Councils reject return date for secondaries

Teachers are best placed to decide on when young people should return to classrooms, officials insist

Councils have told secondary schools they do not need to reopen on June 15 – a move that goes against Boris Johnson’s announcement on Sunday that Year 10 and 12 students would receive some contact time with teachers before the summer holidays, to help them prepare for GCSE and A-level exams in the next academic year. But several councils have repeated their opposition, warning that students could be put at risk if they are brought back to the classroom.

Tony Diver

COUNCILS yesterday told secondary schools they did not need to reopen to students on June 15 – a move that goes against Boris Johnson’s wishes.

The Prime Minister announced on Sunday that Year 10 and 12 students would receive some contact time with teachers before the summer holidays to help them prepare for GCSE and Alevel exams in the next academic year.

But several councils have repeated their opposition to Whitehall imposing start dates on schools in their area, warning that students could be put at risk if they are brought back to the classroom too soon.

Six councils yesterday told The Daily Telegraph that they intended to allow local authority schools to decide for themselves whether to respect the June 15 date or stay closed for longer.

More than 50 councils have already opposed the June 1 start date for reception, Year 1 and Year 6 students, either allowing head teachers to make their own arrangements or advising them not to open.

Leaving schools closed for longer has raised fears that disadvantaged students will fall further behind in attainment, while exam performance in the 2021 academic year could be affected by less teaching time.

Last night, Marvin Rees, the Mayor of Bristol, said: “The people best placed to lead and decide on the timing of young people returning to school are the teachers themselves, working with their governors, communities and ourselves. We will back them and work with them to deal with the consequences of their decisions.”

Solihull and Staffordshire councils both suggested their advice was unlikely to change for secondary schools on June 15, and teachers would be allowed to decide for themselves whether to respect Mr Johnson’s request.

But Philip White, Staffordshire council cabinet member for learning and employability, acknowledged it was important to prioritise “pupils whose exam preparation has already been affected”.

Telegraph analysis has found that 60 per cent of councils opposing the Government’s back to school timetable are Labour controlled, versus 20 per cent held by the Tories. The remaining 20 per cent have no overall control or are held by the Liberal Democrats.

On Sunday, the Prime Minister said students getting back to the classroom was “crucial”.

“We want to start getting our children back into the classroom in a way that is as manageable and as safe as possible,” he said.

“We said we would begin with early years settings, reception, Year 1 and Year 6 in primary schools.

“We then intend from June 15 for secondary schools to provide some contact for Year 10 and Year 12 students to help them to prepare for exams next year, with up to a quarter of these students in at any point.”

The move towards getting pupils back to school is part of the Government’s “phase two” of lockdown.

Guidance released by the Department for Education yesterday said schools should offer “face-to-face support to supplement the remote education of Year 10 and Year 12 pupils, which should remain the predominant mode of education”.

All classrooms would be fully open by September, Mr Johnson said.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said it was inappropriate for head teachers to have to weigh up public health evidence on their own.

“Ultimately, there is a kind of inevitability that even if schools start to open, some schools will start to close if there is a spike in infection rates,” he said. “That’s why all of this probably needed a bit more nuance from the outset.”