Secondary schools should only allow a quarter of pupils to attend at any one time, official guidance says
Secondary schools should only allow a quarter of pupils to attend at any one time, official guidance says.
The start of the day should be staggered so pupils do not have to use public transport at peak times, according to a new document published by the Department for Education.
On Sunday, the Prime Minister asked secondary schools to reopen for pupils in Year 10 and 12, who are mid-way through their GCSE and A-level courses, from June 15.
Detailed official guidance published this week explains that no more than a quarter of pupils in the two year groups should be in the building at any one time, to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission.
Vulnerable children and those whose parents are key workers should continue to be allowed to attend secondary school as well as these two year groups, the guidance adds.
Students should be encouraged to walk or cycle to school and only use public transport as a last resort. If they do have to use it, this should not be at peak times so the start and end of the school day should be staggered to assist this.
Children should keep two metres apart from eachother at all times, and class sizes should be halved, the guidance says.
Secondary schools could ignore the Government’s plan to send students back to school on June 15, with councils insisting that they are not yet ready to manage increased numbers in the classroom.
Councils have repeated their opposition to Whitehall imposing start dates on schools in their area, warning that students could be put at risk if they are brought back to the classroom too soon.
Six councils have so far said they intended to allow local authority schools to decide for themselves whether to respect the June 15 timeline or stay closed for longer.
More than 50 councils have already opposed the June 1 start date for reception, Year One and Year Six students, either allowing headteachers to make their own arrangements or advising them not to open.
Leaving schools closed for longer has raised fears that disadvantaged students will fall further behind in attainment, while exam performance in the 2021 academic year could be affected by less teaching time
The former chief inspector of schools has previously said that Year 10 and 12 pupils may have to re-sit a year of school after missing so much of their GCSE and A-level courses.
Sir Michael Wilshaw, who was head of Ofsted until 2016, said that these students may have “lost out on so much” of their courses that it would not be fair to make them sit their exams next summer.
In March, the Government announced that no exams would take place this summer and all students due to take their GCSEs and A-levels would instead receive predicted grades.
But so far, there are no special arrangements in place for students who would ordinarily take these exams next summer.
