St. Mary’s Church of England Primary in Hereford, and Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio in Lancashire, have imposed their own ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdowns, with pupils being sent home and all teaching taking place virtually for at least a week. Both headteachers have said that the reason for shutting the premises is because of concerns that in-person lessons would be disrupted by a Covid outbreak, with parents worried that schools will begin to close again before Christmas. The Sun has the story.
St. Mary’s Church of England Primary in Hereford and Darwen Aldridge Enterprise Studio in Lancashire have shut for at least a week.
Campaigners fear many more schools could follow suit in the run up to the Christmas holidays.
They say children are being treated as “second class citizens” and must be allowed to stay in the classroom.
The move is being fought by parent group UsForThem, which battled to get kids back in lessons after last year’s lockdowns.
Mum Arabella Skinner told the Telegraph: “As the experience of last year shows, these isolated cases of school closures don’t stay isolated for long.
“The worry is that in the run up to Christmas we will see more examples of this.
“For how much longer are we going to ask our children to stay second class citizens?”
The group’s founder Molly Kingsley added: “We’re deeply saddened to see schools closing due to Covid.
“Kids have missed out on so much face-to-face time this year that they just need to be back in their classrooms and with their friends, learning and being children.
“To close schools at a time when adults are about to be enjoying Christmas parties and mixing seems especially unfair.
“It’s time we let our children get on with living their lives.”
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