WHAT NEXT FOR OUR SCHOOLS IN TIER 4?
A DELAY to the start of the spring term by up to two weeks for secondary pupils in the county has left many head teachers in urgent planning sessions – and large numbers of parents bewildered as to what happens next.
Wednesday’s announcement by Secretary of State for Education Gavin Williamson altered the original plan for secondary schools to be fully back by January 11, to a week later.
Primary schools in Derby and Derbyshire will return week commencing January 4, as originally planned.
Secondary pupils who are sitting exams in 2021 will not return until January 11, with the rest of secondary school and college students not set to return until a week later, the week commencing January 18.
Mr Williamson is expecting schools to accept key worker and vulnerable children to be able to attend secondary schools from next Monday and schools are expected to prepare to test pupils for coronavirus when they start to return to classes from January 11.
He told MPs: “During the first week of term on or after January 4, secondary schools and colleges will prepare to test as many staff and students as possible and will only be open to vulnerable children and children of key workers.
“Testing will then begin the following week in earnest with those who are in exam years at the head of the queue. This is in preparation for the full return of all pupils in all year groups on January 18 in most areas.”
Mr Williamson said that only vulnerable children and children of key workers will receive face-to-face teaching in the first week of term.
He added: “To allow this focus on establishing testing throughout the first week of term, exam year groups will continue to have lessons
During the first week of term... secondary schools and colleges will prepare to test as many staff and students as possible. Gavin Williamson
remotely in line with what they would receive in class. “And only vulnerable children and children of critical workers will have face-to-face teaching.”
Secondary head teachers were only told that testing would be introduced in schools at the end of last term, giving them no time to make preparations and also left them believing that pupils would be back in school from January 4.
Littleover Community School acting head teacher Jon Wilding said: “We are in the process of reviewing the latest guidance and the likely impact on us as a school.
“I met virtually with my deputy head teachers today [Thursday] and will be having further discussions before start of term on Monday.
“A brief message to parents and carers will be emailed later today [Thursday], with more detailed information being provided over the weekend.
“Plans for testing of students and staff from the start of next term will pose a huge challenge to us, as I suspect it will for all schools.”
Lees Brook Community School in Chaddesden was quick to write to parents to clarify would be happening from next week.
Head teacher Zoe House said: “From next Tuesday to Friday, the school will be open to essential worker children and vulnerable students.
“All other students, including those in years 11, 12 and 13 who were expecting to attend school under the government’s original plan, will be provided with a programme of remote learning. This will be live lessons for the majority of lessons.
“Then from Monday to Friday, January 11-15, years 11, 12 and 13 students will return to full time attendance at school.
“These students will all be offered access in school to lateral flow testing for Covid-19. All other students will continue to be provided with a programme of remote learning.
“And from Monday, January 18, all remaining year groups will return to full time learning in school, and will be offered access to lateral flow testing for Covid-19.”
The school is also preparing to offer daily testing for close contacts of students or members of staff who test positive for coronavirus instead of self-isolation.
Mrs House added: “It is hoped that this will reduce the ongoing disruption to learning experienced by students who in some cases have already been required to spend several periods of time self-isolating from school.”
Nationally, the decision to delay the return to school has been met with criticism over the manner of its timing.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT, which represents leaders in the majority of schools in Derby and Derbyshire, said: “This is another last-minute mess which could so easily have been avoided if the Government had listened to school leaders before the holidays.
“Instead, back then, schools that wanted to shift to remote learning were threatened with legal action. Now we have a situation where the Government is instructing schools to reduce the amount of teaching time available.
“If we’d had the freedom to take action before the holidays, we might have been in a position to have more schools open for more pupils. School leaders will be baffled, frus
trated and justifiably angry.
“All along, we have called for mass testing in schools. However the resources are not there yet. Neither is there any detail to support the rationale for closing some schools and not others and why primaries and special schools are being treated differently to secondaries.
“If mass testing is a priority, then the Government needs to put much more clout into it – and school staff need to be put on the priority list for testing.”
Councillor Judith Blake, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said: “Testing students on their return to school, alongside existing virus control measures and working with local test and trace teams, can help to keep our schools open.
“However, we have continuing concerns about the operational logistics of testing in secondary schools and the challenges posed by this timetable.
“Ensuring there is a suitable number of staff and volunteers, identifying the number of stations needed and finding a safe space for students to wait for their results are all significant challenges.
“It is vital that the tests, PPE and other support being promised by the Government is delivered on time and in the quantities needed.
“While we support the premise of testing before term restarts, it is crucial that all secondary schools are properly supported and able to effectively administer these tests without significant disruption to the children’s learning.
“It is also important that schools are properly linked with local test and trace teams so that cases in schools can be effectively traced in the local community.”