Primary schools are reopening on Monday to pupils in Reception, Year One and Year Six for the first time in ten weeks. Ministers have said that the intention is for all primary school students to be back at school by the end of the month.
Nurseries have also been given the green light to reopen from Sunday.
Secondary school students will not go back to school until June 15.
Pupils in years 10 and 12 will return to the classrooms on a restricted basis.
It is unclear yet when other students will go back to school, but any plans for their return over the summer holiday may be opposed by teaching unions.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said that educators should not be to return to the classrooms over the holidays.
“Teachers have been working flat out to provide education for children at home,” she told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.
“So what should happen is – and we do support this – clubs and activities on a volunteer basis.”
Dr Bousted said that the main priority of summer programmes should not be centered on “catch up” work but instead on talking to other people and creative tasks.
She said that this will “enable them to become part of a wider society and have the desire to learn again.”
Ms Longfield has appealed for a “national effort” to create a summer scheme of education, sport, art and help for the most deprived children.
“Based in school buildings and running throughout the holidays, summer schools could provide activities of all kinds, meals and potentially some learning too,” she said.
“The idea is also likely to be popular with parents, who however well-intentioned and motivated may need a break from home schooling and may also be in desperate need of childcare as they return to work.”
Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Williamson said: “While I fully understand the nervousness that some will feel, I cant emphasise enough how important it is to start providing more children with the opportunity to be in the classroom once more.
“While everyone has worked so hard to support learning at home, this can never be a substitute to being in nursery or school – with all the inspiration and motivation they provide.
“As we all know, there simply is no substitute for a teacher sharing their passion for learning with our children.”
Around 90 percent of primary schools will reopen sometime between this week and next, a poll by the National Association of Headteachers revealed.
The majority (78 percent) plan to open with a restricted number of year groups than the amount advised by the Government.
Around 12 percent plan to reopen entirely as recommended by ministers.
Ten percent of institutions say they will only allow the most vulnerable students and the children of key workers to return in the next two weeks.
Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer, on Sunday said said that childrens playgrounds will not reopen “in the immediate future.”
She told the Downing Street daily press briefing that playgrounds are “not a good place to be at the moment.”
She explained that children from diverse households “will be climbing up slides, wiping their nose and pushing it down the side of the slide.”
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