'Concerned’ Northants school leaders risk assess plans to reopen primaries

School leaders in Northants have ‘concerns’ about the government order to open their doors again on June 1, but have started tentative planning to do so.

On Sunday (May 10) the Prime Minister announced the decision to send primary pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 back to the classroom as part of the slow easing of lockdown and getting people back to work. It has also said that all primary pupils will have a month of schooling before the usual six week holiday begins at the end of July.

The news has been met by alarm and concern by teaching unions who have raised a number of practical issues and are demanding details on the science behind the Government’s decision.

But while the unions and some MPs make their protestations, school leaders across the country are having to put in place plans to try and obey the Government order and get almost half of their primary school cohort back through the gates.

Since the lockdown began on March 23 most schools have been teaching small numbers of vulnerable pupils and key worker’s children, but there are fears that adding in more pupils will make social distancing near impossible and could fuel the spread of the virus throughout school corridors.

Parents have also voiced their fears about sending their children back and many may choose to instead continue their homeschooling efforts.

Andrew Campbell, chief executive of the Brooke Weston Trust, which runs four secondary and four primary schools across Corby and Kettering, said he was concerned about the June 1 directive. His senior team has begun making draft preparations, but said he would not make final decisions until risk assessments had been completed and he had spoken with staff.

He said: “We are working carefully and deliberately through the government guidance to assess how best to respond. In doing so we are taking account of the views of our school leaders, staff, our parents (who will be surveyed for their views shortly), unions and health and safety experts.

“Our response is broadly in four stages: 1, trust-supported risk assessments for each of our school sites; 2, trust-led procurement of additional resources to aid re-opening, for example hygiene products and signage for schools; 3 creating operational plans for each school site based on its risk assessment outcomes; 4 remaining flexible in our approach so we can support all children and staff whether in school or working and learning from home.

He added: “We will work closely with our staff and recognised unions to provide the best possible solutions we can. We should all be on the same side here. It appears further guidance is to be produced by the DFE in response to the concerns being raised by both unions, local authorities, academy trusts and other education sector bodies, so we’ll monitor the situation very closely and see what else comes forward.

“Staff and student welfare and wellbeing is our most important priority. We also feel a heavy responsibility to be open for as many children as possible, so we can support the communities we are here to serve.”

While schools have been shut to the majority of students there have been nationwide concerns about the hardships being faced by children in deprived areas and the risk of abuse some young people could be facing. For many school is a safe place, where abuse and neglect are often spotted by school staff and passed onto social services. The Local Authority has said referrals to the county’s safeguarding team dropped by more than fifty percent during most weeks in April.

Headteacher of Kingsthorpe Grove Primary Jamie Nairn has surveyed parents of his Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils and says early feedback shows that around 70 percent would be dropping their children off once more at the school gate from June 1. But he has a number of concerns around social distancing and the practicalities and how staff can teach those at school as well as those remaining at home.

He said: “You can’t socially distance in primary schools. I cannot get 15 children into a classroom and ensure social distancing. We have measured the desks and the spacing and would be able to get 13 children into our bigger classrooms. But we would need all teachers to be in school and then we would need to consider how they would set work for the other year groups.

“Throughout the lockdown my amazing staff have been working so hard and doing more hours than they would normally, as they are responding to parents queries, throughout the day, as some people are working with their children in the mornings while others are doing so in the evening when they have finished work.”

He added: “Measures we are considering are staggered drop off times and staggered starts. But for me, this is about the unknowns and how we manage it.”

The headteacher said more than 12 hours had been devoted to getting stocks of PHE for staff, but the biggest suppliers had not given assurance they could send in stock before June 1.

Yesterday (May 12) the Department for Education’s chief scientific adviser Osama Rahman told a Government committee, that he had not assessed the school reopening guidance provided to schools.

Education Secretary Gavin WIlliamson has accused onions of ‘scaremongering’ and said the only consideration behind the decision to reopen schools was that it was in the best interests of pupils and school staff.