Union’s plan for schools to teach pupils on a ‘week on-week off’ basis if there’s a coronavirus spike
A LEADING teaching union has said it will teach pupils on a “week on-week off” basis if there is a coronavirus spike.
The Prime Minister has said it is the “national priority” to get children back in class in England next month and favours shutting pubs, restaurants and shops ahead of schools in the event of local Covid-19 flare-ups.
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But it has emerged schools have spent the summer “scenario planning” for September which threaten to undermine Boris Johnson’s pleas.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told the Daily Telegraph: “If you want to limit the number of children on site or travelling to and from school, a big part of that is using rotas and the obvious way to do it is ‘week on-week off’.
“The majority of leadership teams will be thinking about different scenarios and how they can get some children to school.
“In the absence of clear guidance from the Government, leaders are making their own contingency plans.”
Mr Barton added that headteachers had found Mr Johnson’s recent comments about getting kids back in the classroom “deeply patronising”.
Government advisers, opposition politicians, teachers and the children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield have all called for improvements to testing before pupils return in September.
Their calls came as the PM wrote in the Mail on Sunday that “we have a moral duty” to reopen schools to all pupils.
He warned of the “spiralling economic costs” of parents and carers being unable to work, adding: “Keeping our schools closed a moment longer than absolutely necessary is socially intolerable, economically unsustainable and morally indefensible.”
Mr Johnson was also keen to stress the potential damage to children’s health if they do not return and that the virus presents only a very low threat of making them seriously ill, amid concerns parents may not feel comfortable sending them back during the pandemic.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson welcomed a study by Public Health England that shows there is little evidence of Covid-19 spread in schools.
The prime minister has ordered a PR campaign to ensure that schools reopen on time in September and will visit one this week.
Yesterday we reported how a National Education Union checklist suggested teachers should “escalate” action if schools fail to satisfy them about 200 “safety” conditions.
Youngsters have been out of mainstream education for nearly five months throughout the pandemic.
Ms Longfield welcomed the commitment to make children the priority after previously accusing ministers of treating them as “an afterthought”.
But she said regular testing of pupils and teachers, perhaps as frequently as weekly, could be needed even if they do not show symptoms.
She told Times Radio: “I think it needs to be as regular as it needs to be, to ensure that the infection is caught and identified as quickly as possible and then the tracking system can move on from that.”
Schools minister Nick Gibb has said he did not support the idea, insisting: “The priority for the new 90-minute tests has to be hospitals, care homes, the laboratories. The measures we are putting in place – a hierarchy of controls about hygiene and bubbles within schools – are the most effective method of reducing risk.”
Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, who is advising the Government’s coronavirus response, said the “brief window” before schools reopen must be “used wisely” otherwise new restrictions will be needed.
‘RAMP UP TESTING’
He wrote in the Observer: “Most urgently, we need to ramp up testing. We are not where we need to be. We must improve contact tracing, so we’re identifying more cases and providing better, faster data locally.
“If we don’t, we may not be able to reopen schools without introducing new restrictions elsewhere. These are the trade-offs we face – if we do not act now.”
Shadow education secretary Kate Green called for greater support from ministers in making schools safe with extra resources and for them to boost the tracing of potential infections.
“I do think the Government could be doing more to support them (teachers) particularly, for example, making sure we’ve got a really robust test and trace system in place,” the Labour MP told Times Radio.
“It’s really, really important that we don’t write off a generation of Covid children – they need to be back in class the whole of our futures depend on this.”
National Education Union deputy general secretary Avis Gilmore called for ministers to “be clear” about support if a second wave of the virus strikes.
“Robust track, trace and test alongside health and safety checks in schools and colleges are necessary,” she said.
“If, based on scientific evidence, there is a choice between schools being open and other sectors having to close to keep the R below one and thus avoid a second spike then there is no contest – that is what should happen.”
Mr Gibb said this week the Government cannot “decree” that classroom education is prioritised, instead saying decisions will be made by local health chiefs.
But a Number 10 source insisted that Mr Johnson’s expectation is that schools will be the last to close.
“The PM has been clear that businesses including shops, pubs and restaurants should be forced to close first, with schools remaining open for as long as possible,” the source said.
Professor Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, is among those who have suggested more restrictions may be needed when schools return after saying the nation has “probably reached near the limit or the limits” of what can be done to reopen society safely.
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It comes as another 1,063 tested positive for Covid-19, compared with 744 on the previous Sunday.
The Government said 46,574 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK, up by eight from the day before.
The figures usually dip at weekends.