More than half of North East parents are worried about sending their children back to school.
That's according to a survey of 1,896 parents carried out through the ChronicleLive website.
Of the parents who answered our questions, more than 1,000 of them (56%) answered 'no' to the question 'are you happy to send your child to school in September?'.
Even amongst the 44% who indicated they were happy to send their offspring back to school, there were still safety concerns.
Asked to rate, on a 1 to 5 scale, how safe they felt their children would be in the year group 'bubble' system proposed by schools (with 1 being 'not safe' and 5 being 'very safe'), the parents who answered 'yes' to the first question gave an average rating of 2.5 - suggesting they're still concerned about their kids.
Parents who weren't happy to send their children back gave a similar average score, of 2.8.
Respondents were divided on the controversial question of whether or not pupils should wear masks while at school. The Government recently made a U-turn on the issue, moving from recommending against masks in school buildings to making them compulsory in corridors and communal areas in local lockdown zones, and opening the matter up to school leader discretion in other areas.
In total, 51% of parents supported children wearing masks in schools, while 45% didn't agree with it (the remaining 4% did not indicate an answer)
Of these, those who were happy to send their children back to school were slightly more likely to support mask-wearing, with 53% of them in favour, compared to 49% of those who weren't happy.
Regardless of whether or not they feel confident sending their children back to school, some parents rely on the childcare that education provides. A quarter of the parents who answered our survey said they needed school to reopen so they could work or continue to work.
Parents are also concerned about whether or not schools will stay open throughout the rest of the school year.
Asked, on a 1 to 5 scale, how confident they were that schools will remain open without having to send classes or year groups home because of confirmed cases, parents' average answer was just over 2.
However, it seems parents do have confidence in teachers' and schools ability to support children if classrooms are forced to close once again.
Asked 'are you confident your school will provide enough work and support for your child if it closes again?', 59% answered 'yes', with just 36% saying 'no' (the remaining 5% did not answer).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, those who said they were not happy to send their children back to school were slightly more likely to be confident in closed schools' ability to support their children: 60% of these parents answered 'yes', compared to 58% of the parents who wanted their children to go back.
