Category Archives: Education

‘We Have This Problem Every Time’: Speaker Lindsay Hoyle Shuts Down Gillian Keegan

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Education secretary Gillian Keegan has been chastised by the Commons speaker for giving lengthy answers that may have been a “ploy” to stop scrutiny from MPs.

Lindsay Hoyle told the education secretary to be “punchy” with her responses as she fielded questions in the house.

As Keegan was discussing exams in the aftermath of the crumbling school buildings crisis, the speaker said: “We’re having this problem every time. If it’s (topical questions), they’re meant to be short and punchy. I’ve got to get these members in and all you’re doing is stopping the members not getting in, and if that’s the ploy, it’s not going to work.”

At the height of the problem last year, Keegan became notorious after she said she had done a “fucking good job” over the scandal.

The minister also claimed that others “have been sat on their arse” while she has been dealing with the crisis.

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Rishi Sunak Rejected Bid To Rebuild 200 Schools A Year, Minister Reveals

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Rishi Sunak rejected a bid for 200 schools a year to be rebuilt when he was chancellor, a Tory minister has revealed.

Nick Gibb said Sunak would only give the green light for 50 schools to be included in the government’s rebuilding programme.

More than 100 schools in England have so far been forced to partially or completely close because of the unsafe concrete – known as RAAC – in their construction.

Gibb told Sky News this morning that in 2021, when Sunak was chancellor, the department for education put in a bid to the Treasury for funding to rebuild or refurbish 200 schools a year.

The schools minister said: “We put in a bid for 200, but what Rishi agreed to was to continue the rebuilding programme at 50 a year, consistent with what we’ve been doing since we came into office.

“Fifty school buildings a year is what the system can cope with, and of course we put in a bid for 200, but the Treasury then has to compare that bid with all the other priorities right across Whitehall.”

His damning comments came a day after Jonathan Slater, the former top civil servant at the Department for Education, said Sunak had halved the number of schools in the rebuilding programme when he was chancellor.

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New Labour Attack Ad Accuses Rishi Sunak Of Not Thinking Schools Should Be Safe

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Labour has risked stoking fresh controversy by accusing Rishi Sunak of not thinking that schools should be safe.

The party’s latest attack ad comes amid the mounting scandal over schools being forced to close because of crumbling concrete.

It has echoes of the infamous poster from earlier this year which accused the prime minister of not wanting sex offenders to be jailed.

That sparked a furious row, with Labour being accused of “gutter politics”.

Like that one, the new ad also has a picture of the prime minister alongside his signature.

It states: “Do you think your child’s schools should be safe? Rishi Sunak doesn’t.”

The ad goes on to claim that when he was chancellor, Sunak cut spending on school rebuilding by almost half, and says the Tory/Lib Dem coalition ditched Labour’s schools for the future programme in 2010.

The advert adds: “The Tories ignored Labour’s warnings time and again – now our children are paying the price with crumbling schools.”

The latest Labour attack ad
The latest Labour attack ad

Labour Party

A Labour source told HuffPost UK: “It’s a timely reminder as parliament returns that the Tories can talk all they want – they can’t hide from the fact their disastrous running of the country over 13 years is hurting families across Britain.”

It emerged on Thursday – days before the end of the summer holidays – that more than 150 schools had been ordered to either partially or completely close because the “RAAC” concrete used to build them is at risk of collapse.

Education secretary Gillian Keegan said the government was taking a “cautious approach” to protect pupils and staff.

She said: “Children should attend school as normal in September, unless families hear differerently.”

But her Labour shadow, Bridget Phillipson, said: “This is an absolutely staggering display of Tory incompetence as they start a fresh term by failing our children again.

Ministers now fear that other public buildings, such as hospitals, could also be affected by the scandal.

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‘It’s A Simple Yes Or No’: Naga Munchetty Skewers Tory Minister Over Crumbling Schools

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A Tory minister was skewered by Naga Munchetty as he struggled to defend the government over the closure of unsafe schools just days before the end of the summer holidays.

More than 100 will have either partially or completely shut their doors to pupils because the concrete used to build them – known as RAAC – is at risk of collapse.

Schools minister Nick Gibb this morning admitted that some of the affected schools have yet to be contacted by the government, and that it is still not known how many will have to close completely.

Appearing on BBC Breakfast, Gibb was grilled on the government’s response to the crisis, which will see thousands of pupils forced to learn from home when the new term starts next week.

The minister insisted the government had been “very proactive in assessing the school estate” and had taken action as soon as the extent of the problem became apparent.

He said RACC was used between the 1950s and 1990s, and that surveys were sent to every school in England in 2022 asking whether it was present in their buildings.

But Munchetty told him: “I’m sorry, please let me interrupt. You’ve given me the history of RACC and the dangers known.

“In 2018 when there was a national audit report saying that it was in 572 schools, why did it take until 2022 until surveys were sent to schools?”

Gibb said “warning notices” had been sent to all schools after that report, but that further evidence had emerged since then about the dangers posed by the crumbling concrete.

He added: “You seem to be criticising us for being more proactive than other governments around the world.”

The minister said that prior to yesterday, the government had already taken action in 52 schools where RACC was identified.

Munchetty said: “Is it fair to say that they were unsafe up until that point – that children were attending schools with buildings unsafe?”

Gibb replied: “This evidence was emerging over time …”

The presenter then interrupted to say: “It’s a simple yes or no, isn’t it? They were either safe or unsafe.”

The minister said: “Well we felt, having had that evidence, that parts of the school that had RACC that was in a criticial condition were not safe.”

“So they could have potentially collapsed?” Munchetty replied.

Gibb said: “Yes and that’s why we took action.”

Labour has accused the government of “staggering incompetence” in not taking action until just before schools return from the summer break.

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “Ministers have been content to let this chaos continue for far too long.”

Mike Short, head of education at the UNISON union, said the situation was “nothing short of a scandal”.

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16 Year Olds Are Old Enough To Decide Gender Change, Education Secretary Says

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The Education Secretary has suggested that 16 year olds are old enough to decide to change their gender.

Gillian Keegan knocked back suggestions that 16 was too young, saying: “I was making decisions for myself at 16.”

It comes after Rishi Sunak moved to block Scottish reforms of the gender recognition process passed by Holyrood.

The new law would make it easier for trans people to change gender by reducing the time the process takes and lowering the age at which it can happen to 16.

Asked if she would be content for children in schools at 16 to say whether they want to change their gender, Keegan told Sky News: “We have to be very sensitive to children. We are actually going to publish some guidance and consult because it is a very tricky area to get right.

“It has to be age-appropriate, but children have to be supported as well.”

Pressed on her personal view, the minister was asked if 16 was too young.

“No I don’t actually. “I was working at 16, I was paying tax at 16, I was making decisions for myself at 16,” she replied.

“But it’s not really about what I think, it’s how we make sure we get that right balance of supporting children, but also making sure that what they’re getting taught in schools is age-appropriate.”

Labour leader Keir Starmer said he has “concerns” over Scotland’s gender recognition law because he considers 16 to be too young to decide to change gender.

Yesterday, the UK government took the unprecedented step of blocking Scotland’s gender reforms from becoming law.

It is the first time Westminster has used the power since devolution came into being nearly 25 years ago.

Scottish secretary Alister Jack wrote to Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon to inform her that he was making a so-called “section 35 order” vetoing the bill which was passed at Holyrood before Christmas.

It followed advice from government lawyers that the bill would cut across the UK-wide Equality Act.

In a statement, Jack said: “Transgender people who are going through the process to change their legal sex deserve our respect, support and understanding. My decision today is about the legislation’s consequences for the operation of GB-wide equalities protections and other reserved matters.”

Responding to the news, Sturgeon accused the UK government of “a full-frontal attack” on the Scottish parliament.

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Exclusive: Teachers’ Strike Ballot Result Will ‘Go Down To The Wire’

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A strike ballot organised by the UK’s largest education union will go “down to the wire”, HuffPost UK understands.

The National Education Union (NEU), which represents around 450,000 teaching staff across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is currently holding a formal ballot calling for a “fully-funded, above inflation pay rise” following a decade of eroded wages.

A preliminary indicative ballot by the NEU in October showed strong support among teachers and support staff for taking industrial action to achieve a pay rise — but there are fears that turnout for the formal postal ballot has been hampered by Royal Mail strikes and bad weather.

Under the Trade Union Act, NEU members are bound by higher turnout thresholds to push through strike action.

The union must achieve a turnout of 50% in both the teacher and support staff ballots. Some 40% of those eligible to vote must back strike action for it to go ahead.

A source close to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), which represents unions across England and Wales, told HuffPost UK: “The result is going to be very close in terms of turnout.

“The NEU could meet the threshold or it could not — it’ll be down to the wire.

“The fact that the NEU is on the verge of this historic result, despite the massive barriers of the Trade Union Act, shows how angry teachers are about the way they’ve been treated and the formidable NEU data-led operation.”

They added: “It’s true the situation at Royal Mail could delay some ballots and this could make it very close, so individual votes will matter.”

If teachers back strike action, it will create another headache for the government which is so far refusing to back down on union pay demands — increasing the likelihood that disruptive strikes could go on for months.

Already this week the government is battling a series of damaging walkouts by the RMT and Aslef rail unions which began on January 3 and will finish on Saturday.

Nurses will also go on strike on January 18 and 19 unless negotiations are opened, having already withdrawn their labour for two days in December.

And in Scotland, primary school teachers will walkout on January 10 and secondary school teachers on January 11, with more strikes planned for later in the month and into February.

The average primary classroom teacher in England currently earns £38,200, rising to £41,600 for a secondary classroom teacher.

Heads of primary schools typically take home £67,400, which rises to £94,900 for the average secondary school.

The government has offered most teachers a pay rise of 5% for this year, up from an original offer of 3%. Those who are newly qualified will receive a pay rise of 8.9% to meet the Department for Education’s (DfE) commitment to increase starting salaries to £30,000 by 2023.

However, the teaching unions argue that the pay offers amount to a real-terms pay cut given that the rate of inflation stands at 10.7%. Research by the NEU estimates that its members have lost a minimum of £64,350 in earnings since 2010.

Last year, the NEU’s indicative ballot found that 86% of teachers would be prepared to take strike action to demand a pay rise, on a 62% turnout.

A separate ballot of school support staff also strongly supported taking strike action over pay, with 92% of staff rejecting the government’s offer and 78% backing industrial action.

The NEU’s formal postal ballot will close on January 13 next year, with strikes potentially taking place towards the end of the month.

Fellow teaching unions the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) and The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) are also holding strike ballots for members in England and Wales that will close on January 9 and 11, respectively.

Sources within the education sector expressed concern that strikes by the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU), whose members work for Royal Mail, have resulted in some members not receiving their ballots on time, potentially hampering turnout.

The CWU has not yet announced strike dates for 2023 but held walkouts over the Christmas period, including on Christmas Eve, in a bitter dispute with Royal Mail over pay.

If the turnout threshold is reached and strike action is approved, around 24,000 schools in England and Wales could be forced to close as children are sent home.

“The knock-on impact on parents and wider society will be huge,” the source said.

“The government can continue to pretend there’s not a problem or sort it out. Teachers are simply tired of what’s happened to education since 2010 and the strength of feeling is high.”

A spokesperson for the NEU said the union was confident that the thresholds for strike action would be met and that members would be able to re-order any mislaid postal ballots.

“The NEU supports the CWU and the postal workers’ strike,” they said.

“Despite the unfair threshold set by government for strike action to go ahead we are confident our members will vote in the margins required for action to take place. The NEU ballot for strike action for a fully-funded pay increase closes on the January 13 and the results will be known shortly afterwards, most likely on January 16.

“Until this date we will not have the final numbers. It is an indication of the anger felt by teachers and support staff that the union’s electronic indicative ballot had an overwhelming yes vote for action resulting in the union moving ahead with a formal ballot.”

They added: “Through successive below inflation pay rises teachers and support staff have suffered losses of over 20% in salary since 2010. Many are leaving the profession. Government recruitment targets are missed year on year and nearly a third of teachers leave within the first five years of entering the profession. Something has to change.

“Government needs to start negotiating in good faith with the education unions to ensure children get the education they deserve, and teachers and support staff are fairly paid for the vital role they play.

“We don’t want to have to take this action — and we are calling on government to negotiate. It is in the government’s gift to avert these strikes with a new offer on a fully funded pay rise.”

In response, sources at the DfE said plans were being put in place to minimise any disruption if strikes do take place.

They said the best way of making money go further in schools was for the government to tackle inflation and for schools to be made away of the “resource management” available to them.

They also pointed to the £5 billion in funding to help children recover from lost learning in the aftermath of the pandemic, including more than £1 billion for the national tutoring programme.

A DfE spokesperson said: “There are no great schools without great teachers which is why we are making the highest pay awards in a generation – 5% for experienced teachers and more for those early in their careers, including an 8.9% increase to starting salary.

“We are also investing an additional £2 billion in schools next year and £2 billion the year after, taking school funding to its highest-ever level.

“After two years of disrupted education for young people, strike action is simply not a responsible solution.”

The CWU has been contacted for comment.

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Young Brits Groomed And Killed Because System Fails Them – Damning Report Finds

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Thousands of young people are being groomed, harmed and “even killed” because systems are failing them, a scathing report has found.

Primary school children are running drugs for gangs and teenagers are heading up county lines operations, according to the former children’s commissioner.

Anne Longfield is now calling on the government to create “Sure Start Plus” – a national plan to stop teenagers getting involved in gangs and violence.

Her report, Hidden In Plain Sight, warns of a crisis putting hundreds of thousands of children at risk in England.

Younger children are being targeted by gangs as well as children from typically middle class backgrounds, with social media used to lure them.

Former children's commissioner for England Anne Longfield.
Former children’s commissioner for England Anne Longfield.

Russell Sach/Children’s Commissioner for England via PA Media

The report said a combination of Covid, a cost-of-living crisis, and any return to austerity would be a “gift” to those who exploit children.

Longfield, who heads up the Commission on Young Lives, said: “There are parts of our country where the state is completely failing in its duty to protect vulnerable children from the ongoing epidemic of county lines, criminal exploitation, and serious violence.”

She described a housing estate where residents were being “terrorised” by a gang of drug dealing 14 year olds who wear balaclavas and “dish out acts of violence”.

“They carried knives and other weapons, which in turn was encouraging other young people in the area to carry knives for protection,” her foreword said.

“What is happening on this estate may sound like an extreme example, but it is far from unique.

“Speak to youth workers in our towns and cities and they will tell you their own horror stories: of young people being chased in broad daylight by other teenagers waving machetes, of homes where the young people involved in the drugs trade are the main breadwinner in the family, of communities where organised criminals seek out and groom very vulnerable children who have fallen through gaps in the care, health, or education systems, almost with impunity.”

She said there were parts of the country where the state was “completely failing” in its duty to protect vulnerable children.

“So often these are already the most marginalised families. So often they are black, brown and minority ethnic. So often they are poor.”

However, she said the epidemic of country lines was not limited to inner cities, adding: “I have heard countless examples of children from suburban, middle-class England being groomed by criminals.”

Government figures covering 2021-22 show there were 11,600 instances where gangs were a factor and 10,140 instances where child criminal exploitation was a factor in assessments of children in need – which the commission believes is the tip of the iceberg.

Estimates suggest there could be as many as 200,000 children in England aged 11 to 17 who are vulnerable to serious violence.

Those most at risk are teenagers growing up in poverty, in deprived areas, and they are disproportionately from black, brown and minority ethnic backgrounds.

The commission warned that social care, education, family support, and children’s mental health systems were failing thousands of vulnerable teenagers and costing billions.

They said Sure Start Plus programmes could be partly financed by the millions of pounds recovered from the proceeds of crime every year.

They would initially be placed in the areas of greatest need and bring local services together to provide bespoke services for families and children who need it.

They are named after the New Labour “Sure Start” programme aimed at giving children the best start in life that was then scrapped by the Tory government.

The Commission suggested a one off £1 billion children and young people’s mental health recovery programme, part-financed by a levy on social media companies and mobile phone providers.

And they also called for the government to hold regular Cobra meetings to tackle the scourge of serious violence.

Labour’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said the Conservatives were failing children.

“12 years of Conservative neglect has eroded the systems that keep children safe and that put young people on the path to fulfilling futures, blighting lives and costing taxpayers in the process,” she said.

HuffPost UK contacted the department for education for comment.

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It’s A-Level Results Day. Here’s Why Students Aren’t Celebrating

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Remember getting your A-Level results: the nerves, the catastrophising, the self-soothing in case things didn’t pan out the way you wanted? And then, regardless of results, the collective celebration of getting through it all and looking forward to next steps, whether uni, apprenticeships or a job?

Well, for this year’s cohorts, results day just doesn’t feel quite the same. That’s because current 18-year-olds have spent the majority of their college or sixth-form experience remotely at home as the pandemic rages on.

The Department of Education cancelled GCSE and A-level exams for a second year running amid ongoing coronavirus chaos – relying on teacher-assessed grades (or TAGs) for final results. And now some universities have suggested setting their own entry exams for some courses in what they suggest is a necessary bid to tackle grade inflation.

Freshers Week is usually a rite of passage for first-years, but in the pandemic era, it’s also looking a little different. Some universities have vowed to introduce in-person events for the first time since 2019; others are still contemplating Covid measures. In-person teaching still hangs in the balance, too.

So you can forgive the glum mood (not helped by the weather) that looms over the day. We spoke to some people getting their results about how they feel.

The wait for results feels more uncertain than ever.

The wait for results feels more uncertain than ever.

‘The government hasn’t been straight up’

Naomi Cudjoe, 18, Edmonton:

“I’m getting my results today and from the get-go I believe the government hasn’t been straight up with students. We had to actively seek out information to find out what was going on. The messaging was confusing.

“My teachers tried their best, but for a long period of time, even leading up to the TAGs, they were also confused, which was very concerning. Due to what happened last year with exams, the government should’ve been aware there might be fallback into this academic year. They should’ve been prepared.

“As a student who worked hard from the beginning of A-levels, I don’t believe my hard work and perseverance has shone – a lot of work that I believed would be used was disregarded. And as I’m not an upper-class student like loads of my peers, I believe our results will be significantly different.

“It makes me even more nervous attending university, especially when I’ve seen plenty of uni students complain about how their courses were handled over the past year. My university experience will clearly not be the same. I’m worried about continuing online learning in a subject I don’t [yet] know much about.

“Young adults are the future, we are the next generation. But the resources and support we need is missing and a lot of students are struggling as a result.”

‘I’m hoping results will be more accurate’

Jodie Palmer, 18, Manchester

“Results day will be different to last year when there were a lot of upsets with people not getting the results they wanted because of the algorithm that downgraded them. I’m hoping results this year will be a more accurate representation of how we worked throughout the whole two years.”

“The TAG has its problems. For some of my courses, we didn’t know whether we would be doing certain parts of the course until the very last minute. One week we were told we wouldn’t be doing a particular topic, then later told we would, only to be told we wouldn’t.

“There was a lot of confusion surrounding what I had to do and I wish the government had made it clearer earlier on. I’m just hoping they haven’t tried that algorithm that messed things up for a lot of people – that’s my biggest fear.

Will university even look like students want it to?

Will university even look like students want it to?

“I think universities setting exams works for some courses, especially STEM ones, but for more creative courses, it would just cause further stress. I don’t think people should be turned away because of their results to an exam set by the uni – if they’ve already achieved the grades to get in, it would be harsh to make them redo everything and to put that extra pressure on them.

“Freshers is something I was quite nervous about because everyone tells me it’s all parties and fun before everyone settles down. I’m really not a party person so with Covid restrictions, it takes off the pressure to attend. But I will be sad if I miss events such as orientations and fairs if they don’t go ahead.

‘Results day feels uneasy. There’s just uncertainty’

Muhammed Muntaha Siddique, 18, Tower Hamlets

“Results day this year feels uneasy. You just don’t know how well you did (at least in an exam, you have some indication). Teacher-assessed grades have a few shortcomings, as a lot of students who may not have the best relationship with their teachers may be stressed out and there could also be favouritism or unconscious bias.

“Also the appeals process for TAGs, if you don’t get the right grades, is quite complicated. I just hope we don’t have the same fiasco we saw last year.

“Online lessons were so draining last winter, it would be a nightmare if uni was online too. Since there are not really any restrictions at the moment, freshers and uni classes should be similar to previous years, but again there’s just uncertainty. You never know if there’ll be another government U-turn.”

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More Schools ‘Should Be Able To Run Targeted Asian-Style Isolation Systems’

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More schools should be able to run Asian-style isolation systems for Covid contacts to ensure fewer people are sent home, a senior Tory has said.

Rob Halfon, who chairs the Commons education committee, suggested that official guidance for schools could be cleared up to allow targeted approaches, rather than forcing whole school “bubbles” to go into isolation if there is a virus case.

With around 385,000 pupils in England absent from school as a result of Covid, Halfon stressed: “We are damaging their mental health”.

The government has suggested it will scrap so-called “bubbles” of schoolchildren, who often all have to isolate if one catches Covid, from autumn.

But Boris Johnson is resisting pressure to move quicker, insisting summer holidays would act as a “natural firebreak” to infections.

Halfon spoke to HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast during a visit to the Ashcroft Technology Academy in south London, which he said was running a much more targeted Asian style model of isolation.

“When they have a Covid outbreak they do not send the whole school year groups or whole bubbles home,” Halfon said.

“They microtarget the students who have been affected, so they only send a few [home] at a time, a bit like the Asian model in some ways, what goes on in South Korea and so on.

“When I asked them how come you do this, they said they speak to Public Health England, they speak to the Department for Education every time there is such an outbreak and they are advised that they are able to do this.

“So if they are, why are 385,000 kids being sent home?

“I appreciate of course it is very difficult for teachers and support staff absolutely and they are doing a remarkable job considering.

“But clearly the guidance is confusing and schools may be being told different things by different arms of PHE or the DfE.”

House of Commons/PA

Rob Halfon, Conservative chair of the Commons education committee

Halfon acknowledged that it would be difficult to roll out a similar system across the whole country. 

But he said it would be beneficial if more pupils could benefit from the approach.

“Obviously there’s very different circumstances in some schools, the outbreaks may be greater, they may have many staff off sick for Covid or for Covid-related reasons or shielding, so I get that it’s not possible to replicate it.

“But if one school can do it, there must be others who can do it.

“It doesn’t mean every school can do it, but just because every school can’t do it doesn’t mean that… even if five more schools did it.

“It’s got to stop, sending kids home.

“We are damaging their mental health.”

Halfon added: “We are damaging these children by [them] being at home because inevitably they are not learning as much as they would do at school.

“But their wellbeing and mental health is really suffering and it’s putting huge pressure on the parents.

“This has just got to stop, we need our kids back into school.

“People have been vaccinated now, I’m not a lockdown-sceptic, I’m a ‘schooldown-sceptic’.”

Asked why the government did not just scrap the bubble system now, the prime minister told reporters on Thursday: “I understand people’s frustration when whole classes, whole bubbles, are sent home and people are asked to isolate.

“So what’s happening now is Public Health England and the scientists are looking at the advantages, the possibilities, of going to testing rather than isolation.

“They haven’t concluded yet so what I want to do is just to be cautious as we go forward to that natural firebreak of the summer holidays when the risk in schools will greatly diminish and just ask people to be a little bit patient.”

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School’s Covid Testing Pilot Helped 500 Pupils And Staff Avoid Isolation

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Aaron Chown – PA Images via Getty Images

A school that trialled a radical Covid testing regime has spared more than 500 pupils and staff from having to isolate at home, its headteacher has revealed.

Westhoughton High School in Bolton allows even “close contacts” of positive cases to keep on attending class, provided they can show negative daily lateral flow tests and negative PCR tests every five days.

Headteacher Patrick Ottley-O’Connor told the BBC there had been a “massively” positive impact on students’ mental health as well as on their ability to keep learning in person.

The school, which ended its government pilot scheme last Thursday, reported more than 3,500 “saved learning days” thanks to its system of allowing pupils to attend even if they were in the same class as someone who tested positive.

Under the clinical trial, only those staff and students who test positive are required to stay at home.

Others in their 30-strong “bubble” are allowed to keep on attending, with parental consent, as long as they have a negative lateral flow test for seven days.

On day two and day seven, they have to also show a negative PCR test. Pupils taking part in the scheme still have to stay at home in the evening and at weekends.

The success of the programme is sure to be pounced on by MPs and parents, many of whom are now calling for a more risk-based approach and the end of the practice of forcing a whole class to quarantine if one child contracts the virus.

Latest figures showed pupil absence due to Covid had hit a record high since classes went back in March, with more than 330,000 children in England forced to isolate at home in the past week.

Data from the Department for Education, covering England, shows that around one in 20 (5.1%) state school pupils did not attend class for Covid-19-related reasons on June 24, up from 3.3% on June 17 and 1.2% on June 10.

Health secretary Sajid Javid revealed on Monday that he had asked for the evidence from pilot schemes.

Ottley-O’Connor told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme that “when we had the opportunity to take part in the clinical trial we jumped at it”.

“It’s really helped obviously the learning, but the mental health of students has been massively impacted positively by being able to stay in school.

“Two weeks ago within Bolton there were rising cases, I had two positive cases within staff and that affected 18 staff in total close contacts, myself included.

“But only those two people had to be at home, the rest of us could come in, do our daily testing in the morning…[and] test negative and continue our daily work.”

Shadow education secretary Kate Green said the latest absence figures showed the need for action.

“Ministers must work with their expert scientific advisers now to review the bubbles system ahead of the summer holidays to ensure as many children can be in the classroom as possible.”

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