Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders, is today writing to the Prime Minister over
reports of Downing Street criticism about the management of Covid
cases in schools.
His letter says:
Dear Prime Minister
We are dismayed by media reports that Downing Street appears to
be suggesting that schools are being over-zealous in their
interpretation of government guidance on the management of Covid
cases and that they are sending home too many pupils. This feels
like a cynical attempt to shift the blame for your government’s
failure to address the escalating educational disruption of
recent weeks on to schools at a time when they are working under
extraordinarily difficult circumstances to manage this
deteriorating situation. It is doubly frustrating because nothing
has yet been communicated to them about what Covid management
processes they will be expected to follow in the autumn term
despite the summer holidays fast approaching.
You must know that schools and colleges have been diligently
following the government’s complex guidance on the management of
Covid cases since last September and they are very well aware of
what it says. They don’t automatically send home whole bubbles or
make decisions on who to send home on their own. In reality, they
endeavour to identify close contacts, and they work with the
Department for Education’s advice service or Public Health
England local protection teams to decide who to send home. These
decisions will be based on many factors such as whether there are
single or multiple cases, the movements of pupils during the
course of the day including on school transport, the layout of
classrooms, and the ability of younger pupils in particular to
socially distance. School and college staff spend many hours on
contact tracing duties, including during evenings, weekends and
school holidays, despite this being a public health rather than
an educational task.
The reality of these rules is that for every positive Covid case
there is bound to be a substantial knock-on effect because
everyone identified as a close contact must then also
self-isolate even though they may not have the virus. Over the
past few weeks, the number of positive cases in schools has risen
and each of these cases then leads to more children
self-isolating who are close contacts. The result is a very rapid
growth in the number of children who are absent. This is the last
thing that schools and colleges want to happen after 15 months of
educational disruption but they have to follow the government’s
rules.
We hope that you will respond to this letter by publicly
recognising that schools and colleges are following government
guidance on managing Covid cases and that you support their work
during this crisis. We would ask you also to urgently set out
your government’s plans to bring to an end this ongoing
educational disruption. This situation simply cannot continue
next term. Schools, colleges, parents and pupils need certainty
and clarity about the road ahead.
Yours sincerely
Geoff Barton
General Secretary
Association of School and College Leaders
