The Government's plans to reopen schools from June 1 has been met with criticism from the education unions and caused anxiety among a number of parents and teachers.
Boris Johnson announced his ambition for all primary school pupils in England to go back to school for a month before the summer and it expects children to be able to return to nurseries, and for Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 pupils to be back in school, from June 1 at the earliest.
But the Government has stipulated that classes should be reduced to just 15 pupils because they recognise that the youngest will struggle with social distancing
Nine unions, representing school leaders, teachers and support staff, have accused the Government of showing a "lack of understanding" about the dangers of the spread of coronavirus in schools.
While more than half a million parents have signed a petition to give parents the option not to send their kids back if they do not feel comfortable doing so.
Evelyn Davies, headteacher at Coldfall Primary School in North London, told the Mirror why she is concerned about the plans.
Ms Davies- whose school is rated Outstanding - says she may not be able to expand pupil numbers in the way the government has outlined from 1 June if a risk assessment suggests that pupils and staff could not be kept safe.
She has expressed concerns about how she can run her school, which normally has 680 pupils and 90 members of staff, safely within the new guidelines.
Ms Davies told the Mirror: "We should not open schools until we have the science to show that it's ok to do so.
"I think there's very confusing mixed messaging about what's safe. It feels to me that what they're telling other people to do to stay safe, they are disregarding for schools.
“For example, they're saying it's not safe for family members to mix unless they're in a park and at a 2 metre distance from each other, but it seems to be safe for a primary teacher to have a whole group of 15 kids around her. Is that safe or not safe?"
Ms Davies says she feels schools are being treated differently to other workplaces and worries that schools will struggle to operate safely given the requirements around social distancing, hand washing and hygiene and possible levels of staff absence.
She said: "In the Government guidance for employers- you must make sure employees can socially distance and have good hygiene and all of that - that's almost impossible for schools to put into place."
"The HR issues are absolutely phenomenal. I've got 90 staff and about 30 of those are either vulnerable or living with an adult who is vulnerable so probably that group will say they do not want to come in. Then I've got others with young children, then there's another group who live too far to walk and would need to come on public transport.
"I've got staff who are anxious. Are we asking for staff to volunteer, or are we insisting people come in as long as they aren't shielding? Before we went into lockdown at the end of last term we had very high levels of staff sickness and child absence."
She also has concerns about the practical demands on children and whether the youngest can stick to social distancing.
“Currently we only have small numbers of children in school and even with these the social distancing is very difficult. I'm thinking the Govt doesn't know the reality of what it is like to care for and work with young children." she said.
"You can't get young kids to keep away from each other and not to touch each other, it is impossible.
"Children naturally gravitate to each other and to adults and in a way it's morally wrong to not let them do that."
As well as the importance of not spreading the virus, Ms Davies says that she and other headteachers are worried about the health of children from an emotional and psychological point of view.
She said: "You've got the whole thing around what's healthy for them from a social and emotional point of view versus we're obviously trying to keep the children and ourselves physically safe.
"I feel there's not an understanding of that for schools."
Under the government's proposals both the youngest and oldest pupils would be expected to return to primary schools from 1 June.
But teachers say that the very youngest will not manage under the new normal.
Ms Davies added: "Reception and year one seems crazy because to be able to put all the measures they say we have to put in place is very difficult with young children.
"We understand why they want to bring back year six - if it was just year six we'd probably all be saying we can have year six, we can put things in place for them.
"They're old enough for us to explain it to them and for them to understand what they can and can't do."
She is concerned that the government is treating schools as childcare to enable parents to return to work, rather than thinking about what is best for pupils and staff.
"It all seems that this is about parents going back to work and it's nothing to do with what's right for young children or what's right for staff.
The government is obviously in a very difficult position but is public health more important or is the economy more important? When it comes to schools it seems to be the economy," she said.
Ultimately she has said she is very concerned about re-opening unless her questions are answered: "I've written to my governors asking for their support to not re-open the school to more pupils should an in-depth risk assessment deem it unsafe to do so."
