As schools across the district prepare to return next week after more than five months away, some parents have said they’re “delighted” to know their children can return to classroom learning.

Coronavirus forced schools to close in March leaving most children to continue learning from home. Parents in the district have also spoken out about their worries over the educational impact further delays could have.

Schools will look different next month, with ‘bubbles’ in place and regular hand sanitising to prevent transmission.

Laura Berryman, from Bilton is sending her twins into year three next month. She said:

“I am 100% ready for them to go back. They are both excited to see their friends, we are feeling prepared, we’ve been told what to expect by the school hopefully it’ll all be fine. The small risk of getting it is outweighed by the impact of what they could miss out on. I don’t want them to go backwards, the thought of them at home any longer scares me.”

James from Harrogate is sending his son into year 10. He said:

“I’m delighted he’s returning to school, it couldn’t come soon enough. I’ve been disappointed with how the school has handled it. He had little work until three weeks before summer. The school had no idea how to use the technology and that made it more difficult, I don’t know why it was made out to be so difficult. I just hope the schools are using common sense to manage covid, the kids wellbeing is paramount. He’s excited to get back and speak to his friends it’s massively beneficial to have that social interaction.”

Kids walking to school will be a common sight once again as schools gear up to put measures in place.

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Some schools are yet to announce how school buses are to go ahead raising further questions for parents.

Nicola Crebbin has twin boys going into year nine. She said:

“I am ready for them to go back. I have no worries about health risks but it would be good to know more regarding procedures and transport. I am slightly concerned that the children’s education may be held back waiting for others who didn’t (or couldn’t) engage in education during lockdown to catch up, time will tell. Both prefer remote school to being in school, less distracted by other children and lack of peer pressure enabled them to be more creative. Although they did find the work set a little dull.”

Today was A-level results day for hundreds of young people in the district, most of whom have received their results online this morning.

Amid the pandemic, the students’ exams were cancelled and their grades have been based on teacher expectations, mock exam grades and previous cohorts’ results. All were then standardised by government body Ofqual.

Unlike previous years, students weren’t able to attend their college or sixth form today and instead found out their grades online.

Read more:

• Harrogate A level students anxiously await results day
• Parents risk losing child’s place at school over coronavirus fears, says county council

Apprehension regarding the results was heightened after a U-turn in Scottish exam results. All results that were downgraded through the new system were replaced by the original estimates.

Here you can find out how each centre has performed (more links will be added as results are released):

• Ashville College
• Harrogate Grammar School
• Harrogate Ladies’ College
• Ripon Grammar School 

Parents who keep their children out of school from September due to concerns over them catching Covid-19 risk losing their place at the school, according to North Yorkshire County Council.

From next month the government says all primary and secondary school pupils must return after being away from the classroom since March, when the lockdown began.

The Stray Ferret put a range of questions about schools in the Harrogate district going back in September to Cllr Patrick Mulligan, executive member for schools at North Yorkshire County Council. His responses are below.

Cllr Patrick Mulligan, executive member for schools, North Yorkshire County Council.

Professor Neil Ferguson said last week that schools re-opening in September risks a second wave of Covid-19. Do you agree?

“There are so many different points of view about this but we’re listening to advice from the government. With young people and children, the risk of contracting coronavirus is very low.

“I’ve had a lot of contact with parents who are upset with the school lockdown. They say their kids are not getting an education.

“The government didn’t give so much guidance so it was up to the governors and teachers about what should be done. So in one village the school might have been doing everything electronically and in another village, they were doing hardly anything.

“The government didn’t have a national policy so it was up to the individual school. NYCC didn’t have the power to intervene if a school wasn’t doing anything because it was at their discretion.

“That turned out to be problematic. It was one of those things that was unforeseen when the lockdown occurred.”

Are you preparing to close schools if there is a second spike?

“We’ve learned a lot of lessons and it’s the last thing we want to see. We’re trying to mitigate it through local lockdowns and the same could be true for schools. Theoretically, the NHS could come in and shut a school down. Everything is evolving from day to day.

“If it did happen again we would hope there would be better internet provision and lessons set up. It’s a difficulty if children don’t have electronic devices or anyone at home supporting them.”

Will school buses be at full capacity?

“If the government had said we’d have to maintain social distancing for school transport that would be a huge issue for NYCC because frankly, we don’t have the number of vehicles to make two or three trips to the school instead of one.

“But the government has said where there’s a dedicated school bus service there doesn’t have to be social distancing.”

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What options does a parent have if they don’t want to send their child back to school in September due to safety concerns?

“As it stands now, the parents would have to keep their children at home then they would have to say they would home school their child. The risk is they would lose their child’s place at the school.

“Otherwise, if you keep your child off school then they are liable for a fine. That’s a big issue.

“Our absolute priority is to keep the children safe. If there is any thought they won’t be safe then we’d be advising the school to close.

“All the schools are taking it very seriously and implementing safety recommendations.”

Will teachers receive any extra training to prepare for any mental health issues children may face in September?

“It’s so hard to say what the mental health of our children is. Our mental health officers say there have been less calls than usual, which might be worrying.

“My daughter went back to school in June for a bit and she was quite relieved to see her friends and have more structure in her education.”

Does a teacher have to go back to work if they, for example, have a partner at home who is shielding? 

“I think they’d be allowed to wear PPE if they wanted to. It’s a very difficult one and it’s an individual choice. If someone wanted to stop working then that’s their choice.

“I don’t think there’s any more risk to a teacher than to someone in any other workplace. It’s completely understandable that someone might be nervous going back to work. In my experience, people are getting more confident about going out.”

Have there been any positives for children not being at school for so long?

“Maybe they have learnt to value things they have took for granted, just like all of us. My main concern is about their education. But I’d like to think they’ve learnt the value of family a bit more.”

Education leaders in North Yorkshire have vowed no child will be left behind as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

A national package of £1bn of support has been promised by the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, of which £650m will go to state primary and secondary schools, and the rest to help disadvantaged children to access high quality tuition.

Supported by North Yorkshire County Council, headteachers across the Harrogate district are now looking at the best ways to help students catch up on missed learning over the last three months. Stuart Carlton, corporate director of children and young people’s services at NYCC, said:

“School leaders and staff will be looking at how best to use the government’s funding for catch-up education.

“There will be a no one-size-fits-all approach to this; schools will be making their decisions based on the needs of their pupils, the availability of teaching staff and other considerations. It may be they run intervention programmes, bring in extra teaching capacity or “bolt-on” lessons at the end of the traditional school day.

“But the county council and North Yorkshire’s schools are all completely committed to making sure no child’s education loses out as a result of the pandemic and will be working very hard to make sure we get every pupil to where they need to be in their academic progress.”

Mr Carlton thanked pupils, parents and teachers for their hard work in challenging circumstances this year.

At present, Years 10 and 12 are being prioritised in secondary schools, with a quarter of these year groups in school at a time. The education secretary has announced he expects all pupils in both primary and secondary schools to return to full-time lessons in September, with more guidance to be published in the coming weeks.

Mr Carlton said NYCC and schools are keen to have that guidance soon in order to allow them to plan for a safe return. Independent holiday clubs and activities should also be resuming this summer, allowing children to be cared for while parents work.

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Meanwhile, an independent school near Harrogate has reopened to all pupils this morning, following changes in government guidance.

Belmont Grosvenor, a prep school based on the edge of Birstwith, has welcomed pupils from reception up to Year 6 thanks to small class sizes and extensive grounds.

Sophia Ashworth Jones, headmistress of Belmont Grosvenor, with school dog Zola

The school had previously opened its Magic Tree Nursery, as well as Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 classes from June 1, in line with government advice. When that changed to allow schools to make their own decisions about which pupils could safely return, it welcomed back Year 5 from June 15, before opening to the rest of its year groups today.

Headmistress Sophia Ashworth Jones said:

“We are fortunate to be set in 20 acres of beautiful grounds, our average class size is 15 pupils, and we have plenty of both indoor and outdoor space to manage the social-distancing guidelines well.

“Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, our children, from nursery to Year 6, enjoyed outdoor learning daily, from taking part in Forest School lessons in our woodland, to performing in the school’s outside amphitheatre. Now our children are back in school, the outside space has taken on an even greater importance.”

While many parents have chosen to send their children back, the school is also continuing to offer remote learning for those who are staying at home. As well as daily lessons, the school has been offering online assemblies, show-and-tell meetings, book clubs and well-being sessions for pupils since lockdown began in March.

• How has home schooling been for you? Has your children’s school been supportive or do you feel teachers could have done more? Are you ready for lessons to resume? Tell us about your experience by getting in touch.

Woodfield Community Primary School in Harrogate reflects on its first week back after re-opening to limited year groups on Tuesday.

Woodfield Primary has remained open throughout the lockdown for the children of key workers. However, all pupils in nursery, reception, and year 1 are now also able to go back to school.

Jo Marwood, headteacher at the school, spoke to the Stray Ferret about how they have found the first week back:

 It’s definitely not the normal… We have about 25% of  our children back. We are focusing on the ‘bubble’ element. We have no more than 10 in each group and we keep the bubbles completely seperate. They have seperate start and finish times, break times and we have two metres between each desk in the classroms. We are staggering the return of pupils, so year 6 pupils will start to come back from next week.

There are government guidelines for schools to adhere too but there is no set  “uniform” approach.” This means not all schools have re-opened, and the ones that are may all be taking a slightly different approach.

 No school is the same… It depends on the size of the building, how many pupils you have and also how you interpret the guidelines. We are doing absolutely everything we can to ensure the safety of our pupils and staff. I dont think at the moment we could have all of the children back… We just don’t have the staff or the rooms.

Despite the gradual re-opening of schools within the borough, it is up to individual parents to decide if they feel it is safe to send their children back.

Only a third of North Yorkshire’s primary schools are following government guidance on reopening today as concerns remain over the safety of pupils and staff.

Children in reception, year one and year six could all be back in lessons from today – but not every primary school has chosen to follow the changing advice.

Just 111 schools across the county are planning to reopen to pupils in some or all of those year groups today, according to the county council, and 24 more are expecting to follow next week. Judith Kirk, NYCC’s assistant director for education and skills, said:

“Schools have drawn up a bespoke approach to reopening, appropriate to their circumstances, but we want to reassure parents that when children come into primary schools in North Yorkshire, the first focus will be children’s safety and wellbeing, settling them in and making them feel secure, before we begin teaching the curriculum.

“We are working with schools, headteachers and teaching unions to support each school and the decision made by head teachers and governing bodies.”

Teaching unions told The Stray Ferret last month that they had serious reservations about their ability to keep everyone safe, and it seems those concerns remain. Some schools say they will follow full government guidance, while others say it would not be safe to reopen at all, other than for the children of key workers who have already been attending.

‘Not missing out’

Among those opening for some year groups today is Bilton Grange Primary School in Harrogate, which will welcome back pupils in its reception classes. However, the school has told parents it does not feel it can safely open to years one and six yet – something which has been welcomed by parent Jamie Haslam.

His daughter Erin is in year six at the school, but has been learning at home, alongside older sister Jessica who attends Harrogate High School, with support from teachers and their parents since the start of lockdown. Jamie said he was relieved not to have to make the decision himself about whether it was safe for Erin to return – though he does feel sad she’s missing the final weeks at primary school.

“I remember from last year when Jessica left, it was nice that last bit of primary school. I don’t feel she’s missing out on anything education-wise, she will just miss those nice experiences with her friends.”

Schools across the district will teach pupils taught in smaller groups than usual class sizes. Each small group is being kept apart from others, with measures such as staggered arrival times and breaks introduced, and additional ventilation, cleaning and other measures in place to minimise the risks of infection.

Pupils will be taught in smaller groups, but social distancing will not be enforced within those

North Yorkshire county councillor Patrick Mulligan said:

“All schools have carried out risk assessments looking at social distancing, staffing and hygiene and those that can open safely will be doing on Monday. Not all schools will be open on June 1; we are a large rural county with a relatively high number of small rural schools – including traditional church schools based around small classrooms – where implementing social distancing simply isn’t possible.

“We would like to reassure parents who are sending their children to school that schools are working hard to ensure the safety and wellbeing of pupils.”

The county council is also working to deliver home-to-school transport for those pupils who already qualified for it. Parents in need of transport over the coming weeks have been asked to complete a survey on the council’s website.

Is your child’s school reopening today? How do you feel about sending them back? Contact us with your views.

The NASUWT teachers’ union representative in Harrogate has warned that reopening schools will be a logistical nightmare.

Sharon Calvert, who has decades of experience in teaching, said the local teachers she represents are very worried about plans to welcome back some classes from June 1.

“These young children will not keep their social distancing, The first thing they will want to do is run inside and hug their teacher, it will be impossible to keep apart. The headteachers I know are mortified about these plans,” she told the Stray Ferret.

She believes that schools should not be given any deadline to reopen. Instead, she says that they should only open when it is clear that it is safe.

Sharon said the guidance from the government is as “clear as mud.”

“This is very serious, it is like we are being asked to send our children over the top. The children don’t seem to be affected quite as badly but the children could take that home to someone who is vulnerable. The teachers are just as worried about spreading it to their families.”

What are schools planning?

North Yorkshire County Council has said it will leave individual schools in the Harrogate district to decide whether it is safe for them to reopen, as previously reported.

Each school will need to take a risk assessment and the council has said it will give them support and advice.

That leaves it up to headteachers across the Harrogate district to decide when they will reopen and how teaching will work with social distancing.

One primary school, Saltergate, in Harrogate has said when it opens it will try to replicate the system in Denmark. The school sent a notice to parents to say they will keep groups of around seven children in “protective bubbles.”

They will also keep social distancing to the best of their ability, focus on regular handwashing, and introduce staggered start and finish times.

Individual schools in the Harrogate district will be left to decide whether it is safe for them to reopen next month.

North Yorkshire County Council said it will give schools their full support and bespoke advice. Each school will need to take a risk assessment.

It comes after the Government set out its road map which involved schools welcoming back some classes from June 1.

Some schools in the Harrogate district may be ready to reopen by then but the council thinks that many will stagger their openings.

There will not be any punishments for parents who decide against sending their children to schools.

More than 200 schools across North Yorkshire have stayed open to vulnerable children and the children of key workers during the coronavirus lockdown.

Stuart Carlton is the Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Service at North Yorkshire County Council.

He said: “We are advising schools to prepare to be open from June 1 at the earliest, awaiting Government confirmation that they will.

“We are here supporting schools and headteachers as best we can to make the correct and safest decisions in line with Government advice.”

Some councils have taken a different view. Calderdale, Bury, Liverpool, and Hartlepool have all advised against a wider school reopening.

If you are a parent, teacher, or headteacher and have concerns about the schools reopening then please get in touch with the Stray Ferret by  sending us an email.

The Stray Ferret has been capturing some of the creative rainbow displays, that continue to appear in peoples windows across the borough.

Thousands of children are being encouraged to make the pictures to ‘spread hope’ amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The idea is to give passers-by something to smile at, whilst also giving children the opportunity to get creative whilst staying at home.