The government has been forced to make another embarrassing U-turn after moving to ensure all primary schools in London will stay closed – days after insisting many should re-open.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson last week said students in exam years will return to secondary schools a week later than planned, from January 11, while other secondary and college students will go back full-time on January 18.
He also announced primary schools within 50 local authorities in London and the south of England where Covid-19 infection rates are the highest would not re-open for face-to-face teaching, following warnings from experts over the danger of the new coronavirus variant.
But a number of boroughs in London were to re-open – much to the alarm of local council leaders where Covid-19 transmission rates remained high.
On Thursday, Williamson said he was “absolutely confident” there will be no further delays to school re-openings.
But on Friday, 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 classrooms as soon as we possibly can.”
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, tweeted: ”The government have finally seen sense and u-turned. All primary schools across London will be treated the same.
“This is the right decision – and I want to thank education minister Nick Gibb for our constructive conversations over the past two days.”
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.
Leaders of eight London boroughs had written to the education secretary formally asking him to reverse the decision to re-open primary schools in selected areas.
They pointed out that some local authority areas on the closure list had lower infection rates than those where schools had been told to re-open.
According to Covid rates compiled by the PA news agency, Greenwich – which was not on the closure list – 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.
The leaders of the boroughs of Islington, Camden, Hackney, Lambeth, Lewisham, Greenwich, Haringey and Harrow all signed the letter.
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.
It is the latest in a string of U-turns performed by Williamson since the pandemic began.
– The first primary school return
Following the first national lockdown, Williamson set out ambitions in early May that all primary-age children would return to school for at least four weeks before the summer break.
But on June 9, he said there was “no choice” but to scrap those plans amid concerns that the two-metre social-distancing rule would make a full return impossible.
– School meals voucher scheme
Following pressure from a campaign headed by England footballer Marcus Rashford, the government reversed its decision not to extend the children’s food voucher scheme into the summer holidays.
Cabinet minister Grant Shapps said on June 16 that free school meals were not normally extended to cover the summer period.
But a few hours later, No 10 backtracked on its stance, confirming that it would in fact extend the programme.
– School face coverings
The policy that children should not be required to wear face coverings while in school was reversed by the Department for Education in August, when it announced that face coverings should be worn in corridors and communal areas by staff and students in Year 7 and above in schools in areas with coronavirus restrictions.
Williamson had insisted previously that the Covid-secure measures being adopted in schools meant that the wearing of face coverings would not be necessary.
– A-level and GCSE results in England
Following criticism from students and headteachers, and a backlash by Tory MPs, the Government announced A-level and GCSE grades would be based on teachers’ assessments rather than a controversial algorithm devised by regulator Ofqual.
The prime minister and Williamson had previously defended the “robust” system, which saw almost 40% of A-level grades reduced from teachers’ predictions.
The announcement on August 17, just days before GCSE results were due to come out, followed an earlier vow from Williamson that there would be “no U-turn, no change”.
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.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said the announcement affecting London should apply to the rest of the country as well.
“What is right for London is right for the rest of the country,” she said.
“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.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “The government cannot expect to command public confidence with such a confusing and last-minute approach.”