Plans for all primary school year-groups in England to return to the classroom before the end of the term are to be scrapped by the government
It had been the aim of the government to get all primary pupils, from all year-groups, to spend four weeks in the classroom before the summer holidays.
This plan however, is no longer thought to be feasible by the government, who instead have said that schools will be given “flexibility” over whether or not to allow more pupils into the schools.
This comes after the leader of the headteachers union has warned that schools would not reopen before the 1st of June.
Head teachers’ leaders are now saying that the new plans have never been a practical possibility.
Geoff Barton, leader of the ASCL head teachers’ union has said:
“The ‘ambition’ to bring back all primary year groups for a month before the end of the summer term was a case of the government over-promising something that wasn’t deliverable,”
“It isn’t possible to do that while maintaining small class sizes and social bubbles,” he said.
This comes after Matt Hancock, the UK’s Health Secretary, conceded at Monday’s Downing Street daily coronavirus press conference that secondary schools in England may not be permitted to fully reopen until September “at the earliest”.
This announcement is believed to make official what head teachers and governors in the country have been saying for a long time, that it’s not possible to increase the space as much as needed for each class to meet the necessary social distancing rules and bring everyone back, because there is simply not enough room.
While Downing Street and the secretary of education continued with the plans, they lost the support of people working in schools and teaching unions, as well as some groups of parents.
There are worries that having more pupils return to classrooms across the UK will cause an increase in infections of COVID-19, both among students and school staff in their communities, and the scientific evidence on this is currently inconclusive.
The UK’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, will lead a cabinet meeting later today to discuss the next steps towards the easing of lockdown measures in the country before Education Secretary Gavin Williamson delivers a statement on the reopening of schools to the House of Commons.
There are separate restrictions in place for managing the threat of COVID-19 in England than in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England told has said that the prospect of students of secondary schools not returning to the classroom until September at the earliest was a “deeply worrying” prospect, she went on to say:
“It’s a disruption we’ve not seen since the Second World War,”
She added that “the education divide is broadening” and “almost a decade of catching up on that education gap may well be lost”.
One mother told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme that she was “unsurprised” but “incredibly disappointed” by the news.
“I feel really sad for my son. I’ve got one son in year two and another one in reception.”
“My child in reception’s gone back, albeit only four days a week, every other week.”
“And my older son, who is just about to turn seven, is desperate to go back, can’t understand, thinks it’s so unfair – which it is.”
