Schools look to turn hotels and church halls into makeshift classrooms as ministers accused of having 'no plan' to restart classes

Headteachers have been left to find hotels and church halls to use as makeshift classrooms, as ministers were criticised for having “no plan” to reopen schools in September.

Former Tory education secretary Justine Greening said it was “untenable” the government still did not know how it was going to get pupils back into class safely – almost three months after they were ordered to close due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The remarks come after Gavin Williamson scrapped plans unveiled just last month to reopen primary schools across England to all pupils ahead of the six week summer holidays.

Speaking in the Commons, the education secretary said schools needed time to “put in place strict protective measures”, adding: “We are not able to welcome all primary school children back before the summer for a full month”.

Instead, schools will be asked to take in whatever children they can while sticking to the rules on maximum class sizes of 15 pupils and strict social distancing measures to prevent transmission of the virus.

The government said it hoped to have all secondaries and primaries open for “more” pupils in September, and for years 10 and 12 to have some face-to-face access to teachers.

Under the government’s roadmap to easing coronavirus restrictions across England, some primary schools began admitting children back into nursery, year one and year six, but the restriction of pupils per class was a “limitation” to returning more year groups back, Mr Williamson said.

“We all know how important it is for children and young people to be in education and childcare and it is vital that we get them back there as soon as the scientific advice indicates that we can,” he told MPs.

Speaking to The Independent, Steve Chalke, the founder of Oasis Academy Trust, which represents 52 schools, said the government’s announcement on Tuesday “throws the ball back to school leaders”.

“It says, it’s down to you guys, you get on with it. It’s basically a way of saying we’ve run out of ideas – we don’t know what do, over to you,” he said.

Mr Chalke said his schools are now taking back reception, year one, and year six, but could only be done on a rota basis because it was “impossible” to do social distancing in school buildings.

“We’re talking about a number of measures to sort this out,” he added. “First of all – we are looking for other buildings. So wherever we work there’s a hotel, with a lobby, or a conference centre, or a church hall or a village hall or a whatever. We need spaces indoors because it rains.”

“This works out locally. If the government had thought of this they would have done it. If the government wants to lend their support to it it would be brilliant, yes it would. But it’s about me phoning up people in the community and saying to the vicar of St Mungo’s Church your building is empty because you’re not allowed to do anything with it, could we have a bubble in that church, saying to the guys that run the local hotel could we use your conference facility.

“Government have said you should be flexible, and we’re being flexible. If they could be proactive and suggest this this would be wonderful.”

Ms Greening, a former education secretary under Theresa May, also told The Independent: “Last month I called for a catch up plan to help children and young people most affected by the schools shutdown and also a plan on how we could restart education under the ‘new normal’ of social distancing.

“Obviously it needs to be done safely but ministers can’t just leave teachers and schools to struggle on their own with children losing out on their education.”

She added: “It’s untenable to still have no government plan to get schools reopened. If the government is serious about levelling up, not levelling down, we need a national effort on supporting schools exactly as we had a national effort supporting the NHS. It’s also crucial for the economy. If children can’t get back to school, parents can’t get back to work.”

Responding to Mr Williamson’s decision to abandon the government’s “ambition” for primary schools to reopen by summer, MPs in the Commons also warned that disadvantaged pupils face an “epidemic of emotional poverty”.

Robert Halfon, the Conservative chair of the Education Select Committee, highlighted that 700,000 children “are not doing school homework” or did not have access to computers for the internet, as he raised concerns about the impact of delay to returning to schools on the life chances of poorer pupils.

Labour’s shadow education secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said there had been “deep dismay” at the government’s handling of the situation, claiming young people will have been “impacted cruelly by such a long period away from school”.

“The government needs to face up to the scale of damage this is doing to children and scale up their response,” she said.

After the cabinet minister’s appearance in the chamber, unions welcomed the move by the government, saying it had been “abundantly clear” for some time ministers’ plans were “ill-considered, premature and unworkable”.

Dr Patrick Roach, the general secretary of NASUWT union, added: “In the absence of definitive guidance from the government, many schools have struggled to understand what they need to do in order to meet appropriate health and safety standards when they do reopen.”

The general secretary of NAHT union Paul Whiteman said his members were pleased the government had dropped plans to return pupils before the summer months due to “significant practical barriers”.

“With the end of term just six weeks away, government now needs to provide urgent clarity on the anticipated constraints that schools may face in September, so that schools and parents can start to look ahead and plan with greater understanding of the possible disruption that may yet still follow.”

Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk