Part-time schools to cause coronavirus childcare chaos next week as breakfast clubs are axed

Parents face major childcare problems even after schools reopen next week because many are operating reduced hours.

Some are closing at lunchtime one day a week to deep-clean classrooms while others are finishing early because breaks are being cut short.

A shorter school day will present difficulties for thousands of working parents who want to return to offices and factories, in a blow to the Government’s new campaign to get the nation back to work and save ghost town high streets.

Most schools have had to scrap breakfast clubs or limit them to children of key workers to avoid different year groups mixing, while after-school activities are heavily restricted.

Almost all primary schools are staggering start and home times for separate year groups to reduce the risk of pupils or parents getting coronavirus, meaning longer school runs for families with more than one child.

One working mother, Rachel Ritter from Newport in Wales, has told how she has had to reduce her hours working for a children’s charity and take a 20 per cent pay cut because there are no longer breakfast or after-school clubs for her two children.

She said: ‘A vast majority of working parents are affected by this and are an important part of the economy. It’s a real problem.’

Last night Rob Halfon, chairman of the Commons education committee, said: ‘It’s a very anxious time for parents, and they need to go back to work.

‘There has to be crystal clear guidance from the Government because parents deserve nothing less. The Government have to be very clear about what hours they expect schools to open and whether or not the normal activities should be continuing.’

Next week will see schools across England reopen their doors to all pupils for the first time since March 20.

Boris Johnson has said there is a ‘moral duty’ to start lessons again, in the face of continued claims from teaching unions that it may be unsafe, and has made a direct appeal to parents to let their children go back to class.

At least two academy chains – Star Academies and Inspiration Trust – will run Saturday schools to help pupils catch up after almost six months without proper lessons.

But research by the Daily Mail has found many areas where pupils will be coming home from school earlier than before.

Lyng Primary in West Bromwich has told parents: ‘Up until October half term, school will be closed to all children on a Friday afternoon after lunch and registration, in line with some other Sandwell schools.’

The school said it will help ‘reduce the movement of staff between classes’ and ‘ensure school is cleaned thoroughly before the weekend ready for children to return the following week’.

Mesty Croft Academy in Wednesbury, also in the West Midlands, is closing at 1pm on Fridays. Its head teacher Lucy Bray said the ‘difficult decision’ will allow extra time for deep-cleaning as well as lesson planning. 

The school said it would create some free childcare places for parents who have ‘work commitments, where alternative childcare cannot be arranged’.

Regents Park Community Primary School in Birmingham is ending at midday on Wednesdays to allow deep-cleaning of the site.

Ark Byron Primary Academy in Acton, West London, is finishing classes an hour early on Fridays for the first few weeks of autumn term at least, and there will be no after-school club initially either.

Burrowmoor Primary School in Cambridgeshire is letting its seven ‘bubbles’ leave the site in 15-minute intervals, meaning that some parents will be left waiting half an hour for siblings.

Last night a spokesman for the Department for Education said: ‘Schools can consider staggered starts to keep groups apart as they arrive and leave school, or keeping the length of the day the same but starting and finishing later to avoid rush hour.

‘These measures should not, however, reduce the amount of overall teaching time.’

The Government also released new guidance for schools yesterday, spelling out that closures due to virus spikes would be ‘an absolute last resort’.

It says councils and public health chiefs will take ‘all other possible measures’ before shutting schools again. 

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: ‘Our primary focus remains supporting all schools to welcome back all pupils for the start of term and we thank teachers and staff for their hard work in preparations.

‘We hope that we won’t have to implement the guidance set out today because the local lockdown measures we have introduced so far are working. Changes to school attendance will only ever be an absolute last resort.’