'Great concern' over high number of pupils still attending Northants primaries as parents say system is 'ridiculously unfair'

A Northants teaching union boss has said she is 'greatly concerned' about high numbers of children who are still attending school as normal despite a national lockdown and amid spiralling levels of Covid in our county.

Some primaries are said to have more than 60 per cent of their pupils still attending school after the government published guidance encompassing a wide range of occupations and told schools that households with just one critical worker were eligible to send children into school.

And although many schools have ignored this and are allowing attendance only by children who have two critical worker parents, others have been inundated with requests, with some local primaries reporting up to 60 per cent attendance.

The Northants Telegraph understands that at one Kettering school, parents requested places for 150 children but only 20 were allocated places.

One headteacher, Maire Hayes of Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Primary in Corby, last night wrote to parents to tell them she had had an 'overwhelming' number of children' whose parents had told the school that they met the criteria.

Her letter said: "I am also aware that on social media, some parents have unfortunately made it public that they are sending their child in only because it is 'easier' to do so. I find this very worrying as it suggests that some parents are not taking the health of our staff and pupils as seriously as they should be.

"The formal advice is that if a child can be safe at home then they MUST remain at home.

".. we cannot operate safely under the current restrictions with a large number of children in school every day."

She said those working in logistics should only class themselves as critical workers if they worked directly with essential goods, adding that the school would review its policy to take fewer children from Monday with a plea to those who were working from home to not send their children in.

Elaine Coe, joint secretary of the Northamptonshire branch of the National Education Union (NEU) said that she had met with Northamptonshire County Council representatives this morning (Thursday, January 4) to urge them to offer guidance to schools after her members reported pupils returning to schools in much higher numbers than in last Spring's full lockdown.

She said: "I've asked NCC for a statement to get a definitive message out to schools. We're asking them to give a clear statement because the schools are interpreting the guidance in different ways. We want it to be definitive and not so we're leaving it up to heads to make up their own mind.

"Some schools are insisting on members of staff on site which is going against advice for unnecessary travel. The more people in the building, the greater the risk.

"We are greatly concerned about the numbers in school."

Ms Coe said that the picture is different in schools across Northamptonshire. "It is not an even spread," she said. "You're always going to get higher levels of attendance where there's greater pupil premium and there has been the suggestion that because of the number of vulnerable children, special schools can open as normal.

"But a vulnerable child is a vulnerable child and if you have an EHCP then being in a school might not currently be the best place for you."

She said that because of the higher numbers of pupils in schools, some teaching assistants could be asked to supervise classes and do jobs for which they weren't qualified, and that some lunchtime supervisors were being asked to work in classrooms. She added that teachers had so many in school that they were being asked to teach live lessons to those children as well as remote lessons to home learners.

"If lockdown is not going to be effectively implemented it's not going to solve this problem. All staff who are able to should be working from home. Staff should be in school on a rota so there aren't too many in school."

One Kingsthorpe mum who has two primary-aged children at home and a full-time job said: "It's ridiculously unfair. There are parents all over Facebook saying they are sending their kids in for their own sanity or because they're 'not good at home schooling' when some of us are trying to do it all.

"This is a difficult situation for everyone and it's very hard to see how we can ever get the R number below one when so many kids are going to school. And what about the poor teachers? They are having to teach 20 kids in a room at a time when Covid is out of control. People here are angry."

And a dad from Wellingborough who did not wish to be named contacted our reporter after hearing that more than 100 children were attending his children's primary school. He said: "What a joke. You think you're doing the right thing and then you see a full school and you ask yourself why you bother. I'll keep my kids at home because I don't want them to get Covid. Of course it's difficult but you just have to dig deep and do the best you can."

During the first lockdown, schools with more than 20 per cent of their pupils attending were advised by the government to contact their local authority who would help redistribute the pupils. Now there is no such advice and no such cap.

Daniel Perriman, Northampton County Federation Secretary for NASUWT, said that he had heard of some SEN schools that were open as normal. He said: "Because all the children are classed as vulnerable they are being told they can go into school as.

"But these are vulnerable children that may have compromised immune systems or other issues that make them more vulnerable to Covid and this is really the opposite of what we're meant to be doing.

"The government guidelines are so broad that the heads are having to interpret them."

He said that one way for students to catch up would be summer schools, adding: "These would not have to happen with their normal teachers, who need a break, but there are so many supply teachers who have missed-out on income or those who supplement their income with marking exam papers who won't be able to do that this year."

Northamptonshire's Urgent Response Communications Cell has been contacted for comment.