Portsmouth schools 'under pressure' as 4,829 pupils are in class - up from 750 in first lockdown

SCHOOLS are under pressure to deliver key worker pupil places as it emerged an extra 4,000 children are in classrooms compared to the first lockdown.
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Headteachers are balancing keeping teaching bubbles low enough for them to be Covid-secure with the need to keep offering critical worker spaces.

In some schools, teachers are asking parents to consider carefully if they need to have their children in school.

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It comes as The News can reveal 4,829 pupils were in classes in Portsmouth as of last Thursday, up from 757 on on April 23 during the first wave of Covid.

Pupils move around the school in their year group in Priory School, Southsea. Picture: Chris Moorhouse   (090920-19)Pupils move around the school in their year group in Priory School, Southsea. Picture: Chris Moorhouse   (090920-19)
Pupils move around the school in their year group in Priory School, Southsea. Picture: Chris Moorhouse (090920-19)

Howard Payne, headteacher at Medina Primary School, said he was working to keep places open for key worker and vulnerable children following the number of pupils between the lockdowns nearly doubling.

He said: ‘We have got children in four bubbles and those four bubbles are getting towards the maximum number to keep it safe.

‘We’re ensuring that we keep the numbers low through working with parents to say if you are a key worker and are not working on particular days then please keep them home – and the parents have been brilliant.

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‘They’ve played by the rules to keep us at Medina, as a community, safe.

‘I do know that there are other schools that have had difficulties ensuring that key workers do that.

He said both parents and teachers were facing a ‘tough ask’ and urged parents to do ‘the best they can’ with home learning ‘without getting the children and themselves stressed’.

Some 23,895 pupils were last week in school in the Hampshire County Council area, including Gosport, Fareham and Havant.

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That is up from the 3,394 pupils who were attending by April 2 last year.

Portsmouth City Council’s education cabinet member, Councillor Suzy Horton, said in the first lockdown more parents wanted to keep youngsters at home, even if they were eligible for a space.

She added: ‘A lot more people are having to work so the attendance has been significantly higher still.

‘A lot of schools are having to work closely with families as they’re reaching their maximum in Covid-safe working conditions.’

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Cllr Horton said ‘pressure has been put on' schools under government policy expanding the number of children who can take up places.

It comes as prime minister Boris Johnson was asked to outline when schools would reopen.

Yesterday he said: ‘I understand why people want to get a timetable from me today, what I can tell you is we'll tell you, tell parents, tell teachers as much as we can as soon as we can.’

Portsmouth has seen 44 confirmed Covid cases in maintained schools and academies since term started on January 4.

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This includes cases identified through asymptomatic testing of staff and some pupils. Saliva testing is being rolled out at three secondary schools in a pilot, while lateral flow testing is being extended to primaries this week.

Hampshire has recorded 10 cases in schools in The News’circulation area, but this can include pupils and staff at home.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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