Deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries said they could start again at different times depending on local Covid-19 infection rates. She also did not rule out schools remaining closed after February half-term. Dr Harries, said the restart next month should not be seen as a fixed date. And she told MPs infection rates “will need to be observed and reviewed up until that time”.
When asked whether there could be a phased system for reopening schools she said: “It’s likely we will have some sort of regional separation of interventions.
“It’s highly likely that when we come out of this national lockdown we will not have consistent patterns of infection in communities across the country.”
Dr Harries was giving evidence to the Education Select Committee on the impact of the pandemic on studies. On the risk of transmission in schools, Dr Harries said: “Schoolchildren can transmit infection but it is not a significant driver of large-scale community infections.”
Robert Halfon, a Conservative MP and chairman of the committee, said: “The Government said that schools would reopen after the February half-term.
“Everything possible should be done to keep to that date – for the sake of the children’s education, mental health and safety.
“That’s why ministers should prioritise school staff for the vaccine and send in mobile units to jab them across the country.”
Official data out yesterday showed half of primary school teachers and school leaders in England were going into schools last week.
Nearly three in five of teaching assistants and other staff were on site at primary schools.
Overall, 39 percent of state school teachers and heads were working on-site last week, according to Department for Education data.
Pupil attendance figures showed 21 percent of primary school pupils in England were in the classroom on January 13.
But just five percent of secondary school students were in class. Pupils in schools and colleges in England – except children of key workers and vulnerable pupils – have been told to learn remotely until mid-February.
