I was going to post the following as an open letter - it is rather long, but I have broken my website... While I fix that, the following thread is addressed to @GavinWilliamson and summarises the contents of that letter.

Dear Mr Williamson,
We want schools to be open, they are at the heart of the community and we are here to serve that community as we have throughout the pandemic. We know our children, we know our families and we know our staff, we speak to them constantly.

Unfortunately, our ability to serve our community is being hampered by the actions of the government, particularly your department.

The government has always stated that they are following the science, the fact is that the science shows that children can spread the virus and

that cases are rising fast. The AstraZeneca vaccination is fantastic news, but it will take time for it to be manufactured and made available to the public, in the meantime cases are likely to continue to rise.

Schools are one of the drivers of this continued rise, they are where households mix, and social distancing is virtually impossible. We can help, but we do need some things from you too, we recognise we cannot do it alone and would welcome your help and support.

Let's start with "Communication"

The media is not a means of communicating important information to people who really need it before the general public are informed. Finding out what changes are at the same time as the public doesn't help anyone.

If you spend the day formulating a strategy do not announce it the same day, inform those who must implement it first, listen to their questions and clarify anything that is unclear. This will give you time to prepare properly for the announcement to the public the following day.

Everyone would be much better prepared.

Share the information on which you base your decisions, at the moment we don't understand why there are different rules for different places and there is no discernable pattern in the data that is available. We would love to trust you...

...but you make it very difficult.

Remote learning - Let's follow the science. SAGE member Professor Susan Miche has said that schools should be closed for January to be made Covid secure. Schools have developed their remote learning offer and all of them have it in place. You asked them to do this and they have.

There is a plan in place, it just needs to be put into action. This would allow schools to close to the community as a whole and transmissions to be reduced. Please note, teachers would still be working, and schools would be open to critical workers and vulnerable children.

Please make sure that the press is briefed on this. No learning would be lost.

To support this, proper investment in devices and internet access is essential. Not political soundbites, but real support.

There are approximately 4.7 million primary school children and 3.3 million secondary school children. Not all of them require laptops and internet access. At £200 per head, this would be an investment of £1.6 billion

Special schools do require devices that they can make accessible for the children who have severe needs, this would be an additional cost, but it would ensure that education provision is equitable.

Alternatively, close schools completely for 3 weeks, except for critical workers and extend the year by 3 weeks during the summer - Starting the following school year a week later to allow staff to rest, recuperate and plan for the following year.

Definitions - One of the challenges in managing much of the guidance is the use of language in a vague way, leaving heads to interpret what you have said.

Clear definitions of what a critical worker is are essential, as are clear definitions of which children are classified as vulnerable. We are also concerned about the safeguarding of children and the mental health of their families.

Capacity - Schools vary in their capacity to manage what is required of them. A maximum of 10-15% of pupils should be attending the school site. Using this approach across schools provides consistency while allowing heads to use discretion to meet the needs of their community.

Many local authorities were excellent during the first lockdown in working with schools to limit the number of children accessing the school site to those that needed to be there.

In addition, this would allow staff not involved in face-to-face teaching to continue to support children and families with regular check-ins for all and other welfare check-ins for those families that are struggling. Many schools performed heroics during the first lockdown.

Funding - Schools are stretched to the limit financially, investment in real terms has fallen by 8% since 2010, with spending last year at £92 billion an increase of 8% would be approximately £7.3 billion.

Some of this additional funding could be used to support before and after school clubs for critical worker’s children to attend. Much of this provision is close to collapse with schools potentially having to lay people off.

Testing and vaccination - One of the biggest challenges that schools face is staff infection and absence due to isolation and contact with positive cases. Making teachers a priority for testing and vaccination or increasing the supply of test kits to schools would overcome this

Schools will continue to provide an education to all children
This has been one of the biggest objections to closing schools that has been aired by many. Our experience since the return in September is that “gaps” are closed by high quality teaching.

This is what we are trained to do, and we will continue to deliver. We are grateful for the additional funding put in place to support those with the greatest needs.

While there is much concern about the way in which mass testing is to be carried out, the closure of schools would allow time to ensure that the plan for carrying out mass testing is robust and properly funded.

We want to support this, although there are genuine concerns amongst staff regarding how this is possible in schools while the capacity to do it is so limited.

Throughout the pandemic schools have been hubs for communication and support.

They have checked in on the most vulnerable families and provided free school meals, often on a local level and other support working with medical, if learning is remote, then schools have the capacity to continue to do this.

Finally, the will be able to provide spaces for local vaccination centres.
Most schools have fridges for storing the vaccine and if partially closed would be able to provide safe spaces to increase the rates at which the vaccination is rolled out.

A small note. This was the culmination of 60 minutes of conversation with a group of excellent headteachers. Imagine what is possible if they were given all the information and an opportunity to discuss solutions with people with the power to do something...