A month after the reopening U-turn at the beginning of this term, despite growing calls for plans to be put in place around the wider opening of schools, policymakers are still yet to announce clear guidance on reopening. While Gavin Williamson has stated that schools would receive two weeks notice, the Prime Minister announced this week that pupils would not return before 8th March.

With ongoing concern around access to devices and engagement with remote learning, and pupils having vastly different experience between, and even within, schools, it is clear that schools need a plan for initial reopening that takes into account proper ‘recovery’ to support the students who need it.

If you would like to contribute to Schools North East’s survey on reopening to inform our work, please share your thoughts here.

Wider opening

When asked about school reopening almost three quarters of North East school leaders who responded thought that this should take place after the Easter holidays, with 10% feeling that this should be in May. Though we know that schools will not be opened more widely until at least March, a quarter of school leaders did want to see wider opening take place after February half term. This may be due to the concern around students not engaging well at home, and losing more learning, as well as the opportunity to develop social skills and be supported in school.

Significantly, two thirds of school leaders want to see some form of phased reopening, which has been reinforced by suggestions that Scotland is considering a phased return while leading scientists have argued for prioritising the most vulnerable for a phased return. Suggestions here included:

“A 50/50 return of the full cohort (half of each year group in school for two weeks, followed by two weeks of remote learning). This would allow social distances to be managed and learning to continue.“

“Part time timetable offering all children two full days each week until the rates of cases are significantly lower.“

Measures for reopening

Nearly all respondents felt that two weeks is sufficient notice provided this is two working weeks and not including holiday time. When asked what measures schools would like to see in a phased reopening, common themes emerged, particularly around flexibility based on local circumstances, taking into consideration the transmission rates in the area and trusting the profession to make their own risk assessments. One respondent highlighted the impact of this on rural schools in particular:

“I would like there to be local decisions made about re-opening schools based on the size of the school and where it is and the local infection rate. My school is very small and in a very rural area, so we are very low risk compared to an inner city school, and a third of the children are in school anyway because they are children of Key Workers or are vulnerable. I don’t want to have to follow the same timetable for opening as a high risk inner city school, and equally they should not have to open if they feel it is too dangerous. We need autonomy and discretion according to our local conditions.”

Two-way communication with the profession and trust in the judgement of staff was also seen as vital, as one respondent highlighted:

“The need to utilise local knowledge and accept not one model fits all. The complexities of communities and staffing profiles often creates a unique blend of circumstances/risks best managed by those who are aware of them, not those who sit a safe distance away.“

This flexibility would include prioritising certain groups for a return before others, and allowing schools to use rota systems, which was supported by 80% of school leaders. This would enable schools to ensure students who need it can access some level of classroom teaching, helping to better support students who have lost learning, are in key exam year groups or who are not engaging with online learning or struggling with access to devices and internet access.

Additionally, a large majority felt that prioritisation for the vaccine was integral to reopening to ensure staff are safe, as well as clear guidance on safety measures, to ensure both a safe reopening and maintain the confidence of staff and parents in the decisions they are making. Several responses also stressed the need to preserve the holidays and avoiding sudden policy changes without effective communication to the profession. This is becoming a growing area of concern, with staff at risk of burnout from the extra work around not only in class and remote learning but also making and changing plans at short notice. While the profession does want to see a safe return to school, this should not be at the expense of staff’s mental and professional health and the growing tension here cannot be exacerbated by further delay and unclear guidance.

Priority groups

Looking at the year groups to be prioritised, there is a clear focus on the earlier years, preparing Year 6s for transition, and for secondary schools those due to take exams this summer. However, the need for flexibility here is crucial; school leaders all identified different priority groups, based on their school’s circumstances. Given the different levels of disruption schools have faced this would place trust in the professional judgement of school leaders to identify the students who have missed significant contact time, or lost learning remotely, and who they feel need more support. This is in line with the concern that the most disadvantaged pupils are not currently attending school, as they don’t fall within the strict definitions of vulnerable or critical worker children. As a result the disadvantage gap is even more likely to grow, and the ability to prioritise these groups would help to challenge this gap.

Covid Testing

On mass testing when schools reopen, 45% supported it taking place in all settings. Almost a quarter said that it should take place in secondary schools only, which has reflected concerns about the ability to test young children. A significant proportion were uncertain, highlighting that this is still an area that schools still need significant support with. Many have felt that it places extra burdens and responsibility on staff, and there is a concern that the tests have been proven unreliable, so all other safety measures are still needed alongside this.

Key concerns

When asked about what the key concerns were around reopening, crucially, school leaders wanted better engagement with the profession. Schools need to be able to open safely and confidently, and this requires more advanced notice of policy changes. Additionally, schools also need clear and consistent messaging and guidance, to help manage expectations of staff and parents. Decisions also need to be guided by data and science, and take into account the local circumstances, giving school leaders the flexibility to open in the safest way possible.

Again respondents emphasised that school staff must be prioritised for a vaccine, as well as the need for additional financial support for provision of PPE and other Covid-related costs. As well as these physical health concerns, schools are also having to manage the mental health of staff and students, and there needs to be consideration of staff workload.

One respondent also highlighted that there needs to be conversations and guidance about longer term recovery:

“We need to think about the return longer than the children returning to school. I think school leaders need to be taking the immediate view is return to school, the short view until September, mid tern view July 22 etc. So much will have changed and as a profession we can’t go back. This is a great time to build upon the advances we have made and really plan for the next 10 years.“

While the Prime Minister promised a further £300 million for catch up tutoring this week, a previous Schools North East survey has suggested that engagement around this is low, as well as highlighting difficulty in planning for catch-up under current circumstances and issues that have arisen with the programme itself.

A Roadmap to Reopening

Using this feedback, Schools North East is developing a roadmap to reopening, highlighting the key issues that need to be addressed in order to ensure that this can happen as safely and smoothly as possible. We cannot afford for reopening to cause another spike in Covid cases, resulting in further disruption for staff and students, not to mention parents and families. Any plan for reopening must also ensure that the most disadvantaged students are considered and receive the support they need, as the impact of Covid has disproportionately affected this group.

Our roadmap will be rooted in the key recommendations of our Manifesto for North East Education which addresses many of the issues that have been exposed by the pandemic. Keep an eye out for more on this in the coming weeks.