A headmaster has told how he took a decision to insist all pupils wear face visors when they return after nearly a third of their parents had threatened to keep them away.

Primary head Warren Harrison revealed that another factor was that five members of staff resigned at the start of summer citing Covid-19 as the reason.

He also told how over a quarter of staff at the school were found to have underlying health issues.

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This mean that these staff members - who made up 27 per cent of school faculty - could not go into the school to teach children of key workers early on in lockdown.

Mr Harrison, who has been headmaster of The Premier Academy's Eaton Mill Primary School, in Milton Keynes, for 18 years, issued a newsletter last week to parents on the school's new safety measures.

Mr Harrison instructed them that all children will be required to wear surgical masks when being dropped off and picked up from school.

The letter stated that all staff, children, parents, carers and visitors must don a mask when on site, or they will not be allowed access.

Children will then be allowed to take off the masks and switch them for a named face visor - provided by the school - once in their classrooms.

The newsletter also stated that pupils will be required to wear face masks or shields while moving around the school, for instance visiting the toilets.

Masks and shields may be removed when outside of the school buildings, for eating purposes and during the class bubble's daily walks.

These rules will be applied to all pupils from Year 1 (five years old) upwards, when pupils return to the school - which holds an 'Outstanding' rating from Ofsted - on September 8.

And Mr Harrison said today (Mon) that he hopes the school's safety measures will encourage all pupils and staff to return - for the sake of their mental and social wellbeing.

He said: "The school has now spent £30,000 on preventative equipment for pupils.

"These includes PPE and thermal scanners, as well as everything they will need in classrooms throughout the day - face visors, water bottles, pencil cases.

"Nothing will need to be brought into school with them, and nothing will be taken home. It is all provided in classrooms.

"That's a hell of an expenditure on our part - but it's all about minimising risk.

"What is the problem with putting in an added layer of protection? You wouldn't put your child on a bicycle without putting a helmet on their head.

"And it's also about making sure the staff with underlying health issues feel comfortable coming back in to school.

"Teachers will be wearing face visors in classrooms, too. I'm hoping that all the staff will come back in.

"We know the importance of getting kids back into school.

"What we don't want is to be one of those schools, like we're seeing in Berlin at the moment, that re-opens - and then has to send kids home again because of a surge in cases."

Mr Harrison also said that he has not had a single email of complaint from any parents with regards to the school's policy of asking children to wear visors in class.

He said that he has not yet had any feedback from the 30 per cent of parents who do not want to send their children back to school - but he will be contacting all of them this week.

The headteacher said: "I think children are pretty resilient characters.

"One parent even told me that her children were disappointed they wouldn't be wearing face masks in school."

And he added that, whilst The Premier Academy is believed to be one of the first primary schools in England to implement the face visor rule, he is sure others will soon follow suit.

He said: "I've had so many other schools, in England and even abroad, getting in touch with me, asking how we went about finding and buying our preventative equipment.

"I wouldn't be surprised if other primary schools did the same.

"I have a daughter who is at a secondary school in Milton Keynes, with 2,000 other pupils.

"She has to get two buses to school, so obviously she'll be wearing her mask on the buses - but then when she gets to school she can take it off. It seems mad."

He added: "Primarily I think we have everybody on the same page, that we all want children back in school - but the school is only really any use if it's got children in it, if it's got staff in it."

ENDS