‘Schools should decide if they stay open or not’

That’s the view of education bosses as second lockdown arrives

HYNDBURN’S schools should decide if they should stay open during the second England-wide coronavirus lockdown.

That is the belief of education bosses in the county who say a school’s decision on staying open, or closing, “is one for individual schools”.

Under the second lockdown, which came into effect on Thursday, schools, colleagues and universities are to remain open, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed over the weekend.

“It remains very important for children and young people to attend, to support their well-being and education and help working parents and guardians,” a Government spokesperson said, with exams still expected to go ahead next summer.

But at Lancashire County Council there is a firm belief that staying open should be a decision taken schools.

There is a desire to stay open “as safely as possible” - but the situation is being “kept under review” with a mindset that schools should decide for themselves if shutting would be safer for staff, pupils, and their families.

“Everyone recognises how important schools are, not just for young people’s education, but also their physical and mental well-being,” County Coun Phillippa Williamson, cabinet by individual

Member for schools, told the Observer.

“There is a national policy that schools should remain open.

“We are working with schools to ensure they can remain open as safely as possible and this is kept under constant review.

“The decision on whether they should be open is one for individual schools.

“Schools across Lancashire have been doing an extraordinary job to minimise risk to staff and pupils and we are all very proud of the efforts they have made.”

It comes as it was revealed that 510 pupils across Hyndburn began self-isolating during the week ending October 25, with 12 confirmed infections.

The Local Democracy Service statistics also show that a dozen Lancashire schools were forced to close completely because of a coronavirus outbreak.

It had been hoped that complete school closures could be avoided by keeping pupils in tightlydefined “bubbles” in order to restrict the numbers required to self-isolate as a result of a Covid case.

The National Education Union (NEU) wants to see the county’s primary and secondary schools close their doors to all but vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers - for the full duration of the four-week restrictions.

But the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) and Geoff Barton - general secretary of the

Association of School and College Leaders - agreed the priority should be for pupils to stay open.

Speaking on the subject of schools to BBC Radio Lancashire on Monday, the authority’s director of public health, Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, said: “We are working with schools to keep them safe.

“It’s not that they are going to be open at any cost.

“But they are safe - we aren’t seeing a lot of outbreaks starting in education settings.”