By Gavin Mackintosh-
Education Secretary,Gavin Williamson, says the reopening of schools is under control, despite a spate of closures prompted by Covid-19 cases.
The education secretary told MPs today he was “very” confident that the situation was under control, and insisted schools that follow government guidance will “create an inherently safer environment for all to operate”.
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Mr. Williamson’s comments come after some schools in the West Midlands and Wales were forced to send groups of pupils home and also close after identifying cases in pupils or staff following the start of the new term.
Over 60 schools have reported positive coronavirus tests, with further reports made today, including hundreds of schools in Liverpool self-isolating after positive cases at eight city schools.
During today’s Commons education, Mr. Williamson said he was “confident the government really has this under control”. He was responding to Labour MP Matt Western (Warwick and Leamington). The Mp said: “Just in the last week, a few days ago at the start of term, we’ve had 46 cases in schools across the UK.
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“In Scotland, there were 86 cases, a total of 158 schools already have cases. In a Suffolk school, five teachers, I think it’s in (Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s) own constituency, five teachers and the school has had to close. Is (Mr Williamson) confident the Government really has this under control?”
Last Resort
Mr Williamson responded: “Very much so and if I draw (Mr Western’s) attention to the joint letter by the chief medical officers of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, what they were pointing out is that children are best served by being in school.” He told MPs that schools will only ever be closed as an “absolute last resort”.
“On July 2, we outlined our expectations and what is required for schools in terms of delivery of continuity of education.
“That’s why we’ve made an investment of a further 150,000 laptops that will be provided for those communities that are in a position where they’re not going to be able to be providing face-to-face teaching within schools.
“But to be absolutely clear – schools will only ever be closed as an absolute last resort because we all understand in this House, on both sides of this House, how important it is for children to be benefiting from being in school with their teachers and learning in the school environment.”
On catch-up support, Mr Williamson said schools will assess the individual needs of their children – adding there is “clear guidance” about what works in the classroom.
He told MPs: “That might mean extending the school day for some, that might mean Saturday classes for others.
“There are so many different interventions that can really deliver significant results in terms of helping youngsters catch up on the learning that they have lost.”
“Our guidance is clear that if schools implement the actions set out in our system of controls in our guidance they will effectively reduce risks in their schools and create an inherently safer environment for all to operate,” he added.
The government has spent the best part of the last few months encouraging pupils to return to schools in order to benefit from an education after missing out on four months of education due to school closures since March at the height of the pandemic.
The return of several students home and some school closures at the start of the academic year has the potential to discourage many parents from sending their children to school, but not many parents will be able to home school their children, except those working from home- and that’s if they have the patience and academic knowledge to teach them.
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