Class Divide

1. Parents will keep 1m kids off primary school 2. No10 urged to rethink full return by summer hol

- Pippa Crerar

Worried parents are expected to keep at least a million eligible primary pupils at home today as schools allow more children to go back to classes.

That is around half of those in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 who could return under lockdown easing – in a major blow to Boris Johnson’s hopes of getting back to normal before the summer break.

And headteachers predicted more than three in 10 teachers will be forced to work from home due to health conditions, their age or having vulnerable family members.

The school-or-no-school division across the country became apparent yesterday as the Prime Minster was criticised over shambolic planning – with ministers producing a blueprint for reopening schools on May 12 and then changing it 41 times.

Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick said: “It maybe there are some parents who have not yet made the decision to send their children back but will in the days ahead, when they’ve seen schools managed to reopen safely. I hope so, it’s extremely important we get children back to school. The evidence suggests it is children from poorer households losing out by not having crucial face-to-face contact.”

But Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds said: “I think it is important now that we enable people to take the right decisions around this. That if individual schools feel they are not ready, they are given support so they get to the stage where they are ready.