Classrooms of the future: Key workers’ children sit 6ft apart

Schoolchildren will be told to sit 6ft apart with strict social distancing measures in place in playgrounds and canteens as they readjust to life after lockdown.  

One in five children will be urged to return to the classroom from next week as part of a gradual reopening of schools.

They are expected to follow stringent new rules which will see children split into small groups with siblings in the same class.  

More than 1.7million pupils who are vulnerable or whose parents are key workers will be asked to go back.

Students in year six will be first full classes through the doors – potentially from June 1 – to help them prepare for the transition to high school.

Ministers will target later that week for a wider reopening of primary schools, before secondary schools allow pupils in years ten and 12 to return.

In other developments in the coronavirus crisis today:

• Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced a package of support worth almost £3billion to help universities weather the coronavirus crisis; 
• A smartphone app to trace the spread of coronavirus will be trialled on the Isle of Wight this week before being rolled out more widely later this month; 
• A new ‘fast and accurate’ coronavirus antibody test has been developed by scientists in Edinburgh, although the company fears the NHS could miss out amid interest in Europe for the machines; 
• Heathrow Airport has warned travellers could face queues a kilometre long to board flights;  
• Former Government chief scientific adviser Sir David King has assembled a group of experts to look at how the UK could work its way out of the lockdown in response to concerns over the ‘lack of transparency’ coming from the Sage group of advisers.

Social distancing measures are already in place at Drummond Community High School in Edinburgh.

The school is acting as a hub for 12 schools in the city, taking children from P1 – the first year of primary – through to S2.

There are 29 children on the register and the headteachers of the 12 schools take it in turn to lead each day, bringing teachers from their own schools with them.

The children have been split into six groups, with no more than six pupils per class, in order to adhere to social-distancing measures, with siblings kept together in the same class.

Social distancing is also in place in the lunch hall, while classes take it in turns to rotate around different areas of the playground.

Stephen Gilhooley, quality improvement officer for schools in north-east Edinburgh, said that teachers are adapting well to the unusual teaching environment and showing impressive dedication.

When not working in the hub school, teachers are working from home with their own classes, through distance learning. 

Key workers have been entitled to keep sending their children to class throughout the lockdown, but when schools shut six weeks ago they were urged to look after them at home where possible. 

The Government is now preparing to issue guidance that will instead encourage these parents to send their children to school. 

Just one parent needs to be a key worker for their child to be eligible but parents will not be fined for not sending them in.

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, which counsels the government, is targeting June 1 for all year six pupils to be sent back to lessons.

These children are seen as the priority to get back in class due to them transferring to secondary school in September.

A Whitehall source told the Guardian: ‘The focus is getting primary school pupils back first but only if the R [a measure of how the virus is spreading] is at a safe level. 

‘After primary schools have returned we will then look at years 10 and 12.’ 

Figures from the Department for Education show that 3.7 per cent of pupils in England attended school on the first day that schools were closed, falling to 1.3 per cent by the beginning of the second week. 

Attendance dropped to 0.4 per cent during the week that would have been the Easter holidays. 

But the figures have started to rise with an average of 165,000 children – 1.7 per cent of pupils – turning up each day in the week before last. 

At the Downing Street press conference last night, Michael Gove said the Government was ‘particularly keen to help vulnerable and disadvantaged children to carry on with their education during the pandemic’. 

This category includes those at risk of abuse or neglect or with particular special needs. 

Schools are expected to start allowing pupils back who are not vulnerable or the children of key workers from the start of June, starting with primary schools. 

Officials are looking at options including having classes in on alternate days or weeks to allow them to spread out. 

Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman yesterday said there is a ‘great deal of logic’ in targeting younger children to return to the classroom. 

She told Sophy Ridge On Sunday that the younger they are ‘the more they need routine’. 

But Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: ‘While we all want to see a return to some sort of normality, the National Education Union believes it’s really premature to talk about a June return date.’