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Daily Mirror

National

Danya Bazaraa

Fury at schools chaos with Covid rates higher in some areas where they are staying open

Parents, teachers and local leaders have expressed confusion and anger over the announcement that some primary schools will open later than planned.

A list of 50 areas where some primary schools will not open as planned to all pupils next week was published by the Department for Education (DfE) and featured places in London, Essex, Kent, East Sussex, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

But many parents, teachers and local councillors have raged about apparent discrepancies in decisions.

And analysis of the latest coronavirus rates show there have been more cases in some areas where schools will be open than in places where they will be shut next week.

Greenwich had 2,176 new cases recorded in the seven days to December 26, Hackney and City of London had 2,217 and Islington had 1,499.

None of these areas appear on the list of areas where schools will stay shut on Monday.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson (PRU/AFP via Getty Images)

However, schools are shutting in Kensington and Chelsea, which had just 768 new cases in the same period.

Richmond upon Thames, is also on the list, after having 1,219 cases and Hammersmith and Fulham, with 1,097, will also see schools close.

A host of places in England currently have higher infection rates than Kensington & Chelsea, but are not seeing primary schools close.

They include Burnley, Luton, Eastbourne, Woking, Crawley, Windsor & Maidenhead, St Albans, Stevenage, Surrey Heath and Dover.

Yesterday it was announced that primary schools will be closed to all but key workers' and vulnerable children in 50 council areas until up to January 18 - including two-thirds of London.

And most secondary school pupils across the nation will now go back two weeks later than planned in a major U-turn announced by Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.

Around a million primary school pupils in some of the areas hardest hit by Covid-19 will not return to lessons as planned next week.

Children of key workers and vulnerable youngsters will still be able to attend lessons in primary and secondary schools.

The full list of primary schools staying closed is below

Around a million primary school pupils will not return to face to face lessons as planned next week (file photo) (Getty Images)

Charmaine Evens told Mirror Online: "I am a primary school teacher in Greenwich borough. All our schools are to remain open Monday, despite having higher infections than other boroughs who have been told to shut.

"In fact, the neighbouring boroughs of Bexley, Bromley and Southwark have also all been told to shut.

"A purely political decision which is going to cost lives."

Parents have expressed confusion after the Education Secretary's announcement (file photo) (Digital/AFP via Getty Images)

Another school worker wrote: "It is ridiculous! I work in a Kingston school and don’t feel confident returning next week. Especially when most surrounding boroughs are on the list."

One confused mother tweeted a map and wrote: "So it has been deemed too dangerous to open Primary Schools in the Borough in blue next week.

"My children attend the primary school that’s <100m away from the boundary, along with 900 other children.

"Are there any scientists here who can reassure me that that makes sense?"

Another angry parent said: "So half the kids who attend my son's school live in Merton and Croydon and those boroughs are shutting schools.

"We are right near border, with such high rates in Streatham Vale and Lambeth as whole, how can it be safe to send our kids to school?

Helen Hayes, Labour Member of Parliament for Dulwich & West Norwood, tweeted: "It doesn’t seem to make any sense for schools in Southwark to be delayed in reopening after Christmas, while Lambeth schools are not.

"I’ve asked the Schools Minister to look again at this decision - our boroughs are not islands & many children cross the boundary to attend school."

A map showing areas where primary schools must shut next week (Mirror online)

James McAsh added: "Lambeth, where I work, borders 6 other London boroughs. Schools will close in all of them.

"Two have a lower case load than Lambeth. But Lambeth schools will remain open. How does this make sense?"

London council leaders have criticised the Government's list of areas where primary schools will not open to pupils next week as having "no logic".

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was "urgently seeking clarification as to why schools in some London boroughs have been chosen to stay open" while others "just down the road won't".

Other critics included Danny Thorpe, leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich.

He said in a statement: "In a case-by-case comparison, there appears to be no logic to how this list was brought together.

"Kensington and Chelsea has one of the lowest infection rates for the whole of the capital, yet their children and young people are being afforded the extra protection that apparently Royal Greenwich students don't need.

"While we are very glad that they will benefit from these extra precautions, we can only speculate why this borough was included, yet with an infection rate more than 200 cases higher per 100,000, Royal Greenwich was not."

Councillors have hit out at the schools announcement (file photo) (AFP via Getty Images)

Richard Watts, leader of Islington Council in north London, said: "We are now seeking urgent clarification from the Government about why Islington's primary schools are to reopen in the week of January 4, while those in many other London boroughs will not reopen.

"It is deeply frustrating that the Government has made this announcement at the last minute, just days before the start of term, weeks after it was clear coronavirus cases were surging in London."

Philip Glanville, the mayor of Hackney in north-east London, said the area should be included on the list where primary schools do not have to reopen.

The Education Secretary said he is "absolutely confident" there will be no further delays to school reopenings.

Mr Williamson said his confidence also extended to schools' readiness to safely accept pupils back into the classroom by executing a mass testing programme on site.

The Education Secretary is "absolutely confident" there will be no further delays to school reopenings (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

This comes in spite of concerns from teachers about how testing will be conducted safely, and by whom.

Mr Williamson told BBC Breakfast: "There's absolutely no reason that schools won't be ready."

He said £78 million of additional funding, equipment such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and support from the military would help them get mass testing programmes set up.

Mr Williamson said: "We really want to hold their hands, support them, help them. We're asking everyone right across the country to do pretty extraordinary things at the moment."