Coronavirus
Only when it is safe
As the pressure grows to reopen fully from September, our policy teams have produced advice and guidance to help leaders base their decisions on what is safe.
WITH some trepidation, leaders began to open their schools more widely last month. In preparation, many hours were spent working on plans, and then adapting them as the Department for Education (DfE) issued guidance bit by bit, often late in the evening. Sometimes – just to add to the confusion – it was at odds with advice from elsewhere. A case in point: the huge amount of confusion caused when SAGE experts said rotas were the safest way to bring back children, only for the DfE to issue its own guidance saying rotas should not be used. Since March, a flurry of new guidance – on average two to three changes a day – has dropped into leaders’ inboxes. By June, more than 300 documents had landed. In the climate of uncertainty created by Covid-19, leaders’ need for clear guidance from Government, together with the flexibility to use it in a way that makes sense in their school’s context, has never been greater. Unfortunately, that need is not being met. Ahead of the desperately needed summer break, and just days after schools were forced to close again in Leicester after lockdown was reimposed, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson insisted it was vital all schools reopened fully in September. He had already, of course, been forced to drop his plans for all primary pupils to return for a month before the holidays. 8
lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
Scientists are warning of a second spike of coronavirus in the autumn, which makes planning even harder. The union has always been clear that schools should only open more widely when it is safe, and we have been producing advice and guidance on how to assess risk since the outbreak of the pandemic. neu.org.uk/coronavirus-leaders
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Meeting the NEU’s five tests In May, the union published five tests that should be met before schools reopen. They are: much lower numbers of Covid-19 cases, a national plan for social distancing, a national test and trace system, protocols for when a case of Covid appears in a school or college and protection for the vulnerable. Increasingly, it is being recognised that decisions need to be made by heads based on their local context as the lockdown in Leicester has shown. In some parts of the country, infection rates are still high, while in others they have come down significantly. The local director of public health can provide information about infection rates in your area. There is a clear difference in the R value (infection rate) across the country, so local information is key. It is important to note that as Lead went to press, the Government had yet to launch a reliable national test and trace system.
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Risk assessment for wider opening The many issues you need to consider when planning for wider reopening are covered in the guidance the union has developed to be used in conjunction with joint union checklists for different sectors: primary schools and early years, secondary schools and colleges, and special schools and pupil referral units. The guidance includes staffing, site capacity – including how you will comply with social distancing rules – travel to and from the site, what to do if there is a suspected case of Covid-19 during the working day, hygiene and cleaning and PPE. neu.org.uk/advice/coronavirus-wideropening-schools-colleges
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Higher-risk staff Assessing the risk to your staff is a key part of planning for wider opening. The union has published Coronavirus: ensuring safety for staff at higher risk. The NEU is firm in its advice that staff who are in clinically vulnerable groups, or who live with or care for household members in clinically vulnerable groups, should not be required to return to the workplace and should instead be allowed to work at home. This should be determined by the individual risk assessment. In cases of disagreement about whether
