Harry Styles’s old school becomes UK’s first to have a uniform-issue facemask

Harry Styles’s old school has become the first in the country to depart from government guidance and make face masks compulsory when classes resume.

Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School in Cheshire unilaterally decided that ‘on the balance of probability’ students and staff would be safer wearing coverings.

Navy blue reusable coverings costing three pounds will be viewed as ‘part of the uniform’ and be embroidered with the school’s initials, which were once displayed by the One Direction singer who grew up in the leafy town.

The mandatory use of masks goes beyond the government’s coronavirus guidance, which does not compel them to be worn in schools.

Downing Street today refused to give ground to intense pressure from Labour and union bosses who called for enforced coverings when children go back to lessons next month. 

Schools minister Nick Gibb said that in education settings children and staff are mixing with the same people every day, unlike in shops.

But headmaster Nigel Bielby has defended his decision to run ‘contrary’ with official guidelines and compel his school to wear masks.

He told the BBC: ‘I think we’re going contrary to the guidelines because we want to keep a community that’s safe and protect those vulnerable members of our community as far as we possibly can.

‘We felt it was an important step that, on the balance of probability, we were more likely to feel our children and our community was safer using a face covering as opposed to not using a face covering – and of course when the children are not in those lessons and they’re outside they can take that face covering off, so the misunderstanding that the children are in a face covering for six hours a day is incorrect.’

A letter sent to parents said the masks would be manufactured by Sam Dale and Son and cost three pounds.

Schools have been making themselves Covid-secure ahead of the much vaunted reopening after the summer, but the wearing of masks has not been recommended by government.

Mr Gibb said: ‘Within a school, of course, you’re not with people that you don’t meet normally, you see these same children every day, so there are different circumstances – when you’re on public transport for example, when you’re encountering people you’ve not come across or met before.’

Yet the decision has come under attack from both Labour and unions which yesterday ramped up pressure on ministers.  

The NASUWT union has called on the Department for Education (DfE) to revise its guidance on face coverings ‘as a matter of urgency’ to help staff return to school in the autumn with ‘confidence’.

It said the Government should encourage school and college staff to wear clear facial visors if there are concerns that teaching and learning may be impeded by the use of face masks.

Patrick Roach, general-secretary of NASUWT, said the position in schools is ‘out of step’ with public health guidance that suggests face masks should be worn when physical distancing cannot be assured.

In a letter to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, Mr Roach said: ‘Strategies for minimising contact between pupils and staff (i.e. ‘bubbles’) are unlikely to be effective given constraints of building design, limitations of space within schools, and the inability of schools to control for wider social interactions involving children and adults within and outside their perimeters.

‘We strongly suggest that your guidance for schools should now be brought into line with changes to the Government’s guidance for other sectors, public transport, shops and supermarkets.’

The GMB union has also called on ministers to allow school staff to wear face masks if they want to when they return in September.

Rehana Azam, GMB national secretary, said: ‘Our members tell us they are scared of what’s to come in September and they feel it’s strange the Government tells them to wear masks on the way to work, and if they go to get lunch, but not when they are in school.’

The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) is calling for greater clarity on whether schools can permit face masks if pupils or staff want them.

Its general-secretary Geoff Barton said the guidance leaves key questions unanswered.

‘One, how should schools respond if pupils and staff want to wear face coverings?’ he said.

‘Two, do they have the flexibility to introduce the use of face coverings in constricted spaces where there is more mixing, for example in narrow corridors? We are seeking answers from the Government to these questions.’

Government guidance warns the misuse of face coverings may ‘inadvertently increase the risk of transmission’ in schools and there could be ‘negative effects’ on communication and education.

But Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School in Cheshire has made face masks compulsory for staff and students inside school buildings from September.

In a newsletter to parents explaining the decision to introduce face masks as part of the uniform, the school said it was a ‘precautionary additional measure’ to make the school safer. 

Dr Sarah Lewis, senior lecturer in genetic epidemiology at the University of Bristol, warned any benefits in terms of transmission of the virus ‘could be offset by anxiety caused by having to wear the masks’.

She said: ‘Some children will not return to school if they are compulsory, as their parents will not send them, and this will impact on their education.

‘Children are unlikely to wear them all day because they will become wet and uncomfortable and the discarded masks may be more of a risk for virus transmission.’