Head teachers struggle to deal ‘on their knees’ as they with Covid disruption
HEAD TEACHERS say they are “on their knees” struggling with the effects of Covid and staff and pupil absence.
Teachers are covering for lunchtime supervisors, heads are covering for teachers and there’s a shortage of supply staff in some schools.
Some supply agencies are refusing to send teachers on their books to schools with high numbers of Covid cases.
Some schools have closed as well as whole year groups since the start of term. Head teachers have repeated warnings of chaos as they struggle with staff and pupil absence thanks to the high number of Covid cases coming in.
Although community Covid infection rates are falling across Wales, there is a sharp rise in cases among the under-25s, latest Welsh Government data shows.
Government public health advisers concede that the more you test the more cases will show up.
Secondary school pupils are being asked to take asymptomatic tests twice a week.
School leaders say this term is worse than at any other time during the pandemic because returning with fewer infection restrictions has brought more Covid cases into schools.
More than 10,000 Covid cases have been reported in schools in the first few weeks of term and thousands of children and teenagers have been sent home to selfisolate and learn remotely. Staff are also off self-isolating.
Head teachers, who did not want to be identified, as they felt they would be blamed, described a grim picture.
A school leader in south Wales said supply agencies were refusing to send staff into a school where there were high rates of Covid to protect the supply teachers because supply teachers do not get sick pay if they cannot work.
A school head in the South Wales valleys said all the lunchtime supervisors were off sick and teachers and teaching assistants were having to cover for them.
A head in the Vale of Glamorgan reported again working throughout weekends tracing people who might have come into contact with a positive case at his school.
He said the TTP system was too overburdened to do all the work necessary and it is landing on schools.
Around 40% of children in one rural primary school were off school last week.
The schools serves a farming community with families with large numbers of children.
The school’s head said it was “soul destroying” watching siblings of those who tested positive come into school and then develop symptoms themselves.
And a school leader in north
Wales said she had no senior leadership support at all.
She is a non-teaching head who has had to step back into the classroom to teach.
There are no supply teachers available even though the school is in an urban area.
Laura Doel, director of the National Association of Headteachers Cymru said: “We’ve got members on their knees, struggling to deal with this situation.
“A head teacher of a mediumsized school has had to teach all week, cover for the lunchtime supervisor and open and close the school building because the caretaker is also off. This is simply not good enough.”
The Welsh Government Covid Situational Report, showing data for education/young people and published last Friday, reported Covid case incidence is highest in those aged 10-19 at almost 2,000 per 100,000.
“We will need to monitor case rates and other key indicators in each nation carefully to better understand the impact of easements of restrictions and return of schools,” the report, based on data to September 29, added.
Ms Doel said she was disappointed the Welsh Government had not revised its back to school Covid framework in light of rising cases in young people.
She warned the announcement that under-fives will no longer have to take Covid tests unless they have symptoms “sends the wrong message to parents”.
She repeated warnings that TTP is not working and schools are having to trace contacts for themselves.
“The education workforce is at breaking-point, with staff absence having a very real impact on the delivery of education and the wellbeing of staff at the chalkface. Schools cannot support home learning for those having to selfisolate when they can barely support the learners in the classroom.
“The best place for learners to get the education they deserve is in school, therefore it is our duty to do all we can to protect staff and learners.
“We urge the Welsh Government to sit up and listen to the profession, recognise that even if schools are open they continue to suffer from the impact of Covid and urgently review the support for schools that is severely lacking.”
Asked whether schools were able to provide the level of education expected with such high levels of disruption continuing, Education Minister Jeremy Miles said he did not underestimate the challenges for some schools.
At the Welsh Government Covid briefing on Tuesday, he added: “I know schools are facing significant challenges in some instances because of staff shortages as a consequence of the level of community transmission which exists beyond the school and that will pose particular challenges to some heads in time-tabling and so on.
“I also think we are in a very different place now in relation to support we are able to offer students when, despite everyone’s best efforts, they aren’t able to be in the classroom.
“Whether that’s blended learning resources, whether it’s support for teachers, whether it’s particular resources available to that cohort of students studying for examinations, in each of those areas we have invested in very significantly as a government and education system.
“I think the offer now is much richer than it was able to be at the beginning of the pandemic.”
But he added: “I don’t underestimate the challenge some schools are facing.”