This is Shadow Education Secretary @bphillipsonMP talking about the importance of VENTILATION in schools & how the Government’s approach is “incompetent, complacent & inadequate.”
What I’d like to know is:
What will SHE do differently if LABOUR win the election?
/1
This is an EPIC thread, written by Shadow Education Secretary @bphillipsonMP on the importance of VENTILATION in schools.
She compiles all the evidence & berates the Tory Government for their despicable inaction.
But what will SHE do differently if LABOUR win the election?
/2
This is Shadow Education Secretary @bphillipsonMP revealing how she spoke to teachers EVERY DAY who told her the problem the government needs to solve is VENTILATION.
Nothing was ever done & it’s STILL a huge problem.
What will SHE do differently if LABOUR win the election?
/3
There are many more tweets like this.
@bphillipsonMP KNOWS the problem.
She has repeatedly criticised the current government for inaction.
Soon it may be her turn.
What will SHE do differently if LABOUR win the election?
Is our children’s health a priority for her?
/4
Bridget Phillipson has said Labour would not just have done things differently in the past…
…that they’d be doing things differently NOW.
Well, this is your chance to prove it, @bphillipsonMP.
What will YOU do differently in terms of improving VENTILATION in schools?
/5
Shadow Education Secretary @bphillipsonMP has also stated that pupil attendance is a key focus for Labour.
The great thing about improving VENTILATION & AIR FILTRATION is that it can hugely reduce pupil absences due to illness, as pointed out in many replies to this tweet ⬇️
/6
There’s a mountain of evidence that improving ventilation & air filtration can hugely reduce the spread of airborne illnesses:
▪️A study conducted in Cambridge showed that air filters removed almost all trace of SARS-CoV-2 from the air.
/7 cam.ac.uk/research/news/…
▪️A Swiss study demonstrated that HEPA air filters delivering a clean air delivery rate of 5 air changes per hour (800m3/h) in a typical classroom led to a 5-fold decrease in the cumulative viral dose absorbed by exposed occupants.
/8 smw.ch/index.php/smw/…
▪️A study conducted in Bradford showed that Covid-related illness absence in schools was reduced by >20% when HEPA air filters were used in classrooms.
/9 newscientist.com/article/239871…
▪️An Italian study showed that ventilation delivering 6 air changes per hour could reduce transmission of Covid by a whopping 82%.
/10reuters.com/world/europe/i…
If you’d like to read more research, here’s a link to a compilation of 58 research studies from around the world which all demonstrate the effectiveness of air filters at removing Covid from the air in different settings:
H/t @CarlvKeirsbilck
/11 medium.com/@carlvank/luch…
1.3 MILLION more pupils are now missing at least 5% of sessions compared to pre-pandemic…
…and the key driver is because pupil absences DUE TO ILLNESS are 50% higher than pre-pandemic.
We need to start CLEANING THE AIR!
But will @bphillipsonMP make it a Labour priority?
/12
Reducing the spread of illness MATTERS.
With each new wave of Covid, more children are ending up suffering from the debilitating impacts of Long Covid.
These isn’t a problem from the past. This is happening NOW.
The number of kids affected has DOUBLED in the last year.
/13
‘Covid’ may have become a taboo word, but we need to face up to the inconvenient truth that it’s making our kids sick… a LOT.
‘Living with Covid’ shouldn’t mean just ignoring it.
It should mean making environments as safe as possible to reduce the risk of infection.
/14
…and it’s not just COVID, we’re also seeing record numbers of many other childhood illnesses, like whooping cough & measles.
The great thing about VENTILATION & AIR FILTRATION is that it doesn’t just work for Covid, it helps reduce transmission of ALL airborne illnesses.
/15
Clean air in schools is not a restrictive mitigation; it’s an ENABLING mitigation.
It would allow our children to attend school with less risk, less illness, less absence.
And for clinically vulnerable children, it could’ be a life-saver.
There’s no downside to clean air.
/16
If you’re not convinced about cleaning the air to reduce the spread of illness in schools, here’s another reason to factor in:
▪️“Almost all children in the UK are exposed to harmful levels of toxic air pollution.”
/17 express.co.uk/news/nature/15…
A new study led by Evelina London Children’s Hospital & King’s College London found that:
▪️EVERY planned new school was located in an area which exceeded AT LEAST ONE of the WHO air quality targets.
▪️86% of locations exceeded all 3 WHO targets.
/18 amp.theguardian.com/society/2024/m…
You can find a copy of the study into air quality surrounding planned new schools in England at the link below ⬇️
It makes for sobering reading.
THIS is why we need air filters in schools & cannot rely on ventilation alone.
/19 adc.bmj.com/content/archdi…
There’s also another reason why we cannot rely solely on natural ventilation (open windows)…
As Bridget Phillipson has pointed out in the past, it’s simply not practical to just say “open the window” when it’s freezing cold outside.
It simply doesn’t happen…
/20
This is clearly shown by the latest data from the UK Schools Air quality Monitoring project (SAMHE):
▪️Even when looking at daily averages which hide the peaks, the average daily CO2 levels for well over 25% of classrooms EXCEEDED 1,500ppm when the weather was cold.
/21
Of course, these issues don’t only affect pupils; they affect TEACHERS too.
A Nuffield trust report was recently published to highlight the shocking rise in sickness absences within the NHS…
…but inadvertently showed that it’s EVEN WORSE for teachers!
nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/all-i…
More than 3.2 MILLION working days were missed by teachers PURELY DUE TO ILLNESS in 2021/22, compared with 2 million working days missed in pre-pandemic 2018/19.
That’s a 56% increase!
(Data for teacher absences in 2022/23 has not been published yet).
schoolsweek.co.uk/teacher-sickne…
All this illness comes at a BIG cost…
£622 MILLION was spent on supply teacher cover in 2021/22, up more than a third year-on-year.
That’s £171 per pupil!
Schools have been sounding the alarm over these ‘unprecedented’ soaring supply cover costs.
schoolsweek.co.uk/school-supply-…
If you thought £171 spend per pupil on supply teachers was high, I’m sorry to report that supply costs increased FURTHER in 2022/23…
The total spend on supply teachers in England rose to £196 PER PUPIL in 2022/23.
That’s a total spend of £698 MILLION!
…e-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/pe…
Now imagine how much money could be saved if schools could reduce teacher absences due to illness…
If supply teacher costs could be brought back down to pre-pandemic levels, that’s a potential saving of ~£36 PER PUPIL.
For each class of 30 kids, that’s a saving of over £1,000!
So when people say schools can’t afford air filters, my question is: can they afford not to?
By reducing the spread of illness, the air filters will pay for themselves!
My top pick for schools would be the Blast Mini. It delivers 740m3/h of clean air, is v quiet & costs <£400.
Now it’s over to @bphillipsonMP.
In the past, she’s pointed out how scientists have recommended - and Labour has demanded - action on ventilation in schools.
If Labour win the election, will she also sit on her hands, dither & delay?
I truly hope she’s better than that.
/END
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