“Hordes” of children in London secondary school’s corridors before and after lessons, teacher warns, indicating colleagues are arriving late for lessons because of covid risks

A teacher at a high-profile London comprehensive which is being closely followed by this website has given an insight into the congestion they and colleagues have faced in its corridors amid fears that covid risks are still not being dealt with sufficiently rigorously.

The staff member, speaking to Education Uncovered as others have on condition of anonymity, said that in recent weeks the hallways at Pimlico Academy in Westminster have been crammed with “hordes” of teenagers, to the extent that they and colleagues have resorted to turning up to lessons late to avoid the crowds.

Meanwhile, a parent of a child at the same school has told how that child witnessed a teacher being told by the principal to remove her mask during a lesson, and to get children to do the same. Parents were told last week that students face detention for failing to bring masks to school to wear outside of lessons, but are not allowed to do so either in classrooms or in weekly assemblies.

The development comes following news that one of London’s councils is advising all its schools to close early this week because of the virus, but with the government reported over the weekend to have written to a school in Hertfordshire threatening legal action if it put all its students on home learning.

Secondary age pupils were reported two weeks ago as having the highest rate of coronavirus cases of any sector of the population, with a 50-fold increase in weekly infections since September.