BACK TO CLASS
MILLIONS of kids across England returned to school this morning as a minister said teenagers who refuse to wear a mask shouldn't be kicked out of the classroom.
Pupils up and down the country headed back to lessons for the first time since December, with a huge mass testing operation under way and extra Covid precautions in place.
⚠️ Read our UK schools reopening live blog for the latest news & updates
22
22
22
22
22
Boris Johnson has insisted the country is now "ready" for the return of schools with cases, hospitalisations, and deaths having all plunged in recent weeks.
He said now "the risk is actually in not going back to school given all the suffering, all the loss of learning we have seen" and that he's "very hopeful" that things will go “according to plan".
Secondary school pupils will be asked to take three tests at school over the next two weeks, and after that will be provided with two tests a week to carry out at home.
They will also be strongly encouraged to wear masks in the classroom until at least the Easter holidays.
Primary school kids won't have to don face coverings, but extra guidance has been introduced saying visitors and staff should use them in areas where social distancing between adults isn't possible, such as corridors.
It comes as...
- A union chief said schools could be forced to close again if students refuse to wear masks
- Experts insisted kids are 'absolutely' safe to return to the classroom
- Full details emerged of new safety measures in schools to keep lessons Covid secure
Children's minister Vicky Ford said she expects most students to voluntarily use masks but insisted they shouldn't be forced to.
She said: "It's a hugely exciting day and a huge relief to so many children, families, schools, staff all across the country.
"There will be some who will be nervous about going back, but we've put in these extra measures so we can make sure we keep Covid out of the classroom.
"That is a whole extra layer of keeping Covid out of the classroom, but we need to also set this aside against a very different backdrop to in January.
"We've had the fantastic vaccination programme. That does give us that extra level of protection against the virus as we bring children back into school."
22
22
22
22
22
22
Asked what teachers can do if students refuse to wear a mask, Ms Ford stressed ministers haven't made them mandatory.
She said: "Nobody should be denied an education because they don't wear a mask but we do really strongly recommend it.
"There will be some students who will be exempt from wearing masks and we haven't made it mandatory though we're strongly encouraging it.
"The vast majority of teenagers want to do everything they can to protect themselves from the virus, to protect their friends, their family, staff, and they understand the masks."
Ms Ford also insisted schools won't be closed again even if the R-rate does rise, saying that was the recommendation of scientists now that more than a third of adults have been vaccinated.
Her remarks came as a leading children's doctor warned schools can only open safely if everything else "stays locked down" for at least three weeks.
Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said reopening schools will likely add around 0.2 to the R number.
He said: "It's very plausible, in fact I think very likely, that we will keep the R below one with schools open with these mitigations in place.
"And I think the key thing is that children themselves, and parents, don't think 'the schools are open, we can relax, we can mix outside of school' - in a sense, come out of lockdown around the school opening.
"The modelling - and I think the Government has been clear on this - is about we can reopen schools safely if everything else stays locked down over the next three weeks."
Ms Ford didn't rule out the possibility that children could get the jab in the future, saying Government scientists "will be looking at plans for the future' once all over-18s are jabbed.
She said pupils who test positive will have to go home and stay out of school for 10 days, and it will be up to teachers to keep tabs on their close contacts and tell them to self-isolate too.
22
22
22
22
22
22
And she insisted kids who test positive with a lateral flow test but then negative with a more reliable PCR kit still won't be able to return to school earlier than that.
She said: "They should not take the risk, we all want to make sure we can keep Covid out of the classrooms here."
Roughly one in every thousand lateral flow tests returns a false positive.
Not all secondary pupils are going back today, as some schools are staggering the return to help with the implementation of mass testing.
A top scientist also moved this morning to reassure parents that schools are "absolutely" safe for children to return to.
Professor Calum Semple, who sits on the Government's Sage advisory group, said pupils are at lower risk of catching the virus.
He acknowledged it was "inevitable that we will see a rise in cases" as a result of adults mixing because "schools are a place of work".
And he said advice for teachers "is going to be wearing face masks, being really careful in the common room - their colleagues are more of a risk to them than the children."
Prof Semple said: "It's going to be difficult and it is going to mean some social distancing and face mask-wearing, good ventilation until really late summer when we've got the vast majority people vaccinated."
Teachers and parents reported that the return to the classroom was going smoothly this morning.
Kieron Smith, head at Archway School in Stroud, said: "It's been wonderful seeing the faces of the students - well, what I can see of the faces of the students - this morning.
"I can tell that they're just as pleased as us to be back in school."
Parents also said the return to school has been easier this time round because children are now "used to the new normal".
Office manager Rianne Mills, 33, said her sons' school in Shipdham, Norfolk, held virtual tours of the classroom so her boys, Henry Cheetham, eight, and five-year-old Freddie Mills knew what to expect.
She said: "I think the first time we were so anxious, really worried, really scared, but I think knowing all the procedures they've put in beforehand has made it easier this time.
"We know the children are going to be safe, we know exactly what the score is this time, we know what they've got in place, and I think we've just got used to the new normal, if that makes sense."
Education secretary Gavin Williamson has said he's looking at measures like slashing the summer holidays and extending the school day to help children catch up on learning lost to the lockdown.
He said: "It's whole range of different proposals, the five-term year, lengthening of the school day, but also enhancing support to teachers and making sure they can be the very best of themselves."
Most read in News
But as schools returned today there were fears the mass testing blitz could descend into farce at some schools because not enough parents have given consent for their children to be swabbed.
Read More on The Sun
One headteacher in Halifax reported only a quarter of parents have agreed to have their children tested, while a school in Tower Hamlets says the “vast majority” opted out.
The reopening of schools today is the first step in the PM's four-stage roadmap out of lockdown, which hopes to see the entire country freed from restrictions on June 21.
22
22
22
22
22
Schools should stay open even if R rate rises as Covid vaccine means fewer people will die, health chief says
Topics