Schools may remain shut beyond September

Hancock admits secondaries will not return until after summer holidays ‘at the earliest’

MATT HANCOCK last night became the first Government minister to concede that all schools may not be able to reopen fully in September.

The Health Secretary said the “current working plan” was that September would be the “earliest” that secondary schoolchildren would be able to return.

However, he said the Government still needed to “work out” how this would be achieved, and that it would “require ingenuity”. Mr Hancock was speaking at the daily Downing Street press conference, where he was asked if the Government expected “schools to be able to reopen fully in September”. He replied: “Our current working plan is secondary schools won’t open until September at the earliest.

“I very much hope that they can, because the impact on children’s education is so significant. But what we have to do, not only in schools but across the board, is work out how we can get the other things that matter going.

“Like schools, like hospitality, like retail. And get them going safely and carefully, in a way that doesn’t lead to the spread of the virus – and that is going to require ingenuity.”

His warning came as the Cabinet was to meet today to discuss ways of accelaround erating the exit from lockdown. The Government was set to push ahead with reopening non-essential shops on June 15, and was expected to consider opening pub beer gardens by June 22 – a fortnight earlier than planned.

The Financial Times reported most Cabinet members had supported shortening social distancing from two metres to allow more businesses to open.

But schools remain a sticking point. Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, will today be asked in Parliament how many parents have heeded Government advice to send primary schoolchildren back to classes.

He is expected to admit only half of eligible children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 have returned, following union and council safety concerns.

There were also signs last night that the Government may move away from an “ambition” in its Covid-19 recovery strategy to get all primary schoolchildren back into class before summer.

Ministers today will unveil a study of 100 schools to assess the prevalence of the virus among pupils and teachers. 200 teachers and pupils will be voluntarily swab-tested. Mr Hancock said the study would “seek to better understand rates of transmission in children and adults within schools.”

The results will feed into a second study in September. Mr Williamson said the study would “help us assess the next steps for getting all children back into schools, nurseries and colleges with their friends and teachers”.

Pupils in Years 10 and 12 in secondary schools were due to get some time with teachers from Monday.

Getting primary schools fully open by the end of June, to allow children four weeks of lessons before the summer break, would be “difficult”, one source admitted last night.

A source at the Department for Education said the “intention” was to have “business as usual in all schools come September” but that there were no guarantees, given uncertainty over the infection rate. The source added Mr Williamson hoped to get children into primary schools if health authorities allowed schools to increase group sizes.

Robert Halfon, chairman of the Education select committee, said he had “worries” about the lack of teaching for children in disadvantaged families and warned that “10 years of educational attainment could be put at risk”.

He said: “Eighty-five per cent of disadvantaged children are not learning.”

A survey of 900 head teachers said it was possible that about 700,000 children may not be doing any schoolwork.

“This will mean half the school year [missed], and it could set these children back by many months. This is going to have a massive impact. It is incredibly tough for parents, who may need to go back to work and will have real difficulties in terms of childcare.”

Anne-marie O’leary, the Netmums editor in chief, said the lack of clarity over a return for secondary schools meant parents could not plan their returns to work and had worrying implications for teenagers’ mental health.

She said: “The inability to plan is the biggest burden on parents right now. The fact they don’t know what schools are going to look like in September means that parents can’t plan what their work life needs to look like.

“If you can’t tell your employer how and when they can expect you to be back, it leads to some very difficult conversations. Every parent in the country has this stress right now – it’s massive.

“We’ve also had parents expressing concerns about secondary schoolchildren’s mental health. Keeping teens away from their friends is almost removing their lifeline.

“And if parents go back to work, as they are encouraged to, there is a mental health burden for children stuck at home on their own.”

Boris Johnson has indicated that he wants the country to begin a return to normality after more than two months in virtual lockdown, and yet progress is proving painfully slow. The change in the anti-covid slogan to “stay alert” was thought to presage a new approach whereby people would be encouraged for the most part to get on with their lives while taking care to avoid catching or spreading the disease.

In particular the return of children to the classroom was intended both to resume their education while freeing up parents for work. So far, just younger children have gone back, with many still kept at home as a result of parental trepidation and objections from teaching unions and councils. Some older pupils are due to return next week with what will probably be a similar outcome.

As we report today, Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, is due to unveil a study of antibody resistance to Covid in schools intended to reassure parents and teachers. Yet at the Downing Street press conference yesterday, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said secondary schools may not be able to reopen fully even after the summer holidays. The “current working plan” was that September was now the “earliest” that they would be able to start up again. This will mean at the very least six months of lost schooling for millions of children whose life chances are being jeopardised.

Mr Hancock said that the Government still needed to “work out” how getting children back was going to be achieved and that it was “going to require ingenuity”. What it requires is conviction and determination. Is it any surprise that parents and others should remain cautious when ministers act with such hesitancy?

There is ample evidence from around the world that sending children to school is safe for both them and their teachers. The settings are certainly far safer than the large public gatherings which are allowed to go ahead with apparent impunity. The actual evidence, as opposed to the computer modelling on which ministers are fixated, suggests all schools could be reopened now since the risk to children is miniscule and teachers can take reasonable precautions to prevent illness.

Mr Hancock said the Government needed to work out “how we can get the other things that matter going”. Few things matter more than the education of our children.