Schools in local lockdown areas could go part-time within weeks, teaching union chief warns

 Schools in local lockdown areas could move to operating part-time within weeks, the head of the UK’s biggest teaching union has warned.

Switching on to a rota system - where pupils are taught on two weeks on, two weeks off basis - will "have to happen" if cases do not fall, according to Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union.

He said that unless ministers get a grip on the spread of the virus, we could see a “chaotic pattern of school closures” similar to what happened in March in the run up to the national lockdown.

Schools in local lockdown areas are already operating in Tier 1 of official contingency planning guidelines, meaning secondary school pupils have to wear masks in corridors.

The next stage, Tier 2, means primaries stay open but secondaries move to a rota system which could involve students spending two weeks at school followed by two weeks at home.

"It is not inconceivable that we are a fortnight away from this," Mr Courtney said. "I am not wishing for it, but you have to stop the growth. You can't have it doubling for so many weeks."  

He said that if the Government cannot find a way to stop the growth of the virus in parts of the country where transmission is already high, schools will have no other option but to move to rota systems.

Ministers have previously said that schools should remain open as the “default position”, even if there is a local lockdown in place.

But where initial restrictions are failing to stifle a rapid rise in transmission, schools should operate under a four tier system according to official guidance.  

Schools should only move from Tier 1 to Tier 2 “if all other measures have been exhausted”. Meanwhile, tiers 3 and 4 cover schools returning to a system of teaching only the children of key workers, while remaining pupils are taught remotely.

Mr Courtney said that if parents start to lose confidence in the system they may keep their children at home.  “What you will start to see happening especially in the higher rate areas, is more parents will keep their children at home,” he told The Telegraph. 

“They will be worried their child might bring it home. You will start to have that effect with staff as well. If there are more cases, more staff will have to stay off and that will get increasingly difficult to manage. 

"Unless the Government or the local authorities size control, you could end up with a chaotic pattern of school closures which is what we saw in March.”

His remarks come after a poll of headteachers which found that children are staying at home at four out of five schools because they cannot get a test.

Pupils at almost nine in ten schools (87 per cent) are also stuck at home while they wait for test results, according to a survey by the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT).

The survey found that 82 per cent of schools had children missing classes while their parents attempted to get hold of a test for them.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT, warned that the testing system is "in chaos” and accused ministers of failing children by making them face further disruption.  

"It is in no way unpredictable or surprising that the demand for covid-19 tests would spike when schools reopened more widely this term. And yet the system is in chaos," he said.