Cases in Tayside schools worry UK

Dundee and Perthshire in spotlight as teachers and parents watch anxiously

Anxious parents and teachers from across the UK are following news of coronavirus cases in Tayside schools.

As schools in England and Wales prepare to reopen next month, following those in Northern Ireland on Monday, nationwide attention has fallen on the positive cases in schools in Dundee and Perthshire.

UK media reports of the outbreak at Kingspark School in Dundee are being widely read by worried parents and school staff south of the border and shared on social media.

A total of 27 people connected with Kingspark, which has around 185 pupils with additional support needs, have now tested positive, 21 of them staff, two pupils and four community contacts.

There are also positive cases – one each – at SS Peter and Paul School and Happy Times out-of-school club at Downfield Primary School, both Dundee, Oakbank Primary School, Perth, and Newhill Primary School, Blairgowrie.

A story about Kingspark School was the third most-read story on The Guardian website yesterday afternoon, while Dundee was trending on Twitter.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told parents that it is “absolutely vital” to get children back into school at the start of next month.

However, many people remain scared to send their children back to school as parents have already done in Scotland.

The outbreak at Kingspark is also being closely followed by teaching unions down south, with calls being made for the Westminster government to provide a “robust back-up plan” in the event of a local outbreak impacting schools.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “What we do need, as a matter of urgency, is for the government in Westminster to provide a robust back-up plan over what happens in the event of local closures or a second national shutdown which goes beyond simply returning to a situation where most pupils are learning from home.”

The GMB union called for a testing regime for every school after a survey of 1,400 members – cleaners, janitors, caterers and support staff – found twothirds, 63%, felt unsafe working at schools, and 96% backed regular testing.

GMB Scotland organiser Helen Meldrum said: “The failure over the summer months to listen to the voices of school support staff echoes what we witnessed in care earlier this year, and in this case the political focus has been on teachers and pupils while support staff have been forgotten.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned last week a rise in the number of schoolchildren contracting Covid-19 was inevitable. However, she stressed the importance of keeping schools open to avoid the “considerable” harm of children losing out on education.

Kingspark School was closed last Wednesday and pupils and staff asked to self-isolate for 14 days.

Cases at SS Peter and Paul’s School and Happy Times were identified as a result of contact tracing connected to Kingspark.

The return of tens of thousands of pupils to Scottish classrooms was never going to be a simple task. In Tayside and Fife in recent days there has been a major Covid cluster identified at an additional support needs school in Dundee.

The outbreak at Kingspark forced its closure last week and it has now been confirmed that 21 members of staff, two pupils and four external contacts have contracted Covid.

It is a case that is causing consternation far beyond the school gates as pupils in England prepare to return to class.

There has also been smaller Covid clusters identified at a number of primary schools and at a nursery in Fife.

Each such outbreak eats into already fragile confidence among parents, teachers, school support staff and pupils.

Education Secretary John Swinney was correct to point out that incidents of Covid in the education network since schools returned on August 11 were low.

In an estate of more than 2,000 schools across Scotland that is welcome. But there is no place for complacency.

Every practical measure that can be introduced must be to protect the children, staff and parents and community.

In secondary schools where the risk to pupils from Covid is higher, it seems eminently sensible to follow new World Health Organisation guidance on the wearing of face masks as pupils move around the campus. That may be alien and uncomfortable for some, but it is for the greater good.

We must all get used to that concept.