Wigan mum calls for national school strike amid coronavirus concerns

Lisa Diaz, from Swinley, is urging parents to demonstrate their fears by refusing to send their children into school this Friday.

Instead, she wants youngsters to stay at home and for parents to post a photograph on social media showing their uniform hanging up, along with #schoolstrike21.

Lisa is a member of the #SafeEdForAll group, which has been calling for greater mitigation measures to prevent the transmission of coronavirus in schools.

She has kept her son Alex and daughter Helena out of Woodfield Primary School since March last year as she does not believe enough is being done to stop the virus spreading.

Earlier this year, Woodfield's headteacher Anna Prior said the school had "worked tirelessly" to ensure it was "fully compliant with the necessary Covid-19 safety measures".

Lisa said: "We need the precautionary principle. It's not okay to say all children should just get Covid. We should do everything we can to protect them from a novel virus of which we don't know the long-term effects."

She highlighted that youngsters can spread it to more vulnerable people in their homes.

Lisa said the strike day was being organised because campaigners did not know what else to do to raise their concerns.

"We have tried everything else," she said.

"I have been campaigning since March 2020. I took my children out of school about 10 days before the official lockdown.

"I have written to every councillor in Wigan and I have written to Lisa Nandy MP."

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