Many parents and children are asking when schools will re-open as the UK enters the sixth week of its lockdown tomorrow to slow down the spread of coronavirus.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the BBC's Andrew Marr programme this morning that it was "inconceivable" that schools would re-open without measures in place to stop the spread of the disease, but said ministers were looking to ease restrictions on outdoor activities.
He said the government would be led by the scientists.
Mr Raab, who has been standing in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson while he recuperates after being seriously ill in intensive care with coronavirus, said people will have to get used to a “new normal”.
“We won’t just have this binary easing up of measures. We will end up moving to a new normal,” he said.
“We need to take a sure-footed step forward which protects life but also preserves our way of life.
"So we are very focused on doing the homework that can allow us to do that.”
General Secretary of the Association of School and College leaders, Geoff Barton, has said the earliest "realistic" point schools could open would be June 1, the Mirror reports.
While Mr Raab did not give a possible date over schools reopening, he said it was “inconceivable” they could so without measures in place to stop the spread of the disease. But he did say ministers were looking to ease restrictions on outdoor activities.
“We do want to look – when it is safe, when it is responsible – at ways to allow more outdoor activities to take place, but again we have got to have the evidence that that is a sure-footed step – doesn’t allow coronavirus to get a grip back on the country.”
While scientists believe that children are largely not impacted by coronavirus, teachers and support staff who work in schools are still considered to be in danger from the spread of the virus and within their households.
Closing schools has had a big impact on the country - emphasising the severity of the lockdown measures.
Currently, a small number of children of key workers who are unable to make alternative arrangements are attending schools, with most children home schooled.
Most in the education sector agree that what is best is for pupils to be in school - but only when it’s safe for them to do so.
Some are concerned that even speculating about their reopening could be a bad thing.
The National Education Union have warned that “loose talks costs lives”.
General Secretary Dr Mary Bousted said that the speculation “deeply concerns our members, who would be at immediate risk if government was too hasty in relaxing lockdown measures.”
And the earliest "realistic" point at which schools in England could start re-opening would be 1 June, head teachers' leader Geoff Barton has said.
"We cannot see any realistic way that schools could be re-opened to more pupils before the second half of the summer term," said the ASCL leader.
But even the 1 June date is viewed as optimistic because, in order to meet that target, Mr Barton says "planning would need to begin very soon".
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has talked about “rearranging classrooms” so that the 2 metre social distancing could be observed.
She said alternating weeks for pupils was the type of option her government is considering whenever lockdown is eased and she mooted the idea of redesigning classrooms.
Ms Sturgeon said of schools: “I think some countries have perhaps had some children in school go back.
“There has been some talk, and it is certainly an option that has to be considered, although we might not do it, some kids go one week, other kids go the next week, so that there’s the ability to have smaller classes.
“These are the kind of options we are dealing with.”
