8 2GM Friday August 28 2020 | the times
News
Head teachers are urging ministers to
produce consistent guidelines on face-
masks after being censured for deciding
that pupils must wear them.
The government says pupils and staff
at secondary schools in lockdown areas
should wear coverings, but has left it up
to other head teachers to choose whe-
ther to introduce them or not.
A survey of schools by The Times has
found some will insist all secondary
pupils wear them in corridors and other
communal areas, with one making
them mandatory in the classroom.
Others say leaving the decision to
schools has triggered abuse and anger
from parents with tensions running
high among people who favour masks
and those opposing them.
Andy Byers, the head teacher of
Framwellgate School in Durham, said
this week that his school would require
pupils to wear facemasks.
He was abused on Twitter with mes-
sages that included mention of “happily
punching the head teacher to the
ground,” accusing him of “emotional
abuse” that should result in care pro-
ceedings, not being safe to look after
children, being unfit to have responsi-
bility for pupils, inflicting psychological
damage on them, being sick, a child
abuser and a disgrace to his profession.
Mr Byers wrote: “All [this] for a bit of
cloth to make adults at school and
home feel safer.”
Most parents were supportive and
much of the abuse came from outside
the community. His deputy head wrote:
“The response has been staggering,
both positive and negative. I continue
to be shocked at the vile and bilious
tweets that some individuals are cap-
able of making.”
Other head teachers said having the
choice created a difficult situation. One
wrote: “The extra challenges will no
doubt involve many a teacher and
school leader having to create addition-
al rules and boundaries. Ultimately this
is a mess.”
As masks will in effect become part of
school uniform, it creates an extra issue
for schools to decide whether or not to
regulate what types of mask are worn.
Two schools and one academy chain
have told families that gaudy or pat-
terned masks will not be allowed.
Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis
Charitable Trust, which runs 52
schools, will ask all secondary pupils to
wear masks in areas such as corridors.
Schools are insisting they will be fully
open for the start of the new term and
some are planning to open on Satur-
days to help pupils catch up after six
months away, a large-scale survey by
The Times has found.
Heads are using a range of measures
to ensure that schools can reopen safely
and comply with coronavirus restric-
tions. The Times contacted 40 academy
trusts, 51 local authorities and about 70
individual schools, covering more than
1,000 schools in total, about their plans
for next week. Hardly any are shorten-
ing the school day, or bringing children
back on a rota basis.
This is echoed by the findings of a
separate survey of 4,000 members by
the National Association of Head
Teachers. It found that 97 per cent of
schools plan to welcome back all pupils
full-time. The rest are planning transi-
Saturday lessons and staggered starts get autumn term going
tion periods for new pupils or phasing
entry to alleviate pupils’ anxieties
about the return. The Times survey
found plans including:Staggered start and finish times
At least 200 schools are introducing
earlier or later starts for different year
groups. These are to minimise inter-
action between children and also
parents at the school gates.
Birmingham Ormiston Academy
said: “From September 2020 onwards,
each year group arriving and leaving
the building at different times (where
possible), with students organised into
bubbles in order to minimise mixing.” It
said that from October or January it
could start to phase out different start
and finish times, if Covid continues to
decrease, with a possible return to nor-
mal timetable from February.
Academies Enterprise Trust, which
runs 52 schools, said most would have
staggered starts and finishes, with deep
cleans conducted outside those hours.Saturday openings and early start of
term
Two academy trusts said some of their
schools would open on a Saturday to
help children who had fallen behind.
Hamid Patel, chief executive of Star
Academies, which runs mostly Muslim
schools, said: “All pupils will receive
their full entitlement to learning: we
have not shortened school days or
weeks. Some of our schools are also
planning to open on weekends to facili-
tate catch up.”
Inspiration Trust, which has 14
schools across East Anglia, said its
secondary schools will run Saturday
schools this academic year. They are al-
so planning to host revision sessions
during the February half term and
Easter holidays. Children in Year 10 re-
turned to school on August 17. Star
Academies is also bringing back its Year
7s and Year 11s a week early.Zones
Schools are creating zones or mini-schools within schools, so whole year
groups or bubbles do not use the same
space. Greenwood Academies in Not-
tingham said: “Each year group bubble
has been allocated its own area of the
academy, its own entrance/exit, toilets
and outdoor area.”
Mark Unwin, who runs a primary
and secondary school in Cheshire, said
the primary had “created 12 mini-play-
grounds around the site utilising all
available space”.Lessons
Some schools are keeping children in
the same classroom as much as poss-
ible, and teachers travel to them, others
are allowing teachers to stay in the
same classroom all day. Longer lessons
are helping to minimise movement in
some cases. Latymer Upper School in
west London has changed seven 45-
minute lessons into five lessons of
around one hour. Manor High School
in Leicestershire will teach day-long
lessons, lasting five hours. Childrenhave allocated seats in some schools
and will have to stick to those.Behaviour
Schools are privately expecting worse
behaviour from children struggling to
adjust, but have also warned there will
be less tolerance of flouting school
rules. The King David High School in
Manchester said: “With the focus on
academic catch-up, lots of Covid
related restrictions, limited space and
limited resources, there will be less tol-
erance of bad behaviour and a greater
risk that disruptive pupils will be sent
home.”Travel
Many schools have spent recent years
trying to discourage families from driv-
ing to school, some have created car-
free zones. This will put extra pressure
on public transport and school buses.
Leicester has created walkways and
paths to encourage cycling and walking
to school where possible.Nicola Woolcock, Neil Johnston,
Emma Yeomans, Charlotte Wace
Will Humphries, Kat Lay
News Coronavirus
Heads demand clear guidance on
Nicola Woolcock
Education Correspondent
The school will provide a new cloth
mask each week to each child. They will
be colour coded by year group. Each
teacher will receive a mask and a visor.
They will be expected to wear the visor
at all times, plus the mask if in close
contact with a child.
Mr Chalke said: “We are saying they
should wear one because it’s about re-
spect for their colleagues and keeping
the community safe. Teachers may
have underlying health conditions or
live with someone who does. It’s not a
matter of personal choice, it’s a matter
of group responsibility.”
In a letter to The Times today, Jona-
than Fluxman, a GP and founder of the
Masks4All campaign, says that govern-
ment steps to protect the public need to
include masks in schools — “in class-
rooms as well as communal areas; aero-
sols are produced everywhere”.
The King David High School in Man-
chester is making masks mandatory in-
doors throughout the school day, in-
cluding the classroom.
In guidance sent to parents it said:
“We have no choice but to insist that
pupils must wear masks at all times; on
the school buses, in classes and when
moving around indoors. When not in
use (eg, when eating lunch or when out-
side the buildings) masks should be
folded and safely stored
“We also ask that school uniforms are
cleaned far more often than usual.
Masks should be plain coloured with no
fancy designs. We understand that
some pupils/parents have concerns re-
garding the wearing of masks and if
pupils find wearing a mask uncomfort-
able [as many of us do] or if it causes
anxiety, the best suggestion is perhaps
to have your child practise using a
mask, during the holidays.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of
the Association of School and College
Leaders, said: “There is far too much
heat being generated about the issue of
face coverings in schools, and we are
horrified to hear that head teachers are
receiving abuse over this issue.
“Schools have put an enormous
amount of work into implementing a
series of safety measures in order to
protect pupils and staff, and we really
do need to stop fixating on the subject
of face coverings.”
He said government guidance was
sensible as it gave schools flexibility
over whether or not to use them in
communal areas. He added: “We would
ask everybody to respect the decisions
that schools make over this matter.”
Letters, page 30Many voices Hollie Chapman; Wilf Scolding (Alice and Christopher Carter); Alison
its studios in Birmingham while observing social distancing. Early in the pandemicCongestion on the school run will
get worse next week as parents
shun buses and trains for their
children, research suggests.
Most primaries and secondaries
in England and Wales return for
the first time since March.
An AA survey also found that
there could be a small decline in
the number of people walking to
school, with parents concerned
about children mixing with too
many other pupils on the way. It is
likely this shift will become more
pronounced once the weather gets
colder and wetter.
The AA has called on councils
to use empty office spaces as “pop-
up” school car parks to offset any
restrictions caused by schools that
have walking and cycling schemes.
As the economy reopens traffic
nationally is returning close to
pre-lockdown levels. Figures from
the Department for Transport
show that traffic on British roads
was at 94 per cent of pre-Covid-
numbers on Monday, the highest
for a week day since March.
The AA surveyed 1,
motorists and held focus groups
with 176 parents for the study.
It found that 40 per cent were
planning to walk to school, down
slightly from 41 per cent before the
lockdown. Those planning to use
the bus, public or a dedicated
school service, stood at 14 per cent,
down from 18 per cent. Train use
showed a dip of 2 per cent from 3
per cent previously.
The proportion of parents
expecting to drive children to
school will rise to 33 per cent next
week compared with 27 per cent
before the lockdown.
The AA said many people who
shared cars with other families are
likely to stop doing so from next
week: “The restrictions on car
sharing and recommended limits
spent with other households
means nearly a third of parents
say they will stop lift sharing.”More cars on
the school run
Graeme Paton
Transport Correspondent