The education of young people is vital and school closures are having a profound impact on their health and wellbeing as well as their learning habits. We know it has an impact on young people's social development, confidence and self-esteem and is creating high levels of anxiety for some children about their future.
We must find a solution to this and ensure school reopening is prioritised with urgency. Teachers and parents in Telford are making huge efforts to support pupils through online teaching and scaled-back classes for the children of key workers, but there is no substitute for in-person teaching, pastoral and learning support and social contact that children have at school.
Long periods away from school risk some children losing or failing to gain learning habits that will last them a life time.
To facilitate a return to schooling, it is imperative that we prioritise teachers and school staff for vaccination. Whilst the vast majority of teachers will be at low risk from coronavirus, the reality is that there is a cycle of self-isolating as cases have been picked up amongst staff. It is crucial to give teachers the confidence that they can return to work without having to isolate so regularly. The impact of staff shortages has an unavoidable impact on the quality of teaching and the number of pupils that can be taught.
Schooling, in additional to providing education and supporting children’s wellbeing, is an important form of childcare for the youngest children. Every child unable to return to school requires childcare, and in many cases this can severely impact working parents and their jobs. Just because many parents are not categorised as key workers does not mean they are not facing the same pressures on their childcare as many who are still able to send their children to school.
I would like to echo the sentiments of the Chair of the Education Select Committee, The Rt. Hon. Robert Halfon MP, that the full might of the state must be applied to solving this problem and ensuring that children can return to schools in full as soon as it is safe to do so. I will be working with colleagues to lobby the Education Secretary and the Prime Minister find a solution to this problem. The suggestion that children might be out of school until the Summer term is completely unacceptable; the impact would be hugely detrimental to a whole generation of young people and we cannot allow this to happen.
