Wigan trade unionists raise concerns over Covid-19 in schools

The organisation held a meeting at which there were major concerns raised about a lack of consistency in how schools deal with the novel coronavirus and that parents who felt classrooms weren’t safe were being pressured to send their children in.

The trades council is calling on Wigan Council to advise schools not to take action against families keeping their children away from the classroom and allow them to learn at home.

It has also threatened to hold awareness-raising protests outside any schools which raise the prospect of parents ending up with fines or a criminal record over the issue.

Wigan Council has responded by setting out how it is working with head teachers to keep classrooms safe and to prevent Covid-19 spreading in school.

But Wigan Trades Council has expressed scepticism about the Government-created safety measures for staff, pupils and parents and its meeting was addressed by Terry Wrigley, an education researcher on a group advising the scientists on Independent Sage, who believes not enough is being done to stop Covid-19.

The trade unionists also criticised recent Government policy in education which has reduced the role of town halls in overseeing schools.

A Wigan Trades Council spokesperson said: “Every recommendation made by unions and the Independent SAGE group of scientists to keep schools safe, to ensure Christmas can be enjoyed by shutting schools early, to reduce class sizes, to disperse pupils, to introduce flexible and blended learning, to stop pressurising vulnerable parents to send their children to school, has been ignored.

“The Government, by putting profit before people’s safety, is contributing to the anxiety, stress and well-being of those involved in education, ensuring that the mental distress and terrible impact on poverty levels that we all know will follow Covid will rise and will endure.

“We think the local authority should have more power. We are sure they are doing the best they can but unfortunately Government policy makes it difficult for them to monitor what’s going on in schools.”

Mr Wrigley, who is based at Manchester Met University, said: “In secondary schools in particular kids are milling around each other all the time, they are on transport together, they are coming from bigger distances, they are together at lunch time, they are moving about from room to room for various subjects.

“On top of that roughly half of children who are infected are not showing any symptoms but you have to show symptoms to get a test. That came across in the discussion in Wigan, it’s a worry for teachers and parents, some of whom are themselves extremely vulnerable.

“If this is infection control it’s a very poor version of it.”

However, Wigan Council says safety in schools is a top priority and said that its work on the issue had so far given little cause for serious concern.

The town hall’s director of public health, Prof Kate Ardern, has said she does not believe schools are transmitting the coronavirus but that year groups are being sent home after contracting it elsewhere and then going into the classroom.

Cath Pealing, assistant director for education at Wigan Council, said: “Ensuring our children are safe at school is extremely important to us and we’ve worked incredibly closely with our schools throughout the coronavirus pandemic to provide support.

“This includes weekly virtual meetings with all of our head teachers, daily and weekly briefings and interventions when we can see that a school is experiencing particular issues.

“Schools have also had timely and responsive support from our health protection team who have provided input into schools on infection prevention and control measures.

“Our schools and teachers have and continue to do a fantastic job on a daily basis to provide a quality education to children across the borough and we are pleased to see that the number of cases reported across our schools has decreased over the last few weeks in line with the picture across the borough.”

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