Parent group vows to keep fighting for a full return to normality in schools

(Press release issued 17 February 2022)

Campaign group Stand By Me Scotland has expressed its deep dismay and frustration at the level of Covid restrictions that will remain in Scotland’s schools after 28 February, and has vowed not to rest until school life has returned to full normality. 

Earlier this month, the group launched a Crowdfunder, which has raised almost £3,500 towards the costs of a legal challenge on masks in schools. The group intends to keep raising funds to safeguard against any potential U-turn by the Scottish Government. 

The Scottish Government’s updated Covid guidance on reducing the risks in schools, published today, removes the requirement for secondary pupils to wear face masks while seated in class, and allows the return of assemblies. However, a host of restrictions remain which, the group says, still place disproportionate and unfair curbs on school life.

These include face masks while moving around in corridors, as well as a ban on in-school events that involve parents and carers, like parents’ evenings, curriculum evenings, prizegivings, shows, performances and fundraisers. The guidance only makes provision for “essential” individual parental visits to discuss "wellbeing, progress and behaviour of children".

Ruth Harley, co-organiser of Stand by Me Scotland, who is also a teacher said: 

"We want to see schools return to normal - as in pre-pandemic normal - with no face masks in communal areas, and no disproportionate restrictions on activities and events that are not seen in the rest of society. Though the relaxation of rules is welcome, we will not stop campaigning until complete normality returns for our children. There are still more restrictions on the lives of our children in comparison not only to their counterparts in England, but also to adults in Scotland."

Member Ida Maspero added: 

“As a parent, the retention of the ban on in-school meetings, events and gatherings involving parents and carers is really frustrating and seems bizarre, given that performance venues are full and large indoor events are now happening as normal. Parents and carers continue to be alienated and locked out of school life. Schools are the heart of their communities, and that sense of community is being corroded.”

The updated guidance also sees the retention of face masks for primary school teachers where a distance cannot be kept. 

Member Lorraine Fyfe, a parent whose primary-aged daughter has a hearing impairment, said: 

“Although the relaxation of masks is welcomed, for many pupils nothing has changed. Primary-aged children with hearing difficulties are still experiencing teachers and teaching assistants wearing masks in classrooms if they cannot maintain a safe distance. But more problematic is that the adults continue to need to wear masks in communal areas. This causes huge problems for younger children in areas such as lunch halls where it is already much noisier. It makes hearing the adults who are there to offer assistance so much more difficult.”

For many children with anxiety, school will remain distressing, said member Joanna Hill: 

"My eldest has autism and finds seeing others wearing facemasks very distressing, so he is studying for Highers in school with no face-to-face teacher time. Our school has done their best… facemasks and covid information in corridors was also distressing, so they took down the signs on his usual routes. But they couldn't remove the facemasks from the corridors and communal areas, and they still can't, because our government has only said classes so far."

Parent group won’t stop campaigning until masks are gone from schools entirely

(Press release issued 10 February 2022)

Campaign group Stand By Me Scotland has welcomed today’s announcement from the First Minister on the removal of the requirement for secondary school children to wear face masks in classrooms, however it has stated that it won’t rest until masks are gone from schools entirely.

The group of over 2,300 parents, grandparents, teachers and school staff formed earlier this year due to concerns about the educational and psychological impact of prolonged mask-wearing in school, especially on children with hearing impairments and those with additional support needs.

After First Minister Nicola Sturgeon failed to remove the mask requirement from children at her update on Tuesday, the group launched a Crowdfunder, which has already raised almost £3000 towards the costs of a legal challenge on mask mandates in schools. The group intends to keep raising funds to safeguard against any potential U-turn by the Scottish Government before 28th February – the date when masks are no longer required in classrooms.

Stand By Me Scotland co-organiser Ruth Harley, who is also a teacher, said: 

“While we of course welcome today’s announcement, we are also angry that it took so long for this day to come. We also intend to keep raising funds until the days of masks in schools are completely over. Masks have no place in our schools, and must never, ever return.

Over the past 16 months, face masks in schools have disadvantaged young people with hearing difficulties and learning support needs such as autism, and made school life uncomfortable and unpleasant for thousands of children. Parents of these children won’t forgive the First Minister for this, and voters will remember what she has done when it comes to the local elections in May.”

Go to Crowdfunder page

Parent group demands removal of face masks in Scottish classrooms

(Press release issued 19 January 2022)

Parent-teacher campaign group Stand By Me Scotland is demanding an immediate end to the Scottish Government’s requirement for children as young as 11 to wear a face mask all day in school.

The call comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that children in English secondary schools will no longer be asked to wear a mask from tomorrow.

The group of over 2000 parents, grandparents and school staff are concerned about the educational and psychological impact of prolonged mask-wearing in school, especially on children with hearing impairments and those with additional support needs.

The Scottish Government first mandated masks for senior phase pupils and their teachers in secondary school classrooms in October 2020 for areas in Levels 3 and 4 of Covid restrictions, in what was billed as a temporary measure. Instead, they still remain in place 15 months later, and now apply to all secondary pupils from as young as age 11.

Stand By Me Scotland co-organiser Ruth Harley, who is also a teacher, said: 

“It’s great news for English children that they will no longer have to wear masks in class, but yet again it feels like Scottish children have been forgotten about. Our senior pupils have been wearing them all day in school for 15 months now. The Scottish Government has continually moved the goalposts on when this measure, which was only supposed to be in place for the first 6 weeks of the autumn term, will be removed. This cannot continue.

“Stand By Me Scotland fundamentally disagrees with children being subjected to stricter restrictions than the rest of society. You can now go clubbing without a mask, eat a meal in a restaurant without a mask, debate in the Scottish Parliament without a mask - yet our children as young as 11 are expected to wear them for 6-7 hours a day in school. That just isn’t right.

“Study after study shows that Covid is a mild illness for the vast majority of children, and with teachers now protected by the vaccine, we cannot think of any justification for maintaining mask mandates a moment longer. Indeed, in its meeting on 5 October 2021, the Scottish Government’s own Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues recommended that the requirement for masks in classrooms should be removed as a matter of priority.

“We call on Nicola Sturgeon to wear a face mask continually for 7 hours a day, every working day, until she removes masks from our children.”

Parent-teacher campaign group slams extension of masks in class

(Press release issued 19 October 2021)

Stand By Me Scotland, the grassroots campaign group of parents and teachers fighting for an end to compulsory face masks in Scotland’s classrooms, has condemned this morning's Scottish Government announcement that all Covid mitigations in schools will remain unchanged - including the requirement for secondary school pupils to wear face masks while seated at their desks.

“We are appalled and disgusted that the Scottish Government has bowed to pressure from the EIS and rowed back on updating its guidance in line with recommendations from experts on its own Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues, which met on 5 October.  

“Blatantly pegging the removal of masks to vaccination rates of 12- to 15-year olds, as today’s announcement does, is a monumental shifting of the goalposts and frankly, it’s pure coercion -  a sinister move that paves the way for a ‘no jab, no school’ policy. This is an assault on children’s rights which we’ll fight tooth and nail.”

In her statement, the Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville had said: ‘While I fully understand that this will be disappointing news for some young people and their parents, as has been the situation throughout, the safety of children, young people, and all education staff remains the overriding priority.”

Stand By Me Scotland’s spokesperson points out: 

“What the Education Secretary totally fails to acknowledge is the very real detrimental impact of full-time masks in classrooms. Wearing a mask for up to six hours a day is not just a mere discomfort - it is harmful to teaching and learning, and the health and wellbeing of pupils and staff. If the Scottish Government is so concerned about safety, it needs to start listening to parents and to the many teachers trying to speak up about these harms.”

Stand By Me members in the teaching profession have been anonymously sharing their experiences that reveal the detrimental impacts of masks in secondary classrooms. Read their experiences here. 

“Our teacher members fear for their jobs so can only speak anonymously, but their harrowing stories show, graphically, how full-time mask wearing damages learning and wellbeing. It’s not a small sacrifice but a harmful intervention that fundamentally alters the dynamic in secondary classrooms. This is NOT what we want for Scotland’s children.”

Teachers speak out against masks in classrooms amid guidance delay

(Press release issued 18 October)

Secondary school teachers are adding their voices to those of parents and secondary school leaders in calling for face masks to be dropped from Scotland’s secondary classrooms when schools return. 

This comes as the Scottish Government is yet to publish its revised guidance following the most recent meeting of the Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues on 5 October. According to press reports on Monday 11 October, the meeting had recommended that masks while seated in class should be dropped. However, in a subsequent statement on Twitter the EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, said it would oppose the move at this stage. 

Stand By Me Scotland, the grassroots campaign group of parents and teachers fighting for an end to compulsory face masks in Scotland’s classrooms, said: 

“Enough is enough. The Scottish Government should listen to the experts on its own Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues and not buckle under pressure from the EIS, whose insistence on keeping face masks is deeply unjust and unfair to children, and certainly does not represent the views of all secondary teachers working at the coalface." 

School Leaders Scotland had already said they would welcome the removal of masks from classrooms, and that is what our teacher members are telling us too. The EIS is not acting in the interests of children and teachers by opposing the draft guidance.”

A growing body of testimony from teachers gathered by Stand By Me Scotland reveal the detrimental impacts of masks in secondary classrooms - on teaching, learning engagement, health and wellbeing. Though teachers are afraid to speak out for fear of losing their jobs, some are sharing their experiences anonymously. Read about their experiences here. 

Stop shifting the goalposts

(Press release issued 6 October)

We condemn the First Minister’s suggestion during her Covid update of 5 October that restrictions in school - including face masks - may remain in place beyond the October holidays. Once again, the First Minister is kicking the can down the road 

What we are seeing is an insidious mission creep. In early August, before the start of term, the Scottish Government said restrictions in schools will remain in place for up to six weeks. The new Cabinet Secretary for Education, Shirley-Anne Somerville, promised masks in class would be dropped “as soon as possible”

She said: "Of course we would like to take these restrictions off as soon as possible. We think they might be in place for up to six weeks, that's to ensure that all the staff within our schools have the opportunity to be fully doubly vaccinated. But if we can take those restrictions - particularly the face masks - off earlier then of course we would do that."

So at that point the ostensible aim of keeping masks in class was to ensure provide a little leeway for staff to have both doses. Well, that's done now. And 12-15 year olds are now being offered the vaccine too. 

In mid-September, this was extended to the October break, and now we see the suggestion that masks in secondary classrooms may stay beyond that. We eagerly await the outcome of yesterday’s (5 October) meeting of the Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues, and hope that common sense and compassion will finally prevail. But we fear it will probably not.

So we'll keep standing by our children and say... Enough is enough. The enforcement of face masks in secondary school classrooms - even when kids are seated - needs to end now, as they did in England in May. Keeping the measure is unjust and harmful to our young people, and completely out of step with the easing of restrictions in wider Scottish society. 

Latest Holyrood protest as political leaders mingle mask-less indoors

Stand By Me Scotland held its fourth protest outside the Scottish Parliament on Saturday 2 October, with its trademark colourful slogan umbrellas brightening up a typically dreich autumnal day. The fourth protest took place on the same day as the Official Opening of the Scottish Parliament.

We were horrified, but not surprised, to see pictures emerge soon after the official reception of MSPs, including the First Minister herself, socialising mask-free, cheek by jowl with other guests indoors. 

This highlighted in stark terms the ridiculous and unfair inconsistencies in the remaining Covid mitigations, with secondary-age children bearing the greatest burden of restrictions  while adults socialise mask-free in nightclubs… and in Parliament! 

Scotland’s political leaders are guilty of breath-taking double standards, enjoying life as normal and claiming to have young people’s best interests at heart, while continuing to insist secondary pupils wear masks for six hours a day. This must stop now.

(Also see press release issued 6 October) 

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