Schools virus measures ‘a balancing act’, says headteacher

LONDON: Setting Covid-19 control measures in schools is “a balancing act”, according to a headteacher whose pupils are among the first in England going back to class.

Liam Powell, headteacher of Manor High School in Oadby, Leicestershire, said the ever-shifting nature of the Covid-19 pandemic meant he and other education leaders had to forecast what changes may come and be ready with a “plan B”.

Powell said he had not felt “isolated” from government advice but that more communication between all levels of government and the teaching profession “makes us all more responsive”.The head, whose Year 7 and Year 11 cohorts returned to lessons on Tuesday, was speaking amid criticism from some teaching and school leaders’ unions of the government’s advice on face coverings.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said ministers were following the “best scientific and medical advice”, adding it was not necessary for face coverings to be mandatory in all schools across the country.

But in a message to members of school leaders’ union NAHT, general secretary Paul Whiteman said it would be “prudent” for masks to be used more widely. At Manor High, which has 900 pupils on its roll, Powell has led a school which was initially part of Leicester’s local lockdown, before the Oadby and Wigston borough – on the city’s border – was removed, during an easing of measures.

Had it stayed inside the lockdown zone, face coverings would be mandatory for his pupils in corridors and communal areas, according to new government guidance, announced on Tuesday night.

Schools across Leicestershire including locked-down Leicester are going back this week ahead of the majority of schools in England, because they traditionally break up for summer a week earlier.

Powell said the school had decided to allow voluntary mask-wearing which “turned out to be national policy, as of last (Tuesday) night”. He said: “I read the Secretary of State’s announcement and he was quoting and responding to what the World Health Organisation (WHO) were saying about masks.

“We had looked beyond the horizon to what was happening in France and Germany and nearer to home, what was happening in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. So it seemed a natural conclusion that England may well go in the same direction as well.”

The school’s catchment means many of the children’s parents are medical professionals employed at the city’s three hospitals; Leicester Royal, Leicester General and Glenfield.As a result, many children had turned up to collect GCSE results or for their first day back, wearing masks.

Powell said he did “not feel isolated” with government advice “frequently” via emails and idea-sharing generated by a local peer group of headteachers, including a move to whole-day single-topic lessons, which cuts the need for pupils moving between classrooms.