Schools were forced to close earlier in the year in line with the national lockdown, reopening in part to selected students toward the end of the summer term. While necessary to stop the unprecedented spread of COVID-19, the closures of schools in the first lockdown caused widespread disruption for students especially those due to take exams.
It also resulted in the August exams fiasco, which saw students up and down the country initially robbed of their deserved grades after an algorithm decided their exam results.
Boris Johnson and the first minister’s of Scotland and Wales have all said they want to keep schools open as a priority after extensive closures earlier in the year.
Mr Johnson has insisted schools should only close as a “very, very last resort”, even if there were to be a second national lockdown.
He said in September: “We will ensure that schools, colleges and universities stay open, because nothing is more important than the education, health and wellbeing of our young people.”
He added: “It is vital for children to be in school and we will do everything in our power to ensure that remains the case.”
He did however say that, though a close of schools in some form could be possible, it would be the last part of society to close.
He said: “We have said for many, many weeks that keeping schools open is a top priority for us as a Welsh Government.
“During the discussion we were having yesterday both with our scientific advisors and our chief medical advisors, when the cabinet met, when I spoke with the leader of local authorities, when I spoke to educational trade unions – of course schools were a very regular topic of conversation.
“We will do everything we can to keep schools open, whether we are able to do that entirely is still a matter for the detail of the conversation that goes on – but as a priority, I reaffirm that for everybody today.”
