Coronavirus: Headteacher writes to parents asking them to ignore government plan and not send kids back to school
Written by News on 14/05/2020
A primary headteacher has written to parents urging them not to send their children back to school on 1 June because social distancing is “impossible”.
Howard Fisher, head of St George’s Church of England Primary School in Sheerness, Kent, says he would “rather a child repeats the year” than die.
The government’s plan is to send reception, year one and year six pupils in England back on 1 June.
But Mr Fisher wrote: “I can be truthful here and categorically tell you there is no such thing as social distancing in a school; it does not exist and would never exist.
“The reason childhood illnesses spread in a school is we are all in contact with each other. I can put two children in opposite classrooms and they will still get chicken pox because that’s how it is in a school. This virus we are led to believe is a super spreader.”
The government’s 50-page COVID-19 recovery strategy advises schools in England to stagger break, drop-off and pick-up times, reduce class sizes to just 15 and create one-way systems to avoid pupil-to-pupil contact. Teachers will not be offered PPE.
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Mr Fisher said that in the absence of a reliable test or a vaccine “there is just the possibility that things will be okay” and that “okay is not good enough when it comes to the precious gift that is your child”.
In the letter dated 11 May, he added: “Believe me, I would rather any child repeats a year than go back too soon and have to lose a child.”
It comes after the Department for Education’s chief scientific adviser, Osama Rahman, admitted to a Commons committee that there was “low confidence” children will not spread coronavirus at school and cause a second wave of the disease.
Schools across the UK are trialling social distancing measures before they are due to reopen.
Orton Wistow Primary School in Peterborough shared a picture of their set-up on social media, describing it as “stark and empty”.
A year one teacher posted a picture of her classroom with social distancing measures in place, saying she is “terrified of what our new normal will become”.
Families who do not send their children back to school next month will not be fined, but parents are being strongly encouraged to take up places.
The Department for Education told Sky News Mr Rahman had clarified his position, saying he did have faith in the government’s schools plan, subject to their five tests.
(c) Sky News 2020: Coronavirus: Headteacher writes to parents asking them to ignore government plan and not send kids back to school
