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Parents face £120 fines if they don’t send kids back to school in September
Some updates…
Today the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, made an announcement to the House of Commons about schools reopening in September.
Pupils will be forming class or year ‘bubbles’, which will allow children to mix without social distancing, by staggering start and finish times for groups to keep them apart during breaks and lunch.
For the limited number of students that have been back in classrooms recently, they have been made to practise social distancing – however, many parents have raised concerns regarding the plausibility of this, particularly with young children.
According to additional guidance seen by the Telegraph, kids could risk expulsion if they disobey bubble or hygiene rules.
However, teachers are expected to be given guidance on enforcing these measures, and it’s expected the possibility of being expelled would only be used ‘as a last resort’ if they break the rules.
It will be a ‘mandatory’ return to school for all pupils in September, the education secretary announced, and as such parents could be fined £120 if they don’t send their kids back at the start of the autumn term.
Lunch breaks will be staggered to keep bubbles apart and if a pupil tests positive for coronavirus, classmates will have to self-isolate.
On top of that, teachers have been told to overhaul the curriculum to ‘address gaps in knowledge’, due to the amount of school kids have missed.
There will be ‘substantial modifications’ to the curriculum to help children catch up from their six months out because of lockdown.
Taylor Wilcox/Unsplash
Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “I know these past three months have been some of the most challenging that schools have faced.
“What they have achieved to make sure that young people are kept safe and can continue to learn during this period is remarkable, and I am incredibly grateful for that.
“Nothing can replace being in the classroom, so ever since schools, colleges and nurseries closed to most children, we have been working hard to ensure they can reopen as soon as possible.
“We have already seen more than 1.5 million children and young people return, but we must make sure all pupils can go back to school in September, giving them the opportunity to thrive and fulfill their potential.
“I want to reassure parents and families that we are doing everything we can to make sure schools, nurseries, colleges and other providers are as safe as possible for children and staff, and will continue to work closely with the country’s best scientific and medical experts to ensure that is the case.”
And finally, classrooms will be rearranged to enable social distancing and windows will be open to allow for airflow.
The government continues to insist it is safe for all children to go back to school if they can, and that it could be more detrimental to them for missing out on education.
This comes despite the recent outbreak in Leicester having a high infection rate in youngsters.
You can see all of the government’s latest guidance here.
Commuters could be facing the steepest rise in the cost of train travel in more than a decade just months after prices were already increased.
It has been predicted today that train prices across England and Wales could rise by nearly 5% before the New Year.
The 2021 rise in prices was delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic when train travel was at an all-time low, however, tickets still saw a price rise of 2.6% in March.
Abhijit Tembhekar / Flickr
And this morning, the Retail Prices Index for July 2021 was confirmed as 3.8% by the Office for National Statistics, meaning passengers could see fares rise by 4.8% in 2022, which would be the largest hike since 2012.
This means that the cost of rail travel could increase twice within ten months, and would see a Manchester-Glasgow off-peak return rise by £6.30 to £94.90, according to Metro.
Though all hope isn’t yet gone – changes to the fares in 2022 are still yet to be confirmed.
Jon David Houghton / Wikimedia Commons
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “No decision has been made on national rail fares.
“The government is considering a variety of options and we will announce our decision in due course.”
This news has come as train travel in Manchester and beyond is on the rise – earlier this month, we reported that zero cases of Covid were found in Manchester Piccadilly Train Station, despite thousands of commuters using the station’s services as offices reopen.
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