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Minggu, 03 Januari 2021

Primary schools: Send children to school on Monday, says PM - BBC News

Parents should send their children to primary school on Monday as long as they are open in their area, the prime minister has said.

Boris Johnson said there was "no doubt in my mind that schools are safe".

The two-week school closures in London and the South East of England were "exceptional" due to a fast-spreading new variant of Covid-19, he said.

But the prime minister did not rule out further school closures and indicated tougher measures could be introduced.

Mr Johnson told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show the risk to children was "very, very low" and the benefit of education was "so huge".

Most primary schools in England, except those in London and parts of the South East, are expected to open on Monday.

However, unions are telling primary school staff it is unsafe to return to work and are calling for remote learning to be introduced across all primary schools.

Some local authorities have also expressed concerns about reopening schools after the Christmas break.

Mr Johnson said that while school closures would be kept "under constant review", the government would be "driven by public health considerations and by the massive importance of education".

"And if you think about the history of the pandemic, we've kept schools going for a long, long time in areas where the pandemic has really been at really high levels," he said.

On Friday, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that all of London's primaries would remain shut to most pupils, after pressure from local councils to reverse an earlier decision to keep only schools in certain boroughs closed.

What's happening with schools across the UK?

Pupils wash their hands as they arrive on the first day back to school at The Charles Dickens Primary School on September 1st 2020

Most primary schools in England will return on 4 January, but in London and some surrounding areas they will not open for most pupils until 18 January. Secondary schools in England will stagger their return with pupils taking exams in 2021 starting on 11 January, and other year groups returning in person on 18 January.

In Wales, local councils have been told they can be "flexible" with when they open - with many schools aiming to return for face-to-face lessons from 11 January.

In Northern Ireland, primary school pupils will be taught online until 11 January. In secondary schools, years 8 to 11 will be taught online throughout January. Years 12 to 14 will return to school after the first week of January.

In Scotland, the Christmas holidays have been extended to 11 January, and the following week will be online learning only. A full return to face-to-face learning is planned for 18 January but First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned measures may have to go further with a cabinet meeting to be held on Monday.

'Vaccinate teachers'

Asked whether exams should be cancelled, Mr Johnson did not answer directly but said "we've got to be realistic" about the pace at which the new variant was spreading and its impact on the NHS.

The National Education Union has advised its members it is not safe to work in primary schools and said all schools should remain closed for a further two weeks, while other major teaching unions have called for a period of remote learning while safety measures are put in place.

Head teachers in Wales as well as England have begun legal action to force ministers to reveal data behind the decision for some schools to reopen - which the Department for Education said are based on new infections and pressure on the NHS in local areas.

Anne Longfield, the Children's Commissioner for England, called for teachers to be vaccinated "as a priority", as she said that any school closure should be for "the absolute minimum of time and that time must be used very well".

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman said "children's lives can't just be put on hold", echoing the point that school closures should be kept to an "absolute minimum".

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has warned millions of parents and children are facing a "chaotic situation" at school on Monday and said the government's "top-down" and "blanket" approach to schools reopening should be changed to allow head teachers to make decisions based on local public health advice.

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2021-01-03 11:34:00Z
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Primary schools: Send children to school on Monday, says PM - bbc.co.uk

Parents should send their children to primary school on Monday as long as they are open in their area, the prime minister has said.

Boris Johnson said there was "no doubt in my mind that schools are safe".

The two-week school closures in London and the South East of England were "exceptional" due to a fast-spreading new variant of Covid-19, he said.

But the prime minister did not rule out further school closures and indicated tougher measures could be introduced.

Mr Johnson told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show the risk to children was "very, very low" and the benefit of education was "so huge".

Most primary schools in England, except those in London and parts of the South East, are expected to open on Monday.

However, unions are telling primary school staff it is unsafe to return to work and are calling for remote learning to be introduced across all primary schools.

Some local authorities have also expressed concerns about reopening schools after the Christmas break.

Mr Johnson said that while school closures would be kept "under constant review", the government would be "driven by public health considerations and by the massive importance of education".

"And if you think about the history of the pandemic, we've kept schools going for a long, long time in areas where the pandemic has really been at really high levels," he said.

What's happening with schools across the UK?

In Wales, local councils have been told they can be "flexible" with when they open - with many schools aiming to return for face-to-face lessons from 11 January.

In Scotland, the Christmas holidays have been extended to 11 January, and the following week will be online learning only. A full return to face-to-face learning is planned for 18 January.

'Vaccinate teachers'

Asked whether exams should be cancelled, Mr Johnson did not answer directly but said "we've got to be realistic" about the pace at which the new variant was spreading and its impact on the NHS.

TESTING: How do I get a virus test?
SYMPTOMS: What are they and how to guard against them?
LOOK-UP TOOL: How many cases in your area?
JOBS: How will I be kept safe at work?

BEST OF 2020: Barack Obama reads from his new and compelling presidential memoir
BEST OF 2020: Grounded with Louis Theroux

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Covid school closures 'put children's lives on hold', says Ofsted chief - BBC News

Closing schools to tackle Covid puts children's lives on hold and should be kept to an "absolute minimum", the head of England's schools watchdog has said.

Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman spoke out as ministers face growing pressure to keep all schools in England closed after the Christmas holidays.

Amid a surge in Covid cases, teaching unions have told primary school staff it is unsafe to return to work.

The government has said school closures are a "last resort" to curb infections.

Most primary schools in England are expected to open on Monday but secondary schools will reopen on a staggered basis, with exam year pupils returning on 11 January and others returning a week later.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that all of London's primaries will remain shut to most pupils, after pressure from local councils to reverse an earlier decision to keep only schools in certain boroughs closed.

It means more than one million primary school pupils will now learn from home for at least the first two weeks of term.

But by Monday, many more could be home learning after the UK's largest teaching union advised staff it was unsafe to work in schools and Brighton and Hove Council advised primary schools in its area to switch to remote learning.

In a letter to head teachers, seen by the BBC, the local authority said it had written to the education secretary requesting that it was named within the same framework which had led to the closure of primaries in London and parts of the south east of England.

Birmingham City Council's Labour leader Ian Ward said the city had seen an increase in cases since coming out of the November lockdown, with the cases among five-to-nine year olds rising from 93 per 100,000 on 7 December to 174 per 100,000 on 27 December, a pattern he said was indicative of the new variant being present.

He told BBC Breakfast Birmingham schools should carry out a risk assessment and, if it was shown it was not safe to open schools, the council would back the head teachers' decision.

Mr Williamson has said the closures were a "last resort and a temporary solution" to help tackle the particularly high infection rates in the capital, which has been driven by a new, fast-spreading variant of the virus. Vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers will continue to attend school, the government said.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Ms Spielman said she welcomed the "real consensus that schools should be the last places to close and the first to reopen".

"It is increasingly clear that children's lives can't just be put on hold while we wait for vaccination programmes to take effect, and for waves of infection to subside," she said.

She added that long periods of remote learning had led younger children to regress in basic skills, with some forgetting how to hold a pencil or use a knife and fork.

For older children forced to spend time away from school, Ms Spielman said Ofsted had observed increases in eating disorders and self-harm.

Head teachers in Wales as well as England have begun legal action to force ministers to reveal data behind the decision for some schools to reopen.

The Department for Education said its decisions were based on new infections and the pressure on the NHS in local areas.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, told BBC Breakfast the levels of risk in schools were "heightened compared to other areas" and that the new variant had "blown apart" the current strategies of control.

His union is calling for a brief period of remote learning so that new methods to suppress the virus can be put in place.

"If we don't do this we are going to have chaotic opening and closing throughout the early part of the year while the vaccine takes hold, and that's going to be more damaging to children's welfare and more damaging to education than if we have a short period now and a planned and sustained return to school," he said.

Three of the worst-hit English local authorities have not been told to delay the opening of primaries.

Rushmoor (817 cases per 100,000 people in the week to 28 December), Slough (777) and Spelthorne (721) are all in the south-east of England and subject to the strictest tier of coronavirus rules - tier four.

In Rushmoor where cases have increased by 54% week-on-week, the case rate is higher than 26 local authorities where primary schools will remain shut on 4 January.

What is happening with schools across the UK?

Secondary schools in England will stagger their return with pupils taking exams in 2021 starting on 11 January, and other year groups returning in person on 18 January. Most primary schools in England will return on 4 January, but in London and some surrounding areas they will not open for most pupils until 18 January.

In Wales, local councils have been told they can be "flexible" with when they open - with many schools aiming to return for face-to-face lessons from 11 January.

In Scotland, the Christmas holidays have been extended to 11 January, and the following week will be online learning only. A full return to face-to-face learning is planned for 18 January.