The government’s £1.7 billion Covid catch-up package only “scratches the surface” of the need generated by the crisis, the education secretary has said.

Speaking on the opening day of the Association of School and College Leaders’ (ASCL) annual conference, Gavin Williamson acknowledged that the country has seen the “single greatest disruption to our education system since the Second World War”, and that getting children back to school is “only the start of our recovery”.

He said: “You already know about the £1.7 billion [we’ve] already committed to recovery, including the National Tutoring Programme, a recovery premium paid directly to schools, and £200 million for summer schools. But I know that this only scratches the surface.”

Sir Kevan Collins: Catch-up funding not ‘sufficient’

Covid catch-up: Williamson looking at longer day and shorter holidays

Analysis: Do longer school days work? Lessons from history

Sir Kevan Collins, the former Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) chief appointed by the government to advise on its recovery efforts, has previously said the catch-up fund is “not sufficient”.

Gavin Williamson: More ‘space’ should be created for the arts and sport in schools

Mr Williamson said “changes to the school day and term dates” will be considered by the government as part of long-term measures.

“Our children have lost so much of their childhood and we have to make that up to them,” he said.

But Mr Williamson said he was “not that keen on the phrase ‘catching up’”.

“I actually want to see us looking at how we’re really boosting those children - making sure that they attain the very best,” he said.

The education secretary also argued that “more space” should be created for sport and the arts as part of post-Covid reforms.

While any changes “will always cleave to our core principle of a knowledge-rich education bound with rigour and accountability”, it is important for children to develop “emotionally and spiritually”, as well as “intellectually”, he said.