TEACHING unions and education chiefs have clashed over whether it is safe for children to return to school this winter.

The government says parents should send their children to school in areas where schools are open.

But there is growing pressure to reverse this approach as the number of patients in hospital rises.

National Education Union boss Kevin Courtney says children should not be in classrooms for the first two weeks of January.

He said coronavirus was being spread rapidly in schools, which then has led to families and communities suffering higher infections.

Mr Courtney said: “There is scientific concern that the new variant might be more prevalent amongst younger people than the previous variants.”

He said teachers have a legal right to protect their health and work in safe conditions.

The Argus:

“’We realise that this late notice is a huge inconvenience for parents and for headteachers,” he said. “The fault, however, is of the government’s own making and is a result of their inability to understand data, their indecisiveness and their reckless approach to their central duty – to safeguard public health.”

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But in The Telegraph Ofsted chief Amanda Spielman said shutting schools can have damaging effects on children.

“It is increasingly clear that children’s lives can’t just be put on hold while we wait for vaccination programmes to take effect, and for waves of infection to subside,” she said. “We cannot furlough young people’s learning or their wider development.”

The Argus:

Prime Minister Boris Johnson told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC that he has “no doubts” that schools were safe.

His scientific advisors told him on December 22 that keeping children learning at home may be needed to curb the spread of Covid-19.

But Mr Johnson said schools in the North West stayed open when cases were high, and said cases dropped. He said: “Schools are safe. It is very, very important to stress that.”