Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Opinion divided on decision to keep classrooms open
School heads blast lack of government advice
Head teachers say the government “missed an opportunity” by not imposing a full lockdown over the half-term break - and have questioned the safety of keeping schools open. Pupils will continue to attend school during the national lockdown - a decision that has been met with criticism from those who say it will prevent infection rates from falling as quickly as they would if educational institiutions were to close. Herne Bay High School principal Jon Boyes says he has been shown “no hard and fast data as to whether keeping schools open during this period is safe”. “That worries me,” he said. “Across the country, more than a quarter of the population of England are not going to be following the lockdown,” he added, referring to the millions of pupils and staff that will continue to attend schools and universities.
“I think it’s important that
children and education are one of the biggest priorities, but we have to be careful the government doesn’t put that over and above the safety of everybody. “There is a much greater infection rate across the country and locally than there was in September, and there’s a lot more data that shows transmission rates particularly in secondary school children is much much higher than anticipated.
“In an ideal world, the government would have imposed a full, short-term lockdown two weeks ago and it would have included the half-term, to minimise the impact on children.
“But [it would be beneficial] even if they did it now and said ‘for two weeks, we’re going to lock down everything and completely stop this prevalance’. “And then while the infection rate is high, there should be a rota system in secondary schools, so we can reduce the number of students in at any one time.”
Mr Boyes says he feels a “change of perception” is needed surrounding the place of face coverings within education. “My opinion is a greater use of face masks in certain age groups and at certain times around the school will be beneficial, and will alleviate risk,” he said. “But facial expression and animation is a key part of education.” The head teacher criticised the apparent lack of safety guidance the government has issued to schools.
“We can try to remain open, but we need to do it safely,” he said.
“To put the onus always on the school and head teacher to make a decision about what’s best in their context is not actually good enough now.” Echoing these concerns, Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys head Ken Moffat said: “I’m hoping for a clear directive from the government, because I’m not a scientist. “I can see the logic of wearing masks in public spaces, but I think it really will impact teaching and learning to wear masks in classrooms.
“I want Chris Whitty or someone to say ‘right, this is what you’ve got to do and this is when you’ve got to do it’.”
Mr Moffat says he hopes schools will remain open for as long as possible.
“The government probably did miss an opportunity to lock down over half-term more effectively, but that horse has bolted now,” he said.
“I’d be very keen to see schools remain open for the foreseeable future. It’s not the education - we can deliver that online. It’s the social interaction that pupils clearly have missed.”
‘In an ideal world, the government would have imposed a full, short-term lockdown two weeks ago, including halfterm, to minimise the impact on children...’