PM insists return to school is best option

PRIME MINISTER Boris Johnson said he is “very hopeful” the return of pupils will go to plan as he warned the risk of keeping classrooms locked outweighed a school-led spike in Covid-19 cases.

Pupils in England are set to return to school for the first time in two months today, as part of the first stage of lockdown easing.

Some scientists have raised concerns the increased levels of interaction could push the reproduction number – the R value – above one, causing coronavirus to spread faster.

The Prime Minister echoed the warnings of education experts that more damage was being done to pupils by keeping them at home than having them return to in-person lessons.

Speaking to broadcasters yesterday, Mr Johnson said: “You ask about the risk [of schools returning] – I think the risk is actually in not going back to school tomorrow, given all the suffering, all the loss of learning we have seen.”

It comes after Amanda Spielman, England’s chief schools inspector, expressed concern about eating disorders and self-harming among children, after she said pupils endured “boredom, loneliness, misery and anxiety” during the school shutdown since January.

Meanwhile, in her final address as Children’s Commissioner for England last month, Anne Longfield said it was “impossible to overstate how damaging the past year has been for many children”.

Some pupils have not been in lessons since late December, while others briefly returned before the third lockdown came into force early in the new year.

Mr Johnson said he believed pupils, parents and teachers were “ready” to go back, with more than 20,000 schools set to open their gates once again.

“Tomorrow, on March 8, is the big step on the road map that we hope is a road map to freedom,” the Prime Minister said during a visit to a north London vaccines centre yesterday. “It is made possible by the rollout of the vaccination programme.

“I’m very hopeful that it will work, it will all go according to plan and that all kids, all pupils, will be back in schools tomorrow. I’m massively grateful to parents who have put up with so much throughout the pandemic and teachers who have done an amazing job of keeping going. I do think we are ready – I think people want to go back, they feel it, they feel the need for it.”

Ofsted chief inspector Ms Spielman, in an interview with Sky News’ Sophy Ridge On Sunday, said remote education had “been a real slog” for many. She said teachers and parents “need to be alert” to more serious mental health difficulties persisting for a minority of children, even after face-to-face learning resumes.

“There is a minority – and let’s hope it is not too large a minority – whose problems have increased and it is really important that we are good at recognising where problems are arising,” she added.

“Things like eating disorders, things like self-harm and mental health services are very aware of the kinds of problems that have been increasing and whether they can expect more cases coming through, so everybody needs to be alert to these.”