Petition · past parliament

Schools in England should not reopen until staff have adequate protection (PPE)

Rejected 18 signatures

What the petition asks

The U.K. government should reconsider the opening of schools in England from June 1st. Schools should only open once all staff can adequately protect themselves and their pupils from coronavirus and have access to PPE. The reopening of schools should not unnecessarily put staff lives at risk.
Guidance published on May 11th outlined that primary schools should begin to reopen from June 1st. The guidance states that school children cannot socially distance and staff working in schools should NOT wear PPE unless in exceptional circumstances. The government has advised that employees returning to all other work settings should socially distance or, if not possible, to wear PPE. It is unexplainable and inexcusable why staff working in schools should be treated any differently.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

You may wish to sign some of these petitions:

Give All Schools Protective Equipment to help protect staff from the Coronavirus: Give All Schools Protective Equipment to help protect staff from the Coronavirus

Keep schools closed until Covid 19 is no longer a threat: Keep schools closed until Covid 19 is no longer a threat

You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:

www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

The Government has also created an online service to help you find out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support

You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips

You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/

You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Find out more: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/192/the-governments-response-to-coronavirus/

Timeline

12 May 2020 Petition opened for signatures
5 Jun 2020 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 18
Status Rejected
Rejected 5 Jun 2020

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.