BBC News
By Katherine Sellgren
image captionSchools were told to close for most pupils at the start of January
Around 1.2 million children attended school in England last week, Department for Education (DfE) figures show.
On 28 January, 15% of state school pupils were in class, up from 14% the week before, the data indicates.
The rise was driven by an increase in the number of children attending class in primary and special schools, while numbers in secondary schools remained stable.
Head teachers described the rise in demand for places as worrying .
Pupils in schools and colleges in England - except children of key workers and vulnerable pupils - have been told to learn remotely during the latest Covid-19 lockdown.
MPs have been told that strong mitigation measures are needed in schools to stop a “huge surge” in coronavirus transmission, as fears were raised that March 8 could be too soon for them to start to reopen.
Children aged between 12 and 16 years old are seven times more likely to bring infection into a household than an adult, and they are two times more likely to infect contacts in a household, MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on coronavirus heard.
Dr Deepti Gurdasani, epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, told the APPG the level of exposure they have is “so high so overall they contribute a lot to the transmission within schools and transmission within the community”.
MPs have been told that strong mitigation measures are needed in schools to stop a “huge surge” in coronavirus transmission, as fears were raised that March 8 could be too soon for them to start to reopen.
Children aged between 12 and 16 years old are seven times more likely to bring infection into a household than an adult, and they are two times more likely to infect contacts in a household, MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on coronavirus heard.
Dr Deepti Gurdasani, epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, told the APPG the level of exposure they have is “so high so overall they contribute a lot to the transmission within schools and transmission within the community”.