Primary schools plan for June return after UK government announcement

Primary school leaders in Grantham have leapt into action to prepare for a scenario where pupils return on June 1.

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced this week that part of the Government’s second phase of lockdown includes some primary pupils returning to school.

In his Sunday address, Mr Johnson revealed that children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 would be the first back to school, as early as June 1.

It was also announced that the aim was for all primary schoolchildren to attend classes before the beginning of the summer holidays.

For secondary school pupils, the priority will be Years 10 and 12 with the aim being to “get at least some time with their teachers” before the summer holidays.

Many local schools have remained open even during lockdown, to educate the sons and daughters of key workers, allowing their parents to continue doing essential jobs. Staff at many of these schools have not been provided with personal protective equipment, despite being in regular contact with children of key workers.

Executive headteacher of Harrowby Infant and National Junior schools Anne Platts told the Journal this week has been a busy one putting plans in place.

She said: “The past couple of days have been nothing but meetings.

“Sunday’s announcement didn’t really give us any new information other than the fact that reception, year ones and years sixes will be the first to come back.

“At 9pm on Monday it was also announced that nursery children would be too, which wasn’t in the first announcement, so that added a couple more challenges.

“The Danish model is what we will be following. All reports from Denmark are positive, so we are optimistic and hopeful.”

The Danish model will see children split into small groups of no more than 15. That will be their unit, which will stay in the same classroom and have the same teacher. There will be no contact between these units, with breaks taken at different times and lunch eaten within the classroom. Collection time for parents will also be staggered.

Anne continued: “I don’t know where my staff get their energy from but they have already timetabled the whole thing. They’ve been absolutely brilliant.

“We are planning for if and when. There are bound to be parents and children who are anxious, and the decision is with the parents. There may be some who decide not to send their children back, even with all the safety measures in place.”

It is a similar story at Harlaxton Primary School, where staff have been measuring spaces between desks in classrooms to maximise social distancing between pupils.

Executive headteacher Sheri Edwards, who is also head at Denton Primary School, said: “We’ve been making lots of plans. We’ve been working quite hard to make sure of the health and safety of our staff and children.

“The staff have been amazing. They’ve really risen to the occasion and they’re excited to come back to work.

“Certainly, there will have to be some social distancing when the parents are collecting their children and we will make sure that the children have the appropriate spaces for work and play.

“We’ve managed to keep everyone safe and healthy. It’s all do-able. It’s just new.”

Journal readers have expressed their opinions on whether parents should be sending children back to school next month.

On Facebook, Gemma Harte said: “I understand the desire for Year 6 to go back before transitioning into secondary school, but Reception and Year 1? No need. But what about the Year 2s who will, in some cases, be transitioning into a whole new junior school?”

Whereas, Doreen Tolley commented: “Yes, at some point they will need to go back to school and we have no idea how long it will take for a vaccine to be created.”

Multiple readers were against children returning to school so soon, including Lisa Matsell, who said: “Not yet. You cannot enforce social distancing in schools between children.

“My daughter is in secondary school but has autism – she will not cope with everything that is going on.

“My son is 11 and thinks he is bulletproof, as we all did at that age.

“Going to and from school they will mix with each other. Primary schoolchildren will be scared by it all.

“We might as well wait.”

We asked readers to have their say in a poll. We asked the question: Should children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 classes go back to school in June? At 11am yesterday (Thursday), 69.5 per cent of votes cast were ‘no’, with 30.5 per cent saying ‘yes’.