The ministers criticized the classroom ventilation scheme while the children sit in icy classrooms

Ministers have been accused of letting thousands of schoolchildren shiver during a second Covid winter in freezing classrooms by acting slowly on ventilation.

Labor today attacked a delay of almost a year between the scientists who first warned the government about the importance of good airflow in school spaces and the launch of a pilot plan to discover how to improve it.

The pilot, which is taking place at a school in Bradford, West Yorkshire, was tendered in April last year and is not due to be completed until the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

But the opposition has flagged advice from Sage experts in May 2020, 11 months before the tender went out, that ventilation and other measures would be vital to keeping schools open safely.

Both the winter of 2020/21 and 21/22 have seen complaints that schoolchildren have been forced to learn in freezing classrooms due to the guidance to leave windows open to allow air to circulate.

And most of the Covid restrictions will already have been lifted by the end of the school year.

Stephen Morgan, the shadow schools minister, said: "These revelations expose further government faltering and delays in basic classroom protections, while schools faced wave after wave of Covid chaos."

‘Now, 20 months after the first warnings from scientists, children are still forced to learn in cold classrooms. The ministers are treating our children as an afterthought and cannot continue.

‘The Ministry of Education must urgently control this situation and implement a practical ventilation plan that keeps children learning together in class.’

Labor today attacked a delay of almost a year between the scientists who first warned the government about the importance of good airflow in school spaces and the launch of a pilot plan to discover how to improve it.

Stephen Morgan, the shadow schools minister, said: "Now, 20 months after the first warnings from scientists, children are still forced to learn in cold classrooms."

In a response to a parliamentary question written by shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson about the pilot scheme, Vaccines and Public Health Minister Maggie Throup said: "The tender was published on 28 April 2021, with the contracts awarded to the winning bidders in July 2021. The trial is ongoing and will continue through the end of the 2021/2022 school year.'

Unions lash out at 'micromanagement' in mask queue

Fragious teachers' unions today accused Whitehall of trying to 'micromanage' schools after Cabinet Minister Nadhim Zahawi will email MPs saying he will personally examine any plans to bring masks back to classrooms.

The Education Secretary said last night that local officials would seek to persuade individual schools to abandon masks.

He insisted that “in-person education for all students has always been my priority,” adding: “National guidance for wearing face coverings in common areas will also be removed in line with the national move out of Plan B. This it applies to all schools'.

But in a letter to MPs, he conceded that masks could be reintroduced in the event of an 'extraordinary' local Covid outbreak.

NEU's Dr. Mary Bousted raged today that ministers seeking to "micromanage such decisions seem completely unnecessary, if not bizarre."

It came as schools across England openly rebelled against the government over masks after more than 100 headteachers wrote to parents warning that children should continue to wear masks in classrooms.

Union bosses stoked the revolt this week after accusing Boris Johnson of flouting his "duty of care" to teachers over new guidance on masks.

This week, the Prime Minister announced an easing of Covid-19 restrictions, from WFH guidance to face coverings and Covid-19 isolation, as the wave of Omicron subsides.

But critics have claimed Johnson is removing virus restrictions to appease his conservative caucus and save his own skin as he fights for his political career amid the dramatic fallout from 'Partygate.'

Schools are defying government anti-mask guidance, telling parents students should continue to wear face coverings.

Minutes of a Sage meeting on May 19, 2020, when schools had already been closed by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson, show they advised that 'opening schools...safely would require significant effort to ensure that settings are appropriate to minimize transmission (for example, distancing, hygiene measures, and ventilation). Systems will be required to assess this and potentially compliance mechanisms.”

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Two months later, in July 2020, in a paper on indoor airborne spread of Covid, the advisory group warned: "Special attention should be paid to winter planning to ensure spaces can be ventilated effectively." effective without significantly compromising the thermal comfort of the occupants. .'

But in a response to a written parliamentary question from shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson about the pilot scheme, Public Health and Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup said: "The tender was published on 28 April 2021, and the contracts were awarded to the winning bidders in July 2021." The trial is ongoing and will continue until the end of the 2021/2022 school year.’

Thirty schools in Bradford are testing air purifiers and ultraviolet lights in classrooms as part of a £1.75 anti-covid trial run by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

It will assess whether they slow the spread of the coronavirus and other respiratory illnesses, and hopes to gauge how feasible it is to implement the technologies in elementary schools.

The randomized trial sees 10 schools equipped with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, 10 with UV purifiers, and 10 without any equipment to serve as a control group.

Guidance from the Health and Safety Executive says fog, mist, steam and ultraviolet treatments "may be suitable options to help control the spread of coronavirus and disinfect a larger space or room."

At the time the pilot was launched, then-Schools Minister Nick Gibb was asked if it would be rolled out more widely, telling the BBC: "Ventilation has been a key part of the guidance that we provide schools on how to keep schools safe and to minimize the risk of transmission as well as hygiene and all staggered starts etc. in the schools.

‘Ventilation, from the beginning, was an important part of that process and actually continues to be part of our guidance to schools.

‘We are looking at air purifiers, that is what the pilot in Bradford is about. We are also looking at CO2 monitors to see if it is an effective way to help schools monitor air quality.”

The Department of Health and UKHSA have been contacted for comment.

It came as Boris Johnson urged teachers who insist masks are still worn in lessons to follow rules that no longer require their use in classrooms.

Headmasters in England are willing to ignore the bonfire of the Prime Minister's Plan B restrictions by forcing pupils to wear face coverings in classrooms.

Britain's big teachers' unions have accused the embattled Tory leader of making a decision to save his own political career while dealing with the fallout from 'Partygate', rather than relying on 'sound scientific and public health advice'.

The National Education Union has warned against lifting Omicron's measures "too quickly", saying it could lead to "further disruption" for schools.

Today, a No10 spokesperson said: 'Children have been some of the hardest hit as a result of the disruption during the pandemic and we recognize the impact it has had on their education.

‘The Prime Minister believes it is vital that children receive face-to-face education and can enjoy a normal classroom experience and the Prime Minister also believes that schools should follow the latest guidelines.

"We have made it clear that we are removing the requirement to wear face masks in classrooms and will be removing the advice to wear face masks in common areas starting January 27."

Covid infections are rising among primary school children in England, official data shows in what could be a sign of the back-to-school effect.

Statisticians from the Office for National Statistics estimated that eight percent of children aged two to 11 had covid on any given day of the week up to January 15, the equivalent of one in 13, slightly more than 7 percent the week before.

The rate, based on swabs taken from 160,000 people nationwide, is the highest of all other age groups, with people ages 20 to 34 having the next highest rate (one in 17). .

While rates are falling or leveling off in all other age groups, they are still increasing in children. Only five percent of those under 12 years of age were thought to have the virus a month earlier.

It comes after the children returned to school on January 4th after a two-week break over the festive period.

Despite rising infections in primary and pre-school children, the ONS found that infections fell in England for the first time since Omicron took off last week. It estimated that around 2.9 million people were infected on any given weekday through January 15, a "welcome decline" from the previous week's record 3.7 million.

The ONS survey is considered the most reliable indicator of the UK outbreak because it uses a random sample of around 100,000 people, rather than relying on people showing up to be tested.

A Department of Education spokesperson said: "In-person learning remains our top priority, and it is thanks to the hard work of staff and teachers that more than 99.9% of schools are open and millions of children benefit." of time in classrooms.

“Air purification units are not needed in the vast majority of classrooms, and feedback from settings suggests that the 350,000 carbon dioxide monitors that have been delivered are acting as a useful tool for managing air pollution. ventilation.

“Feedback from schools also suggests that there are only a small number of cases where good ventilation is not possible, and we are supplying up to 8,000 air-cleaning units to support those environments.”