Distancing rules will be relaxed to get Britain’s children back to school

The government has revealed detailed plans to allow schools to return all pupils to full-time education in September. A report released this morning explains how schools will remain Covid-19 secure while also lifting the current restrictions on group sizes.

Given that the presence of coronavirus in the population is on a steep downwards trajectory, schools will in the autumn be encouraged to “change the emphasis on bubbles within their system of controls and increase the size of these groups.”

Under these updated guidelines, an entire year group could be classified as a single Covid-19 secure bubble, which would make limiting interaction with other bubbles easier for teachers to control. Lunch breaks, for instance, can be more straightforwardly divided.

While continued social distancing is encouraged within these bubbles, regulations on this, too, have been relaxed. “We recognise that younger children and those with complex needs will not be able to maintain social distancing and it is acceptable for them not to distance within their group,” the report states.

But schools with the space and capabilities to limit interactions – by separating tables within classrooms or limiting class sizes, for example – should of course do so.

If a pupil tests positive for coronavirus, schools will be asked to seek specialised guidance from the Public Health England local health protection team, which may then ask small groups of students or staff to self-isolate for two weeks. In the event of a school outbreak, a government mobile testing unit may be dispatched to conduct a rapid operation and crack down on it. Both services, which only recently became available, will allow schools to identify rapidly the students who can safely return to education.

Contrary to recent reports suggesting that some subjects will be scrapped so students can catch up with mathematics and English, the government is recommending that schools “resume teaching a broad and balanced curriculum in all subjects, making use of existing flexibilities to create time to address gaps in knowledge.”

This is ambiguously phrased, but it can be assumed that “existing flexibilities” refers to after-school or weekend lessons in core subjects.

These regulatory changes are in line with the government’s advice to the greater public. Schools, like individuals, will now have more individual responsibility over their handling of Covid-19.

Headteachers can implement restrictions on the basis of their school’s capacity, rather than changing capacity to fit rigid instructions – which, when attempted several weeks ago, meant that most schools didn’t have the space to teach all their pupils simultaneously.

The Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, acknowledged that “these past three months have been some of the most challenging that schools have faced”, and promised that the government is working intensively to “make sure all pupils can go back to school in September, giving them the opportunity to thrive and fulfil their potential.”

However, some parents may wonder why these guidelines cannot be implemented immediately, allowing schools to run summer catch-up sessions with critical students such as those taking GCSE or A-level exams next year. To many this, rather than reopening pubs, should be the highest priority.