The government’s handling of care homes shows exactly what they shouldn’t do when reopening schools

When we discussed it as a family, nobody could agree on what exactly is best to do with schools – but I know the government has to be better than it has been

Before lockdown the emails that I received from my kids’ schools were usually about school dinners, lunchtime drum lessons or costume requirements – which I would ignore until 8.45am on the day they were needed and then swear about.

Like all things in this coronavirus crisis the emails have got more serious; this week I was asked if I wanted my younger son to return to school, or more accurately, would I send him if the school was open?

I opened it up to debate in my household. The lad himself, who is luckily in year 6, was a firm and frank yes, or rather begging to go back to school. My older son, who has not yet won the lottery of being in a school year that will go back, was thrilled at the idea that his allegedly beloved younger brother would be out of the house.

I felt initially certain that he should return but then was immediately anxious about the risks to him and us of him returning. I wanted to know more about what would be put in place in school to limit infection. My husband’s view was the ever-practical one – could we cope with work keeping him off school so that the school could fill his place with someone who might need it more?

We all had different views, and while this seems unimaginable as the debate rages throughout the country, we did not end the discussion hating each other, or thinking that teachers were idle, or that people who wanted schools back basically wanted everyone dead. We just think differently.

There is a very real and understandable concern about what school closure means for the nation’s most vulnerable children. Those children who live with abuse and neglect, those who are less likely to be sat with their parent learning to build a computer from scratch, those who are hungry, and those who have additional needs. Even, dare I say it, those whose parents have to go to work but are not considered key workers.

There are all sorts of reasonable arguments for opening up schools again, I agree with all of them. I also recognise that while a scheme, for example, that targeted children based on need seems a good place to start, I also know from years of working with vulnerable people with chaotic lives that the provision of universal services such as schools is often the best way to help them. Almost every teacher I know would agree with this; nearly every teacher I know wants to go back to work for exactly this reason.

I need look no further than the emails from the care homes in my constituency to find why teachers, support staff and school leaders feel a certain amount of reticence. I have a special folder in my inbox now called “care home concerns”. In this folder lies a litany of complaints and worry, from a totally failed and stalling testing regime, to the still-persistent problems with the supply of protective equipment.

In this folder is lots of guidance that was sent to care homes, telling them they should be taking residents from hospital, but with nothing about what testing would be put in place before arrival. There are the sorry tales of the residents who have died and staff still off sick after weeks of ill health having caught the virus. And yet, when I tune in to the daily briefing I am essentially told everything is getting better, and that there has been a protective ring thrown around care homes.

If tests done and never collected then thrown in the bin, or having to get goggles from a local school’s science department to protect staff is a protective ring, I’d hate to see what it would have been like had the ring not existed.

The science may very well point to limited concerns of spread of Covid-19 among younger children. It may very well be low risk if managed properly, say if we had assurances as parents about how this was going to work, exactly when and what equipment would be in place and how regularly it would be replenished. Or if we had a test track and trace scheme that we knew would isolate cases where they occurred and act swiftly to sort it (I have care homes still waiting over a week for test results, if they get them at all).

Or if I had answers as to how the social distancing in my son’s school will work. Had Gavin Williamson ever been to the school Christmas Fair there, he would know that in large parts of the corridors there is not even two metres of space to start with – and my son is 5ft 5in, so he doesn’t easily fit into a narrow space.

If we had all of these answers and we knew the schools would be supported to make it work, and wouldn’t just be insulted if they spoke up when problems inevitably occur, then I would feel no reticence.

What I will not stand for is the inevitable stories of school staff – especially the lower paid, older staff in the school such as dinner staff, caretakers and cleaners – getting sick while Williamson stands on a podium and tells me everything is fine and dandy. That is exactly what has happened with care homes.

The ball is in the government’s court, it can make reopening happen. We don’t need as teachers, parents and politicians to pitch ourselves against each other.

We can all want what is best for the kids and work to make it happen, we just need honesty and good faith. Even my school-deprived son could tell you that, and he’s forgotten his nine times tables.

Jess Phillips is the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley