Worthing head teacher welcomes schools reopening but calls for teachers to get vaccine

Pan Panayiotou, head teacher at Worthing High School, said it was a relief to have a clear plan following Boris Johnson’s announcement yesterday (February 22) that all schools would reopen on March 8.

“From a school’s perspective it’s really good to have that certainty of when we are coming back and how we are coming back,” he said.

“What it does do is pose some interesting challenges for all educational centres to try and resolve in terms of the testing of the students and how they return back.”

Under Government guidance, secondary schools have to test all of their pupils three times in the week around March 8.

After that, pupils and staff will be given two home tests to take every week.

Face masks will also be required in school.

Pan said: “For us, it’s always about trying to make sure we can get students back in safely. The priority is for examination year groups so we’ll look at bringing them in first and start testing them from the end of next week.

“Its’s good to have some notice and that will be much appreciated by the school and college leaders.”

He said the school had mobilised ‘an army of volunteers’ formed of willing parents, families and friends, to carry out mass testing.

The aim is to test one year group per day, with any disruption to education offset by the online learning preparations already set up.

But Pan said all the pupils coming back at the same time risked a rise in infection rates and said the Government should be doing more to protect teaching staff.

“I’m not sure why they haven’t prioritised teachers and support staff, but that’s something they are supposedly being led towards by the science,” he said.

“We have to make sure we manage that return carefully to avoid any spikes. I think getting all the pupils back at the same time brings some risks of increasing the rates of infection.

“But again, the scientific data they have been following says it’s safe for us to do so. We will be guided by the Government and by the science.”

A staggered start would have been better, he added, with year groups facing exams returning before Easter and the rest of the school coming afterwards.

Pan thanked all the parents for their efforts in delivering home learning and said he looked forward to getting students back to normal.