Teachers 'on their knees' as wave of sickness sweeps schools

Video report by ITV News Correspondent Elaine Willcox

Teachers are 'running on empty and are on their knees'.

That's the stark warning of a headteacher at Kings Road Primary School in Stretford, where both staff and pupils have been hit by another wave of sickness, both Covid-19 and winter coughs and colds.

Darren Morgan says it is deeply disappointing when there were such high hopes for children back in full time education, after the disruption of lockdown and Covid bubbles, forcing many pupils to self isolate.

But he's already spent most of his budget on supply teachers in the first six weeks of this academic year, to cover staff who have been off sick.

Walk along the corridors in the large primary school and you can hear children coughing. Last week, in a school of almost 700 pupils, there were 350 lost days of learning and 13 teachers were off ill.

Dr Aman Amir, is a GP in primary care in Knowsley and says the symptoms of winter colds are very similar to coronavirus and testing is vital to stop the spread.

He explains how you spot the difference between Covid-19 and common winter coughs and colds.

Vikki Hodges, is an Assistant Head at Kings Road Primary and asked her class just how many pupils had been unwell since starting school.

Almost every child put their hand up to say they have been poorly. She says teachers are bracing themselves to catch the seasonal colds and are trying to keep themselves well.

They recognise that pupils have lost out on a lot of learning already and says it's difficult for them to concentrate in class when they aren't fully recovered, with some coughs lasting for several weeks.

The advice is to seek a PCR test before a child returns to school and for them to rest and recover fully, to be able to focus in class.

Jo Whiteside, the Child and Family Mentor at Kings Road Primary says they are also worried about the mental health impact on pupils, with an increase in Covid cases again.

She says they are seeing more youngsters finding it difficult to settle and are increasingly anxious.

The NHS is considering allowing 12-15 years olds to use 'vaccine walk-in clinics' to speed up the jabs roll out this Autumn.

Head teacher Darren Morgan says he fully supports this move, which 'can't come soon enough', to help keep pupils in school. They are hoping the October half term will act as a 'circuit break' for the rising infection rates.

The Association of School and College Leaders says 'those pupils who want to get the vaccination should be able to do so as quickly as possible.'

Geoff Barton, the union's general secretary said, "We know that the high level of cases amongst this age group has led to some pupils who want the vaccine, not being able to get it in school, either because they are absent on the day, or because they have tested positve for Covid-19 within the last 28 days."

ONS figures suggest that around one in 10 schoolchildren in Years 7-11 in England were estimated to have Covid-19 in the previous week, the highest rate for any age group.

Government figures show that 29% of 12-15 year olds in Warrington have had the jab and are amongst the highest in the country.

In some parts if the North West the figure is below 10%.