UK schools to close until further notice amid Covid-19 outbreak

At a recent teachers’ conference in Birmingham, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that school closures would create widespread disruption, not least for key workers such as medical staff, and that children were probably safer at school. Leaders of Primary and Secondary schools agreed, believing it was best to try and keep a normal schedule amidst the coronavirus outbreak. However staff sickness has put pressure on schools, and from today, schools will now shut their doors to most students. Only children whose parents are considered to be key workers or those classified as vulnerable will be allowed to remain at school. However, there is much confusion about the definition of ‘key worker’ and teachers have expressed concern that this could be open to misinterpretation. Teachers are also concerned they have had little time to prepare for early closure, amidst confusing government messages.  Williamson says that an altered exam schedule will now be used, as A-Levels and GCSEs are now postponed. It has not been decided if grades will still be released in August. “We don’t know how the spread of the virus will affect the examining boards and those who issue the grades” he explains. An alternative route has been proposed by Universities UK chief executive Alistair Jarvis. For those going into post-secondary education, Jarvis suggests giving awards based on former assignments and teacher evaluations, thereby allowing the placement process to go ahead as scheduled.