Commenting on the situation regarding Covid infection rates and
the final week of the school term, Geoff Barton, General
Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:
“We now have a chaotic situation in which Greenwich council has
asked schools to close for classroom teaching from tonight, the
Mayor of London has suggested the early closure of secondary
schools, and the government is threatening schools with legal
action if they decide to move to remote learning for the last few
days of term.
“It is deeply unfair on school leaders, teachers, families and
pupils that they are caught between the heavy-handed approach of
central government and increasing alarm at local infection rates.
“Over the past few weeks, we have repeatedly called on the
government to give schools the flexibility to move to remote
learning in the final week of term based on the fact that they
best know the circumstances they are facing. If it had allowed
this to happen, schools would have had a much better chance of
being able to plan an orderly end to the term.
“Although it is now incredibly late in the day, the government
must remove the threat of legal action and allow schools to make
the decisions they need to make on behalf of their staff and
children. In the future, it must allow for more nuanced responses
to local infection rates and the huge disruption affecting many
schools rather than insisting on a one-size-fits-all approach.”
