Gavin Williamson says parents will get TWO WEEKS’ notice on whether schools will reopen after February half-term as he vows children will get priority in easing lockdown
Gavin Williamson today vowed parents will get two weeks’ notice of schools reopening as he insisted children will get priority in easing lockdown.
The Education Secretary said he wanted to get classrooms fully up and running in England at ‘the earliest possible opportunity’.
He said he intended to give families and teachers a ‘clear two-week notice period’, saying they would be the ‘first’ thing to be released from the draconian coronavirus curbs.
The comments, in a round of interviews, come amid fears of disrupted educations and millions of parents struggling to cope with home schooling since most children were barred from class during the third national lockdown.
Gavin Williamson today vowed parents will get two weeks’ notice of schools reopening as he insisted children will get priority in easing lockdown
The government is due to review the plans at the start of February half-term – although it is far from clear that they will loosen the rules.
Mr Williamson said one of the ‘key criteria’ for reopening schools would be whether the pressure on the NHS was lifting.
He brushed off calls by the opposition to resign following a series of policy U-turns.
‘My real focus is making sure that children get back into school at the earliest possible opportunity,’ he told Sky News.
‘Schools were the last to close and schools will very much be the first to reopen.’