Parents call for closure of schools around Tendring

Following yesterday's announcement by the Department for Education (DfE), secondary schools and colleges across Essex will be included in a country-wide move to remote learning until January 18, 2021.

This is to allow time for the roll-out of a mass testing programme across the country as cases continue to rise.

Primary schools in the hardest-hit areas of Essex including Braintree and Maldon will also face a staggered return.

However primary schools in Tendring will return to normal on Monday, January 4.

But the announcement has sparked major concerns among many parents who have signed a petition urging the Government to close schools.

Kirsty Louise Eyles, 39, from Harwich, has set up an online page for like-minded parents to come together to discuss the reopening of schools.

Her three children – one of which is at high risk of illness - attend Harwich and Dovercourt High School and the Mayflower Primary School.

She said: “I am very concerned about all my children going back to school and I will do whatever it takes to keep my children safe – I will home school them if I have to.

“In Harwich we are in Tier 4, but how is it a lockdown when the schools are still going to open?

“Having a child that is at high risk of illness, I am so afraid of him and my other children getting coronavirus.

“As a single parent, if anything happened to me they get separated. Parents have not been given a choice but it’s not just parents, this affects teachers too, and everyone.”

Liz Bartholomew, Mayflower Primary School’s headteacher, said: “One of my main concerns, apart from the obvious health concerns for both my pupils and staff of course, is that this puts us in a completely impossible situation.

“We now have parents, having watched all the announcements, contacting us saying they don’t want to send their children to school.

“We totally empathise with why they want to keep children at home, it’s the safest and sensible thing to do, but as a school we are expected to say they should be attending, when deep down we know they shouldn’t.”

Anna Stacey, 39, from St Osyth, said: “We can’t mix with our families but we can send our children and partners to school to mix with 32 other families children.

“I just can’t understand why they don’t do a blanket closure until they sort vaccinations and testing out.”

In response to the update Spring Meadow Primary School, in Dovercourt, is writing to parents and carers with details about how the school will be strengthening its protective measures in light of the Tier 4 restrictions.

Essex County Council has written to Essex schools, confirming arrangements from January.

The decision will be reviewed by DfE by January 18.

Infection rates will continue to be monitored throughout January and any further updates will be communicated with parents and carers going forward.

U-turn - Education Secretary Gavin Williamson

Speaking to the House of Commons yesterday, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “The latest study we have from Public Health England is that Covid infections among children are triggered by changes in the community rate.

“The study also says that the wider impact of school closures on children’s development would be significant.”

Details on the mass testing roll-out in schools and colleges are awaited from DfE, but in the meantime parents whose children are eligible to return on Monday in very high risk areas, are encouraged to access a PCR test from the Government website as their main testing route.

Lateral flow testing centres are also open in Brentwood, Pitsea and Basildon, with more centres planned for opening across the county throughout January.

Ray Gooding, Essex County Council’s cabinet member for education, said: “We appreciate the inconvenience that this will cause many parents.

“However, Essex is seeing an exponential increase in Covid rates across all areas and remains in the highest level of local Covid restrictions.”

Dr Mike Gogarty, the council’s director of public health, said: “This move has been deemed necessary in order to roll out the mass testing programme planned by DfE and ensure pupils return to school in the safest possible way in January. Due to the amount of people that travel to and from school or college, use public transport and come into close contact on a daily basis as part of the school day, widespread testing measures are welcome to mitigate further spread, particularly of the new variant of Covid-19.”