Many parents will be looking forward to the return of schools! Others understandably will be nervous about their children going back to school.
That's why today the Prime Minister has made a direct appeal to parents to return their children to the classroom when schools reopen next week. Setting out why he, the Government, and our nation's scientific and medical experts believe it is safe to do so. The Prime Minister has previously spoken of the moral duty to reopen schools to all pupils safely, and he has thanked the school staff who have spent the summer months making classrooms Covid-secure in preparation for a full return in September. We have always been guided by our scientific and medical experts, and we now know far more about coronavirus than we did earlier this year. As the Chief Medical Officer has said, the risk of contracting Covid-19 in school is very small and it is far more damaging for a child’s development and their health and well-being to be away from school any longer.
I wholeheartedly support the return to school and I am particularly struck by the information provided in a Public Health England study, published yesterday. This shows that just 0.01 per cent of pre-schools and primary schools had an outbreak in June – all of which were successfully contained and just 70 children were affected. This is why it’s vitally important that we get our children back into the classroom to learn and to be with their friends. Nothing will have a greater effect on the life chances of our children than returning to school.