Schools in England to reopen June 1, 2020

On Sunday May 10th Boris Johnson announced the reopening of schools in England, starting with Reception, Year 1 and Year 6. The government is also aiming for secondary school students with exams next year to return before the summer holidays.

As the UK Government plans to start sending children back to school from 1st June, “at the earliest.” the decision has been highly controversial and attacked by Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, who told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that teachers “haven’t yet seen the scientific underpin” to back up the assertion that the transmission risk among pupils is low. Teaching unions are adamant that no school in the UK was safe to reopen on 1st June.

A growing number of local authorities including Liverpool, Hartlepool, Bury Council in Manchester, argue that it is too soon to lift the COVD-19 lockdown restrictions and says that while high levels of the infection remain in the north west, “the borough will not be re-opening schools on June 1”. Local authorities up and down the country are refusing to open schools on 1st June.

Michael Gove, has stated that “The clear scientific and clinical advice is that it is safe to have schools reopen, accompanied with social distancing.”
The BMA who initially opposed the idea of reopening schools has since dropped its opposition and state that providing it is safe, schools should reopen on 1st June. BMA admitted that there is “growing evidence that the risk to individual children from Covid-19 is extremely small”

The attitude of the Sutton Trust, a social mobility charity, is that the lockdown is “really hurting children in moderate and low income households”. Suggesting that they should go back to school.

Scientists say It is fear – not science – that is stopping our children being educated. Test, track and trace must be in place it is the key to reopening schools safely.

For the pupils in the UK, it wont be easy transitioning from home back to school after such a long absence and under new strict social distancing conditions. Things will not be as they knew it. Children will not be able to play with their friends, they will not have the use of the library, pupils will be unable to share a desk and the comradery between pupils will have disappeared. Many parents feel that their children will be disappointed on their return and claim it would be better to wait until September by which time they would have prepared them for the change to their school experience.

Meanwhile, In Germany and Denmark Schools have reopened. In total 22 EU countries have reopened schools. Although they too had fears of a “big backlash from parents” it did not materialise. It is reported that many pupils were happy to be back with their friends.

The NEU (National Education Union), has further told teachers, “not to engage” with the Government’s plans to reopen schools after next week’s half term break….”.
Hundreds of thousands of people had signed a petition to be given choice on sending their kids back to school. It is estimated that a staggering 62% of parents will not send their children to school when they reopen in June. Furthermore, parents who refuse to send their children back to school will not be fined.

The schools that reopened in Europe, planned meticulously and went as far as creating ‘seating plans’ making it easy to trace any cause of infection from the virus. Social distancing has been carefully implemented and planned too. Fewer children are in each classroom and they are taking tiny steps back to normalcy. Schools have installed temperature checkpoints, spaced out desks and fitted them with plastic dividers, and implemented social distancing measures in dinner halls and playgrounds.

France and The Netherlands will be the next to open schools– there are strong arguments for and against as there are in the UK. However, it appears that teachers are not afraid and feel protected as schools have installed plastic screens and teacher have face masks to protect them should a child start coughing

Those arguing against reopening schools too early cite South Korea who under pressure from parents and petitions, had to delay the reopening five times. They have actually seen a spike in cases since schools reopened. Boris Johnson’s government need to take note of this and weigh up the pros and cons of moving forward with this decision whilst looking at both sides of the argument.

Tony Blair, former Labour prime Minister, backs Boris Johnson on the phased reopening of schools. Speaking to the BBC he states that Mr Johnson’s government has based their decision on scientific advice and evidence. He referred to data which showed that “especially for younger children, the risks of transmissions are actually quite low”. He pointed out that Private schools have continued to educate their children during the corona virus lockdown. In fact, many are now approaching or have just started their half term break. Since schools were closed on 20th March it is debatable just how many state school pupils have received appropriate levels of education.

There are parents who feel firmly that continued school closures will have a detrimental impact on pupil progress. This brings us to the question of equality of education. Reportedly, a lot of State school students have missed out on education because they lacked the equipment to join online tuition.
Much is written and claimed about inequalities in education in the UK. Comparisons are made internationally and the UK position in international education tables may have slightly influenced the government’s decision.

This is essentially a judgement call for mums and dads, teachers and headteachers – all have the same agenda, the health and well-being of the children in their care. It is imperative that UK State schools keep their educational standards high.

Despite these arguments, primary schools are due to reopen shortly. Head teachers are looking at the examples of EU countries such as Germany and Denmark to help them to reopen safely and effectively.

Year 6 pupils are approaching secondary school transfer and the reopening of schools will give them an opportunity to spend a few weeks in their primary school. They will have the opportunity to say farewell to their teachers and the friends they made over the years, before they transition to the next stage of their education’

By May Fields