Greenwich council in south London has told schools to reopen to all pupils after being threatened with legal action by education secretary Gavin Williamson for switching to online learning over coronavirus fears.
Council leader Danny Thorpe said that Greenwich believes Mr Williamson’s order was wrong at a time of rapidly rising cases of Covid-19 in the borough and was being complied with only “reluctantly”.
But Mr Thorpe said the council could not justify the use of taxpayers’ cash to fight the Department for Education in court and had no choice but to ask headteachers to reopen classrooms to all.
The DFE last night issued a “temporary continuity direction” under the Coronavirus Act demanding the immediate withdrawal of a letter issued to headteachers over the weekend advising them to close schools early for the Christmas break and switch to online learning, for all expect children of key workers and those deemed to be vulnerable.
If Greenwich had failed to comply, the DFE could have sought an injunction to force reopening.
In a letter to parents, Mr Thorpe described the situation in Greenwich schools as “grim”, with 521 positive cases in schools sine the start of term in September, and a total of 12,539 children and 1,231 staff self-isolating at some point.
On Monday alone a further 566 staff and pupils were required to go into self-isolation, with the seven-day case rate for the borough up 59 per cent over the course of the week.
Urging parents to get themselves and their children tested for coronavirus, he said: “We consider that the action taken by the council was in the best interests of children in the area and in order to protect their health and that of their families…
“Late on Monday afternoon, the secretary of state issued a legal direction for us to revoke our request for schools to close, requiring them to remain fully open until the end of term on Thursday.
“While I do not believe this is the right thing to do, this is a legal decision by the secretary of state and we therefore need to comply.”
