School nativity plays ban ‘will cut risk of virus closures over winter’

MSPS have been told that allowing nativity plays to go ahead this Christmas would risk schools being forced to close unnecessarily.

Updated guidance published by the Scottish Government this week stated that schools cannot hold “assemblies and other types of large group gatherings”, with traditional nativity plans appearing to fall into that category.

Speaking at Holyrood’s Covid-19 Recovery Committee, Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said: “The current guidance is saying they cannot take place in schools with parents present.

“As a parent, I can take my children to a crowded theatre or crowded cinema with lots of other people, some of whom may or may not be vaccinated.

“And yet I cannot go as a parent into a school setting to watch children take part in a nativity play.”

Gary Greenhorn, from the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES), pointed to the guidance and admitted that “some local authorities may interpret it differently” but insisted that the focus must be on keeping schools open.

He said: “The primary concern has got to be to keep schools safe.

“A number of schools are experiencing high levels of staff absence. There’s a fine balance to be had between increased exposure to risk and that risk can come from increased footfall to schools, which we are trying in the current guidance to minimise where we possibly can.

“We have got to do everything we can to make sure we have enough staff in school to keep the schools open as far as we possibly can.”

Jim Thewliss, general secretary of School Leaders Scotland, warned that it would be “disrupting young people’s education” if there was “a spread of the virus which has arisen through something which did not need to happen”.

Larry Flanagan, the general secretary of Scotland’s biggest teaching union, the EIS, also warned against nativities being able to go ahead while the pandemic was still a challenge.

He said: “If we have outbreaks among staff, schools will have to close because of the staffing shortages.

“Why would we potentially run an event that is going to increase the infection level in a school community, particularly in the run-up period to Christmas because it could then impact on family celebrations over the Christmas period, when there are alternatives in place?”

He added: “We are in the middle of a pandemic and in primary schools, five to 11-year-olds – it’s the highest rate it’s ever been in terms of infection levels.

“We are comfortable with the guidance as it stands at the moment.”

Mr Flanagan also suggested that children over the age of five should be offered the Covid-19 vaccine to tackle the spread of the virus in schools.

Currently, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommends only those over 12 are offered a vaccine.

Mr Flanagan said: “We are in favour of young people being offered that vaccine and we’ve said so at Serg (Scottish Education Recovery Group).

“I was surprised to discover at Serg that that there is apparently no licensed vaccines by age group in the UK at the moment, although clearly the USA have started vaccinating that particular group.

“Hopefully, there’s some work going on to make sure that a decision is taken to allow that age group to be vaccinated.”

He added: “Ultimately, we think offering the vaccination is a quicker and safer route than just allowing for herd immunity to develop over a longer period of time because that will be more disruptive to school education.”

The primary concern has got to be to keep schools safe