as they are able.'

It comes as the Government is due to announce details of its summer catch-up programme this week.

Ms Robinson added that around 80% of private schools have said they would be interested in running courses targeted at children who need the most help in catching up if they were given extra funding.

'It's really important for us that we're not overlooked as a sector. It would be a total shame. I think it would be a loss to the country, a loss to the joint effort,' Ms Robinson told the PA news agency.

She said: 'There are independent schools who won't have their usual holiday time bookings and will have space available. Not so much in term time, because owing to the distancing requirements they can't get all of their own pupils in, but in the downtime independent schools can potentially host.

'Independent schools are poised ready to support and provide a venue for extra catch-up work.'

Jo Anderson, principal and headmistress at Bury Grammar School, is hoping to run curriculum-based days for the first time over the summer for Year 10 and Year 12 students who have exams next year.

The school wants to support pupils from state schools with catch-up work if the guidance allows it.

She told PA: 'We're aware that, you know, potentially here we have a generation of young people, not just here in our school but nationally, that have missed out and that's heartbreaking.

'So, if it were possible - but that's a big if, of course - we would absolutely love to support pupils in other schools.

'I know there's been talk about supporting pupils from a welfare perspective and a mental health perspective and that's something I think that Bury Grammar School is also really very good at.

'There is very much a will in this school to support not only our own pupils, but any other young people whose parent schools feel it would be of a benefit to them to come and spend some time here.'

For Bury Grammar School, additional funding is not the issue, but Ms Robinson said many fee-paying schools do not have the resources to run courses themselves and to manage all the costs.

The ISC chief executive said: 'We've not been led to expect any funding. Although, if there were the opportunity of some funding then the take-up would be vastly increased.

'We just don't want to find ourselves in a position where independent schools are in some way inadvertently excluded from the really good job that they can do with a whole range of pupils.'

Some of Britain's best-known fee-paying schools are organising their own track and trace systems - with plans to have them operational for September. 

One governor at a leading private school said headteachers are 'furious' with the Government over its dithering on the issue of schools reopening. 

He told the Telegraph schools 'could have legally and safely opened this term', adding: 'We have had enough. 

'We will definitely open in September using our own hygiene measures, our own risk-based assessment of social distancing and our own test and trace system.

'There is no confidence left in the Government, given their failed promises. All schools should do the same.'

Chairman of the Independent Schools Council, Barnaby Lenon, has called for ministers to give headteachers the freedom to reopen from September if they think it is appropriate.

Mr Lenon, a former headmaster of Harrow School, said that the Government should rely on 'the good judgement of heads, all of whom will have carried out risk assessments'. He added there was now 'significant demand' for more flexibility on how private schools should reopen. 

A teacher at the front of a class of Year 12 pupils at Ortu Gable Hall School in Corringham, Essex as older students returned this week - but millions of children remain at home until at least September

Downing Street's schools policy has come under criticism after officials rowed back on plans to have every primary school pupil return to school before summer - and then said it would be encouraging this. 

New guidance this week said that all secondary school pupils in England could return before summer - but just for one day. 

Responding to a legal challenge about its lockdown policies, the Government recently admitted in a High Court document that it was a 'request, not a direction' for schools to shut down.

Private schools plan to reference the document to convince insurers that a September reopening is safe.    

School closures could 'put back years of slow progress on social mobility' with privately educated pupils almost twice as likely to have online lessons than their state school counterparts.

The 'prominent' attainment gap between disadvantaged and more wealthy students is set to widen further amid the coronavirus pandemic, a report has revealed.

Researchers claim this gap could become permanent without 'a concerted effort' to help poorer pupils once schools reopen.

The stark warning from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) comes as Government sources refused to confirm whether all pupils will be able to return to school full-time in September.

Researchers from the IFS and University College London's Institute of Education surveyed 4,157 parents with children aged between eight and 15 in English private and state schools from April 29 to May 12.

Some 79 per cent of families paying for private education said their child's secondary school provides online classes.

This compares to just 41 per cent in state secondary schools attended by the most deprived children and only 53 per cent of state secondaries in middle class areas. 

More affluent secondary pupils in both sectors spend almost an hour more a day on schoolwork than the least advantaged.

They also have more support at home, have had 'more active involvement' from teachers and are 'much more likely' to have private tutoring, the report found.

Overall, more affluent secondary pupils across both sectors are 'spending more time in almost every single educational activity than their peers from the worse-off fifth of families'.

On average, they devote almost an hour more a day on schoolwork than the least advantaged.

They have more support at home and are also 'much more likely' to have private tutoring.

Chairman of the Independent Schools Council, Barnaby Lenon, has called for ministers to give headteachers the freedom to reopen from September if they think it is appropriate

Responding to a legal challenge about its lockdown policies, the Government recently admitted in a High Court document that it was a 'request, not a direction' for schools to shut down (stock image)

Researchers from the IFS and University College London's Institute of Education found school closures during the coronavirus lockdown could 'put back years of slow progress on social mobility'. Pictured: A child maintains social distancing measures while washing hands ahead of a lesson at Earlham Primary School yesterday

Privately educated pupils almost twice as likely to have online lessons than their state school counterparts. Pictured: Children maintain social distancing measures while taking part in a lesson at Earlham Primary School yesterday

Just 41 per cent of children at state schools in the most deprived areas attended online classes during the lockdown period, compared to 79 per cent of families paying for private education said their child's secondary school provides online classes. Pictured: Children maintain social distancing measures while playing in the playground at Earlham Primary School yesterday

On Tuesday Labour's Rebecca Long-Bailey welcomed the Government's mooted summer catch-up programme, but pressed Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to develop a national plan for education.

This would involve schools receiving additional resources to help disadvantaged children, and public buildings being used for socially distanced teaching.

The Government advises that schools should communicate their plans to parents once they have had a chance to work through them in detail. 

Official advice includes carrying out a risk assessment before opening to more children and young people, making sure that children and young people do not attend if they or a member of their household has symptoms of coronavirus, and promoting regular hand washing for 20 seconds with running water and soap

It is also advised that schools clean more often to get rid of the virus on frequently touched surfaces, such as door handles, handrails, tabletops, play equipment and toys. 

Teachers should reduce contact through smaller classes or group sizes and altering the environment as much as possible, such as changing the layout of classrooms reducing mixing between groups through timetable changes, such as staggered break times or by introducing staggered drop-off and collection times.