In a letter to the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, Birmingham City Council leaders have pledged to support local primary schools who choose to go against government advice to reopen this week. This comes after leading education unions today advised members that returning to fully populated schools to work was ‘unsafe’ due to COVID-19 infection levels. (Sunday 3rd January).
All primary schools – except those in areas with the highest rates of infection eg the London boroughs – were set to reopen this week (from Monday 4th January). With many asking the government to rethink this policy, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared on the Andrew Marr Show (BBC) this morning, saying schools were “safe” and urging parents and carers to return their children.
Unions say teaching conditions ‘unsafe’
However, this morning, the National Education Union (NEU) advised its members not to return to work on Monday, saying that schools should instead teach remotely.
A statement read: “Today, the National Education Union has taken the difficult decision to advise its members in primary and special needs schools, and early years settings, that it is unsafe to return to work on Monday.
”Our union is calling on all primary schools to move to remote learning for the first two weeks of January except to vulnerable children and the children of key workers.
“We are writing to employers, urging them to look at the advice of SAGE, the Government’s scientific advisory group, and we are urging our members, on the basis of that science, to use our model letter to inform their head teacher that it is unsafe for them to be in school – in crowded buildings with no social distancing, no PPE and inadequate ventilation.
”We are asking members to be available to work from home and to support remote learning.”
Unison also advised it’s members not to return to work in primary schools.
Will local primary schools be opening?
Following the statement, local schools are in discussions with staff and some have already made announcements on their plans.
Where schools are choosing not to open to all pupils, provision will still be in place for children of care workers, as well as those most vulnerable.
St Mary’s School in Harborne was one of the first to announce a switch to online learning, tweeting: “[..] our staffing levels are insufficient to allow us to open school safely.”
As a result, a number of our teachers have informed us that they will follow this advice and therefore our staffing levels are insufficient to allow us to open school safely.
— St Mary’s School (@StMaryB17) January 2, 2021
In an online letter to parents and careers, Woodgate Primary School said: “[…] teacher unions do not believe that it is safe for teachers to return to full classes. This advice means that Woodgate Primary School is not able to open to all pupils from Tuesday 5th January until further notice.”
Others, such as Reaside Academy in Frankley have said they will reopen as planned.
Happy New Year everyone. An URGENT email has been sent to all parents/carers today.
School will reopen to children on Tuesday 5th January 2021.
— Reaside Academy (@reasideacademy) January 3, 2021
More schools, such as Colmers Farm Primary School in Rednal, said they were planning to open as planned on Tuesday, but would update on Monday (4th January).
There has been a lot in the news about the reopening of primary schools after the holidays. We still plan to open to all pupils on Tuesday 5th January, however this is a continually evolving situation. We will update you as soon as possible on Monday 4th January to confirm this.
— Colmers Farm Primary School (@Colmers_FarmPS) January 3, 2021
What have Birmingham City Council said?
Birmingham City Council leader Cllr Ian Ward and Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Culture Cllr Jayne Francis have written to the Secretary of State for Education, urging him to reconsider asking primary schools under Tier 4 coronavirus restrictions to return as infection rates continue to rise.
They write: “We are urging your Department to reconsider your position around face to face learning in Birmingham and other areas subject to Tier 4 restrictions, as you did yesterday for London. The impact of the festive relaxation of restrictions is still unknown, teachers have not been told when they will be immunised and mass testing in schools is not yet in place. We will support any Birmingham school leader who assesses that it is not safe to open their school following a risk assessment, particularly where there is a shortage of available staff.
“The contribution made by education professionals to this country’s response to the pandemic has been exceptional. These staff deserve the trust and support of your Department to be able to do their jobs in the most challenging of circumstances.”