Edinburgh teachers call for pupils' return to school to be phased

Bringing the whole school back on the same day would be ‘crazy’

Pupils are due to return to Edinburgh schools on August 12

PUPILS must return to school in a phased way to avoid chaos in the classroom, an Edinburgh teachers’ leader has warned.

Local EIS secretary Alison Murphy said it would be “crazy” to have 100 per cent of pupils back in school on the first day.

And she claimed the Capital’s crowded classrooms could mean some teachers have to wear masks because of difficulty in physical distancing.

Scientific advice published by the Scottish Government last week said pupils should not have to physically distance when they go back next month, but staff should stay two metres away from children and other staff where possible. Face coverings should not generally be required, it added.

There has been no advice yet on how the return to school will be managed, but Ms Murphy said some Scottish councils had already said they would bring pupils back one year group at a time.

She said: “Some local authorities have already said they’re going to do a phased return. We think it’s absolutely vital for children’s health and wellbeing vital that happens in Edinburgh as well.

“The idea all children are able to walk in the door on August 12 is crazy.

“Children will need to be run through ‘This is where you wash your hands’, ‘This is your bit of the playground’, ‘This is how the one-way system works’ and so on.

“You won’t be able to do that if 100 per cent of pupils are in the building on the first day. It would be chaos - it wouldn’t be safe.“And there’s the emotional trauma - they’ve been away from school for months. An adult who had been off work for four months would be entitled to a phased return and for good reasons.”

Ms Murphy said it was clear measures would be needed to mitigate the health risks once school returned.

“In some Edinburgh schools which are very crowded and over-capacity, it may be some of those mitigations do have to include face masks because it is going to be very hard to maintain social distancing between the children and the adults.”

And face coverings should not be ruled out for older pupils either.

She said: “Younger kids won’t need to wear face masks, but the older they get the less clear it is they are not both at risk themselves and at risk of spreading the virus.

“The advice is to minimise mixing, but in secondary schools, most pupils are not in the same class from one hour to the next because they were in different groups for different subjects.

“If we want kids to be able to do their normal subjects you cannot maintain bubbles for older pupils, so something else will have to be in place. Face masks may not be it it, but they should not be dismissed out of hand.”

She said council officials would be working hard to come up with solutions and the unions were engaging constructively. A meeting is due to take place this week. “Everyone wants to be able to go back safely, but there are still quite a few unkowns.”

Ms Murphy said as well as physical distancing and hand-washing, measures could include staggered starting and finishing times, staggered breaks, staggered lunches and strict cleaning of desks between classes.

A council spokesperson said: “Our aim is to get all pupils back to full time education as soon as possible and we will work with local schools to ensure that this is done safely and sensitively. We will refine our plans as further national guidance emerges.”

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