Face masks should be worn in all secondary classrooms from the start of term, the government has recommended.
Ofsted inspections are also set to be scaled back this month, with the Department for Education announcing today that the watchdog will be encouraging schools that are “significantly impacted” by Covid to ask for deferrals.
In addition, the government has said that Ofsted will not ask inspectors who are serving school or college leaders to carry out inspections - meaning the majority of the watchdog’s workforce will be unavailable.
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Today’s DfE announcement also reveals that 7,000 air cleaning units will be provided to early years settings, schools and colleges, in an attempt to improve ventilation in teaching spaces.
The DfE confirmed to Tes that the latest face mask rule did not cover either staff or pupils in primary school classrooms. It has also clarified remote education guidance (full details here).
The new measures have been announced just hours after school staff unions jointly called for the government to take urgent and immediate action to mitigate the spread of Covid in schools this term, amid warnings that exams could end up being cancelled for a third year in a row.
Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said today: “Being in the classroom is undoubtedly the very best place for children and I’m looking forward to welcoming pupils back next week to continue their face-to-face learning, which is so important for their education and wellbeing.
“There is no doubt that the Omicron variant presents challenges, but the entire education sector has responded with a Herculean effort, and for that I thank each and every one of you.
“The prime minister and I have been clear that education is our number one priority. These measures will bolster our support [for] schools as we do everything in our power to minimise disruption.”
Face coverings
Staff, visitors and pupils in Year 7 and above were advised to wear masks in communal areas of school in guidance issued in November.
Face coverings in secondary classrooms had been brought in last March, but stopped being a recommendation just over two months’ later.
Today’s updated advice on face coverings, covering all classrooms and teaching spaces for Year 7 students and above, will be in place until 26 January, when Plan B regulations are currently scheduled to expire, at which point the guidance will be reviewed.
General secretary of ASCL, Geoff Barton, welcomed the new recommendations for secondary schools.
“While there are obvious drawbacks to the use of face coverings in classrooms, it is clear that the Omicron variant poses a very significant additional risk to education with the potential for further widespread disruption of schools, colleges, and young people,” he said.
It is “absolutely essential that everything possible is done to reduce transmission and ensure that children remain in school”, he continued, adding that students were ”accustomed” to using face coverings and would take the new guidance ”in their stride”.
Ofsted inspections scaled back
Ofsted had already planned to pause inspections for the first week of the Spring term so secondary schools could carry out Covid-19 testing of students.
But inspections will now be significantly scaled back until the end of the month - a move that has been welcomed by school leaders.
A statement released by the DfE today says: “Ofsted will not ask inspectors who are also school, college and early years leaders to undertake inspections, so they can focus on their leadership responsibilities at this critical time. This will be a temporary measure from the start of January.”
The inspectorate currently contracts around 1,170 school Ofsted inspectors, more than 800 of whom are serving headteachers and senior leaders, according to figures from the watchdog provided to Tes last month. It only employs around 180 full time HMI.
The department said today that Ofsted will also encourage early years settings, schools and colleges that are significantly impacted by Covid-related staff absence to ask for their inspection to be deferred.
This follows repeated calls from the Association of School and College Leaders for schools to be able to defer inspections on request because of the Covid disruption they face.
Figures published at the end of last term showed that more than 20 schools that requested a referral were rejected by Ofsted.
Earlier in the term Tes revealed that around a third of Covid inspection deferral requests from schools had been turned down by the inspection watchdog.
Air purifiers
The DfE has said that the 7,000 new air purifiers will be for areas where quick fixes to improve ventilation, “such as being able to open a window” are not available, and that they will help to improve ventilation in schools.
This follows the announcement that 1,000 air purifiers were being given to special schools and alternative provision settings.
An online marketplace for schools to buy air purifiers was launched by the DfE last term, but some heads expressed “shock” at the prices of those on offer.
The government had faced calls from headteachers to provide and pay for more units for all state schools.
Mr Barton welcomed today’s move to provide more air purifiers as ”better late than never”.
School leaders now needed more details about eligibility criteria, he said, urging the government to make the devices “as accessible as possible”.
He added: “All of this is a recognition by the government that the spring term will be extremely challenging for schools and colleges.”
The biggest problem schools face is the likelihood of high levels of staff absence caused by the prevalence of the Omicron variant, he said.
Mr Barton added: “While schools and colleges will do their very best to minimise the impact on pupils, as they always do, there is a possibility that this will mean that some classes and year groups have to be sent home for short periods of time to learn remotely.”
