Dozens of London and Essex schools move lessons online amid Covid surge
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Dozens of schools in London and Essex are closing to most pupils and moving lessons online amid mounting concerns about a spike in Covid infections.
Despite government insistence that classrooms should remain open until the end of term later this week Islington council, in north London, joined Greenwich, in the south-east of the capital, in advising schools to close to all pupils apart from the children of key workers and those classed as vulnerable.
In Islington, the council leader, Richard Watts, urged schools to remain shut after Christmas, with online lessons in place until 11 January.
“There is a serious and very worrying rise in coronavirus across London, with cases doubling every few days,” said Watts. “We must all take action now to stop this deadly disease spreading serious illness and death to the people we love.
“Following public health advice, we are advising that schools close from the end of Tuesday and move to online learning, except for children of key workers and vulnerable children.”
The capital’s schools have been identified as a key factor in the spread of the virus, which now looks set to tip London into tier 3 measures. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has urged the prime minister to consider letting schools across the city close early this week and remain shut for longer after Christmas to slow infection rates.
In the Covid hotspot of Basildon, Essex, eight out the nine secondary schools have already moved to remote education, as have 17 out of 48 primary schools. An Essex county council spokesperson said: “No school is closed. Even though a school might be offering a fully remote education offer, they will still be open for on-site teaching for vulnerable children and those of essential workers.”
In a plea for extra help for the capital, Khan said “urgent consideration” should be given to closing secondary schools, sixth form and further education (FE) colleges before the end of term and moving lessons online.
He called for mass testing to be made available at all London schools this week, followed by regular testing in January. Currently testing is being targeted at schools in seven boroughs with the highest infection rates.
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Khan also called for face coverings to be made mandatory in busy public places crowded with Christmas shoppers.
His letter to Boris Johnson, also signed by the chair of London Councils, Georgia Gould, said the biggest spread of the virus in the capital was within education settings, particularly among pupils aged 10 to 19.
“London now has 17 local authorities where the seven-day case rate exceeds 200 cases per 100,000, and the seven-day case rate has risen in 32 local authorities compared to the previous week,” the letter said.
“Levels of testing in London remain the lowest in England and it is vital that asymptomatic testing is extended at a minimum to all Londoners who are unable to work from home, and to all pupils at secondary schools, sixth form and FE colleges this week, so that positive cases are able to self-isolate and prevent ongoing transmission to people in their communities.”
Kahn’s letter will add to growing pressure on the government to follow Wales by allowing secondary schools to close early to all apart from the children of key workers and those classed as vulnerable.
Greenwich council took matters into his own hands over the weekend and advised all its schools to move online from Monday evening until the end of term despite government threats of legal action. The council leader, Dan Thorpe, said the authority had no choice after seeing “exponential growth” in cases in the area.
Kevin Courtney, the joint general secretary of the National Education Union, urged other councils to follow Greenwich’s lead.
“The government should have been planning for this weeks ago,” he said. “They have now started to recognise the blindingly obvious fact that transmission is happening in schools and that this can spread to families. But the government now needs to act. Much more is needed to control the virus in schools and to protect communities.”