The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has announced that schools in England will be given two weeks’ notice before reopening.
Schools to be given notice
In an interview with BBC Breakfast, Gavin Williamson said that he was “not able to exactly say” when pupils will return to class. Both primary and secondary schools are still shut except for vulnerable pupils and for the children of key workers.
Once the current Covid lockdown restrictions are eased, the government has said that the reopening of schools would be a priority. When Gavin Williamson was asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme whether he could guarantee that schools would reopen at all this term, before the Easter holidays, he said:
“I want to see them, as soon as the scientific and health advice is there, open at the earliest possible stage – and I certainly hope that would be before Easter.”
He stated that schools and parents would have “absolutely proper notice” of when children are going to return, indicating that it would be a “clear two weeks” so that teachers and families could prepare.
The Education Secretary told to the Commons Education committee last week that schools in some parts of the country may have to stay shut even after the current lockdown, with a return to “contingency” arrangements meaning that schools in areas with high infection rates would be closed.
The Labour party has accused Gavin Williamson of creating “chaos and confusion” and have called for his resignation. However, when asked about his own future, the Education Secretary said: “Our focus is making sure that we get the very best of remote education out to all children across the country, making sure that we return schools at the earliest possible moment. I’ll let other people do the grading.”