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Face masks likely to stay in classroom as schools set to defy guidance

Children wearing facemasks during a lesson at Hounslow Kingsley Academy in West London, as pupils in England return to school for the first time in two months as part of the first stage of lockdown easing. Picture date: Monday March 8, 2021. PA Photo.  - Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire
Children wearing facemasks during a lesson at Hounslow Kingsley Academy in West London, as pupils in England return to school for the first time in two months as part of the first stage of lockdown easing. Picture date: Monday March 8, 2021. PA Photo. - Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire

Face masks are set to stay in the classroom as schools and councils prepare to defy government guidance, The Telegraph has found.

Bury, Bolton and Bedford are among the councils advising that schoolchildren should continue to wear masks, despite Boris Johnson announcing that this is no longer required from Monday.

The country’s largest teaching union has written to headteachers, chief executives of multi-academy trusts and council chiefs urging them to “actively encourage” pupils to wear masks in lessons.

Parent campaign group UsForThem said it had received reports from hundreds of parents that their children’s schools will continue to require the wearing of masks next week.

“We are shocked to see how many schools and councils are ignoring the Government’s guidance,” said Molly Kingsley, the co-founder of UsForThem. “Parents are devastated about this – it is really hard to overstate their anger."

This week, Bury and Bolton councils wrote to parents explaining that schools have been asked to “retain the use of face coverings, as per the current arrangements, until further notice”. Both councils said it would be “irresponsible” to wait until there were higher levels of new Covid variants before taking action.

Bury Council said that while its infection rate was below the national average and the lowest in Greater Manchester, it was taking a “safety first approach”.

Bedford Borough Council said it had written to schools to recommend they “continue to require face covering use”. Cllr Louise Jackson, the council’s lead on health and wellbeing, said the decision was made in light of “rapidly rising rate of infections, particularly in our younger population”.

North Yorkshire’s director of public health said schools in Selby should continue with masks “as a result of the high transmission rates seen in the area in recent weeks”.

Coventry Council’s director of public health, Liz Gaulton, has also written to parents to say that “despite the national position” the authority remains concerned about transmission in schools.

“We will support all schools who wish to encourage secondary age pupils and staff to continue to wear face coverings where possible," she said, adding that the position will be reviewed during half-term.

The Bromfords School and Sixth Form College in Essex also told students it will “continue to encourage” mask wearing in line with Essex County Council’s guidance.

Several unions, including the National Education Union and the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, have embarked on a letter-writing campaign to convince heads that there is a “strong case” for continuing with masks at school.

“We would therefore recommend that schools and colleges use the flexibility within the new guidance to actively encourage students and staff in secondary schools and colleges to continue wearing face coverings in classrooms and communal areas,” they said.

Dozens of schools around the country have said they will continue to require face masks until May half term, when they will undertake a review, while others have not given an end date.

The Two Counties Trust, which runs nine schools in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, told parents that children should continue to wear masks anywhere indoors, including classrooms.

Earlier this week, after Mr Johnson announced that masks are no longer recommended in classrooms or communal areas such as corridors, the Department for Education issued guidance which said schools should not seek to implement “restrictive measures” without the “explicit approval” of ministers.

Ms Kingsley said the Government must be “absolutely prescriptive” about the new position on masks, adding that it should enforce the guidance in schools.