Primary school staff facing the prospect of returning to full-timeclassroom work early have said they are worried that they will not beprotected against Covid-19.
Speculation that schools will reopen soon has followed suggestions madeby Public Health England director Paul Cosford and, according tothe NEU teaching union, “unnamed government ministers”.
The NEU has written to prime minister Boris Johnson asking for the government to urgently share its modelling, evidence and plans for reopening schools.
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Maddie Ross, a teacher at a primary school in Wolverhampton, saidall teachers would be at risk if schools reopened too early, because ofthe difficulty of imposing social isolation rules on small children.
Ms Ross, from West Yorkshire, said: “It should be secondary schoolchildren that go back before primary, surely, because primary schoolchildren are going to be a lot more difficult to control, in terms of ifwe still need to keep two metres apart.
“There’s no way you can get primary school children to do that, they’dbe touching each other within the first few seconds of walking throughthe gate.”
Bryony Baynes, headteacher at Kempsey Primary School in Worcester,agreed that social distancing is “pretty much impossible” with youngchildren.
Ms Baynes, from Bredon in Worcestershire, said: “At the moment, staffare very willing to come in and have been brilliant so far.
“But if the government says that schools are to open while lockdown isstill in place, that implies that the virus isn’t under control, andthat means I’m asking my staff to put themselves at even greater risk.”
Mrs Baynes added her “biggest frustration” in dealing with thecoronavirus crisis at her school has been the lack of information,support and personal protective equipment (PPE) from the government.
She said: “I feel really frustrated that the teachers seem to have beenforgotten in all this.
“We haven’t been offered tests. We haven’t been offered a great deal ofguidance or advice or support, and we’re just expected to find our ownway.
“As a head, that’s giving me so much anxiety and stress -it’s worse thanhaving a visit from Ofsted.”
Jackie Schneider, a part-time music teacher at a primary school in theLondon borough of Merton, said an early return to schools “could undoall the good work people have done by locking down”.
Ms Schneider, who has taught at her school for 30 years, said: “Iwould be happy to go back if that’s what the science says, but I wouldnot be happy to be bounced back for the needs of industry.
“When parents wave their kids goodbye every morning and send their kidsto me, I want to be able to look the parent in the eye and say, I havedone everything I can to keep your child safe.”
Ms Schneider, who stood as a Labour Party candidate for Wimbledon in the2019 general election and represents the NEU at her school, also urgedthe government to work with the teachingunion.
