Schools get ready for tomorrow:

Playground to be divided and windows open

CHILDREN across England can expect queues outside the school gates and divided playground areas when they return to the classroom this week.

Pupils in reception, Year one and Year six, who are returning for lessons, will be kept in “bubbles” of 15 to limit the risk of transmission of Covid-19.

Windows will remain open in classes so air moves through the building, extra cleaners may be employed and water fountains could be removed to stop the spread of the virus.

The return to school is highly controversial, with the powerful 450,000-member National Education Union (NEU) calling on the Government to “step back from the brink” and stop tomorrow’s planned opening of schools.

The union fears the move will increase the “R-rate” – the measurement which gauges how the virus is spreading – and the level of risk to staff and parents.

However, nine out of 10 members of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) plan to open up their schools.

The NAHT poll suggests that three out of four will not follow the Government’s guidelines on which year groups should come back. Some schools will operate a rota and bring in pupils on different days.

The Department for Education expects pupil numbers to increase gradually as confidence grows among parents.there are no plans to levy penalties on those who do not send their children to class.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “We will move forward with our plan for a phased and cautious return of a limited number of pupils to primary schools and early years settings from Monday and students in Years 10 and 12 two weeks later.”

Former Labour Education Secretary Alan Johnson said teaching unions had “got it wrong” by opposing the reopening and dancing a “war dance”.

Sir Bernard Ingham, who served as Margaret Thatcher’s chief press secretary, was in no doubt how the Iron Lady would have ensured teachers taught pupils.

He said: “The plain fact is that, assuming that the Government is right, I think she would have told them off and told them what their job is. The point is that nobody is safe today.you can all catch it.

“All you can do is try to open up the economy and try to help

youngsters in more ways than one. It’s not simply looking after their health.

“It’s also looking after their future, because the longer this goes on, the more they are going to have to pay. Teachers’ unions are just self-serving idiots.

“What kind of trade union movement do we want? Do we want one that is totally obstructive, or do we want one that wants to maximise opportunities for ordinary people?

“They are the worst enemies

I could imagine of the working class.”

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said: “It has to be remembered that the majority of schools are already open and that teachers are working to support the children they teach, either from the classroom or from home.

“The NEU has never said schools can only return when its 100 per cent safe.

“What we have said is to go back when the scientific evidence says it is reasonably safe to do so. The NEU is clearly not alone in our concerns.

“This weekend four senior Government scientists have also said it is too early to lift the lockdown. We have not been obstructive.we have set five sensible, reasonable tests for school opening that have been endorsed by the British Medical Association.

“We have asked the Government to engage with us so that those tests can be met and schools move safely to wider opening.”