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He said all pupils in exam years will now return during the week beginning on January 11, with all secondary and college pupils returning full-time on January 18.
During the first week of term after January 4, secondary schools and colleges will instead prepare to test as “many staff and students as possible” and will only be open to vulnerable children and children of key workers, he added.
The Covid infection rate is particularly high among secondary school age pupils.
- Credit: PA
He told MPs: The latest study we have from Public Health England is that Covid infections among children are triggered by changes in the community rate.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders
- Credit: Archant
Former Suffolk head Geoff Barton, general secretary of the ASCL head teachers union, said it was “frankly ludicrous” to think schools and colleges would be able to recruit and train the workforce needed to carry out testing in time.
He said: “We haven’t had any contact from the government since Christmas about whether or not the spring term will go ahead as planned, and it has been intensely frustrating that there has been a swirl of speculation with no clarity and with less than a week before term begins.”