ALL primary schools in London will close for new term as government abandons plan to keep some open 

A teaching union has called for all schools across the country to be closed for the start of the new term after the government U-turned on its decision to keep some primaries in London open despite rising Covid cases.

The government bowed to protests, legal pressure and scientific advice on New Year’s Day after it initially omitted a number of the capital’s boroughs from the forced closures.

But Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, questioned why the same restrictions are not being rolled out across the rest of the country where cases are also surging.

Gavin Williamson had this week released a list of London primary schools in coronavirus ‘hotspots’ that would stay shut for two weeks after the start of term next week.

The list did not include areas where Covid rates are high such as Haringey whose leaders said they would defy the government and support schools that decided to close. 

Under the Government’s initial plan, schools in the City of London and Kingston were set to reopen but those in 22 other London boroughs would have remained closed.

The leaders of Camden, Islington, Greenwich, Haringey, Harrow, Hackney and Lewisham boroughs, and the City of London, said in a letter to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson: ‘We ask in the strongest terms that your recommendation is urgently reviewed and our primary schools are added to the list of those advised to move learning online.’

The action prompted an emergency Cabinet Office meeting today where they decided to abandon the original plans and order the remaining area to close their primary schools.  

The move is expected to see similar arrangements to the spring lockdown when schools continued to accept children from key worker families but moved to online learning for the vast majority of pupils. 

But a teaching union has slammed the decision not to apply the same measures to schools across the country, due to the Covid ‘tsunami’ rocking the country.

Sadiq Khan responded to the news, saying: ‘This is the right decision – and I want to thank education minister Nick Gibb for our constructive conversations over the past two days.’

Mr Khan previously branded it ‘nonsensical’ for some primary school pupils to be told to return next week and wrote to the Prime Minister about his anger that local leaders had not been consulted. 

Mr Williamson said: ‘Children’s education and wellbeing remains a national priority. Moving further parts of London to remote education really is a last resort and a temporary solution.

‘As infection rates rise across the country, and particularly in London, we must make this move to protect our country and the NHS. We will continue keep the list of local authorities under review, and reopen classroo
ms as soon as we possibly can.’  

The Tier 4 areas initially excluded from the closures but now added are Camden, City of London, Greenwich, Hackney, Haringey, Harrow, Islington, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth and Lewisham. 

According to Covid rates compiled by the PA news agency, Greenwich had 2,176 new cases recorded in the seven days to December 26 compared to list-featuring Kensington and Chelsea’s 768 new cases in the same period. 

On December 15, Greenwich was forced to withdraw advice asking schools to switch to online learning amid rising coronavirus rates following threats of legal action by the Education Secretary.

Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green said the last-minute nature of the London schools decision had caused ‘huge stress’ for pupils, families and staff, with only a matter of days to go before the new term was due to commence.

But health secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘Over the past week we have seen infections and hospitalisations rise sharply across London and hospitals are coming under increased pressure.

‘While our priority is to keep as many children as possible in school, we have to strike a balance between education and infection rates and pressures on the NHS.

‘The situation in London continues to worsen and so today we are taking action to protect the public and reduce the spread of this disease in the community.

‘Everyone across London must take this situation incredibly seriously and act responsibly to minimise the spread of this deadly disease.’

The previous decision had left many baffled, with schools ordered to remain open just yards away from other schools forced to close. 

Two schools in Islington, North London, had been given different advice about whether they could open or close despite being just 700 yards apart. 

Councillor Richard Watts, leader of Islington Council, slammed the government for their last-minute decision.

He said: ‘It’s unacceptable that the Government has waited until Friday night on New Year’s Day, with just a weekend before pupils were due to go back, to make a decision that should have been made weeks ago, as the public health situation became clear.

‘The Government has taken the right decision only after previously threatening schools with legal action if they did not reopen in January, after Islington and other councils advised last month that this had to be done, following public health advice.

‘The Government has left schools and parents with very little time to prepare and make arrangements.’ 

Schools are already converting sports halls and setting up marquees in playgrounds to prepare for the mass testing programme which will be manned by alumni volunteers. 

All secondary schools have been asked to carry out tests for five million people from next week. 

Pupils will take the tests themselves but former pupils will be on hand to help the operation. 

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT union general secretary, agreed, saying: ‘Yet again, parents, pupils and staff are having to deal with the consequences of yet more last-minute chaotic announcements from the Government.

‘The Government has bowed to political pressure and has once again shown its disregard for the scientific advice which increasingly suggests that the delayed reopening of schools across all areas of the country is essential in breaking the chain of coronavirus transmission.’

Scientific advisers had warned that more school closures are necessary to control rising infections.

The Government’s Sage committee said it was ‘highly unlikely’ the pandemic could be managed effectively if schools were free to open next week. 

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: ‘Just at the moment when we need some decisive leadership, the government is at sixes and sevens. 

‘The Government cannot expect to command public confidence with such a confusing and last-minute approach.’  

Meanwhile Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: ‘It is welcome that, albeit in their usual last-minute fashion, ministers have corrected an obviously nonsensical position – one that it could not justify by evidence or sense.

‘But the question has to be asked: why are education ministers so inadequate and inept? Who is advising them?

‘And what is right for London is right for the rest of the country. With the highest level of Covid-19 infection, and hospitals buckling under the tsunami of very ill patients, it is time for ministers to do their duty – to protect the NHS by following Sage advice and close all primary and secondary schools to reduce the R rate below 1.

‘It is time for the Government to protect its citizens, and in particular its children, by shutting all primary schools for two weeks in order for the situation to be properly assessed, schools made much safer and children and their families protected.’ 

A businessman whose daughter attends a primary school in a Covid hotspot had blasted the ‘absurd’ decision to keep it open before the latest U-turn.

Stephen Cook was left baffled by the decision as his London council told head teachers to defy ministers and remain closed over the coming weeks. 

Mr Cook, 55, who runs a building firm told MailOnline: ‘It’s all very confusing and totally absurd. But then you could say that we live in very confusing and absurd times.

‘None of it makes any sense because there are kids that come from the London Borough of Barnet to my daughter’s school and she also has friends from there. Haringey’s infection rate is higher than Barnet’s so why are not all schools in the area closing?;

Mr Cook lives with his family on Coppetts Road, a busy thoroughfare which divides the London Borough of Haringey on one side and Barnet on the other.

He said: ‘Kids who live in the borough of Barnet attend Coldfall and Haringey kids go to Coppetts Wood. And when they are out and about in local parks, they are constantly mixing and playing.

‘We are in an incredibly difficult situation and I’m glad that I’m not in charge, but we need greater clarity because a lot of people don’t understand what’s going on.

‘I live in a Covid hotspot but if I cross the road, I’m in the London Borough of Barnet so why is there not more consistency?’

According to the Government’s latest figures, in the week leading up to December 25, Haringey registered 2,120 cases of coronavirus with infections running at 789.14 per 100,000.

For the same period, Barnet registered 2,751 with infections running at 694.13 per 100,000.

Haringey councillor Joseph Ejiofor wrote to head teachers outlining the fact the area’s Covid case rate is higher than the London average and that officials weren’t consulted before the decision was made.

He wrote: ‘We are part of the same integrated care system as two boroughs where primaries have been told to stay closed (Barnet and Enfield) and the North Middlesex, a hospital under significant pressure, serves the populations of both Haringey and Enfield.

‘We believe that all primary schools in Haringey should therefore open only to the children of key workers and vulnerable children next week and we will support all our schools in this approach.’ 

Jenny Batt, Lib Dem councillor for Worcester Park in Sutton, south-west London, said local people were ‘confused and worried’ about what was going on and did not understand how officials were reaching their decisions. 

‘They don’t understand what the criteria is,’ she told BBC London. ‘I’ve got residents who live in Sutton whose children go to a Kingston school and are told that it is safe. 

‘And then they’ve got their neighbours’ children who can’t go to school because theirs isn’t safe.’ 

Secondaries also face an anxious wait to find out whether they will be able to reo
pen fully on the new target date of January 18. 

The Department for Education is racing to put a mass testing system in place, but has warned the curbs could need to be even wider than for primaries as older children are more likely to spread the disease. The situation is not expected to become clear until the next review date of January 13.