On Friday, I spoke to Gloucestershire County Council’s leadership team along with my fellow Gloucestershire MPs to run through the extensive measures that have been taken locally to ensure the safety of Gloucestershire’s children, staff and parents as schools return this week.
Nationally, the Chief Medical Officers and Deputy Chief Medical Officers in all four nations of the UK – these are independent, respected scientists – have weighed up the risks and benefits and advised it appropriate that children should go back to school. In their words, “lack of schooling increases inequalities, reduces the life chances of children and can exacerbate physical and mental health issues” and that teachers “are not at increased risk” of COVID-19 compared to the general population.
Gloucestershire County Council has offered extensive support to schools over lockdown and has offered more intensive support recently to prepare them for all children returning. This has been in interpreting national guidance and implementing measures to keep children safe and well as they return.
The county council has issued an information pack to all schools before the start of term containing useful information, guidance, advice and signposting to national avenues of additional support. This also includes continued access to practical support in terms of PPE, hand sanitizer, signage and access to the council’s educational teams to help support those children who may struggle to return to school.
Over 18,000 children across Gloucestershire attended school throughout the summer term and schools managed this in a way that was safe. Building on this success, schools have made more changes in line with national guidance to ensure this continues as numbers increase. These include:
• Using bubbles to reduce contact between children – bubbles will usually be class or year group sized depending upon the size of the school.
• Not holding assemblies and using one way systems, staggered start/finish times and playtimes depending upon the layout of the school to reduce the number of children who come into contact with each other.
• All schools will increase handwashing, cleaning and ventilation.
• School buses will only serve one school at a time and the county council will supply all children receiving free school transport with two washable face coverings.
• Schools have been given advice on the steps to take if they suspect a child or member of staff is showing symptoms of COVID-19. Individual schools will be supported to ensure the right action is taken where necessary.
Schools have risk assessed their plans and will keep them under constant review as children return to ensure measures are working well. Most schools will publish their risk assessment on their website to reassure parents of the measures they are taking.
Parents of children who use public transport are being encouraged to find alternative transport to school if they possibly can. This will help to make public buses even safer by keeping numbers low and reducing children coming into contact with members of the public. Many schools are supporting cycling or walking as an alternative. Those who need to use public transport will be required to wear a face covering in line with Government guidance.
As MP for the Forest of Dean, where significant numbers of children use school buses to get to & from school, I have pressed for guidance on this to be made available, including raising the matter directly with the Prime Minister in the House of Commons. There is now clear guidance on how school transport will operate safely and the County Council will continue to work closely with schools and transport providers to resolve any issues which may arise.
Attendance at school will be compulsory but the county council are aware that some children and young people are likely to struggle with returning so the county council is working with schools and support services to ensure that they receive the help they need. This will include support to catch up on missed learning, returning to a structured environment, and responding to increased anxiety and mental health issues.
Meanwhile, all schools will be using their ‘catch up’ funding to put evidence-based approaches in place to address gaps in learning identified in September and the local authority is providing guidance on how best to do this.