Sheffield MPs oppose schools reopening unless pupil safety is "fully guaranteed"

The statement comes on behalf of MPs Clive Betts, Olivia Blake, Paul Blomfield, Gill Furniss and Louise Haigh, as Government ministers face pressure to review their decision to reopen primary schools for key years from June 1.

Teachers’ Unions, MPs and councils have expressed fear over the safety of children, with teaching union NASUWT said it remained "unconvinced" reopening schools was "appropriate or practicable".

The Sheffield MPs spoke in opposition to the reopening on June 1 unless “safety can be guaranteed”.

They said: “As Sheffield MPs we know how worried parents, teachers, school support staff and pupils themselves are at this difficult time.

“In Parliament, we have been absolutely clear as the official Opposition: the Government should only start releasing schools from the lock-down measures once it can fully guarantee the safety of pupils, teachers, support staff and their families.

“Until safety can be guaranteed, the lock-down measures should remain in full force.”

The MPs added that they supported NEU and other groups, including the BMA, in raising the alarm over the Government’s proposal for primary schools to fully reopen on June 1.

The added: “Until the full scientific guidance is published, it will be impossible for the public to have confidence in this plan. There are too many unanswered questions about how the full re-opening would work in practice, especially given the conflicting evidence over whether children are just as likely as adults to catch and transmit coronavirus.

“Expert advice is that we need the ‘test, track and trace’ system to be fully operational before releasing lock-down measures.”

One argument for reopening schools is that some vulnerable children are safer at school than at home with their families.

The statement addressed this, saying: “We are also acutely conscious of the dangers that vulnerable children face at home during the lock-down. Tragically, there are children in this city who are less safe with their families than at school.

“School staff have been amazing at keeping a skeleton service going for vulnerable young people, but it is deeply concerning that a very small proportion of vulnerable children eligible to continue attending are actually going in.

“As well as the immediate dangers they could face, there will be dramatic long-term effects on their life chances for falling behind in education.

“Having said that, we are deeply unhappy that Conservative ministers are using the plight of these children to argue that we must prioritise the reopening of schools over effective public health measures.

“We are not in fact faced with a binary choice between education and safety: the Government could be doing so much more to both protect vulnerable children, ensure that all pupils receive full education even with partial school closures, and make adequate preparation for eventual re-openings.

“Therefore we believe that the Government must immediately work with the education unions, local authorities and schools to develop a plan to gradually reopen schools safely, putting in place a package of pastoral support specifically aimed at vulnerable children and closing the attainment gap.”