Williamson expects phased approach to re-opening schools

The education secretary Gavin Williamson has given evidence to the Parliamentary education committee this morning on how schools can re-open after the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in school closures for the majority of pupils.

Asked by committee chair Robert Halfon whether the return of pupils to schools would be “in stages”, with pupils of some ages returning before others, Williamson said: “This is obviously something that we are giving a great amount of thought to, and giving a lot of consideration.

“Just a couple of weeks ago I commissioned SAGE to set up a sub-group to look at the particular issues of opening schools, making sure that when schools are open it’s done in the best possible way with the very best scientific and medical advice.

“And we expect SAGE to report back, and the information that we get from SAGE and from Public Health England will be the key parts of what informs us to how best we open schools.

“But I do expect schools to be opened in a phased manner.”

“We have to constantly look at how we updated the advice and give teachers and those who work in schools the very best advice in making sure they create a safe space.

“It’s incredibly important we get the right balance in terms of making sure we make an environment that is good to learn in but also a safe environment for people to work in as well.”