The government is unable to confirm until tomorrow whether schools will reopen in England for certain primary pupils from next week, a senior minister has said.
On Sunday, Boris Johnson announced his intention to send pupils in reception, year 1 and year 6 back into the classroom from 1 June amid a swirl of negative headlines over his adviser Dominic Cummings’s breach of lockdown rules.
However, schools minister Nick Gibb told MPs that the final decision would not be taken until the latest scientific advice was available on Thursday – leaving teachers and parents only a few days to prepare.
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Mr Gibb also admitted it was “difficult to say” whether the government’s ambition to bring back all primary school children before the end of the summer term will come to pass.
He was pressed on whether this ambition was “unlikely” by Robert Halfon, the Tory chair of the Commons Education Committee.
Mr Gibb replied: “It is difficult to say. It will be totally led by the science. We don’t know for certain until tomorrow that schools will return on 1 June for reception, year 1 and year 6.
“That will depend on the science, although schools are planning for it and all the indications are that the science is leading in the right direction. But the confirmation of that will be tomorrow.
“So we don’t know until we see more evidence of the R factor continuing to reduce over the next few weeks.”
Reopening schools will be contingent on meeting a number of tests when the three-weekly review of lockdown measures takes place on Thursday, he said.
The tests include PPE provision, a curb in infection rates and a sustained fall in the daily death rate from coronavirus.
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The prime minister told the daily Downing Street press conference on Sunday that the government was planning to press ahead with the partial reopening of schools as part of efforts to ease lockdown measures.
Mr Johnson said: “In line with the approach being taken by other countries, we want to start getting our children back in the classroom in a way that is manageable and as safe as possible.
“So we said this would begin with early years settings and reception, year 1 and year 6 in primary schools.
“Today I can announce that it is our intention to go ahead with that as planned on 1 June, a week on Monday.”
At the committee, Mr Gibb also suggested that rotas could be used if primary schools were to reopen more widely for years 2 to 5.
He said: “Those are the issues we are addressing. How do you maintain social distancing while also bringing back later groups?
“We are looking at all the different options, for example rotas, for those at that stage.”
He added: “That is one of many possibilities of how we bring back more children while maintaining social distancing.”
Mr Gibb also insisted that clinically vulnerable teachers, such as pregnant women and those over 70 years old were safe to return to work if social distancing measures were in place.
