Pupils in secondary school classrooms will once again have to wear facemasks.
The government made the announcement in the hope the temporary reintroduction of facemasks will help curb the spread of the Omicron covid variant.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said face coverings would be required until January 26.
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This is when the national Plan B measures which are currently in place will run out, however these are to be reviewed by the government around January 4.
Teachers will not have to wear them under the new guidelines.
Mr Zahawi said: "There is no doubt that the Omicron variant presents challenges but the entire education sector has responded with a Herculean effort, and for that I thank each and every one of you.
"The prime minister and I have been clear that education is our number one priority. These measures will bolster our support to schools as we do everything in our power to minimise disruption."
Around 7,000 air cleaning units will be made available to other educational settings, the government also said.
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union welcomed the new measures being brought into schools.
She said: "Finally, the government have been forced to recognise, and react to, the scale of the Omicron variant and its potential impact on education.
"The recommendation on wearing face masks in secondary school classrooms is overdue – but it should be a requirement.
"Seven thousand more air purifiers is something, but it is completely inadequate for what should be a basic human right, the provision of clean air in every classroom in every educational setting.
"The fact that the Government have provided the extra purifiers shows that it recognises the problem but with over 300,000 classrooms in England it has failed to provide an effective solution.
"It is hard to see how Ofsted will function without the services of serving head teachers.
"Rather than limping along, Ofsted should suspend all inspections other than safeguarding concerns.
"Given the current, sky-high rates of infection, every school will be significantly affected by Covid.
"The focus should be on the essential aim of providing education continuity for as many pupils as possible, not on jumping through Ofsted hoops."
