The Education Secretary said he is “absolutely confident” there will be no further delays to school reopenings, after soaring coronavirus case rates in December forced the Government into a U-turn in pushing back the start of terms for millions of pupils.
Gavin Williamson moved to reassure teaching staff, pupils and parents the newly rescheduled staggered return dates for England would remain in place, despite concerns about safety and transmission rates among younger people.
On Wednesday, the Government announced primary school pupils in some of the areas hardest hit by Covid-19 will not return to their desks as planned next week, with students in exam years returning to secondary schools a week later than planned, from January 11, while other secondary and college students will go back full-time on January 18.
The Queen issued a positive New Year message on social media this afternoon, reassuring Britain that better days will return and we will meet again .
She reprised the words from her televised message on April 5 soon after the start of the pandemic in a tweet which also wished people a happy and healthy New Year .
Today s message quoted the 94-year-old monarch saying: We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.
The final four words - we will meet again - were a tribute Forces sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn s Second World War anthem, who died earlier this year on June 18.
The Education Secretary said he is “absolutely confident” there will be no further delays to school reopenings, after soaring coronavirus case rates in December forced the Government into a U-turn in pushing back the start of terms for millions of pupils.
Gavin Williamson moved to reassure teaching staff, pupils and parents the newly rescheduled staggered return dates for England would remain in place, despite concerns about safety and transmission rates among younger people.
On Wednesday, the Government announced primary school pupils in some of the areas hardest hit by Covid-19 will not return to their desks as planned next week, with students in exam years returning to secondary schools a week later than planned, from January 11, while other secondary and college students will go back full-time on January 18.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has said he is “absolutely confident” there will be no further delays to school reopenings, after soaring coronavirus case rates in December forced the Government into a U-turn in pushing back the start of term for millions of pupils.
He moved to reassure teaching staff, pupils and parents the newly rescheduled staggered return dates for England will stay in place, despite concerns about safety and transmission rates among younger people.
But teachers said they remain unconvinced about the plans, and accused the Government of living in a “parallel universe”.
The Government announced on Wednesday that primary school pupils in some of the areas hardest hit by Covid-19 will not return to their desks as planned next week, with students in exam years returning to secondary schools a week later than planned, from January 11. Other secondary and college students will go back full-time on January 18.
BBC News
Published
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image captionThe new vaccine will make it easier to vaccinate more people in a greater number of settings
As the rollout of a second coronavirus vaccine continues across Wales, many may be feeling more hopeful there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.
There are hopes hundreds of thousands of us will be immunised with this, or the vaccine created by Pfizer-BioNTech, in the next few months.
But with there already having been long queues at vaccination centres, when can you expect to get the call to get the jab, and what does it mean for how we live our lives?