Are we about to be learn a harsh lesson?

The first day back at school is hectic at best, traumatic at worst – but this one in the year of Covid was like no other. Parents and pupils across Peterborough might still have been worrying about pencils and packed lunches, but this term the over-riding concern was much bigger... is it safe at school?

School should be, and usually is, a safe place – and for some poor youngsters whose home life is not as it should be, it’s the only safe place.

Many politicians have been very vocal in claiming our schools are safe. That has irritated me to the point of annoyance because they might believe that but they

know

don’t it.

It’s an opinion, and even if (hopefully) it turns out to be correct, it’s so very wrong to present it as a fact. And if schools are so safe why did they shut in the first place? And why were pubs reopened before most children went back to the classroom?

My kids were in the minority who returned to school at the end of last term.

I was (and still am) very happy with the way their school and its teachers handled the situation.

I believed, and still do, that on balance the risks were low and the benefits were great, but that couldchange.

Thankfully, it does seem that coronavirus doesn’t affect children too badly, but I’d rather not find out first hand with my kids.

The evidence, though, onhow likely they are to transmit seems less sure and, as for every other respiratory virus they are walking bug factories from September to March, I think we need to wait and see.

I suppose I could do a Uturn – after all this shambolic government has made an art form of that during this pandemic.