A growing number of councils in the north of England are warning parents not to expect schools to open on 1 June, as new union guidance for teachers suggests it will not be safe to mark children’s books.
Bury council in Greater Manchester is the latest to confirm that primary schools will not reopen for some pupils on the government’s target date at the start of next month, pointing out that Covid-19 infections in the area are still too high.
Tamoor Tariq, lead member for children’s services, schools and families, said: “While high levels of Covid-19 infection in the north-west remain, and guidance around practical arrangements for social distancing within educational environments, testing and tracing, and supply of PPE is unclear, the borough will not be reopening schools on 1 June.”
The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, will meet union leaders on Tuesday, as pressure builds on government to reopen primary schools in England to reception, year 1 and year 6.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), which represents 19,000 members, said it would – with some caveats – support schools preparing to reopen from that date, after being reassured by government scientific advisers last week.
A number of multi-academy trusts, which are independent of local authorities and close to government, have also supported the 1 June return to school. A growing number of councils including Liverpool, Hartlepool, Rochdale and Wigan have, however, told parents not to expect schools to reopen on the government’s deadline.
Fresh guidance for teachers from the country’s biggest teaching union suggests it will not be safe to mark children’s books and renews calls for PPE in schools.
The National Education Union (NEU), with 45,000 members, remains unconvinced by government assurances and has issued its own guidance to primary schools, warning it is “extremely unlikely” that circumstances nationally would allow for wider reopening on 1 June.
Boris Johnson’s spokesman said the advice from the Sage committee on the return of schools would be published “as soon as possible”, giving no timeframe. “We continue to want to work with schools in order to get more children back into an education setting,” he said.
“We are now past the peak of the virus and it is right that we plan for the first phase of a controlled and careful return of some year groups from 1 June at the earliest. As we have always said, safety comes first, but we must also be aware of the potential damage to a child’s education from not getting them back to the classroom.”
On the ground, headteachers say government ambitions to get all primary children back into school for a month before the school holidays are “unworkable”. There are also concerns that parents will be too scared to send their children to school, particularly those who are BAME because of mounting evidence that members of ethnic minority groups are particularly badly affected by the virus.
Paul Harris, chief executive of the Tapscott Learning Trust which runs five primary schools in the east London borough of Newham, which had the worst mortality rate in England and Wales, said parents in his community were “very, very scared”. There have been 15 deaths from Covid among the families of staff and pupils in the Tapscott community.
“When you knock on the door, all the curtains are shut. Parents will talk to you on the phone, but some of them won’t open the door. When you talk to them on the phone they make it very clear they have not been assured enough that it’s safe,” he said.
Harris said some pupils had barely stepped outside their front door since the lockdown started eight weeks ago. “There are some parents who will not even let their children go into the back garden because they are scared they will get [Covid] there. We are trying to build up trust, but they have barricaded themselves in because they are scared.”
The NEU meanwhile has urged its members to insist on social distancing of 2 metres in schools, though government guidance has acknowledged young children will find it impossible to observe the same rules as adults and advises instead classes of fewer than 15 and well spaced desks.
The NEU guidance says: “Given that the science does not yet show that children do not transmit the virus, the NEU believes that schools should operate in the same way as other workplaces and maintain social distancing in classrooms and in movement around the school.”
The guidance, which is also for members of GMB, Unite and Unison working in schools, provides a comprehensive checklist, including advice on everything from lidded bins to sanitising library books. At one point it says: “It will not be safe to mark children’s books during this period. Will clear instruction be given that no marking should take place and the books should not be taken to and from home/school?”
Schools in England have been closed to all pupils, except children of key workers and vulnerable pupils since 20 March.