Education secretary Gavin Williamson has issued an appeal to teachers to go back to the classroom for the good of their pupils, in the face of growing union and local authority anxiety about government plans to reopen schools in England as early as 1 June.
Speaking at the daily Downing Street coronavirus briefing, Mr Williamson insisted that ministers were taking “the most cautious and precautionary approach” to lifting the schools lockdown and would not ask headteachers to open the gates unless the government’s five tests for a safe exit from lockdown were met.
But he was confronted by a worried woman from Covid-19 hotspot Gateshead who branded the back-to-school plan “very risky” and called on ministers to consider limiting the return to areas with lower rates of infection.
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Deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries signalled support for an approach tailored to local infection rates, telling the briefing that the crucial reinfection rate R will vary from place to place and between venues like hospitals, care homes and the wider community within each area.
“Without putting ideas into politicians’ mouths, I think it’s really important we do understand that on a regional basis,” she said. The most recent Public Health England statistics suggest that R – which must remain below one for the disease to continue declining – currently varies between 0.4 in London to around 0.8 in the northeast and Yorkshire.
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Staff react outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
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Staff inside Camberwell bus depot in London, during a minute’s silence
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NHS staff at the Mater hospital in Belfast, during a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak.
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Shoppers observe a minute’s silence in Tescos in Shoreham
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Firefighters outside Godstone fire station
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6/30 Salford Royal Hospital
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7/30 Salford Royal Hospital
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Hospital workers take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE across Britain for all workers in care, the NHS and other vital public services after a nationwide minute’s silence at University College Hospital in London
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A school children’s poster hanging outside Glenfield Hospital during a minute’s silence
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A man holds a placard that reads “People’s health before profit” outside St Thomas hospital
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Staff members applaud outside the Royal Derby Hospital, following a minute’s silence
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Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, stand inside 10 Downing Street, London, to observe a minutes silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
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13/30 University College Hospital, London
Hospital workers hold placards with the names of their colleagues who have died from coronavirus as they take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE
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Staff at Waterloo Station in London, stand to observe a minute’s silence, to pay tribute to NHS and key workers who have died with coronavirus
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Medical staff at the Louisa Jordan hospital stand during a UK wide minutes silence to commemorate the key workers who have died with coronavirus in Glasgow
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An NHS worker observes a minute’s silence at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
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17/30 Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London
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NHS staff observe a minutes silence at Mater Infirmorum Hospital
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NHS workers hold a minute’s silence outside the main entrance of Derriford Hospital
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NHS Frimley Park Hospital staff at the A&E department observe a minute’s silence
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21/30 Mater Infirmorum Hospital
People applaud after a minutes silence in honour of key workers
Reuters
22/30 Waterloo Station, London
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Wreaths laid outside Sheffield town hall
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A group of trade unionists and supporters standing outside Sheffield town hall
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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stands outside St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh to observe a minute’s silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
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Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence
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Police officers observe a minutes silence at Guy’s Hospital
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A woman standing outside Sheffield town hall
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29/30 Royal Derby Hospital
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NHS workers during a minute’s silence outside Glenfield Hospital
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Staff react outside Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester during a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
PA
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Staff inside Camberwell bus depot in London, during a minute’s silence
PA
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NHS staff at the Mater hospital in Belfast, during a minute’s silence to pay tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak.
PA
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Shoppers observe a minute’s silence in Tescos in Shoreham
Getty
5/30
Firefighters outside Godstone fire station
PA
6/30 Salford Royal Hospital
Getty
7/30 Salford Royal Hospital
PA
8/30
Hospital workers take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE across Britain for all workers in care, the NHS and other vital public services after a nationwide minute’s silence at University College Hospital in London
AP
9/30
A school children’s poster hanging outside Glenfield Hospital during a minute’s silence
Getty
10/30
A man holds a placard that reads “People’s health before profit” outside St Thomas hospital
Getty
11/30
Staff members applaud outside the Royal Derby Hospital, following a minute’s silence
PA
12/30
Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, Prime minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, stand inside 10 Downing Street, London, to observe a minutes silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
PA
13/30 University College Hospital, London
Hospital workers hold placards with the names of their colleagues who have died from coronavirus as they take part in a protest calling on the British government to provide PPE
AP
14/30
Staff at Waterloo Station in London, stand to observe a minute’s silence, to pay tribute to NHS and key workers who have died with coronavirus
AP
15/30
Medical staff at the Louisa Jordan hospital stand during a UK wide minutes silence to commemorate the key workers who have died with coronavirus in Glasgow
Getty
16/30 London
An NHS worker observes a minute’s silence at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital
Reuters
17/30 Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London
AFP via Getty
18/30 Belfast, Northern Ireland
NHS staff observe a minutes silence at Mater Infirmorum Hospital
Reuters
19/30 Plymouth
NHS workers hold a minute’s silence outside the main entrance of Derriford Hospital
Getty
20/30
NHS Frimley Park Hospital staff at the A&E department observe a minute’s silence
Getty
21/30 Mater Infirmorum Hospital
People applaud after a minutes silence in honour of key workers
Reuters
22/30 Waterloo Station, London
AP
23/30
Wreaths laid outside Sheffield town hall
PA
24/30
A group of trade unionists and supporters standing outside Sheffield town hall
PA
25/30
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stands outside St Andrew’s House in Edinburgh to observe a minute’s silence in tribute to the NHS staff and key workers who have died during the coronavirus outbreak
PA
26/30
Staff stand outside the Royal Derby Hospital, during a minutes silence
PA
27/30 London
Police officers observe a minutes silence at Guy’s Hospital
Reuters
28/30
A woman standing outside Sheffield town hall
PA
29/30 Royal Derby Hospital
PA
30/30 Leicester,
NHS workers during a minute’s silence outside Glenfield Hospital
Getty
Asked whether ministers should take account of the British Medical Association’s support for unions who have urged caution on timing, Dr Harries pointedly said: “As a medical adviser to government, I will be very disappointed if they are not listening to doctors.”
The deepening row over schools came as the latest official figures showed 468 coronavirus fatalities in all settings on Friday, bringing the total UK death toll to 34,466.
Teachers’ unions have called for more answers from the government after meetings with scientific advisers and ministers on Friday.
One union leader said the evidence presented – which included data on infections in schools in New South Wales and the Netherlands at times when the prevalence of Covid-19 was lower than in the UK – was “flimsy at best”.
In a letter to the National Education Union backing their cautious approach, the BMA said: “We cannot risk a second spike or take actions which would increase the spread of this virus, particularly as we see sustained rates of infection across the UK.”
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Meanwhile, councils in Liverpool and Hartlepool have said they will not reopen primary schools to children in reception classes and years 1 and 6 at the start of June as proposed.
In a recorded video question at the No 10 press conference, a woman identified only as Lynsey told Mr Williamson: “As a resident of Gateshead, which currently has the highest rate of Covid infections in the UK, I think the imminent reopening of schools in my area is a very risky decision with potentially dangerous consequences.
“Why aren’t the government taking a regional approach to the reopening of schools due to the significant differences in infection rates across each area of the UK? Surely this would be a safer and more controlled way of easing lockdown.”
The education secretary dodged the issue of regional variations in the timetable for return, but said: “It’s vitally important for all children to have the opportunity to come back to school and be with their teachers. But we are doing this in a very, very cautious and phased way.”
And he suggested that school governors should follow government guidance to reopen even in cases where it conflicts with advice from local authorities.
“What we would ask them to do is look at the guidance very, very carefully and recognise the fact that we are there to provide the very best for every single child who goes to school,” he said.
“The best way of doing that, the best way of protecting children, the best way of giving them the best opportunities in life is actually to have them coming back into school – and this is a very small, tentative step in what I believe is the right direction if we pass those five tests.”
Mr Williamson insisted that his “door is always open” for talks with unions and other organisation representing schools and governors.
But asked whether he would urge teachers to ignore their unions if they advised them to stay at home, he stressed the personal commitment of classroom teachers to their pupils.
“Teachers have been absolute heroes, all the way through this crisis,” he said. “They have been leading by example, they’ve been going into school, they’ve been running lessons not in the classroom but reaching out into people’s homes.
“They understand the importance of schooling, they understand the impact they can make on people’s lives, they understand and know the importance of what they are doing and how they can change the lives and the life chances of all children – especially those who are most disadvantaged.
“I would say to all teachers, thank you for what you are doing, please keep doing what you are doing and I want to work with you to make sure we deliver the very best for all of our children.”
He added: “I always want to talk, we want to find practical solutions to make sure that those children from that most disadvantaged background don’t lose out as a result of this crisis.”
Pressure on the unions increased after the children’s commissioner for England called on the two sides to “stop squabbling” and agree on a plan. Anne Longfield said she was in “despair” at the increasingly entrenched positions being taken by the two sides, and that the interests of children were being ignored.
The general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, Patrick Roach, welcomed Mr Williamson’s “commitment to discuss a way forward which will help to ensure that schools can reopen safely to more children”.
He added: “Schools are looking to the government for clear and unequivocal guidance on the health and safety measures they will need to have in place prior to reopening.
“The bottom line is that no teacher or child should be expected to go into schools until it can be demonstrated that it is safe for them to do so.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, added: “We are merely asking the government questions about the scientific basis for its approach in order to ensure that everybody can have confidence that it is safe to return, while at the same time supporting our members in preparing to reopen schools for eligible children from the agreed date.”
Former chief scientific adviser Prof Sir Mark Walport, now chief executive of UK Research and Innovation, said that a phased return to school in Denmark had not led to an increase in the transmission rate of Covid-19.
“It is very harmful for children and complicated for families if their children aren’t in school,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “It is clear that although children do get infected – and the evidence is that they are infected probably as often as older people – nevertheless they show fewer symptoms and almost certainly transmit less than older people.
“Class sizes are being kept low, not all school years are going back, so it is being done in a very cautious fashion.”
