Schools in England reinstate mask wearing rules in classrooms after surge in Covid cases
Daily MailA number of schools are reinstating rules for pupils to wear facemasks after a surge in Covid cases, despite Government guidance last week which ended the requirement. Children wearing facemasks during a lesson at Outwood Academy in Woodlands, Doncaster Hailsham Community College in East Sussex is one of a number of schools who have reinstated face masks in the classroom Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: 'It is very likely that we are going to see increased disruption in schools across the next weeks, with cases rising among both primary and secondary pupils. Year 9 students wear protective face masks as they take part in lessons on the first day back at school, as the coronavirus disease lockdown begins to ease at Harris Academy Sutton, south London Andy Byers, headteacher of Framwellgate school in Durham, told The Guardian that face masks were still needed because of high Covid rates in the area Following the Government announcement on January 20, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said that local officials would seek to persuade individual schools to abandon masks after a number of headteacher voiced their objections. Year 10 and 11 students at Hailsham Community College in East Sussex wearing masks in the classroom St Peter's Church of England School is Exeter has also continued with mandatory face masks in the classroom amid a rise in local Covid cases ‘We do expect schools to follow it, but we do not have a legal mechanism to coerce schools into doing so.