Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Schools in England to be allowed to close a day early to ease Test and Trace burden on teachers

 ‘Steep drop’ in attendance had been predicted 

Kate Devlin
Whitehall Editor
Tuesday 08 December 2020 16:36 GMT
Comments
First Covid-19 vaccinations begin in Scotland.mp4

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Schools in England will be allowed to close a day early for Christmas to give teachers a "proper break" from identifying potential coronavirus cases, a minister has said.

Nick Gibb, the schools minister, told MPs schools should have a "clear six days" before Christmas Eve.  

This would ensure teachers and heads would not have to engage with NHS track and trace through the festive break, he suggested.

School staff will not be given an extra day off, however.  

Instead, schools will be allowed to schedule a teacher training day on the last Friday of term.  

Union leaders had called for schools to be given the flexibility to move to remote learning in the final few days before the break.  

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders' union, predicted a "steep drop" in pupil attendance next week as parents isolate their families before visiting grandparents over Christmas.  

Last month ministers told schools in England not to close early or change their Christmas holiday dates.  

But addressing the Commons Education Select Committee, Mr Gibb said: "We are about to announce that inset days can be used on Friday December 18, even if an inset day had not been originally scheduled for that day."

He added: "We want there to be a clear six days so that, by the time we reach Christmas Eve, staff can have a proper break without having to engage in the track and trace issues."

But he said schools were the "best place for young people for their education development" and for their mental health.

Ministers have said that schools will be the last places to shut in any future coronavirus wave.  

Schools only fully reopened in September after they were closed in March as part of the nationwide lockdown.  

But many have been forced to send large numbers of pupils home as individual Covid-19 outbreaks hit.  

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in