Schools in Wales should close next week, says teaching union

NAHT Cymru wants a transition to a blended learning approach for the final week of term with a clear ‘stay at home’ message for all age groups, allowing families with children to reduce their social contacts before Christmas.

Earlier this week, health minister Vaughan Gething said that "real harm" could be caused by taking children out of school, and there was "no rationale" for doing so.

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However, some local authorities have taken the decision to move to distance learning for the remainder of term.

Blaenau Gwent council announced last week that schools would be going online-only from today, while Caerphilly council have decided the final two days of term, starting on Thursday, December 17, will be moved online.

The letter from NAHT Cymru references a Technical Advisory Group report from December 7, which discusses pre-isolation of families with children before Christmas.

"If this report is advising families to pre-isolate to protect any extended family members that they are planning to see over Christmas, surely that opportunity to do so must be supported by government. Parents will undoubtedly vote with their feet and children will be kept at home.

"That choice will not be afforded to school staff if school leaders are not supported in closing school sites.

"No direction from the government on this issue risks large numbers of families making their own decision to take children out of school and once again will result in a mixed economy across Wales, with local authorities making their own decisions based on local circumstances.

"We also have concerns about the expectation of school leaders being on call over the Christmas period to support Track Trace Protect processes. School staff have gone above and beyond to support their communities during the pandemic, working weekends and during their holidays.

"There comes a point that what is reasonable in support of the fight against the pandemic becomes unsustainable and unsafe for headteachers.

"NAHT Cymru urges you to review your position in light of the new advice and look, at a national level, to transition to blended/distance learning for the final week of term (December 14-18) in line with the TAG report advice. This week would see the closure of school sites and should be used for isolation and reducing social contacts, with a clear ‘stay at home’ message for all age groups

"This move would allow children, staff and families the opportunity to adhere to the pre-isolation advice.

"We also urge you to consider bringing in a cut-off point of Tuesday, December 22 where school staff are expected to be on call to support TTP. We continue to work with local authorities to look at alternative support.

"We believe acting now, with a clear message based on the advice in the report, would be a reasonable response to a rapidly changing situation."