Gavin Williamson says he wants ‘nothing more than to re-open schools’ but can’t give a date until coronavirus lockdown criteria are met

No date can yet be set for re-opening schools in England, the Education Secretary has said, following reports children could be back in the classroom in just three weeks.

Addressing Sunday’s Downing Street press briefing Gavin Williamson apologised directly to young people for the interruption to their studies, but confirmed there were no plans to re-open schools over the summer.

He said: “Of course, I want nothing more than to see schools back, get them back to normal, make sure the children are sat around, learning, and experiencing the joy of being at school.

“But I can’t give you a date."

He insisted that five tests would need to be met before any easing of social distancing measures could be implemented.

Detailing these criteria, Mr Williamson said: “First we must protect the NHS’s ability to cope, and be sure that it can continue to provide critical care and specialist treatment right across the whole of the United Kingdom.

“Second, we need to see daily death rates from coronavirus coming down.

“Third, we need to have reliable data that shows the rate of infection is decreasing to manageable levels.

“Four, we need to be confident that testing capacity and PPE is being managed, with supply able to meet, not just today’s demand, but future demand.

“And fifth, and perhaps most crucially, we need to be confident that any changes we do make will not risk a second peak of infections.

“When we can be sure that we have met these five essential points, we can think about getting children into schools again, learning, mastering new ideas and being with their friends once more.”

Mr Williamson praised parents for home-schooling children during the ongoing lockdown.

He said: “I recognise all the challenges that families will be facing at the moment. We are determined to support parents who are helping their children learn from home.

“I think we all know how difficult that can be.”

He then offered a direct address to the nation’s school kids, saying: “To any young people watching, I wanted to say to you how sorry I am that you’ve had your education disrupted in this way.

“I know how hard it must be, and I’d like to thank you for making the adjustments that you’ve had to make.

“I know you will be missing your friends, your teachers, your lessons.

“I want you to know that you are such an important part of this fight too, and I cannot thank you enough for all that you are doing.”

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On measures taken in schools in other European countries to get them to open sooner like reducing class sizes, Mr Williamson said: “Are we looking at other countries and learning from them? Absolutely.

“And we’re seeing a few examples of countries opening up their schooling system and we’ll look closely as to how that works, how that goes, and what lessons can be learnt from it so we can benefit from that.”

The reports claimed a “traffic light” strategy was about to be brought in which would see some schools and businesses allowed to reopen in mid-May.

Speaking on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Mr Gove said: "It is the case that we are looking at all of the evidence. We have set some tests which need to be passed before we can think of easing restrictions in this lockdown.

"It's very important that when we are still in the process of making sure we can reduce the rate of infection and also reduce the number of deaths, that we maintain the number of steps that we have."

Meanwhile, children from disadvantaged backgrounds across England will receive free laptops and tablets to help them learn from home during the lockdown.

The move is part of a push to make remote education accessible for pupils while schools are closed.

A new online academy is also being launched to offer pupils 180 online lessons a week.

Mr Williamson said 4G routers will be provided to ensure disadvantaged secondary school pupils and care leavers can access the internet where those families do not already have mobile or broadband internet.

The Oak National Academy will launch on Monday, having been created by 40 teachers from some of the leading schools in England in less than a fortnight.

Its 180 video lessons per week will cover a broad range of subjects including maths, arts and languages for pupils ranging in age from reception to Year 10.

Electronic devices will be ordered for pupils “in the most vital stages of their education for those who receive support from a social worker and care leavers”, the Department for Education said.

Young people will be eligible for the devices if they do not already have one and either have a social worker or are care leavers, or are disadvantaged children in year 10, ahead of GCSEs next year.

The Department for Education said schools and colleges will be able to keep the laptops and tablets once they have reopened.

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The Government said it would also make funding of £1.6 million available immediately for the NSPCC to expand and promote its national helpline for adults.

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