Dear Secretary of State,

We are writing to you at the start of the school term to raise significant concerns about the disruption that the Omicron variant is causing for children in our schools and colleges. Current Government support and guidance is insufficient to prevent widespread disruption. Much more needs to be done to ensure that schools can remain open and safe for both pupils and staff. We must equip parents, children, leaders, teachers and support staff with everything they need to protect face-to-face education in their school or college community as Omicron sweeps through the country.

On the issue of ventilation, we are pleased that the Government is finally recognising the importance of air filtration devices in creating learning environments which are more Covid-secure. However, the 7,000 devices being made available are just a drop in the ocean – there are over 300,000 classrooms in England alone. Sage first highlighted the importance of ventilation in schools in May 2020 and so it is incredibly disappointing that you have failed to act until now. This solution is completely inadequate for what should be a basic human right, the provision of clean air in every classroom in every educational setting. Leaders should not be expected at this busy time to have to compete with other schools to obtain the few available devices. We hope that you will address this and begin to roll out the necessary air filtration devices to all schools.

The Government also needs to do much more to help schools and colleges who wish to purchase their own devices. The current marketplace operated by the DfE is not fit for purpose and only offers two very expensive models. This system needs to be urgently reviewed to offer better value for money with a wider selection of devices at more reasonable prices. It is simply not acceptable that a couple of companies can profit from this crisis at the expense of hard-pressed education budgets.

We are pleased to see that you have listened to calls from the National Education Union (NEU) and other unions to recommend the wearing of facemasks in secondary school classrooms. However, the changes in guidance have only caused confusion for schools trying to navigate the system and so we would urge that this recommendation be made a requirement. The provision of higher-grade medical masks (FFP2, FFP3) should be mandated where necessary for at-risk staff and pupils previously defined as clinically extremely vulnerable, or clinically vulnerable, involved in close contact and personal care. With the record numbers of cases that we are now seeing, it is important to do all we can to limit transmission in schools and we know that the use of face coverings is an important tool to do so.

The increased transmissibility of the new variant means that the rules for self-isolation of close contacts in and around schools need to be tightened. Clearly there are challenges given massively heightened demand for testing at this time, but children who have a sibling or other household member with Covid-19 should not attend school/college until they have had a negative PCR test. Any disruption that this would cause would be much less than the alternative of allowing greater transmission in our schools.

Given the significant disruption that the Omicron variant is already causing in all schools, Ofsted should be instructed to suspend all inspections other than for safeguarding concerns. The focus should be on the essential aim of providing education continuity for as many pupils as possible, not on jumping through Ofsted hoops.

Covid-19 has already caused enormous impact on our schools and colleges. We cannot be caught out again. To act now and make our education settings as Covid-secure as possible is something which must be done as a matter of urgency.  

We look forward to hearing from you and working together to keep our children, parents, carers teachers and support staff safe.

Your sincerely,

The Undersigned

Please share this letter with any councillors, governors and multi-academy trust CEO's you know in England. If you would like to get in touch, please contact us via: cllrs@neu.org.uk.

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