Nearly 6,000 schools in England are located in local authorities listed as “areas of intervention” due to the spread of coronavirus, a teaching union has said.

The National Education Union (NEU) has launched a new Covid-19-related website to help give parents in England access to the latest public health information in their area.

Users can enter a school name or postcode into the online map to bring up information relevant to them.

The schoolcovidmap.org.uk site, which draws on Government data, will be updated weekly with the rate of cases in a school’s surrounding area.

Epping Forest Guardian:

Users can enter a school name to check the level of Covi-19 cases in the area. Photo: PA Wire

It will also show whether the local trend of Covid-19 infections is increasing or decreasing and whether a local authority has been placed on Public Health England’s watchlist.

PHE’s weekly surveillance reports of coronavirus cases list some local authorities as areas of “concern”, “enhanced support” or “intervention”.

  • Areas of concern have “the highest incidence” of Covid-19, where local authorities are taking targeted action to reduce prevalence such as additional testing in care homes.
  • Areas of enhanced support are at “medium/high risk of intervention” where a more detailed plan is agreed with national officials, with additional resources provided such as mobile testing capacity or epidemiological expertise.
  • Areas of intervention are where there is “divergence from the measures in place in the rest of England because of the significance of the spread” of Covid-19. Such a classification could mean extra restrictions are introduced locally.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said there are 3,797 schools in areas of concern, with 3,400 in Greater London.

He said there are 5,836 schools in areas of intervention.

Mr Courtney said: “In much of the country, the map offers reassurance that cases are quite low.

“In other areas, we think that cases are higher, and it reinforces the public health messaging from local authorities, from Government, from head teachers, that the public… have to take the steps you have to take.

“It’ll support heads in encouraging parents and other visitors to the school to maintain social distancing and hygiene.

“And we think in all situations, it’ll encourage members of the public to follow the public health guidance.”

The website has links to the NEU and NHS guidance and provides a function for people to write to their MP in support of the union’s call to “help schools to be as safe as possible”.

This includes demands for increased availability of testing for staff and pupils, “nightingale classrooms” to create more teaching space, and reimbursing schools for Covid-19 safety measures.