Fears for safety at schools
A TEACHING union boss has warned against sending kids back to school until it is absolutely safe to do so.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, accuses the Government of not knowing how to communicate with teachers.
She said: “I can only think that’s because Boris Johnson and the Treasury, who I think are driving this, don’t understand how complex schools are. They don’t understand children.
“A concern we’ve really had is for special schools, where children require intimate care. Teachers should have proper PPE.”
She added: “I would be looking at the rate of infection in my region, then the school plans.
“Is it going to be clean? Is there going to be social distancing? Unless I could assure myself the school was taking every precaution, my child wouldn’t go back.”
Some 1,000 heads have signed an open letter to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, urging him to reconsider plans for a wider reopening on June 1.
The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies wants low levels of virus in the community and robust track and trace in place for schools to open.
And chairman Sir David King said the chances of that by June 1 are “virtually nil”.
But Tory MP Tom Hunt said the unions’ stance would hurt pupils from poorer areas more than middle-class kids.
He said: “From the heads I talk to, it’s the ones with children most at need who are keenest at getting back into class.”