There is a real prospect that the new school year will look a lot like the one that is about to end, with Covid-19 masks and precautions still in place, a meeting heard.
Senior Bedford advisers say that with the so-called Freedom Day looming Monday, July 19, it is “difficult to predict” what will happen with the Covid-19 infection and “impossible to plan for. detail”.
“A school is considering phasing in entry into the school based on the fact that it will have to enforce restrictions like we currently do,” said Cllr James Valentine (Lab, Kempston West), portfolio holder of education from Bedford Borough Council.
“I know it’s unfortunate, but we have to do everything we can to control the virus, to have as few children as possible infected and we have been successful in doing that in the Borough of Bedford thanks to our great health team. public. “
Speaking at the plenary council meeting on Wednesday, July 14, Cllr Valentine added: “As far as September goes, it’s really hard to predict what’s going to happen and it’s impossible to plan in detail.
“Schools will be careful and we encourage them because we need to keep this infection under control. “
Cllr Louise Jackson (Lab, Harpur), the board’s health and wellness portfolio holder, revealed that the board is working with schools to improve ventilation.
“There will be more details on what this will look like in the next few days,” she said.
“Ventilation experts are going to take a look at some of the schools that we know have real problems. “
Conservative group leader Cllr Graeme Coombes (Wilshamstead) said trying to predict the future was “a bit of a mad rush”.
Advisers also called on the public to volunteer to continue wearing face coverings and following public health advice after legal restrictions ended on Monday.
Cllr Christine McHugh (Lib Dem, Goldington) said: “If we want the kids to go back to school successfully in September, we shouldn’t think of this as a big bang independence day, but we have to be cautious where we can be. “…
And Cllr Jackson added, “The government is moving forward and so we need to do whatever we can and take this responsibility seriously and protect our communities because we don’t want to find ourselves in the situation where we are worth outlier with an increase in preventable cases and deaths.
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Source: www.bedfordtoday.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-07-15 12:00:38
