Schools of thought

Is your child being treated like a guinea pig? Sent back to school to catch and spread the virus? Or is it time you stopped teaching fractions in your kitchen?

- Alice Cooke

The great school debate. Should you or shouldn’t you send your child back; to pretend that children are capable of social distancing. (Newsflash – they’re not. They are children.)

The truth is I don’t know the right answer and neither do you. There are contentious (and valid) points to be made from both sides of the (heavily sanitised) school gate. Just last month Pennington Infant School in the New Forest had to close (having reopened), following a confirmed case. Is this a taste of things to come?

A spokesperson for Hampshire County Council said of the incident: “We are aware that a pupil at Pennington Infant School has tested positive for Covid-19. Public Health England has liaised with the school and, having carried out a detailed risk assessment, has advised the school that only those in the pupil’s school ‘bubble’ need to self-isolate for 14 days. In view of this guidance, the headteacher plans to open again for children in the rest of the school.”