Bassetlaw MP tells parents ‘we’ll get through this’ following schools closure announcement

Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith says it is not clear how long schools will be closed - following the Government’s announcement that they will be shutting on Friday as a response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Brendan said the Government had tried to delay the move as long as possible to reduce the risk to vulnerable grandparents taking on childcare while parents worked.

However he told how ‘we knew it was coming’ as more and more teachers were taking sick leave and self-isolating with pupils.

On Wednesday PM Boris Johnson announced schools in the UK would shut from Friday until further notice.

MP Brendan Clarke-SmithMP Brendan Clarke-Smith
MP Brendan Clarke-Smith

However they will remain open for vulnerable children and the children of keyworkers - such as policemen, firefighters and health workers.

Bassetlaw MP Brendan said the Government was due to publish a full list of all the key workers.

It is still unclear how non-key worker parents will balance work and childcare and some confusion remains for key worker parents about what to do with their children on Monday morning.

However Brendan hoped headteachers would be briefed about this by Friday.

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He said: “We may have teachers moved to different sites - but schools will be operating at about 10 per cent capacity and we hope to have a plan in place by Friday.”

The MP - who worked previously as a headteacher - moved to reassure parents whose children were due to take their GCSE exams.

He said: “It won’t be a case of students have to repeat the year.

“They will already have predicted grades from mock exams exam boards will look at what they’ve achieved so far.

“But if they’ve done badly in a mock exam that doesn’t mean they will be graded just from that - coursework will also be taken into consideration.

“And universities are already talking about accepting students they’ve already offered conditional places.”

Brendan, whose wife is a doctor and whose four-year-old boy attends a Bassetlaw nursery, admitted the crisis was badly affecting his own family.

But he added: “We’re trying to do the right thing and we will get through it but people need to be a bit patient and trust in what we’re doing.