Return to school ‘must be staggered’
THE Government should stagger the return of pupils to schools and colleges in January amid concerns about the Omicron variant, a teaching union has said.
The NASUWT teaching union is calling on Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi to urgently announce additional measures for schools and colleges before the Christmas break to avoid a repeat of the “chaos” last year.
A staggered return of pupils at the start of January should be considered and additional on-site testing facilities should be provided up until the February half-term, the union says.
It adds that the Government should publish further guidance advising schools and colleges to cancel or postpone non-essential activities or events, as well as move to online staff and parental meetings.
The plea comes after Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he could not guarantee schools would not close again due to the pandemic.
In a letter to Mr Zahawi about the Omicron variant, Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: “I must urge you now to consider the immediate introduction of additional education measures to help slow the spread of Covid-19 and to minimise further disruption to education.
“In addition to wider community-level measures, we believe that additional measures will be required within schools and colleges now and as they return after the Christmas break.”
Dr Roach added: “We ask you to avoid a repeat of the confusion and chaos which last year impacted negatively on public and parental confidence and hampered the hard work of teachers and school and college leaders in their preparations at the start of 2021.
“An immediate announcement from the Government on additional measures for schools and colleges is, we believe, essential before the majority of schools and colleges close for the Christmas break.”
The teaching union is also calling on the Department for Education (DfE) to publish the levels of teacher and support staff absences - both Covid and non-Covid related - and the steps being taken to ensure schools can continue to maintain quality education provision amid “serious” staffing shortages.
Dr Roach said: “We understand that schools are reporting significant proportions of teaching staff absent at any one time, with figures reported to the union ranging between one-third to one-half of teachers at individual schools unavailable to work.”
After the Christmas holidays last year, Prime Minister Boris Johnson told parents on Sunday January 3 to send their primary-age children back to school.
But on the evening of the next day, he announced a national lockdown for England - with all schools closed to the majority of pupils.