Missing school ‘risks your child’s future’
Government’s timing of new guidance for schools is reprehensible, say head teachers and unions
PARENTS who refuse to send their children back to school risk putting a “huge dent in their future life chances”, the Education Secretary warns today.
In an open letter to every parent with a child of school age, Gavin Williamson insists schools are a safe environment, explaining that scientists have assessed the chances of a child suffering a severe Covid illness as “vanishingly small”.
He made the comments days before millions of schoolchildren are due to return to lessons after five months of lockdown and summer holidays.
Ministers hope his insistence that education is a “birthright” will banish the lingering fears of parents who remain reluctant to send their children to classes.
A recent survey by the Office for
National Statistics found two thirds of parents remained worried about sending their children back to class. Those who refuse to do so face fines of up to £120 and even prosecution.
Mr Williamson’s letter is published after head teachers and unions rounded on his department for issuing lastminute guidance, including staggered fortnightly lessons divided between home and class tuition for pupils living in local lockdown areas.
In his letter, he tells parents that their children should be encouraged to walk or cycle to school where possible to reduce congestion on public transport.
He says a recent “extensive study” by the British Medical Journal found a “vanishingly small” risk due to Covid, with the chances of a pupil being admitted to hospital being “tiny”.
He adds that the country’s chief medical officers, including Prof Chris Whitty, are adamant the health risks to children are “extremely low”.
He says “huge lengths have been taken to prepare our schools for this moment”, explaining that pupils will stay in groups – or “bubbles” – to reduce contact.
Strict hygiene and cleaning protocols will be introduced in schools, along with PPE and home testing kits being distributed in the “unlikely event” a pupil develops symptoms.
He concludes: “If a child is not in school, they stand to lose far more than just a few months of learning. It could well put a huge dent in their future life chances. Education is a birthright, so let’s make sure we get all children back – back to learning, back to playing and back to being kids again.”
‘If a child is not in school, they stand to lose far more than just a few months of learning. It could well put a huge dent in their future life chances’
HEAD teachers and union leaders have criticised last-minute plans to enforce staggered rota systems on schools in lockdown regions just days before millions of pupils return to classes.
The Department for Education has published its guidance about how secondary schools in areas with rising Covid-19 cases could send pupils to learn at home for two weeks in an attempt to reduce infection rates.
The 22,000-word document was published late on Friday night, giving teachers just days to learn and implement the new measures before the autumn term starts this week.
The wide-ranging guidelines explain how “bubbles” of youngsters studying together will be used to limit contact between pupils.
Schools in lockdown zones are also required to introduce a “rota system” providing online and video lessons for pupils to study at home for two weeks, before returning to classes for two weeks if they are symptom free.
The publication comes as Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner, called for the same concerted national effort which created the Nightingale field hospitals to be directed towards getting etting children back to school to prevent nt “losing a generation for good”.
Meanwhile, Matt att Hancock, the Health Secretary, tary, yesterday warned that ministers had not ruled out the possibility of another nationwide de lockdown if the country sees an increase in cases this winter, adding that a second wave was a “very serious threat”.
Union bosses expressed their dismay may about how the Department for Educa- ation guidelines for or schools were an- - nounced at the “last minute”, adding that many head teachers would struggle to implement them at such short notice.
Explaining how dedicated teachers will feel “compelled to act imme
diately”, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “It was obvious weeks ago that lockdown advice was necessary.
“The Government’s decision to publish this at 9pm on the Friday of the bank holiday weekend before most schools are due to return is nothing short of reprehensible and demonstrates a complete lack of regard for the well-being of school leaders.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he felt a “weary, resigned sense of inevitability” at the timing of the announcement.
Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said the advice should have been available “months ago”, adding that schools had been left to “go it alone” if they needed to organise remote learning.
A paragraph stating that an entire year “bubble” could be sent home if students tested positive for Covid-19 was removed shortly after publication. Referring to this, Ms Bousted said: “It is simply unacceptable that this guidance was altered immediately on what is a key issue for schools: what to do when pupils are found to have Covid.
“As it stands, currently, there is still no clarity on what should happen in a school where there is an outbreak. This does not build confidence in the Government’s competence to keep schools safe when it scores such an own goal.”
Making the announcement, Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, said any changes to school attendance “will only ever be an absolute last resort”. He added: “It is important that both Government and schools prepare for a worst-case scenario, so this framework represents the sensible contingency planning any responsible government would put in place.”
Kate Green, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said the timing of the guidance “beggars belief ”.
Last night, a poll suggested that the Conservatives were no longer leading Labour for the first time since July last year.
The survey by Opinium found that the two sides were neck and neck on 40 per cent each. The gap has been gradually closing during the pandemic, with MPs blaming a series of Government about-turns for the slump in support.