Covid: 'Nothing more we can do to make school safer'

Sarah Shirras said she had to assess the Covid-19 risk and whether she had sufficient staff

A primary head teacher who closed her school said they could not have done any more to improve Covid-19 safety.

St William's Primary near Norwich did not reopen on Monday, amid safety warnings from teaching unions.

Its head teacher, Sarah Shirras, said there was a lack of confidence among staff about reopening.

"I have to make a decision on whether the school is safe on two fronts - [the virus] and if I don't have sufficient staff," she said.

She said rather than closure being based on "political advice", she was acting on "health and safety" grounds.

'More discussion'

Ms Shirras, who is co-chairwoman of the head teachers' association Educate Norfolk, said she believed the move to higher restrictions under tier four at Christmas should have led to "much more discussion" between local and national government about what that would mean for schools.

"It feels we could have made a collective response if we had worked together last week and potentially made a plan to go back as the secondaries [are going to] on the 18th."

• PM to set out 'next steps' against Covid in England

• Covid-19 school U-turn 'like Vicar of Dibley'

• Thousands of primary pupils face closed schools

She said it was unlikely her school in Thorpe St Andrew would reopen on Tuesday, but they would make a plan to "bring some certainty to our families and children".

"At the moment staffing is very complicated. We can't move staff around the school in the way we might have done in the past, and we have to have enough staff to open the school safely," she said.

She said that the school felt "safe" last term, but it still had to close three year groups at different times due to Covid-19.

"We've done everything we can, it now feels we are in a far more serious situation and we've got nothing more we can do to up our game to make the school a safer place than it was," she added.

She said she was "notorious for not shutting school" and had kept it open when they had no heating for seven weeks last year, but she felt staying closed now was "absolutely the right decision".

The Department for Education said closure should only be a "last resort".

Chris Snudden, director of learning and inclusion at Norfolk County Council, said about a third of Norfolk's primary schools closed on Monday to allow head teachers to "take stock of staffing levels and review risk assessments".

"All schools will have provision for vulnerable youngsters and the children of critical workers by Wednesday at the latest," she added.