Disastrous impact of Covid on children is 'at risk of being forgotten'

The disastrous effect of pandemic lockdowns on children is at risk of being forgotten, the former children’s commissioner has warned.

Anne Longfield said that the fact that discussions are already underway about schools moving to a three-day week this autumn should be regarded as a major "red flag".

She said her worry is that we are now "seamlessly slipping" into acceptance of the idea that face-to-face classroom teaching is "somehow interchangeable" with online learning.

The Telegraph revealed earlier this month that schools are considering three- or four-day weeks to pay for teacher salary rises and crippling energy costs.

Headteachers, trustees and governors are holding "crisis meetings" during the summer holidays to work out how to keep schools afloat in the autumn term.

Teacher pay rises planned for September will put a squeeze on school budgets at the same time as their energy costs are expected to rise by up to 300 per cent.

And in mid-July almost 200 schools across the country announced temporary closures or reduced classroom hours, despite the Government urging them to stay open during the heatwave.

Teachers warned of pupils suffering from heat exhaustion and described classrooms and play areas being dangerously hot, with activities including sports days, excursions and detentions having to be cancelled.

'The Government should be aghast'

"We have heard about schools looking to close because of mounting energy costs and during the heat waves schools were closing," Ms Longfield said.

"The Government should be aghast to think there are potential plans by some academies to close for a number of days a week.

"What I fear remains is the soft default that the school day can be curtailed. My concern is that we think that by having a bit more tech and by being able to do some kind of online learning, that it is an option that can be used at any point.

"We don’t know when the next aspect of the virus or another will come along. My worry is that for all of these emergencies coming at us, we aren’t valuing children’s welfare enough.

"Closing schools must always be a last resort and one that I don't believe we should go to, but that seems to be forgotten very quickly in the passing of time."

Ms Longfield, who now chairs the Commission on Young Lives, was the children’s commissioner for England until February 2021.

Issue risks being 'kicked into long grass'

She is urging Baroness Heather Hallett, the Covid inquiry chairman, to prioritise examining the impact of lockdown on children or risk the issue being "kicked into the long grass" and not examined until five years down the line.

A coalition of campaigners, led by parent campaign group UsForThem and Ms Longfield, has written to the Covid inquiry to ask for core participant status and demand the impact on children is considered as soon as possible.

Lady Hallett has announced the first three modules of the inquiry, none of which explicitly mention the effects of the pandemic on children, meaning it could take years before the impact on youngsters are considered.

"Decisions that were made during the pandemic weren’t in children’s best interest and the worry is that if the inquiry does not expose that and look at how that could be done differently, we will continue to de-prioritise children if and when any emergency happens," Ms Longfield said.

"We are in danger of forgetting the disaster the pandemic and lockdown was for children. If we slip into a sense of complacency and everything returns to normality, it is a very false and dangerous place to be.

"It was one of the biggest tests of our infrastructure for children and sadly in many ways it didn't pass the test.

"We need to do more to rely on memory, we need to get the evidence, look at what needs to change and apply it speedily."