School rota to be used in locked-down areas

Pupils in areas hit by virus restrictions could switch between class and home, Education Secretary says

Schools will adopt a rota system where pupils alternate between the classroom and home if they are in areas of severe coronavirus spikes, the Education Secretary has announced. Gavin Williamson said the measures would be a “last resort” in areas where other attempts to halt transmission had failed. It is part of a four-tier system for schools in lockdown areas, with measures ranging from face masks for pupils to only teaching the children of key workers.

SCHOOLS will be told to operate on a rota if local lockdowns make it impossible to operate as normal, the Education Secretary announced last night.

Gavin Williamson said pupils would switch between classroom and home learning to “break chains of transmission of the virus” under a four-tier system introduced just days before pupils in England return full time.

The Government had previously played down the idea of rotas, insisting that Covid security measures being put in place in schools would allow them to stay open.

But late last night, Mr Williamson published new guidance that instructed schools to use rotas – such as two weeks at school, two weeks at home – as a halfway house between teaching all pupils and teaching only the children of key workers.

It came as Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, admitted grandparents would be unable to hug their grandchildren this Christmas unless a vaccine was in place by then, and said another national lockdown was possible under a worst-case scenario.

The Department for Education’s guidance, published without fanfare as the country begins a bank holiday weekend, puts schools into four tiers if local lockdown restrictions are in place. Tier One schools will be fully open to all pupils, but with the mandatory use of face coverings in corridors and communal areas for pupils in Year 7 and above.

Then, “if all other measures have been exhausted”, schools would move to Tier Two, where secondary schools would teach children on a rota basis and primary schools would remain open to all pupils.

The guidelines state schools should “utilise time over the weekend effectively in order to prepare for a different rota group at the start of the week”.

Tiers Three and Four cover schools returning to a system of teaching only the children of key workers, while remaining pupils are taught remotely.

Mr Williamson said: “We hope that we won’t have to implement the guidance set out today because the local lockdown measures we have introduced so far are working. Changes to school attendance will only ever be an absolute last resort.

“However, it is important that both government and schools prepare for a worst-case scenario, so this framework represents the sensible contingency planning any responsible government would put in place.”

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Lecturers, said: “We’ve been calling for more contingency planning from the Government in the event of local lockdowns, so we are pleased that it has finally published some guidance.

“But to wait until the Friday night before most schools return isn’t the Government’s finest moment … In any event, it is a step in the right direction.”

Schools are also being sent packs of 10 home-testing kits for use “in exceptional circumstances”, where a child or teacher with symptoms might have “barriers to accessing a test elsewhere”.

Meanwhile, Mr Hancock said England could face nationwide restrictions and extensive local lockdowns if a second wave comes this winter.

In an interview with The Times, he said that under a “reasonable worstcase scenario” the NHS could be faced with a surge in coronavirus and a bad seasonal flu outbreak. A second wave was “avoidable but it’s not easy”.

He also said social distancing measures would remain for the “foreseeable” future, meaning that unless a vaccine was approved grandparents would not be able to hug their grandchildren this Christmas.

Under the “central scenario” the vaccine was likely to be available “some time next year”.