Echo readers show support for schoolchildren staying home until September

The majority of Echo readers who took part in an online poll have agreed that primary schools should stay closed for the remainder of pupils until September.
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Education Secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed this week that the Government had abandoned plans for all primary schoolchildren to have four weeks back in the classroom before the end of the summer term.

Last week saw children in nursery, Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 return to the classroom for the first time since March – but it is now not required for primary schools in England to welcome all pupils back before the summer holidays, as had previously been hoped.

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A new set-up in line with social distancing guidelines in a primary school classroom. Picture: AFP via Getty Images.A new set-up in line with social distancing guidelines in a primary school classroom. Picture: AFP via Getty Images.
A new set-up in line with social distancing guidelines in a primary school classroom. Picture: AFP via Getty Images.

On our Facebook page, we asked if you thought primary schools should stay closed to the remainder of pupils – who have not been attending throughout lockdown – until September 2020.

More than 1,100 people voted in our online poll, with 76% agreeing that primary schools should stay closed for the remainder of pupils until September.

This is what you said on our social media pages:

Vicky Adams: “It is a long time out of education, and contrary to some media teachers DO want to be back teaching the kids.

Readers have been sharing their views on primary schools welcoming children back to the classroom: AFP via Getty Images.Readers have been sharing their views on primary schools welcoming children back to the classroom: AFP via Getty Images.
Readers have been sharing their views on primary schools welcoming children back to the classroom: AFP via Getty Images.

“The problem with this, as with ALL decisions this government have made regarding many professions (schools, transport, hospitals, care homes, dentists) is that they didn't speak to the people who would be doing the job before announcing their plans!”

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Andrew McAlpine: “So four to five more weeks of home schooling ‘which is ineffective and ultimately not useful’ plus six weeks off to forget all the homeschooling and barely remember the stuff they learned six months before, then come September they have to cram the rest of their school year into their new year.”

Mandy Bruce: “I can't see why the government doesn't add a year to the school calendar, this year's leavers should leave next year after going back in September that way they can sit exams etc and no education would be lost, they will leave school at 17 instead of 16.”

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