SCHOOLS OUT Kids in Covid-hit areas will have to go on rota system

FRUSTRATED teachers have attacked the Government over a lastminute rota system for schools.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said students in local lockdown areas could switch between classes and home learning to curb the virus.

He announced the measures just days before many schools were due to reopen this week.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (pictured inset below), said: “I think the most polite response is a weary, resigned sense of inevitability that here we are again, right at the last minute, with something that we have been accused of expressing treachery in asking for – where’s the plan B in case of local lockdown?

“At last it has arrived.” Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, branded the timing “reprehensible”.

He said: “It was obvious weeks ago that lockdown advice was necessary.

“The Government’s decision to publish this at

9pm on the Friday of the bank holiday weekend before most schools are due to return is nothing short of reprehensible.

“And it demonstrates a complete lack of regard for the wellbeing of school leaders and their teams.” Schools are expected to operate a “middle ground” system between allowing all students to return and only teaching the children of key workers.

The rotas would be part of a fourtier system that aims to keep primary schools open. PM Boris Johnson said reuniting pupils with friends and teachers was the “safest, healthiest and best option”.

HEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock has warned a second coronavirus wave is a “serious threat” and that severe rules could return if cases rise this winter. THE UK has 1,108 new cases of Covid-19, while a further 12 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for the disease, the Government said.