Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has outlined his hopes and plans for the reopening of schools in England, following Government claims that the reopening of schools is a priority.
Currently in England in line with the national lockdown restrictions put in place earlier this month, all primary schools and secondary schools are closed. They remain open for children of key workers only.
University courses have all moved to online teaching, apart from practical courses such as medicine.
Williamson told Niall Paterson from Sky News: ““We would want to give all schools a clear two-week notice period.”
“We would want to give all schools a clear two-week notice period.”
Education Secretary @GavinWilliamson tells @skynewsniall that he will give schools “enough notice as possible” before they reopen.
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 21, 2021
The Government have stated that they hope to reopen schools following the February half term, with online learning in place until then.
Gavin Williamson was also pressed on BBC Radio 4‘s Today programme, where he was asked whether he could in fact guarantee that schools would be reopening at all during this school term.
He told BBC Radio 4 Today: “I want to see them, as soon as the scientific and health advice is there, open at the earliest possible stage – and I certainly hope that would be before Easter.”
He also reiterated that schools would be given clear notice on when to reopen, with a definite window of two weeks to get ready and prepare.
This is certainly good news, after the National Education Union said schools need certainty in the reopening process. It was emphasised that places of education do not benefit from a “stop – start approach”.
As we come to the end of January, with schools scheduled to open from the middle of February the two week notice could be coming for parts of the country within the next two weeks or so…
