Schools could stay closed until Easter

FEARS of schools remaining shut until Easter are growing after ministers refused to set a reopening date yesterday.

Earlier this month, Boris Johnson ordered schools to close until the middle of February, when a review will take place on whether they should reopen.

But Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on the weekend it would not be possible to start to lift lockdown restrictions until March – with areas returning to tiers depending on their infection rates.

Yesterday Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, declined to say that this meant schools would reopen in March.

And the leader of a major academy chain said the ‘mood music’ was that schools would shut until the Easter holidays, which are at the start of April.

A return to tiers could mean schools in the worst-hit parts of the country could stay closed longer than those with lower infection rates.

Last night, Government sources said it was too early to say when schools would reopen.

One source said: ‘It’s about what the health picture is. If lockdown does its job then schools could be the first thing to open.’

The Prime Minister has said reopening schools will be his priority when lockdown is eased – but no date has ever been set.

Steve Chalke, head of the Oasis academy chain, which runs 48 schools, said: ‘I don’t think schools will reopen until post Easter. I think they will miss the second half of term as well.’ He said many teachers are very worried about catching Covid in school and that they will feel ‘safer’ and ‘more confident’ when the weather warms up and they can take children out of the classroom more.

At yesterday’s Downing Street press conference, Mr Hancock was asked whether schools would reopen in March.

He simply said: ‘ We’ve got to watch the data, and the Prime Minister, when he brought in the national lockdown, set out four considerations. We’ve got to see the number of deaths coming down, and sadly we haven’t seen that yet. We need to clearly see the pressure on the NHS reducing, and we are not seeing that yet. ‘We must see the vaccination programme working and the rollout is going really well.’ He continued: ‘ The fourth consideration is that there mustn’t be some other new variant.’ Professor Susan Hopkins, senior medical adviser at Public Health England, said: ‘We’ve always said the schools should be the last to close and first to open.

‘But I think giving a more defined date than that is very difficult until we see what happens over the next few weeks.’

Last night Robert Halfon, Tory MP and chairman of the education committee, said: ‘The Government said that schools would reopen after the February half term. Everything possible should be done to keep to that date – for the sake of the children’s education, mental health and safety.

‘That is why ministers should prioritise school staff for the vaccine, and send in mobile units to jab them across the country.’

Yesterday Mr Johnson said there would be no ‘open sesame’ relaxation of lockdown. ‘I understand completely that people want to get back to normal as fast as we possibly can,’ he said.

The Prime Minister insisted that things would look ‘ very different by the spring’, adding: ‘I’m afraid I’ve got to warn people it will be gradual, you can’t just open up in a great open sesame, in a great bang, because I’m afraid the situation is still pretty precarious.’