Mixed views as Calderdale schools returned to classrooms

Calderdale Council had given all schools advice that it did not think it was safe for more pupils to return because three of the Government's five tests had not been met in the borough, though the decision remains with schools.

All schools have remained open through the coronavirus crisis for children of key workers and vulnerable children.

The council's Assistant Director for Education and Inclusion, Mark Randall, said Calderdale had two schools where children had gone back and members of the council's Children and

Young People's Scrutiny Board heard last night what schools, parents and children were thinking about the issue of returning.

Mr Randall said pupils had returned at Akroydon, at Halifax, and St Chad's at Brighouse, with both schools being part of the Trinity Academy Trust.

Both had only taken back two of the eligible age groups so far, and around 50 per cent of each of those two cohorts - reception and nursery classes - had returned.

In normal times the number of pupils involved in those classes would be about 30 at St Chad's and 60 at Akroydon, he said.

Of the extra children who had returned to school earlier this week, around 90 per cent of them had gone back on Monday, June 1 - the Government's target date, he said.

"It looks like 50 per cent is about the most of parents sending their children back," he said.

Director of Children and Young People's Services, Julie Jenkins, and Director of Public Health, Deborah Harkins, both spoke to board members about the reasoning behind the advice and what parents and children were thinking about the situation.

Ms Harkins said a key issue was "pillar 2" testing, for which the council is not yet being supplied with figures, meaning full data was not available to enable it to judge more accurately the level of risk of COVID-19 spreading.

The council had figures of just under 300 cases of COVID-19 in Calderdale but because of the missing data this would be a "massive underestimation" of people with the virus in Calderdale.

However, supply of relevant data would soon change, she said.

"There is a massive commitment from Government to make that data flow and I am confident we will get that data at some point," she said.

Ms Jenkins said advice was reviewed regularly and the council had been asked for advice by headteachers, Governing bodies and parents who were anxious about the return to school, and it had been appreciated.

"There has been less than the fingers of one hand of parents not happy about that advice.

"We want children in school and we know (the situation) is not sustainable in the medium term but what we are saying it we want it to be safe," she said.

Schools are providing children with work to do at home in the lockdown.

Board member Shelagh Hirst asked how the young children had felt and coped with returning to a very different situation.

Mr Randall said feedback had been gleaned on June 2 from children who had returned via their headteachers.

"The feedback from those reopening was really positive, children were excited and enthusiastic and wanted to go back to school," he said.

Schools were very different with social distancing, classes half the size and children not allowed to move out of their "bubble" within the school but headteachers had tried to plan carefully in terms of friendship groups.

The council's Assistant Director for Early Intervention and Safeguarding, Rob Murray, said generally there were also children anxious about returning to school because lockdown had been a very settled period for some children, so the overall picture would be more mixed.