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Boris Johnson has said that parents must “absolutely” send their children to school on January 4, where they are open and that “I have no doubt that the schools are safe.”
He spoke on the Andrew Marr Show on January 3 after another government U-turn, in which all London primary schools were told to remain closed for the first two weeks of the new term after protests from authorities. local.
“We want to keep children in education because that is the best for them,” the prime minister told the BBC.
“Schools are safe, it is very important to emphasize that. The risk to young people is really very, very small, as scientists continually attest, the risk to staff is very small, and of course the benefits of education are huge “.
Elementary schools in some parts of the country will challenge the government amid the surge in cases and will remain closed on January 4. Johnson insisted schools are safe and said councils should follow the advice to reopen in most places other than areas identified as Covid Hotspots.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson held an emergency Cabinet Office meeting on January 1 after eight local authorities sent a letter noting that the areas with the highest transmission rates were missing from a list of 50 education authorities to those who were asked to close schools.
Four national education unions have called for the application to be delayed to all schools in England amid concerns that the new strain of Covid-19 poses a threat to teachers, but Ofsted Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman said that the time children spend outside the classroom should be limited to the absolute minimum. “
Anne Longfield, England’s Commissioner for Children, echoed Ms Spielman’s sentiments and called for teachers to get vaccinated “as a priority.”
Some city councils have taken action on the matter, such as Brighton and Hove City Council, which advised its elementary schools to remotely reopen despite government advice.
The Prime Minister said: “My message to such councils is that they should be guided by the public health councils, which at the moment is that schools are safe in those areas where we are not being pushed by the new variant to close them.” “
High-level government sources have admitted that some schools could remain closed until mid-February if the Level 4 restrictions fail.
Asked if he would close elementary schools if restrictions could not contain the virus, Johnson said: “We have to keep things under constant review, but we will not be guided by political considerations but exclusively by the question of public health.”
Ministers will review school closings on January 18.
What do the levels mean for schools?
The “overwhelming majority of elementary schools will open as planned” on January 4, Gavin Williamson said, but in a “small number” of Level 4 areas where infection rates are highest, only vulnerable students and children of key workers will attend elementary schools. in person.
Each school has been instructed to make plans to ensure that children continue to receive an education even if they have to stay at home.
Keeping schools open as long as possible “is the most important thing in all of our plans,” Williamson told the Commons.
“The evidence on the new variant of Covid and the increase in infection rates have required an immediate adjustment in our plans for the new period.”
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the new rules ensure a “very difficult balance between the need to keep children in education as much as possible, while ensuring that we do not add upward pressure on the R. [rate] and stop spreading the virus. “
Read more about the level system:
What schools will not fully open?
In the following areas, elementary schools will only open for vulnerable children and the children of key workers on January 4:
- Barking and Dagenham
- Barnet
- Bexley
- Brent
- Bromley
- Croydon
- Ealing
- Enfield
- Hammersmith and Fulham
- Havering
- Hillingdon
- Hounslow
- Islington
- Kensington and Chelsea
- Merton
- Newham
- Redbridge
- Richmond-Upon-Thames
- Southwark
- Sutton
- Tower hamlets
- Waltham Forest
- Wandsworth
- Westminster
- Brentwood
- Epping Forest
- Castle point
- Basildon
- Rochford
- Harlow
- Chelmsford
- Braintree
- Maldon
- Southend on Sea
- Thurrock
- Dartford
- Gravesham
- Seven oaks
- Medway
- Ashford
- Maidstone
- Tonbridge and Malling
- Tunbridge wells
- Quagmire
- Hastings and Rother
- Milton keynes
- Watford
- Broxbourne
- Hertsmere
- Three Rivers
- Lambeth
- City of London
- Hackney
- Greenwich
- Haringey
- Camden
- Kingston upon thames
- Lewisham
When will high schools reopen?
Students will return to high schools on a staggered basis for the first three full weeks of January. This is to allow for massive Covid tests, in which Year 11 and Year 13 students will have priority due to GCSE and A-Level studies.
This means that most high school students will stay home until at least January 18, when high schools and colleges will fully reopen after two weeks of massive testing, two weeks after it was supposed to start. the trimester.
“Because the rate of Covid infection is particularly high in this age group, we are going to allow more time for all schools and universities to implement testing for all of their students and staff,” Williamson said.
“This kind of massive testing will benefit everyone in the community. It will break those chains of transmission.”
How will testing work in schools?
All high schools will aim to screen as many students and staff as possible as part of the Government’s plan for mass coronavirus testing.
More than 40,000 volunteers will have to be recruited by high schools to mass test their students, according to government documents.
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