How mostly Labour-run councils have refused to obey the Government and open primary schools on June 1 Opposed Brighton and Hove (Labour) Slough (Labour) Teesside Labour) Solihull (Conservative) Stockport (Labour) Bury (Labour) Liverpool (Labour) Hartlepool (Labour) Wirrall (Labour) Calderdale (Labour) Birmingham (Labour) Bradford (Labour) Leeds (Labour) Have expressed ‘reservations’ but leaving it to schools Wakefield … Read more
Doctors U-turn on support for teaching unions and say schools SHOULD reopen if they are safe – but doubts remain over June 1 date as scientists say track and trace must be in place first Chair of BMA’s Public Health Medicine Committee said there is ‘growing evidence that the risk to individual children from Covid-19 … Read more
Schools should reopen if it is safe to do so, the British Medical Association has said, in an effort to row back from support they threw to the teaching unions. Last night a final decision on whether to reopen schools on June 1 was left hanging in the balance after discussions between Education Secretary Gavin … Read more
Boris Johnson’s ambition to reopen primary schools on June 1 could now slip amid mass dissension from teachers, unions and growing numbers of Labour councils, it was revealed today. The Prime Minister’s spokesman said the Government would ‘listen to their concerns’ about the safety of children and insisted opening schools in 12 days was not … Read more
British teachers are today being urged to follow the lead of their French counterparts by going back to work and getting more than 1.4million children into class after two months in lockdown. Ministers across the Channel have revealed that they have had 70 cases of coronavirus in 40,000 schools and nurseries in the past 11 days … Read more
Tony Blair has said Boris Johnson‘s administration is right to be opening schools again. The Prime Minister’s plans to start sending children back to school next month has come under attack from teaching unions and some local authorities, with critics arguing it is too soon to lift the coronavirus-related lockdown restrictions. Mr Johnson, in his … Read more
Risk of spreading coronavirus between teachers and children in schools is ‘extremely low’, according to major new study The study looked at 18 infected students and teachers in 15 schools in Australia The researchers say it shows that the virus’s spread is ‘limited’ in classrooms Children in reception, Year 1 and Year 6 may start … Read more
The wartime President of the United States, Franklin D Roosevelt, once proclaimed that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And at this critical moment, nothing could be more true – not least when it comes to the inflammatory debate about whether or not some primary-aged children should return to the classroom … Read more
The row over Left-wing unions trying to stop schools from reopening escalated last night as a senior medical figure was accused of using misleading research about the health risks of returning to the classroom. Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the chairman of the British Medical Association, had told the National Education Union that it was ‘absolutely right’ … Read more
Bosses behind dozens of primary schools in England are backing plans for pupils to return to classrooms, despite strong opposition from teaching unions. The heads of four academy chains – Reach 2, Harris, Oasis and GEP – which teach a quarter of the UK’s children, have all thrown their weight behind government proposals to reopen schools … Read more