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I have doubled checked and it's still only Tuesday but here is a thread of @tes stories charting what schools, teachers, pupils and parents have just been through in an astonishing 48 hours as schools returned and then didn't. 1/22
Worth remembering that schools came into this year having had massive plans to roll out rapid Covid tests of staff and secondary pupils in the first weeks of term dropped on them by the DfE at the 11th hour last term. 2/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-army-help-schools-set-extra-covid-testing-sites
And schools were on the brink of returning amid surging Covid numbers that had already forced the DfE to delay reopening in parts of the country - and to carry out a U-turn to include all London primary schools in this. 3/22. https://www.tes.com/news/school-closures-u-turn-no-london-primaries-open
But on Sunday morning, a day before schools were set to reopen, PM Boris Johnson was on TV telling the nation that they were safe and that parents should send their children into primary school in areas where they were opening. 4/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-boris-johnson-covid-no-guarantee-school-reopening-date
Secondaries were due to return over the next two weeks. But despite his confidence in school safety it was striking that the PM would not give a guarantee that all schools would reopen for in person teaching on Jan 18 as planned. via @KateParkerTes 5/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-boris-johnson-covid-no-guarantee-school-reopening-date
As primary schools open their doors yesterday health secretary Matt Hancock insisted schools were safe for staff and pupils and there was no evidence teachers were at greater risk of Covid than other professions. via @Specktator100 https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-schools-hancock-no-evidence-teachers-higher-risk-covid 6/22.
But the government was facing unprecedented opposition. Six unions representing school staff had joined forces to warn that the opening of schools was placing staff at serious risk. 7/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-teachers-covid-school-staff-serious-risk-pupils-return
and as @tes had already revealed the school leadership unions @ASCL_UK and @NAHTnews had started a legal challenge to get the DfE to reveal what scientific evidence its plan to reopen schools was based on. via @wstewarttes 8/22. https://www.tes.com/news/exclusive-heads-covid-school-safety-legal-challenge
Yesterday the @NEUnion revealed that based on its advice teachers in more than 6,000 primaries had sent section 44 letters, saying they would not be going into schools due to safety concerns over Covid. 9/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-schools-covid-safety-teachers-6000-primaries-dont-go
And further pressure mounted on DfE as it emerged it does not hold data on the number of teachers who have died from Covid-19. Teacher @Ka81, who asked for this under FOI laws, said the lack of data undermined the message that schools were safe. 10/22. https://www.tes.com/news/dfe-cant-say-how-many-teachers-have-died-covid
At the end of a day in which pupils in most of the country had returned to school everything changed. In a TV address Boris Johnson announced schools were closing to most pupils and we were heading back into a national lockdown. via @cathimogenlough 11/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-all-schools-moving-online-until-half-term-says-boris-johnson
Not only this but in an announcement that shocked a lot of the schools sector - exams would not be going ahead as normal this year . Story via @tweetsbyames 12/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-gcse-and-level-2021-exams-wont-happen-normal
Teachers' leaders laid the blame for the closure of schools squarely at the door of government for allowing the
Covid pandemic to spiral "out of control". via @CathImogenLough 13/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-school-closures-blamed-ministers-handling-covid
Covid pandemic to spiral "out of control". via @CathImogenLough 13/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-school-closures-blamed-ministers-handling-covid
And @tes hasn't stopped bringing you news since then. Today @tweetsbyames reveals that Covid rates among school staff in some areas are as much as four times the local area average, based on figures obtained by the @NASUWT . 14/22. https://www.tes.com/news/exclusive-coronavirus-schools-teacher-covid-rates-333-above-average
And this morning we reported that DfE guidance sent to schools after 10.30pm last night has told them to carry on with the plan for rapid Covid testing of staff and contacts of confirmed cases - despite the national lockdown. 15/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-carry-mass-covid-testing-dfe-tells-schools
The DfE has also sent guidance on what it expects from schools in terms of remote learning during the lockdown. A full breakdown of that from me is here. 16/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-schools-full-remote-learning-what-dfe-expects-teachers
A petition calling for school staff to be prioritised for Covid-19 vaccination has reached more than 270,000 signatures and will be debated in Parliament. via @Specktator100 17/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-schools-priority-teacher-covid-jabs-debate-mps
Unsurprisingly, the fall out from the government's handling of schools reopening has continued. Education select committee chair @halfon4harlowMP has described it as a "huge shambles". via @CathImogenLough. 18/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-school-closures-huge-shambles-top-tory-government-schools-policy
While former Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw has said that education secretary Gavin Williamson has "got a lot wrong" and must take "final accountability" for the actions of his department. via @Specktator100 19/22. https://www.tes.com/news/wilshaw-williamson-must-take-rap-getting-it-wrong
And the announcement of a move to remote learning for most pupils is already causing problems. Primary school heads who are now trying to access their allocation of DfE laptops have been told they cannot order them yet. 20/22. https://www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-primary-schools-told-dfe-they-must-wait-order-laptops
And the DfE is also facing criticism for the "deafening silence" surrounding its plans for addressing the different levels of learning loss among GCSE and A-level students across the country because of Covid-19. Story via @CathImogenLough. 21/22. https://www.tes.com/news/gcses-deafening-silence-over-fairness-expert-group
Incredible to think that is just two days of @tes news. But we have loads more questions and lots more stories to come. Watch this space. End of thread. 22/22.
