Schools will remain open to the children of key workers - including NHS staff - despite countrywide closures to try and stop the spread of coronavirus COVID-19.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that primary and secondary schools will shut their doors "until further notice" at the end of the day on Friday.
However the government hopes that while they will be closed to most children, they will still open to look after kids of key workers, allowing them to carry on going to work.
A full list of 'key workers' will be published by the Cabinet Office on Thursday.
"Vulnerable pupils" will also be asked to turn up to school, believed to mean children who either have a social worker, or an education, health and care plan.
Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Johnson said it has become necessarily to take the next step to stop the spread of coronavirus, which has now claimed the lives of more than 100 people in the UK and thousands more around the world.
He said: "We must apply further downward pressure on that upward curve by closing the schools".
Speaking about why some children will still be able to work, he said: "We need to keep the NHS going and to treat the rising number of cases, so we need health workers who are also parents to continue to go to work.
"And we need other critical workers with children to keep doing their jobs too, from police officers to the supermarket delivery driviers.
"We therefore need schools to make provision for the children of these key workers who will otherwise be forced to stay home."
He also warned that children should not be left with older relatives or friends while the schools are shut.
Mr Johnson said the Government would try to keep the duration of school closures to an "absolute minimum" and intended to "get things going again as fast as we can".
Exams have also been scrapped.
Speaking about the decision to close schools, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told MPs he wanted to provide parents, students and staff with the "certainty they need" as he announced the closures.
"After schools shut their gates on Friday afternoon they will remain closed until further notice," he said.
"This will be for all children except to those of key workers and where children who are most vulnerable."
Mr Williamson continued: "I know the situation has become increasingly challenging.
"I've said before that if the science and the advice changed, such that keeping schools open would no longer be in the best interest of children and teachers, that we would act - we are now at that stage."
