Key workers advised to keep children at home ‘if they can’ in latest DfE U-turn

In its latest U-turn, DfE amended guidance titled “Critical workers and vulnerable children who can access schools or educational settings”.

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It previously stated that children who had one parent classed as a critical worker were able to attend schools.

It said: “Children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker can go to school if required. This includes parents who may be working from home.” 

However, a change made to guidance over the weekend means it now states: “Children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker can go to school or college if required, but parents and carers should keep their children at home if they can.”

However, the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) has accused DfE of “mixed messaging” as new guidance for schools says settings should not limit the number of critical workers' children or vulnerable pupils on site during lockdown.

It states that: "We know that every school will have a different number of children of critical workers who need to attend. It is important that on-site provision is provided for these pupils, and there is no limit to numbers of these pupils who may attend and schools should not limit attendance of these groups."

A survey of almost 5,000 school leaders, carried out by the NAHT, shows that one in 10 headteachers reported between 41 and 60 per cent of their pupils attending school during this lockdown.

Almost half (48 per cent) of headteachers said they had been forced to prioritise school places due to excess demand.

Some 74 per cent of school leaders reported that the demand for places from key worker families and vulnerable children has “greatly increased” compared to the lockdown last March.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of NAHT, which represents leaders in the majority of schools, said: “We are concerned that high levels of attendance could seriously undermine the impact of lockdown measures, and may even run the risk of ultimately extending school closures. 

“We urgently need the government to specify how many pupils on-site might be too many. At present, the government’s confused message to parents on school attendance risks defeating the national aim of suppressing the virus.”

Meanwhile, Independent Sage member Anthony Costello, a professor of global health at University College London and a former WHO director, was reported in Sunday newspapers as saying that “we should have no nurseries open” amid a huge spike in coronavirus cases.

Unlike the first national lockdown, the government has asked all nurseries to remain open this time around.

DfE has been contacted for further comment.