Anyone who has children or school age relatives knows just how frustrating it has been when an entire bubble gets sent home after just one positive Covid case.
I know from my recent virtual and physical visits to primary and secondary schools across the Forest that it’s vitally important that children are learning at school, not at home.
Throughout the pandemic, school pupils and students have had their education disrupted for the benefit of older people who are more vulnerable to Covid, so it’s only right that as more the vulnerable have got vaccinated, the educational prospects of our young people are prioritised.
That’s why my Parliamentary colleagues in the Covid Recovery Group and I led the way in fighting for the return of all pupils to schools and colleges from 8th March, tying their return to the rapid progress of the vaccine rollout.
With this in mind, I have been pushing for further clarity from the Education Secretary about when the school bubble system may end, especially given our country’s vaccine rollout has become the most comprehensive of any major Western country.
The bubble system, and regular testing in schools, made sense at the height of the pandemic when the vulnerable had still not been vaccinated. However, now we are in the situation where those vulnerable to Covid who want a vaccine have now been protected.
Given that Covid is going to be endemic, are we really suggesting that for the rest of time we are going to be testing our schoolchildren on a regular basis? We need to move back to normal.
I put this to Gavin Williamson in the House of Commons, who hinted that he would like to see both school bubbles and systematic mass testing of students scrapped.
With time running out before the Summer break, and September just a number of weeks away, I will keep pushing for more clarity from the Department for Education. It’s vital we don’t squander the huge advantages our rapid vaccine rollout should be bringing us.