The Department for Education announced that face coverings will again be required in secondary classrooms in England. DfE have stated that this is for a temporary period.
NDCS have updated the coronavirus blogs for families to reflect this change on face coverings:
- Schools and other education settings - coronavirus info for families of deaf children
- Face masks and communication - coronavirus info for families of deaf children
One important nuance is that teachers are not expected to wear face coverings in classrooms when they are at the front of the classroom:
“We would not ordinarily expect teachers to wear a face covering in the classroom if they are at the front of the class, to support education delivery, although settings should be sensitive to the needs of individual teachers.”
DfE have also announced a further roll-out of air purifiers. NDCS would be very interested in any feedback from colleagues who have any experience of these devices – in particular, around any generation of background noise from these devices that may or may not be problematic for some deaf children.