Covid: Gavin Williamson hopes England's schools will reopen by Easter

The education secretary has said he would "certainly hope" schools in England could reopen before Easter.

Gavin Williamson said he was "not able to exactly say" when pupils would go back but schools would be given two weeks' notice before reopening.

Primary and secondary schools remain closed, apart from to vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers.

Downing Street said the prime minister wanted schools to open as quickly as possible but would follow the evidence.

"If we can open them up before Easter then we obviously will do but that is determined by the latest scientific evidence and data," the prime minister's official spokesman said.

The Downing Street spokesman was also less specific about the promise of two weeks' notice, saying: "We want to give schools as much notice as possible."

Schools have been closed to most pupils so far this term, with primary schools closing after one day back, in response to rising Covid levels.

'Hope before Easter'

Pupils have been told they will be learning at home until at least half-term in mid-February.

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But Mr Williamson was pressed on BBC Radio 4's Today programme whether he could guarantee that schools would reopen at all this term, before the Easter holidays.

"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 certainly before Easter," said the education secretary, who's responsible for schools in England.

He said schools and parents would have "absolutely proper notice" of when children were going to return, which he said would be a "clear two weeks" for teachers and families to get ready.

Analysis

By Sean Coughlan, BBC News education and family correspondent

A lesson from the first lockdown was that it's much harder to reopen schools than to close them.

Parents and teachers have to be persuaded again it's safe to go back, families need advance notice to plan their work and childcare, schools need to organise their staffing.

And there are other parents who will be pushing for schools to go back as soon as possible, in addition to the vulnerable and key workers' children already attending.

For Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, already under pressure, it means a high-stakes balancing act - and it clearly remains uncertain whether this will happen for all schools before the Easter holidays.

What seems likely, from Mr Williamson and England's deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries, is that this could be a patchwork return beginning after half-term, rather than a single starting date, depending on local levels of the virus.

The biggest teachers' union, the National Education Union, said schools and parents needed certainty and not a "stop-start approach".

Last week Mr Williamson indicated to the Commons education committee that schools in some parts of the country might stay closed at the end of the lockdown, with a return to the "contingency" arrangements, under which schools in areas of high infection would be shut.

On Tuesday, England's deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries also said schools might reopen region by region in a phased return after half-term.

Labour has accused the education secretary of causing "chaos and confusion" and called on him to resign.

Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said providing two weeks' advance notice of opening was "good news coming from an education secretary who normally gives them about 24 hours' notice".

Sir Keir said the government needed to "give children the ability to learn at home now" and "get on with the blindingly obvious" task of getting testing in place in schools.

Asked about his own future, Mr Williamson said: "Our focus is making sure that we get the very best of remote education out to all children across the country, making sure that we return schools at the earliest possible moment."

In terms of his own achievements, the education secretary said: "I'll let other people do the grading."

Replacement exams

Schools have also been closed by other governments in the UK. In Scotland and Northern Ireland they will remain closed until at least the middle of February, while in Wales the next review of restrictions will be on 29 January.

The government has also paused plans to roll out rapid daily coronavirus testing in all but a small number of secondary schools and colleges, with health officials saying the new variant meant the risk of missing infections had risen.

But Mr Williamson emphasised that mass testing in schools would continue, clarifying that it was the daily tests for those who had been in contact with a positive case which had been stopped.

The education secretary was also challenged on the fairness of setting tests as part of the replacement for cancelled GCSEs and A-levels, considering pupils will have missed different amounts of time in school.

Mr Williamson said the tests were only "one element" for deciding replacement results, which would be based on teachers' grades.

"That's why we're asking teachers to make a judgement in the round. We're asking teachers to look at the work they've been doing over the whole period of time they've been studying the course," he said.

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