Reopening of schools after summer holidays set to be delayed

The start of the upcoming school term could be delayed by at least a week for secondary schools across the UK as head teachers call for on-site Covid testing.

Lessons in a number of secondary schools are not expected to start until the second week of term in September after the Department of Education confirmed schools in England will be permitted to stagger start dates to enable pupils to be tested twice for the virus.

A poll of more than 1,200 senior teaching staff found that nearly one in five schools are planning to stagger the start or end of the school day throughout the autumn/winter term. 

Jeswin Thomas / Unsplash

To add to this, masks will be worn by pupils in class in one in eight secondary schools, and a third of all schools have said they will take precautions. 

Four per cent also said they would take the measure of teaching outdoors.  

Families will also be asked to test their children twice weekly until the end of next month, when minister plan to review the policy.    

If a Covid outbreak includes five or more people, teachers may also be forced to send entire classrooms or year groups home as a ‘last resort.’

@comparefibre / Unsplash

Geoff Barton, the General Secretary of ASCL, the senior leaders union, told The Times: “If you have nine million children going back into school, having been mixing through the summer, you can see the need to test them on site. Logistically it will be challenging. 

“We thought we could focus on the norm of education and already we have the spectre of disruption. Parents may rightly feel frustrated.”

The delayed term date and other Covid regulations haven’t been confirmed for every secondary school, so make sure to get in touch with yours for the accurate information.