Portsmouth education leaders 'welcome sentiment' but question feasibility of government’s September school return pledge

During Friday’s coronavirus briefing, education secretary Gavin Williamson said: ‘School is vital to every one of our children, that is why we will bring all children, in all year groups back to school in September.’

The bold statement comes just over a week after the government had to concede defeat in its previous plan to get all primary school children back into classrooms for a month of schooling before the summer holidays.

Portsmouth City Council’s cabinet member for education, Cllr Suzy Horton, said: ‘I welcome the sentiment to get as many children back in school as soon as it’s safe to do so. It’s a positive aspiration but not quite so simple to do.’

When questioned about school capacity, with current guidelines stipulating a maximum of 15 pupils in a bubble, Mr Williamson suggested that bubbles ‘could be increased to include a whole class’.

However, with the government mantra of ‘being guided by the science’, Cllr Horton is hoping to see the science behind the proposal.

She said: ‘I would be interested to see the science of maintaining some form of social distancing with bubbles of 30.’

While accepting schools need to be innovative with their plans, Cllr Horton feels the ‘only way’ the government’s pledge can be met ‘is without social distancing’.

Priory School headteacher, Stewart Vaughan, has questioned ‘whether it can actually be delivered’ – even if social distancing is reduced to one metre rather than the current two.

Mr Vaughan said: ‘I don’t know of any colleague who doesn’t want the children back in September but that’s a massive leap from where we are now. I can’t dispute the sentiment but we would need know the detail in terms of how it would work in Portsmouth.’

The experienced headteacher believes it’s not just a case of a potential change in government policy but also shift in public confidence.

Mr Vaughan added: ‘If schools got rid of social distancing then you are having to deal with a lot of anxious pupils and parents.’

Any moves to fully reopen schools would require conclusive evidence it’s safe to do so in order to avoid resistance from the teaching unions.

After hearing Mr Williamson’s announcement, Portsmouth teacher and National Education Union president, Amanda Martin, said: ‘This should be everyone’s aspiration but it’s not clear how the prime minister simply hoping it will happen will be enough to achieve that goal. If the requirements of social distancing are reduced to even one metre then most schools could not have 30 pupils in a classroom.’

Ms Martin believes the government should consider asking teachers who have left the profession to return and look to create additional space to allow smaller class sizes to be maintained.

She added: ‘We need to see the ingenuity that produced Nightingale hospitals used to produce the extra spaces we need.’

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