A group representing school leaders in Norfolk has penned an open letter to parents dispelling rhetoric that teachers are blocking school reopenings and urging them to trust headteachers.
Secondary schools should only have a quarter of year 10 and year 12 pupils in at any one time to reduce coronavirus transmission risks, the Government’s new guidance says.
Individual headteachers and governors will be given the final say on when schools can open to more children, the leader of Norfolk County Council has said.
The Government’s plan to potentially start allowing children in reception, year one and six to return to school from June 1 has received mixed reactions.
Headteachers and the Norfolk representative of the biggest teachers’ union are set to join parents for a virtual video debate of the reopening of schools.
Teachers and support staff should ask dozens of questions about safety before schools decide to open their doors to more pupils next month, according to the latest guidance from education unions.
Education chiefs say they recognise how “demanding” it will be for Norfolk schools to open to more children in the months ahead - and that headteachers will be best placed to decide when to reopen.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has appealed to teaching unions to work with the government to find “practical solutions” to enable schools in England to begin reopening.
The government is aiming to see all primary school children spend a month back at school before the summer holidays, according to its updated guidance.
Headteachers have said plans for primary children to start returning to the classroom from June 1 needs to be proved to be safe and workable amid concerns over social distancing young pupils and staff.
A Norfolk MP has blasted the county council for failing to support vulnerable children and families, as a shock report found national failings to provide special educational needs plans are damaging children’s lives.
Fears digital divide risks Norfolk pupils ‘being left behind’ during lockdown Fears Norfolk pupils are missing out on home-schooling during lockdown due to poor internet access have been highlighted as a watchdog ranked the county in the bottom 5pc across England.
Coronavirus has impacted all levels of education, from nurseries to final exams. But for many 17 and 18-year-olds, the impact has been particularly acute.
More than a fifth of parents say they are not doing any home education with their primary school-aged children during the Covid-19 lockdown, a survey suggests.
Exams are a stressful time for pupils at the best of times, but the coronavirus crisis had added a layer of uncertainty to those who were expecting to sit them this summer.
The earliest realistic date for schools to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic is June 1, a former Bury St Edmund head who now leads the headteachers’ union has said.
Almost 90pc of Norfolk vulnerable children who could still be at school during the coronavirus pandemic are not in the classroom, concerned council bosses have said.
Parents are being offered extra help to aid children home-schooling during lockdown with a series of online resources hand-picked by Norfolk teaching experts.
The closure of pubs and a slump in lockdown beer demand has created a huge surplus of malting barley in Norfolk’s grain stores – leaving farmers worried about where they are going to put this summer’s harvest.
The variations in death rates of people with coronavirus in different parts of Norfolk could have been caused because the epidemic arrived in the west of the county before lockdown began.
