The school holidays are over, and the pupils don’t need any extra time.
Every day lost is another day that we are damaging children’s lives, even if it is a few days here, a few days there.
Two-thirds of our children were out of school the day before Christmas. This cannot happen again. We cannot repeat that.
Priority should be to get the children into schools. It shouldn’t be about remote learning and children missing yet more days.
The best substitute for classrooms is remote learning. There are huge variations among schools over remote learning – we know disadvantaged pupils learn the least, and are less likely to have access to a laptop and the internet.
Two-thirds of our children were out of school the day before Christmas. This cannot happen again. We cannot repeat that. The above photo shows a Cardiff pupil.
Even if the Government supplies the laptops, you’ve got to get the kids to open them.
The parents are also put under a lot of pressure because their children have to be at work. They’re not permanent secretaries in the Department for Culture who can work from their Peloton bike.
My constituents are not at home, they’re working hard going out in their vans. They’re making deliveries.
It is imperative that the entire Government focuses on keeping schools open for children.
There should be a plan – equivalent to a military campaign – with a database of every school in the country.
Schools should be able to call in emergency teams and provide support for schools with problems.
My constituents are not at home, they’re working hard going out in their vans. Robert Halfon (pictured), writes that they are making deliveries. They also work in factories.
If the schools are experiencing problems or teacher absences due to individual reasons, then the taskforce needs to work closely with local authorities and academys in order for them support supply teachers, volunteer teachers, or perhaps joint classes with schools near you.
The Education Secretary ought to be calling schools directly, asking them about what it is they require in order to maintain schools open. What can we do to help?
As a facilitator, the Department of Education must not leave schools to their own devices.
The attitude should be that if it’s not impossible, there must be a way to do it, rather than a ‘computer says no’ approach.
We are ruining children’s lives and their chances of success, their education, their well-being, and most importantly, their mental health by allowing them to miss more school days.
This has got to stop – we need to have our kids in school. We must not forget about Covid. If we don’t take action, young children will be suffering from a mental illness epidemic.
Boris Johnson needs to make sure that it is clear that maintaining schools open should be a priority.