Academies depart from Greenwich council advice that schools should close from tonight

Two London academies, run by two of England’s largest quasi-private chains, appear to be at odds with the local authority in which they operate over whether or not they should close from tonight because of Covid-19.

Harris Greenwich and Ark Greenwich Free School have both pledged to stay open from tomorrow for at least most of their year groups, despite the leader of Greenwich council having urged all schools to close because of the danger of an “exponential” rise of cases in the south London borough.

In an open letter released last night, Dan Thorpe, leader of Labour-controlled Greenwich council, said the move followed a briefing he had had from Public Health England, warning that the authority now had its highest rate of infection since March.

“I have therefore asked all schools in Greenwich to close their premises from Monday evening and move to online learning for the duration of the term, with the exception of key worker children and those with specific needs,” he wrote.

However, it has since emerged that not all schools want to do so.