Quality | 2010.04.19
Ash cloud forces schools to suspend classes
Hundreds of pupils and teachers on school trips remain stranded after volcano halts flights
Schools are being forced to suspend classes today and send homework to students overseas as hundreds of teachers and pupils remain stranded abroad because of the ban on flights.
Pupils and teachers on school trips were expected to return to the UK over the weekend, ahead of the first day of the summer term today. But many have been unable to travel because of the Icelandic volcanic eruption that has made flying perilous.
In Hertfordshire, 352 children are stranded overseas on school trips in 11 countries, from Iceland to Hong Kong. Some 40 pupils and four teachers from Orleans Park School in Twickenham, south London, are stranded in Shanghai, China.
At Stoke Newington secondary school, in north London, a "significant number" of staff are stuck abroad and classes for year 10s have been cancelled today.
Mark Southworth, headteacher of Woodcote high school in Croydon, said 12 of his teachers were stranded overseas – 14% of his workforce.
Wellington college, a private school in Berkshire, is posting homework and mock exams to its 109 students stranded abroad. The college is running lessons and tutorials by email and on the telephone. Students have been told to find an internet cafe to continue their studies.
Dr Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington college, said exams were weeks away and he was leaving nothing to chance. He said: "Our students have been trying very hard to come back, and where they\'ve been unable, we are providing this online support – which will be a precursor of the way education will go in the 21st century."
A primary teacher, Joanne Wallace, used a webcam to conduct assembly to pupils at Parson Street primary school in Bristol.
A hundred students stranded in Hangzhou and Beijing, China, are unable to return to the UK for a fortnight. They have been on a government-funded programme that gives students an experience of the country.
Danielle Dodds, 20, a Northumbria University student, said: "We have dissertation deadlines, exams and other commitments which we will not be able to fulfill. Our visas will run out this week and we have been told that, in order to extend them, we will each have to open a Chinese bank account and put the equivalent of £2,000 in it – which few of us have."
In Buckinghamshire, seven schools have school trips stranded abroad. Sue Imbriano, Buckinghamshire\'s director of children\'s services, said: "We are in contact with the groups and can assure families that the young people involved are being well looked after. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep parents and carers informed."
At Northampton school for boys, 24 pupils are stranded in Japan on a school trip, 16 are being kept in Trinidad and Tobago on a cricket tour, and a further 50 are unable to return to the UK from their holidays abroad.
Some 13 of the school\'s teachers are stranded overseas, nine of whom are with pupils on trips. This is more than 14% of the schools\' teachers.
Mike Griffiths, the school\'s headteacher, said he was expecting to spend £8,000 this week on supply teachers. "We have managed to get eight supply teachers for today. It is obviously not ideal. That is a lot of our supply budget. We will be looking to reduce this and ask teachers to do more supply cover. "
He said Spanish GCSE orals were being postponed from this week. "We have staff looking at what exams might be affected. We are concerned that students haven\'t got the materials they need to revise."
The City of London academy in Bermondsey, south London, has closed to years 7 to 9, and will reopen on Thursday.
Hanham Abbots junior school, in South Gloucestershire is closed because eight of its members of staff are stranded. It is likely to reopen tomorrow when five teachers return.
A message on its website says: "Due to flight restrictions and eight members of staff stuck in Europe, we will be unable to open the school to pupils tomorrow. We will let you know about Tuesday as soon as possible."
At the City of London academy in Southwark, 21 of the school\'s 90 teachers are stranded abroad, including the principal, Martyn Coles. Coles was visiting the academy\'s sister school in New York with two other teachers.
The school has decided to cancel classes for years 7, 8 and 9 so that it doesn\'t have to employ supply teachers. Martin Edwards, the school\'s communications officer, said: "It was a decision to do with the quality [of supply teachers]. Everyone will need supply teachers, and we would be in the queue with everyone else."
Universities UK, the umbrella group for university heads, advised any students who were stranded to contact their institution directly as soon as possible.
Simon Higman, the University of Southampton\'s registrar, posted a comment on the university\'s website stating that "a number of students and staff" were stranded.
"Steps will be taken to ensure that any students unable to return to Southampton on Monday as a result of the disruption to air traffic will not be disadvantaged academically."
Chris Keates, general secretary of the Nasuwt teaching union, said primary schools were most likely to close.
She said: "Schools do have contingency plans to deal with these sorts of problems because, whether it is a flu epidemic, severe weather or volcano ash, the impact on the school is the same. However, this is so widespread, I can see that schools could close, the most likely being primary schools."
Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "There are definitely schools where a significant number of teachers will be unable to make it into work so there will inevitably be closures. It is regrettable that it will potentially be expensive for schools if they have to engage supply staff, but I see no reason why teachers who are stranded abroad should not be paid as normal in these unforeseeable and entirely blameless circumstances".
Teachers in Coventry have told the Nasuwt that their local authority is threatening to dock their pay if they do not turn up for work. Coventry City Council has denied this.
A spokesman from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said: "Schools have contingency plans in place and headteachers are best placed to decide how to cover for absent staff effectively and support pupils forced to miss classes in catching up quickly.
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010[...]s-suspend-classes-over-volcano
