Face Coverings in Secondary Schools

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Please send this letter to your local director of Public Health if you have recently received notice that, despite the change in stance made by the Prime Minister, your school is insisting that face coverings are to be worn in school and copy in the Regional Schools Commissioner and your MP.

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Dear [*INSERT NAME OF Public Health Director HERE],

 

Despite clear guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) that face coverings should no longer be worn in school, my child/children’s school [**INSERT NAME OF SCHOOL HERE]  still requires pupils to wear them.

Current guidance to schools was updated in the ‘Contingency framework: education and childcare settings’ which stipulates that:

‘From 20 January 2022, we no longer recommend that face coverings should be worn by any pupils, students, staff or adult visitors in classrooms and teaching spaces.
From 27 January 2022, we no longer recommend that face coverings should be worn by any pupils, students, staff or adult visitors when moving around premises, such as in corridors and communal areas.’

I find the school’s decision alarming.  I had been looking forward to the lifting of this restriction and a general return to the normal schooling that my child/children used to enjoy, before the Coronavirus emergency.

Were you aware that [INSERT NAME OF SCHOOL HERE] still requires pupils to wear face coverings and abide by other restrictions?

Please will you look into the situation at [INSERT NAME OF SCHOOL HERE] and see that the DfE’s current guidance in respect of face coverings is being followed?

The Coronavirus Emergency restrictions have plainly been oppressive for children. Everyone in our society has felt the negative impact of the government’s restrictions on free movement and social behaviour, but for children, the burden has been enormous. The wearing of face masks obviously inhibits communication and social interaction and makes children fearful and self-conscious.

The school years are the years of the most dramatic growth in a child’s life and personality and it is a tragedy that the current generation of schoolchildren have been made to sacrifice so much.

It is important, therefore, that schools return to pre-emergency teaching practices at the earliest opportunity, and I wonder why [INSERT NAME OF SCHOOL HERE] hasn’t done so yet.

Could you look into this for me?

Yours sincerely,

 

 

[YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS]

 

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