Coronavirus and School Closures: Update 20/03/20

NOTE: As events move quickly we are editing this as we go along. We'll mark passages that have been edited or updated.

Yesterday a lot happened and some important things didn't happen.

What happened:

• Schools, the City Council and MATs began to draw up plans to cope with school closures.
• The LA and the Learners' Trust shared their plans so that everyone can see how they will cope. UPDATE: The City Council have now confirmed that more MATs are sharing their plans with the LA and that they expect to have them all by day's end. This is hugely reassuring. Now is  a time when all we all need to be open and co-ordinating clearly to support our students, their families and each other.
• (EDITED) Where employers have not already done so, we urge members to press for the release of school and Trust planning so that staff and parents have clear understandings of what is going to happen and for this to be coordinated with the local authority and trades unions.
• Some schools are asking all staff who are not ill or self-isolating to be in on Monday morning. Our advice is that this should NOT happen. Let's remember that the reason schools are closing is to minimise the risk of spread of Covid-19 by social distancing. This means minimal staffing in schools. Take this up with your school leadership as a union group if this is being proposed. This is a public health issue. Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the NEU, said last night:
• EASTER WORKING IN SCHOOLS AND CORONA VIRUS
  The Government does want schools open during the Easter holiday for about 10% of the children who normally attend the school*
  This is so key workers in NHS and food distribution can be at work during those weeks instead of with their children.
  
  It’s about the same number of children as would often attend holiday clubs.
  It could be staffed by some volunteer teachers or other staff working for the Easter weeks, whilst having the following weeks off.
  It’s not at all sensible for heads to require all staff to be in school at the same time. You should resist any such suggestion saying that it’s NEU union advice that it should not happen.
  Remind your head that the Government’s standing instruction is “work from home if you can”.
  And tell them it would be sensible to have an A and B team (or more teams, if numbers permit) anyway - A in one week, B in the next say. So that if someone in one team got ill it would be more difficult to spread to the others. This is true all the time, not just over the Easter period.
  Let’s try to remember that most people, certainly most younger people without underlying conditions, will have a mild illness.
  The point of all the actions we are taking is to stop the spread so that older and more vulnerable people don’t contract the illness.
  Having all the staff in makes it more likely to spread the virus. Resist, tell them it’s against both NEU union and Government policy.
  * “Mr Williamson said the government was aiming to provide an "education setting" for 10% of the children who usually attend schools.”

What didn't happen:

• The Cabinet Office did not release details of the key worker list, which is a vital part of school and LA planning.

At midnight the Cabinet Office finally released the list. At first glance it includes a lot of workers and raises immediate concerns about how effective school closures will be.

For our members, trying to work out what the best thing for their families, students, colleagues and themselves is in this crisis, it's important to bear in mind:

1. The advice remains home working where possible to make social distancing as effective as possible:
• the government has asked parents to keep their children at home, wherever possible, and asked schools to remain open only for those children who absolutely need to attend. ... 
  
  It is important to underline that schools, colleges and other educational establishments remain safe places for children. But the fewer children making the journey to school, and the fewer children in educational settings, the lower the risk that the virus can spread and infect vulnerable individuals in wider society.
  
  Schools are, therefore, being asked to continue to provide care for a limited number of children - children who are vulnerable and children whose parents are critical to the Covid-19 response and cannot be safely cared for at home.
  
  Vulnerable children include children who are supported by social care, those with safeguarding and welfare needs, including child in need plans, on child protection plans, ‘looked after’ children, young carers, disabled children and those with education, health and care (EHC) plans.
  
  We know that schools will also want to support other children facing social difficulties and we will support head teachers to do so.
  Parents whose work is critical to the COVID-19 response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined below. Many parents working in these sectors may be able to ensure their child is kept at home. And every child who can be safely cared for at home should be.
  Please, therefore, follow these key principles:
  
• If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.
• If a child needs specialist support, is vulnerable or has a parent who is a critical worker, then educational provision will be available for them.
• Parents should not rely for childcare upon those who are advised to be in the stringent social distancing category such as grandparents, friends, or family members with underlying conditions.
• Parents should also do everything they can to ensure children are not mixing socially in a way which can continue to spread the virus. They should observe the same social distancing principles as adults.
• Residential special schools, boarding schools and special settings continue to care for children wherever possible.
• If your work is critical to the COVID-19 response, or you work in one of the critical sectors listed below, and you cannot keep your child safe at home then your children will be prioritised for education provision

2. (EDITED) Teachers are on the list of key workers as are those support staff deemed essential - a sensible interpretation of which would be those support staff needed to provide for EHCP, CPO and LAC children.

This suggests that childcare should be provided for our own children. How this is achieved is going to depend on the capacity of childcare providers, and whether the school they attend has updated its risk assessments so that it is a safe place to send them. We strongly urge members to ensure that the school is continuously updating its risk assessment andhas plans in place to ensure that the school is a hygienic environment. We are hearing from members across the country of schools without hand sanitiser or deep clean planning for example. This would be totally counter-productive to the effort to minimise the spread of Covid-19. I would draw members' attention to section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 which states protects employees from detriment (such as disciplinary action) if:

(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.

Also see section 100 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 which protects from dismissal employees who

(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.

(2)For the purposes of subsection (1)(e) whether steps which an employee took (or proposed to take) were appropriate is to be judged by reference to all the circumstances including, in particular, his knowledge and the facilities and advice available to him at the time.

This Act also underlines the importance of a health and safety committee in your workplace!