What closures? Schools full of ‘key worker kids’

SCHOOLS are reporting a surge in pupils turning up despite lockdown as their parents are key workers or they don’t have a laptop at home.

Some heads are struggling to cope with the higher-than-expected demand – amid fears over teachers’ safety.

They warn the high uptake of key worker places could ‘undermine the impact of lockdown’. Parents are being urged to send their children in only if ‘absolutely necessary’.

Recent government guidance saying pupils who ‘have difficulty engaging with remote education’ are considered vulnerable and can still attend may have contributed to the rise. Up to 1.8million do not have a computer at home, according to Ofcom.

Other children classed as vulnerable include those who have special needs or are young carers.

But it is not yet clear exactly why more pupils are still being sent to school than in the spring lockdown. A straw poll by the National Association of Head Teachers union found nearly a third of the 2,000 school leaders surveyed said between 20 and 30 per cent of pupils were still attending. Almost a quarter said attendance was between 30 and 40 per cent. Six per cent of heads said their schools were more than half full.

Some parents have reportedly tried to claim key worker places because they work in chocolate factories or fit carpets.

Government guidance released yesterday said there was ‘no limit’ on the number of key worker pupils schools should be accepting.

On vulnerable children – including those without access to laptops – the guidance said schools were ‘ expected to allow and strongly encourage’ them to attend. National Association of Head Teachers general secretary Paul Whiteman said: ‘We’re increasingly concerned about the sheer demand for key worker and vulnerable pupil places this week.

‘Our members are telling us demand for places is much higher than during the first lockdown. We’ve heard stories of some schools having 50 to 70 per cent in.

‘It could seriously undermine the impact of lockdown measures, and may even run the risk of extending school closures.’

Boris Johnson has warned schools and colleges could spread the virus between households.

Both the head teachers’ union and the Association of School and College Leaders are calling for government guidance on the maximum number of children who should be in school at once. The ASCL warned demand for places in primary schools was creating a ‘public health concern’.

Around 560,000 free laptops and tablets were given to schools and councils last year by the Department for Education, which aims to deliver 100,000 more this week – but critics say it is not enough.

Mr Whiteman said classing pupils without computer access as vulnerable had fuelled the numbers still in school, adding: ‘It is critical that key worker and vulnerable child school places are only used when absolutely necessary. Our members are asking exactly what the safe number of key worker and vulnerable children per class is.’

Jane Girt, headteacher of Carlton Bolling College in Bradford, told the BBC 200 pupils may have to stay in her school due to laptop shortages, which would ‘defeat the object’ of closing in the first place.

Ofsted said: ‘While schools and colleges are closed to most pupils, education remains a national priority. There are clear requirements about remote learning.’