Parents urged not to take children out of school early before Christmas holidays

PARENTS have been urged not to pull children out of school before the Christmas holidays over fears about infecting grandparents with coronavirus.

Ministers insisted that finishing term early was “not the answer” to saving Christmas, adding that the best place for children to be was in the classroom.

Yesterday the Government said families would be able to enjoy Christmas together across the whole of the UK after ministers agreed a plan that would allow up to four households to mix for five days.

Nick Gibb, the schools minister, said: “I know this is a challenging time but the latest data shows only 0.2 per cent of pupils were off school isolating with a confirmed case of coronavirus. Closing early for Christmas or extending the holidays is not the answer. The best place for children to be is in schools, which is why it remains a national priority to keep them open full time and avoid further disruption to education.”

He added that children were at a very low risk from the virus and that the Chief Medical Officer believed schools should remain open. He had “highlighted the damage caused by not being in education to children’s education, development and mental health, which greatly outweighs any other risks”.

The intervention comes amid warnings from teacher unions that some parents are planning to keep children at home during the final two weeks of term because they are worried about them picking up coronavirus and passing it on to family members over Christmas.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said there was heightened concern among parents about their children being exposed to the virus in the run-up to Christmas. Mr Courtney said: “I’ve heard anecdotally of some parents saying ‘I am not going to run the risk of not taking my child to see Gran’.

“We are hearing that parents won’t send their kids to school for the last couple of weeks to keep them safe.

“They would rather keep their children at home so that they are not told to isolate by their school. That is the concern that I am hearing.”

Earlier this week, head teachers warned that school attendance had plunged into chaos as the proportion sending classes home to self-isolate had doubled in a week. Between 18 and 20 per cent of schools sent 30 or more pupils home last week to isolate, up from 8-9 per cent the week before, according to the latest official data published by the Department for Education. Almost two thirds (64 per cent) of all secondaries in England sent at least one pupil home last week, up from 38 per cent the previous week. Fewer pupils were sent home from primaries, but the proportion had doubled in a week from 11 per cent to 22 per cent.

Robert Halfon MP, the Tory chairman of the education select committee, said: “We will risk an epidemic of education poverty the longer children stay at home.”