Yesterday, the Government announced we have strengthened our plan to keep education settings open and students learning in January, but have listened to, and considered, the concerns of schools and parents. It was key to do this after a positive Autumn term for the majority of schools, who were heroic in operating in such a challenging environment, but our youngsters were able to have a relatively successful term of learning.
It is so important they are fully supported and understood as matters change. The Government has been taking certain steps to counter the concerning spread of the new Covid-19 variant, which has been shown to be more infectious than previous strains of Covid-19. I have been on calls with both the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson MP, as well as the Minister for Education, Nick Gibb MP, yesterday evening and wanted to update constituents on the specific steps being taken.
The Government has been clear that, despite the pandemic, we always prioritised keeping our education settings open as widely as possible to prevent more severe damage being done to our children’s education and wellbeing. We don’t want to have to almost completely close schools, as we had to during the first lockdown. However, the transmissible nature of this new variant can’t be ignored, the R rate is increasing in local communities too sharply, so measures are being implemented in education settings to counter this. Despite these necessary measures, over 85% of schools will be welcoming children back to school next week.
Ministers have confirmed that, on January 5th, schools will be officially contacted regarding commencing regular, mass testing and two large, Government-led webinars have already taken place for schools across the country. 1,500 members of the military will help to set up these Covid-19 testing centers for schools through local response teams and the Education Secretary has confirmed this mass testing will begin in January. These webinars will continue, and advice is ongoing to our school leaders. We are incredibly grateful to them and fully recognise this challenge and know how difficult it has been for their teams.
My colleagues in the Department for Education reiterated to me that they do greatly understand schools are being asked to do a lot, particularly with the commencement of mass testing, and have been under massive pressures over the last 9 months. As well as the support from the military, an additional £78 million in Government funding has been provided to support schools and colleges with the costs of mass asymptomatic testing costs.
This is an extremely challenging and difficult time for our schools and after having had a relatively settled autumn term without having to take drastic steps, but this new strain has clearly caused a number of new challenges which we need to counter. These are further detailed below.
Key Messages from DFE:
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Early years and primary year groups will return as normal from the start of term, with the exception of a small number of areas where primary schools will shift to remote education in line with the contingency framework.
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Secondary schools and further education colleges will further stagger the return of their students to education to give more time for the rollout of rapid testing to find asymptomatic cases and break chains of transmission, with face-to-face education for all beginning on 18 January. All secondary schools and colleges expected to establish testing
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All children and young people can return to face-to-face education in special schools and special post 16 settings - though some staggering of return can be agreed with parents to allow some special settings roll out rapid testing. All children and young people will return to alternative provision settings from 4 January
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In areas of the country with extremely high rates of incidence or transmission of the virus, the government has taken the decision to invoke the Contingency Framework for Education, meaning that primary schools will also delay the return of most pupils for two weeks. The framework is being invoked so that those primary schools move to remote education for the first two weeks of term, except for vulnerable children and the children of critical workers.
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In Universities, students doing medical, clinical and healthcare related subjects, including nursing, social care, dentistry and veterinary studies can return as planned, along with those on teacher training courses. All other students should access learning online and remain at their vacation address wherever possible. Plans for the return of remaining students will be kept under review, with the first review point to take place in w/c18 January.
The Government’s plan to return children to school for the new term is as follows:
From the week commencing on January 4th, the following children will return:
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Children of critical workers; vulnerable children are in school/college
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Exam year groups (y11 and y13) receive remote education
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No other year groups required to be provided remote education
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Public exams taking place (i.e. VTQs) to go ahead as normal without the need for testing beforehand.
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Secondary schools and colleges to prioritise establishing COVID testing.
From the week commencing on January 11th:
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Children of critical workers; vulnerable children are in school/college and are able to access wraparound childcare where necessary
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All other year groups to be taught via remote education
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Schools/colleges to run their testing programme rollout, prioritising those children in school, staff and exam cohorts – with staggered return as testing takes place.
From the week commencing on January 18th:
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All children/young people in school/college for face-to-face education
Where contingency framework is in place:
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In secondary schools and colleges – exam years, vulnerable and critical worker children are in school, all other students receive remote education.
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In primary schools- vulnerable children and critical worker children are in school, all other students receive remote education
To read the Education Secretary's full statement on this matter, which he made to the House of Commons yesterday, please go to https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/education-secretary-sets-out-sch…
