Team Lopez – Julia has welcomed the measures the Government has put in place to ensure every student across Hornchurch and Upminster receives a high-quality remote education while schools are closed.

Throughout the pandemic, education has been a national priority, and thanks to the efforts of teachers and school staff across the country, schools remain the best, and safest place for our children to learn.

However, with England in alert level 5, the highest it has ever been, the closure of schools is now necessary to keep the new variant of the virus under control. While there is no substitute for learning in a classroom, the Government has strengthened measures to ensure every child has access to a high-quality remote education.

As part of the Government’s commitment that no child is left behind, it is providing a million laptops and tablets for schools to allocate locally to students who need them most. To date, it has delivered over 560,000 devices to councils in England, with students in Hornchurch and Upminster benefitting from the 749 devices provided to schools and colleges across Havering, with a further 100,000 arriving this week nationally.

In tackling the barriers to remote learning for our most vulnerable students, over 54,000 4G routers have been delivered to schools and colleges in England, ensuring every child has internet access. The Government is building on this work through its partnership with the UK’s leading mobile phone providers, including EE, Three, O2 and Vodafone, to deliver free internet access for these students until July 2021.

The Government has also strengthened remote education requirements for schools, which will be enforced by Ofsted, so parents can be reassured that their children will benefit from a set number of hours of high-quality remote learning a day.