Over the weekend it has become clear that while many schools have understood that the purpose of school closure is to minimise social contact and the risk of spread of coronavirus, and we are seeing some good practice from many schools, some across the country have yet to grasp this and are ignoring the government's advice.
Some schools are demanding that all staff who are not in vulnerable groups or self-isolating come into school. THIS SHOULD NOT BE HAPPENING. The NEU strongly recommends a skeleton staff and a rota system. This advice also applies to special schools - please see below for details.
It is essential that NEU members challenge schools where this is the case. Schools have had to be closed because of the huge risk they pose in spreading the virus.
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the NEU, put this out yesterday. We strongly advise members to follow it. Below are relevant sections from the Employment Rights Act 1996 - please use this to ensure that you and your colleagues are not unnecessarily increasing the risk of spreading Covid-19. The NEU has also developed model policies to follow during the crisis.
We are saddened to hear of the death of headteacher Wendy Jacobs in Barrow from Coronavirus this weekend and our thoughts go to her family, friends, colleagues and students who are devastated by her loss. We must do everything we can to ensure that the virus is given as few opportunities to spread as possible.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to remind members that if anyone would like to run an online school union group meeting to address concerns of staff we can facilitate this using video conferencing. Just contact kieran.picken@neu.org.uk. If you would like to be added to our Derby reps and activists group please text 07947 668 268 with your name and membership number.
Stay safe
Best wishes
Kieran Picken
District Secretary Derby City NEU
Central NEU Coronavirus updates here.
Coronavirus NEU Model Policies here.
Kevin Courtney's advice and letter for head teachers:
A LETTER FOR STAFF TO SEND TO THEIR HEAD TEACHER (Just about to put this on the official Facebook page of the National Education Union - please share it from there but showing it here in case you need it urgently)
Some heads seem to be insisting that all staff attend school during this period of special crisis or insisting that teachers in vulnerable categories or who are carers of people invulnerable categories are in school.
In most schools heads are not behaving in those sorts of ways. In very many schools headteachers and union reps are discussing together the best way of running the school in the interest of the whole community during this period.
If your head isn’t being as open, then we suggest that you have a staff discussion about sending them the letter below.
Kevin and Mary
Dear *headteacher*,
We as the dedicated staff of *Anytown primary school* are very happy to do all that we can to help our society come through this horrible crisis.
We will work from home and in school on a rota basis to help the children of the key workers needed to defeat the virus.
We know the Government has suggested that this should be a small proportion of the school’s normal population -around 10%.
We want to follow all of the health advice of the government and of our union.
The government says that everyone should be working from home if at all possible. This policy is aimed slowing the spread of the virus as much as possible.
So we believe that if we are not on the rota to help with key worker children then we should be at home.
Our union tells us that as well.
The government is also telling people in vulnerable categories that they should self isolate, stay at home and not have any visitors to the house for up to 12 weeks.
For this reason we believe that staff in those categories or who have people they are caring for, or living with, in those categories should not be on the rota. This is both because they are much more likely to have a very negative reaction to the virus and because if they become ill they will then make even more demands on our NHS.
Our union tells us that this is their very strong position.
We are very happy to have discussions with you about the work that we do from home and the structure of the rota.
Our union tells us that we are right to take a stand on these issues, that they are important for our safety and for the safety of our communities.
We look forward to hearing positively from you about how we take these matters forward at these difficult times for all of us.
Yours sincerely
*name1! name 2 name 3 etc*
cc
Kevin Courtney
Mary Bousted joint general secretaries of the NEU
Kevin.Courtney@neu.org.uk
Mary.Bousted@neu.org.uk
Derby City NEU District and Branch Secretaries
Kieran.Picken@neu.org.uk
David.Boulter@neu.org.uk
Wendy.Hardy@neu.org.uk
Section 40 of the 1996 Employment Rights Act protects staff from any negative consequences for refusal to work in situations of imminent danger:
(d)in circumstances of danger which the employee reasonably believed to be serious and imminent and which he could not reasonably have been expected to avert, he left (or proposed to leave) or (while the danger persisted) refused to return to his place of work or any dangerous part of his place of work, or
(e)in circumstances of danger which the employee reasonably believed to be serious and imminent, he took (or proposed to take) appropriate steps to protect himself or other persons from the danger.
Comments
Post a Comment