London boroughs have joined the capital’s mayor in calling on the government to allow an extension of the Christmas holidays for colleges and secondary schools in a bid to stem the rise of Covid cases.
A letter sent to the prime minister yesterday, signed by Sadiq Khan (Lab) and London Councils chair Georgia Gould (Lab), said the government must give “urgent consideration” to closing education establishments for children aged over 11 “a few days early” for the holidays and “keeping them closed longer after Christmas”.
They said this would allow for further testing of young people in the wake of last week’s announcement that mass testing would be rolled out to schools in London, Kent and Essex.