‘So disappointing difficult decisions were left to us’
The headtacher of St Peter’s Primary in Henfield made the tough decision to close her school before the national lockdown was announced.
Denise Maurice said the doors were shut ‘for everyone’s safety’, adding that staff could not protect themselves by wearing PPE, and it was ‘almost impossible’ to keep young children socially distanced.
Mrs Maurice told the County Times that although the school’s safety measures had allowed them to invite all children back before the end of the summer term, transmission of the new variant of coronavirus is so rapid that the school took the decision to close on Sunday.
She said: “Our children aren’t more likely to become seriously ill with Covid-19 but the chances of them catching it and spreading to the wider community is much greater than before. We feel that there are no further measures that we can possibly take to increase the protection of staff, pupils, parents and the wider community.”
She added: “I found it totally astounding that with rates rising rapidly in our area, despite being in Tier 4, that primary schools were deemed safe to open on Sunday.
“I am passionate about providing children with a high quality learning experience so closing our school prior to Monday’s lockdown announcement was not a decision that I took lightly; our staff will have to work harder to move everything online and support families as a result.
“It is just so disappointing that these difficult decisions were left to individual schools when an announcement prior to the start of term could have saved school leaders so much anguish.
“It is also disappointing that we have had so little tangible support in terms of testing, vaccinations and funding.”