Primary schools in North Essex to remain closed
Essex County Council has decided to keep primary schools in Colchester, Tendring and Uttlesford closed
Essex County Council notified primary school headteachers in the three districts at the weekend to move to remote learning on Tuesday 5th January.
According to the authority, it's while it seeks "urgent" clarity from the Department for Education on the current position of schools reopening in north Essex, amid rising Covid-19 cases in the area.
Originally the three areas were the only parts of Essex where some schools were going to reopen this week.
The council has called for them to be included in the 'contingency framework' which, under DfE rules, means they will operate on a remote learning basis due to high infection rates.
In a letter sent on Sunday 3rd January to the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, leader of Essex County Council, Councillor David Finch, said: "You will be aware that on the 30 December 2020 the Essex Resilience Forum Strategic Co-ordination Group declared a ‘major incident’ in respect of the health system in Essex.
“In addition, the latest COVID19 case data indicates that over the past week:
• Across the district of Uttlesford, cases have increased by 55%
• Across the district of Tendring, case rates have increased by 28%
• Across the district of Colchester, case rates have increased by 23%
"As a result of the change in these two factors, I am seeking an urgent review of the position with respect of these three districts and to request that they are placed into the contingency framework with immediate effect.
"I would appreciate an urgent dialogue with Ministers tomorrow (4 January 2021) in order that we can advise our primary schools and their parents on the outcome of this review. In the meantime, we have advised all primary schools within these three districts to move to remote education for the majority of pupils on Monday the 4th and Tuesday 5th January 2021, in order that this urgent review can take place.
"I appreciate that the implementation of the Contingency framework is an absolute last resort action by your department, but as the data indicates, the chain of transmission across Essex continues to increase and we require all available support and assistance to break the chain and to bring this despicable virus under control. I would only make this request under these extremely challenging circumstances."
Cabinet Member for Education, Councillor Ray Gooding, added: "It makes sense given the rising levels of infection in North Essex and the major incident in Essex’s health system that the position of primaries in North Essex is reviewed by the DfE.
"This is what happened in London at the end of last week, with the result that all Primary schools in the capital were brought into the contingency framework. This is essentially Essex’s ask – we want to be treated consistently, especially given rising infection levels in the areas concerned."