RETHINK URGED ON SCHOOLS RETURN
UNION CALLS FOR REMOTE LEARNING AT START OF TERM AMID FEARS OVER NEW COVID STRAIN
ALEADING teachers union is calling for a delay to the reopening of schools in January as the Government hopes to push ahead with its new year plan.
Earlier this month, the Government said exam-year students would go back to school as normal after the Christmas holidays, but the majority of secondary school pupils would start the term online to allow head teachers to roll out mass testing of children and staff.
Officials from Downing Street and the Department for Education met to discuss the issue yesterday amid concerns over the spread of a new strain of coronavirus.
Schools throughout the Bristol region are due to resume teaching – in some capacity – next Monday.
Secondary school pupils’ returning to class in England will be staggered in the first week of January.
Exam-year students will go back as normal after the Christmas break, but other secondary school pupils will start the term online rather than in class.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has said he is “confident” the staggered return to secondary schools in England can go ahead as planned.
But he said the issue was still being reviewed, amid concern over the spread of the new coronavirus variant.
Wales and Scotland have delayed or revised the start of the new term. Northern Ireland schools are due back next week.
Ministers have said exam year pupils in England would return as normal.
Mr Gove told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday he still expected Year 11 and Year 13 pupils to return in the first week of January, with the rest going back to the classroom later in the month.
“It is our intention to make sure we can get children back to school as early as possible,” he said.
He said that prioritising children’s attendance in school was “the right thing to do” but he acknowledged concerns about the new variant, which scientists believe may be more transmissible.
“We have a new strain and it is also the case that we have also had, albeit in a very limited way, Christmas mixing, so we do have to remain vigilant,” Mr Gove said.
“We are confident that we will be able to get schools back in good order. Our plan and our timetable is there, and we are working with teachers to deliver it.”
Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT wrote to the Education Secretary yesterday demanding further action on
school safety. The letter calls for Gavin Williamson to allow schools to move to remote learning for all pupils, except those deemed to be vulnerable or the children of key workers, in the highest tier areas.
“Delaying the return of pupils to schools and colleges at the start of the spring term will also enable all school and college employers to undertake and consult as required on new risk assessments and ensure that they can be compliant with any new measures or requirements contained in any forthcoming national guidance,” it says.
The union is also asking the Government to publish new safety guidance in light of the new Covid19 variant, introduce mandatory face coverings within schools and give staff priority access to the vaccine.
It came as Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said the Govern
ment hopes the staggered reopening of schools in England will go ahead in the new year as planned.
Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Gove said ministers were confident primary school pupils and Year 11 and Year 13 pupils in England would be able to return in the first week of January, with the rest going back later in the month.
“It is our intention to make sure we can get children back to school as early as possible,” he said.
“We are talking to teachers and head teachers to make sure we can deliver effectively. But we all know that there are trade-offs.
“As a country we have decided – and I think this is the right thing to do – that we prioritise children returning to school.
“But we have a new strain and it is also the case that we have also had, albeit in a very limited way,
Christmas mixing, so we do have to remain vigilant.
“We are confident that we will be able to get schools back in good order. Our plan and our timetable is there, and we are working with teachers to deliver it.”
He told Sky News: “We always keep things under review but teachers and head teachers have been working incredibly hard over the Christmas period since schools broke up in order to prepare for a new testing regime – community testing – in order to make sure that children and all of us are safer.”
Scientists have suggested that the mutated coronavirus strain could more easily infect children.
The National Education Union has previously said the Government should allow schools to move classes online for most pupils for a fortnight in January to allow Covid19 cases to fall.