Masks, tests and appeals for ‘Blitz spirit’ as children go back to school
DERBYSHIRE children will have to wear masks again when they return to school after the Christmas break.
It is one of a number of measures being brought in to combat the latest Covid outbreak, the Government has said.
The Education Secretary said face-to-face teaching will continue and remain the norm as he outlined a series of measures for schools.
Nadhim Zahawi said secondary pupils would have to wear masks in classrooms and be able to access onsite coronavirus tests at school.
A further 7,000 air purifiers are promised, to add to the 1,000 already announced, alongside 350,000 CO2 monitors, which detect how fresh the air is, which is better for guarding against the spread of Covid. He has also called on former and retired teachers to return to bring additional support with a “Blitz” spirit.
Meanwhile, 12- to 15-year-olds are being encouraged to get fully vaccinated with two jabs and 16and 17-year-olds are now eligible for a booster dose.
Classes could be merged if the number of school staff off sick rises too high, the Education Secretary has said.
Mr Zahawi told Sky News: “The priority is to keep schools open. The testing, the staffing support we’re putting in place, and of course the ventilation is going to make a big difference to schools this year. The most important thing is to keep them open. We monitor staff absenteeism, I just said to you we’re running at about 8% last year. If that rises further then we look at things like merging classes, teaching in bigger numbers.”
He said people struggling to get lateral flow tests “should just refresh” their webpage.
Mr Zahawi told Sky News he had organised a separate supply of tests for schools ahead of children’s return to the classrooms.
He promised: “All exams are going ahead this year, this summer. I think there’s a big difference from last year to this year.”
Mr Zahawi said he wanted to offer reassurance before the start of term.
He said: “Teachers and support staff across the country have put in a Herculean effort over the past 18 months and more, and I know we can count on their steadfast support in the coming weeks as we weather this storm. I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all their efforts to help children fulfil their potential. We will do everything in our power as a government to minimise the disruption to schools.”
Health Secretary Sajid Javid’s announcement last week that ministers expect a need to constrain test kit supply to the general population for a fortnight amid surging demands sparked concerns over supply that have now prompted calls from the Labour Party and a head teachers’ union for the Government to make sure the tests are available for schools.
The Department for Education (DfT) is encouraging secondary, college, and university students and education staff to test themselves twice a week and has set up a priority route for schools to order kits.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “The difficulties the public have had in accessing lateral flow tests over the past few weeks has made many people nervous that they will not be available when needed for school staff and pupils.
“If lateral flow tests are to be critical to enabling pupils and staff to return to school quickly then there must be a ready supply available for schools as they go back in January and throughout the term.” Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting was one voice urging the Government to make sure the tests are there for those who need them.
He told Sky News: “Pupils should be testing twice a week. There’s lots of evidence to suggest that hasn’t been happening properly. So the message for Government is get the tests in place, make sure pupils are able to test twice a week. And my message to parents and pupils is ‘do take the tests’ because the big challenge this month is going to be keeping pupils learning, avoiding mass absences, and of course making sure that staff are well enough to attend school as well.”
The Rev Steve Chalke, the founder of one of England’s largest academy trusts – Oasis Academy Learning – told Sky News 10% of staff had been off work after testing positive for coronavirus or with other illnesses before Christmas, and staffing was still “the biggest unknown”.
However, he said DfE had done a great job and his schools had received all the testing kits they needed.
The Education Secretary moved to reassure patients that the NHS is “very good at being able to move staff around”, amid fears over shortages in the health service.
Mr Zahawi said the NHS was used to dealing with staff being off over the winter and during “big flu viruses”.
He told BBC Breakfast: “The NHS is very good at being able to move staff around within the system. They have an infrastructure to do that. We now have 10,000 more nurses and 3,000 more doctors than we had last year working in the NHS. But the NHS is very good at sort of making sure that staff shortages are monitored and dealt with pretty well. They’ve done it over many years in winter when we’ve been, you know, have big flu viruses around.”
It was put to Mr Zahawi that the health service had never had to deal with a situation like coronavirus and he said: “I don’t disagree with you.”
The Education Secretary said “there’s nothing in the data” to suggest further coronavirus measures will be needed later this week.
Mr Zahawi told BBC Breakfast that Plan B measures would be reviewed on Wednesday, but added: “There’s nothing in the data that gives me any concern that we need to go beyond where we are at.
“There’s some really good data from London that it looks like the infection rates are plateauing, if not yet coming down. But we are seeing leakage into the over-50s in terms of infections, and it’s generally the over-50s who end up with severe infection and hospitalisation.”
Mr Zahawi said he hoped guidance that secondary school children should wear masks in the classroom again would not be in place “for a day longer than we need it”.
He told Times Radio: “It really is based on a couple of things. One, obviously UK Health and Security Agency recommendation, Omicron being far more infectious, and when you look at the epidemiological data from SPI-M on this, and we’ve done a piece of work in the department at the end of last year, with 123 schools, where we’ve done an observational study where they’ve adhered to mask wearing in classrooms.
“It’s one of a number of, I think, really important mitigations to make sure that education is fully open and children are in school, in class.
“What we’re saying is, look, with Omicron, because it’s so infectious, we want to make sure that we give you as many tools to be able to make sure that education is open.”
But he admitted it was “more challenging, of course, to deliver education with masks on in the classroom”. He said: “This is an aerosol-transmitted virus and if you’re wearing a mask, if you’re asymptomatic, then you’re less likely to infect other people.”