The country’s biggest primary school chains plan to reopen their classrooms to pupils at the start of next month despite opposition from teaching unions.
The heads of Reach 2, Harris, Oasis and GEP said they are backing the government's controversial plans to reopen state schools in England for pupils in reception and Years 1 and 6 from June 1.
However unions have slammed the plans by the Department for Education saying teachers, pupils and their families will be at risk of catching coronavirus.
An estimated quarter of primary pupils in England are in multi-academy trust (MAT) schools, which means the local authority have no control and they can set many of their own rules.
Sir Steve Lancashire, chief executive of Reach 2, the country’s biggest MAT with 50 schools, told The Times : “Our intention is to open all of our schools for the priority year groups, and will do so as long as the rigorous risk assessments we carry out for each school gives us the reassurance we need that we can keep our pupils and staff as safe as possible.”
Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, said she supported the government's 'sensible' plans as there was evidence that being out of school for prolonged periods of time could be 'damaging' for some pupils, particularly with vulnerable and disadvantaged youngsters.
She pointed to data suggesting NHS nurseries that have remained open during the lockdown had not suffered coronavirus outbreaks as evidence it could be done safely.
"All sides need to show a greater will to work together in the interests of children," she said.
"We cannot afford to wait for a vaccine, which may never arrive, before children are back in school.
"It's time to stop squabbling and agree a staggered, safe return that is accompanied by rigorous testing of teachers, children and families."
Many of the chains have a high proportion of disadvantaged pupils.
Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis trust which has 35 primary schools, called opposition to the plans “rather middle class” adding that it fails to acknowledge the damage to disadvantaged children from missing lessons.
Sir Dan Moynihan, chief executive of the Harris Federation, which has 23 primary schools in London, called the plans “a cautious and limited approach”.
He added: “Unions quite reasonably want schools to do all they can to reduce risk but just as with people working in health or retail it is not possible to have no risk at all."
The government’s scientific advisers met union leaders yesterday to discuss safety concerns but Patrick Roach, general secretary of NASUWT, said it left them with “more questions than answers”.
Health and safety legislation allows teachers to stay away from school if they deem it to be unsafe.
Chris Tweedale, chief executive of GEP Academies which has seven primaries in Surrey, said he planned to reopen classrooms by June 1 with new measures.
He said: “We are putting in place some commonsense measures — limiting class sizes to 15 or fewer if classrooms are small, having staggered lunchtime times and breaks, ramping up our cleaning regime, and essentially creating protective bubbles around small groups of children.
Liverpool city council became the first local authority to announced it would not be reopening its schools on June 1.
It said the earliest date for lessons to resume in the classroom will be June 15 and only year six, the oldest children, would be allowed back.
Until then it will continue to allow only the children of key workers and vulnerable pupils to attend school.
Hartlepool council also joined Liverpool in saying it would ignore the plan.
A statement from the local authority in County Durham reads: "Whilst we recognise the importance of schools reopening, we want to be absolutely clear that we will be taking a measured and cautious approach to this.
"We continue to work with schools to put in place appropriate measure to help keep children and staff safe when a phased reopening is possible."
Christopher King, head of the Independent Association of Prep Schools said that he expected all 670 privates schools to reopen to the priority year groups on June 1.
Almost 500,000 people have signed a petition demanding the option for parents not to send kids back to school unless they feel it's safe.
