Union slams plan to open schools
EDUCATION unions have slammed the Government’s “half-hearted measures” as millions of primary school children prepare to return to school on January 4.
While secondary school pupils will see a staggered return over the next four weeks to allow teachers more time to implement mass testing programmes, all primary schools in the North East will reopen as normal next week.
But teaching union the NEU has called for England’s schools to stay online until January 18 at least, like those in Scotland.
The union has also demanded the Government publish more data on Covid-19 transmission in school settings; the implementation of stronger social distancing and maskwearing rules at school; and vaccine priority for school staff.
Daniel Kebede, NEU senior vicepresident, who was a teacher in the North East, said allowing primary schools to reopen as normal was “madness”. He said: “What we’ve always seen with this government is that if there are half-hearted measures like this one then they don’t really work.
“[School closures are] always something we’ve wanted to avoid but it’s a problem of the Government’s own making; if we had had mass testing, more space and more staff, as we asked for earlier on, we might not be in this position.”
And Mr Kebede said schools needed more resources to help support teachers to deliver testing. He said: “Teachers are stretched, schools are at breaking point. I’ve never seen a profession more stressed. This idea that we can just drop everything and deliver testing without more help is just not in the real world.”
Meanwhile, secondary schools across the region are adjusting their plans and preparing to deliver the testing regime the Government has asked for.
Sarah Holmes-Carne, head of Kenton School in Newcastle, said school leaders and staff across the region had worked hard to arrange testing plans and keep students safe, and that they would continue to adapt to new rules and guidelines as they were released.
“I think we should be really proud of the profession,” she said.
She told The Chronicle that yesterday’s announcement did give school staff “a little bit more time” to implement the school-wide testing programme.
She added: “Kenton School will continue to do what we’ve done since March: continue to work with our parents and our community to ensure we provide a safe environment for our learners.”
Yesterday there was also widespread criticism of the organisation of the Government’s announcement, as parents in Tier 4 waited to find out whether or not their child’s primary school would reopen.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “We will publish this list of areas today on the gov.uk website. I’d like to emphasise that this is being used only as a last resort. This is not all Tier 4 areas and the overwhelming majority of primary schools will open as planned on Monday.”
But in the aftermath of the announcement, that list was not yet available, appearing on the website several hours later. Shadow minister for schools Wes Streeting tweeted: “The first thing that parents will be doing following this statement is looking online to see if their schools are open. The list isn’t yet online. For crying out loud.”
One North East school leader said time management and communication issues more generally were causing issues for schools.
Hugh Robinson, chief executive of the Gosforth Group of local schools, told The Chronicle: “The biggest problem we are facing (and we have a basket of large problems to choose from) is the Government’s poor time management.
“Last-minute announcements and a tendency to do U-turns makes sensible planning coupled with communication to stakeholders problematical.”