Commenting on Safe Schools, a new consultation guidance document
from Independent SAGE with recommendations for getting down
infections in schools, Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary
of the National Education Union, said:
“This is a welcome intervention by Independent SAGE, which once
again exposes the enormous blind-spot that Government has towards
schools. Today’s consultation document raises many issues which
must now be seriously considered. It is quite clear that schools
and colleges need much stronger safety measures.
“There are ways in which schools can be made safer. We gave the
Government a roadmap in June, including advice on expanding
school sites to get class sizes down, encouraging teachers back
from retirement, and a proper, effective test track and trace
system. They have delivered on none of this, and have instead
given schools late guidance, a helpline that provides
inconsistent messages, and the staggering suggestion just this
week that NEU members should “hold their nerve” as staff and
pupil attendance deteriorates and schools struggle to remain
operational. Schools have been abandoned by this Government.
“Bubbles in secondary schools must now be reduced in size – they
were always too large and have inevitably led to significant
disruption when new Covid cases emerge. A system of rotas may not
be ideal, but it is inescapable that more needs to be done to
ensure education is sustainable as we emerge from lockdown –
particularly in areas of high risk.
“There is no sign of a rethink, but there really has to be.
Schools and colleges are now a major centre of transmission of
Covid and ministers cannot continue to duck the issue. The
Government is blindly pressing on doing very little if anything
to keep schools as safe as they need to be. Its lack of positive
action is causing confusion, secrecy, mistrust, fear,
demoralisation and exhaustion.”
