Millions of pupils in England return to classrooms after historic schools closure

April Roach @aprilroach282 September 2020

Millions of pupils in England are returning to the classroom today after a historic closure of schools during the nationwide lockdown.

For many students, it was the first time they have stepped into a classroom since March.

With coronavirus cases still rising across the country, schools have been instructed to introduce new health and safety measures to protect students and teachers.

Pupils will be grouped into bubbles to reduce the transmission of the virus. In primary schools, an entire class will form a bubble, and in secondary schools entire year groups will form bubbles.

Social distancing rules will not be applied at all times, but older children will be encouraged to keep their distance from their peers where they can.

It is not known exactly how many pupils will return to the classroom, but around 40 per cent of schools prepared to welcome back students for the start of autumn term on Tuesday.

Pupils in Northern Ireland have already returned and schools started reopening in Scotland from August 11. Students are expected to return to schools in Wales later this week.

Schools return in England during Coronavirus pandemic

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A recent YouGov survey suggested some parents still harbour concerns about the virus, with one in six (17 per cent) parents in England and Wales seriously considering not sending their children to school this month.

There are also concerns about local school closures if coronavirus cases continue to rise.

Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt backed a call from epidemiologist Professor Neil Ferguson for “rapid testing” to be introduced in schools, using a similar model to that used in Germany.

The Commons Health Committee chairman told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think he is right, and the reason he is right is because we know something now we didn’t know back in January, which is that about 70 per cent of the people who transmit coronavirus don’t have any symptoms at all and so that makes it much harder to get public consent for things like sending people back to school or going back to offices and so on because it is a silent transmitter and even a silent killer sometimes.

Pupils on the first day back to school at Charles Dickens Primary School in London
PA

“The way you get round that is by having very quick, very effective large-scale testing.

“I think, in fairness to the Government, it is heading in this direction but we could be much more systematic about it if we really wanted to raise confidence."

Despite concerns being raised about the ability to reopen schools safely during the pandemic, Gavin Williamson said he is “confident” the necessary preparations are in place to ensure a “successful return” for all schools pupils.

The Education Secretary said welcoming pupils back is a “massive milestone” for schools and highlighted a letter from the four UK chief medical officers about the “low-risk of long-term harm from Covid-19 due solely from attending school in comparison to the higher risk of long-term from not attending school”.

Pupils wash their hands before entering the school
PA

Mr Williamson said pupils are returning to a “safe environment”, as he told the Commons on Tuesday: “I know that these past few months have been some of the most challenging that schools, parents and, most of all, children have faced.”

He thanked education staff for their “incredible efforts”, adding: “I’m confident we have the necessary preparations in hand to ensure a successful return for all of our pupils.”

For Labour, shadow education secretary Kate Green said: “I’m welcoming the Secretary of State back to his place after a summer of chaos, incompetence and confusion that has caused enormous stress to children, young people, their families and their teachers.

“Ministers must now learn from their mistakes and ensure that keeping schools open and pupils learning is a national priority.”

The return to the classroom comes as Ofqual’s chairman, Roger Taylor, is to be grilled by senior MPs before the Commons education committee amid uncertainty over whether exams will take place in England next summer and continued anger over the GCSE and A-levels fiasco.

Labour has urged Mr Williamson to ensure that “a summer of incompetence” over exams does not descend into an autumn of “disaster and dismay”.

Meanwhile, schools Minister Nick Gibb said on Tuesday that there would be a decision “very soon” on whether the next exams would start late to allow for more teaching time during the disruption.