Five former education secretaries have backed a plan to get all children back to class in September, including a demand that teachers curtail their six-week summer holiday to deal with the “national emergency”.
Under the plan, put together by Lord Adonis, a former Labour minister for schools, the government must confirm the social-distancing rules, appoint a national director of school operations to oversee safe reopening, and bring back teachers in August to get schools ready.
There are calls for an army of retired and supply teachers to stand in for teachers who are shielding or sick, the hiring of church halls and Portakabins to enable more children to be taught safely, and schools to be stocked with mass supplies of hand sanitiser, facemasks and thermometers.
