A secondary school head teacher has made an emotive case for schools to remain open in the face of increasing pressure to close due to Covid-19.

In Kent, 60,000 pupils out of a total of 240,000, have been told to stay at home because of pressures caused by coronavirus.

Writing in a blog, Matt's Ink, Matthew Tate, of Hartsdown Academy in Margate, opens up about his childhood experiences of Christmas, when he suffered abuse at the hands of his father.

Responding to calls for schools to shut, as coronavirus cases continue to rise, he wrote: "Today I have seen various comments on Facebook praising schools for closing. Commenting that this 'kept children safe' and that the school was 'best thing for children' ensuring 'children can enjoy Christmas.

"I was initially angry, how could anybody be so ignorant, so blind, so uncaring. But it is not their fault. If your Christmases were wonderful, full of joy and happiness and great memories it may be hard to imagine something different.

"I hated Christmas. Christmas was much worse than normal times as my father's drinking was even more significant. It was a time of him being drunk, of fists, of pain and abuse."

Mr Tate went on to open up about how he even wondered whether he would survive Christmas.

"Two long, long weeks of pain, of bruises with the added pain of knowing that this was meant to be a great time. A time of happiness.

"For me it was a time of wondering if this time he would go too far that actually I would end up dead.

"I hated school but I preferred school to home."

He goes on to give examples of children he has spoken to who would not be relishing the prospect of Christmas.

"How about Christmas for all of those kids that will watch domestic violence, who will be beaten or abused?

"Closing any school will reduce children’s safety and increase the number of children that are harmed."

"For those children who live in a bedsit with no room to play or relax?

"For those children whose families have to choose between food or heat?"

Mr Tate said the risk of Covid to a child was "bascially zero" while one child a week in the UK is killed by their parents and child abuse massively increased during the pandemic.

"Closing any school will reduce children’s safety and increase the number of children that are harmed," he continued.

"It may be forces on us through bubbles but I cannot understand why anybody would choose this.

"This is why children keep coming to school.

"That is why we stay open.

"It is also why I am so proud of my staff who care so much."

The debate surrounding whether schools should stay open has divided opinion, even among teaching professionals.

Some head teachers, including Alan Brookes, chairman of the Kent Association of Headteachers, believe that shutting from tomorrow would be more effective at preventing the spread of coronavirus than mass testing programmes.

Twelve testing sites are due to be set up from this weekend for all pupils to be tested for the virus, although details for where, how and when this will happen are yet to be shared.

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