Back to school: Concern or relief?

Credit: PA

Boris Johnson has announced the Government is pressing ahead with its plan to re-open some primary schools on Monday to children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6.

But not everyone is delighted by the decision.

Nottingham has become the latest council in our region to question the reopening of schools.

It says it's not convinced it's safe to do so. It now joins Birmingham, Solihull and Peterborough in raising doubts and saying they'll back the individual decisions made by headteachers.

ITV News Central's Peter Bearne explains:

We wanted to find out how our viewers felt about the idea of schools reopening.

In a Twitter Poll we asked "Do you think schools should reopen?" After 492 votes (as of 7:45pm on 28 May), almost 64% of these were "No".

What are the risks?

The government say that strict hygiene measures will be in place and social distancing will be encouraged. Guidelines also say that teachers and staff do not need to wear PPE.

But children (especially those of primary school age) are likely to struggle with the 2 metre social distancing rule, which could increase their risk of infection.

School children, although less likely to suffer from the symptoms of coronavirus, can still carry it. This has led to growing concerns over the fact that these children could put their teachers at risk.

However, there are a number of reasons why the government might be pushing forward with this decision.

Routine and mental health

A number of parents told us that their children rely on routine for them to stay happy and healthy.

This is especially the case for those children with special educational needs, where change can be particularly detrimental to learning.

Pupil progress

Home schooling is a practical substitute, but many parents say they have not been able to offer the same standards of learning as school does.

Parents who continued to work from home during the coronavirus crisis also told us that they struggled to keep up with home schooling, despite good intentions.

Distractions at home were also noted by parents and teachers as a hinderance to pupil progress.

The digital divide: The availability of online teaching materials and pupil progress

There have been big variations in the amount and quality of online work being set by schools during lockdown.

Experts say there is also a growing "digital divide" between low income and better off families. Some families may not be able to afford the internet and as the majority of home schooling work is set out online some disadvantaged pupils are falling behind in their studies through no fault of their own.

Experts worry that the use of online platforms could be detrimental to the learning of children from low income families. Credit: PA Images

We spoke to parent Gemma Herbert from Nottingham who has one child in primary and one in secondary.

She says both of her children are really missing school and would like to go back.

But if they can't return to their school before the summer holidays she said: "we've done 10 [weeks], we can cope, we can keep going".

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