Chaos at school gates as some children are TURNED AWAY because teachers 'aren't ready for them' and others haven't opened at all despite up to two million heading back to classes in England today
Up to 2million pupils were due to return to school today but some were turned away this morning because headteachers 'aren't ready' for them and around half of parents have chosen to keep their children at home.
The majority of schools in England appear to be ignoring the Government's diktat to get all reception, year 1 and year 6 children back in the classroom from June 1.
Many will remain closed for at least another week or two or have not set a date at all, while any that are open today say they can only increase the number of places for key workers' children, not for everyone.
There was confusion at several schools with some parents arriving with their children only to be informed they couldn't come in.
Winsor Primary School in east London sent a letter to parents last week informing them the school would reopen today for nursery, reception, year one and year six. But parents and children arriving were turned away and told teachers are still making arrangements.
Glauciane Conti was turned away at the school gate this morning with her son who is in year one. The 35-year-old, a cleaner from Forest Gate, said: 'My son just went in to ask the teachers and they say it is not open as they are still making arrangements. I don’t understand. Now I have to go to work'. Gallions Primary School, also in Beckton, plans to remain closed to the general public this week.
Hanif Hazari, 58 accompanied his son Mahmamudullabi who is a year 6 pupil at Havelock Primary School in Southall, west London after being informed via a text message that it was reopening following the easing of the lockdown.
Mr Hazari said: ‘The playground was completely deserted so I went into the school office and they told me that the school has now decided to remain closed and they don’t have a date as yet as to when it will open. It’s very confusing, I don’t know what’s going on. The Government appears to be saying one thing and the schools another.’ Mahmamudullabi, 11, added: 'I hope the school opens soon because I’m getting really bored at home.’
Jaswinder Grover, who arrived at the school with his daughter Simran, a year 6 pupil said: ‘‘I was initially told that the school would reopen today but as you can see, hardly anybody has turned up. And now the school is telling me something completely different. The Government needs to be a clearer about what’s actually going on and when our kids can go back to school, which I hope is soon.’
A Havelock Primary official told MailOnline that the school is now not scheduled to reopen until June 15 at the very earliest. He added: ‘Some parents were under the impression that we were opening on June 1. We’re very sorry for any confusion that’s been caused, and parents will be notified as soon as possible.’
However, Children's Commissioner Anne Longfield believes that schools will need to hold summer schools to enable pupils to catch up on work they have missed during the enforced break.
Ms Longfield said in The Telegraph: 'Based in school buildings and running throughout the holidays, summer schools could provide activities of all kinds, meals and potentially some learning too,' she said.
'The idea is also likely to be popular with parents, who however well-intentioned and motivated may need a break from home schooling and may also be in desperate need of childcare as they return to work.'
One teacher wrote this morning: 'Lots of us are going to feel very apprehensive and anxious about the new changes, however that looks in our school. We stand with each other.'
Queen’s Hill Primary and Nursery School near Norwich reopened to reception children on Monday, with 46 attending out of a total of 75 in the year group.
The school has been open to children of key workers throughout the coronavirus lockdown, with plans to reopen to nursery children next week and to children in Years 1 and 6 from June 15.
Emma Corps, 39, was in a socially distanced queue of parents as she dropped off her five-year-old daughter Isla at the school gates.
“I was a bit anxious but she was excited and I think they need to go back to school as there needs to be some sort of normality back in their lives,” she said.
“For the 10 weeks she was saying ‘when am I going back, when am I going back?’ then at 6.30am this morning it was ‘mummy, quick’!”
Jo Frost, 37, who was dropping off her five-year-old son Max at Queen’s Hill Primary and Nursery School near Norwich, said: “It’s obviously a difficult decision but you’ve got to weigh up everything in life.
“You can’t just shut yourself away and wrap yourself up in cotton wool. You could just walk out the door and anything could happen.
“The school have really thought about it. They’ve sent out lots of letters, pictures and given us all the information we need. I feel confident that they’re doing everything right. We were quite relieved, to be honest, as it’s quite a long time that he’s been off and at his age it’s really important to be with his peers.
Penny Sheppard, head teacher of Queen’s Hill Primary and Nursery School near Norwich, which reopened to reception children on Monday, said: “I think if I’m honest a lot of headteachers were quite surprised about June 1 because I think we’d been doing a lot of reading about things in the media.
“Probably a lot of us had thought ‘OK, we won’t be having children back until September’. But then like anything you take it in your stride don’t you?
“You think OK, right, after that little bit of a shock announcement, let’s think about this logically and then just start a plan of action to work towards that.
“We’ve been open throughout this and I’ve had 60 children (of key workers) in childcare so I know that the systems I’ve put in place are workable and the children, I’ve been keeping them in their separate ‘pods’.
“I knew it was just an extension of that'.
