Who is a key worker? Full list of jobs that qualify in new national lockdown

Nearly all children are staying at home for the next month rather than going to school.

Instead they are learning online from home in classes set up remotely by their teachers, while GCSE and A-level exams are set to be cancelled for the second year running.

Announcing the national lockdown in a TV address, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "We will provide extra support to ensure that pupils entitled to free school meals will continue to receive them while schools are closed, and we’ll distribute more devices to support remote education."

But there is a minority who will still be travelling to school during the national lockdown.

They are vulnerable children and kids of critical workers.

Those who are classed as critical workers are similar to the key workers that were singled out and applauded during previous lockdowns in 2020.

Who is a critical worker?

People who work in the following sectors are classed as critical workers by the government:

Paramedics are classed as key workers during the national lockdown (Will Johnston Photography)

• Health and social care (including, but is not limited to, doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics, social workers, care workers, and other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers).

• Teachers, school support staff, childcare staff, social workers and other specialist educational professionals.

• Those essential to the running of the justice system.

• Religious staff.

• Charities and workers delivering key frontline service.

• Those responsible for the management of the deceased.

• Journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting.

• Essential public services and those workers on the Covid-19 response in local and national government.

• Food processing, production, distribution, sale and delivery workers.

• Police and support staff.

• Firefighters.

• Border security, National Crime Agency staff, contractors and Armed Forces personnel.

• Transport workers (including those who keep air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport operating during the coronavirus pandemic)

• Staff needed for essential financial services provision (including, but not limited to, workers in banks, building societies and financial market infrastructure).

• The oil, gas, electricity and water sectors, including sewerage.

• Information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during the coronavirus response.

• Key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications (including, but not limited to, network operations, field engineering, call centre staff, IT and data infrastructure, 999 and 111 critical services).

• Postal services and delivery.

• Payments providers.

• Waste disposal sectors.