By All primary pupils no longer going back to school
Plans for all of England’s primary school children to return for a month before the summer break have been dropped.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told MPs that instead, children will return in September and that “exams will take place next year”.
Labour’s Rebecca Long-Bailey expressed “deep dismay” at how the plans for bringing back pupils had been handled.
Head teachers’ leaders said the plan had never been a practical possibility.
Many had suggested that the public health risk outweighed the educational benefits of children returning for four weeks.
Former National Education Union Executive and Primary School Teacher Simon Murch said it is not just a matter of whether schools are able to operate safely, but “the wider community and public health that needs to be considered”.
Primary School Teacher John Roos added that “teachers and teaching unions overwhelmingly feel that the pace and manner in which the government is planning to reopen schools is in fact not planned, but chaotic”.
But, the Education Secretary told the House of Commons that this was a “cautious, phased return” to school – but that would no longer mean all primary year groups going back before the end of term.
Mr Williamson said that if schools had the capacity they could take more pupils if they chose.
However, Shadow Education Secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said the plan for bringing back all primary pupils had never been possible with social distancing.
She accused Mr Williamson of failing to listen to the advice of the teaching profession:
“For weeks, head teachers, education unions, school staff and many parents have warned that the plans to open whole primary schools before the summer were simply impractical.”
Attendance figures based on June 4 show that just 11% of primary school pupils who were permitted to do so had returned to classrooms.
659,000 children were in all schools, including children of key workers, almost 7% who would normally attend.
The announcement means that many primary school children, outside of Reception, Years 1 and 6, will now not be back in school until at least September.
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