Charity workers able to send their children to school amid Covid-19-lockdown

The government has confirmed that the children of charity workers involved in frontline service delivery will be able to attend school and college amid the latest Covid-19 lockdown.

This week Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced details of a new national lockdown to curb the spread of infection. This includes most children being taught at home remotely.

But children of critical workers, as well as vulnerable children, are able to attend school amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The updated list of critical workers includes those working for charities delivering key public services.

The list includes:

• those essential to the running of the justice system
• religious staff
• charities and workers delivering key frontline services
• those responsible for the management of the deceased
• journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting

The move will come as a relief to charity workers concerned at having to juggle work commitments with caring for primary school age children and supporting home learning.

Digital divide

Meanwhile, Oak National Academy, the charity set up last year to deliver online lessons for children during lockdown, has warned that disadvantaged families are being “locked out of learning”. This is due to high costs of accessing lessons and lack of digital connectivity.

It is calling on broadband providers to waive all data fees for educational websites.

Oak Academy principal Matt Hood said: “The cost of internet access to the poorest families is the single biggest issue that is preventing all children being able to access learning during lockdown. What’s more, once again it’s the poorest families that are hit hardest, with the risk of being locked out of lockdown learning altogether.

"We simply cannot allow this digital divide to determine the education that children receive – we need a universal solution and we need it now.

“It’s time for the big four Telecoms firms to step up and do their bit. It’s very simple: make education sites zero-rated. This cannot happen soon enough and we would urge them to do the right thing and to do it quickly.”