There are no good choices at the moment, only least-worst options.

Closing schools is not a neutral act. There are children & young people still without access to online learning (devices & connectivity), finding space to learn at home is impossible for some, availability of...

parental help to learn is limited by working from home themselves or juggling needs of siblings, maybe one device shared between household needed for work & school. the cost of having the heating on, keeping the electric metre topped up so devices can be charged....

we only know the children at risk that we already know about, so yes we can make sure they can safely return to school along with children of keyworkers, but what about the children who are at risk that no one has realised yet? the last few weeks for them may have been unbearable

families of children with a disability or special educational need have been left without support for months on end. parents do not have super-human powers and the relentless exhaustion is a risk to their physical and mental health

social contact is really important to the mental health and well-being of all children.

I cannot believe we are back here again, and seem no better prepared to plug the gaps and mitigate the risks we know about.

schools were on their knees already and the last two weeks....

well, I don't even have the words.

But it is clear from the scientific advice, and the local data, that it is not safe to re-open schools so quickly. but in order to protect people from the virus we need to pull out all the stops to look out for all children not in school...

because if school staff are not the eyes & ears then we have to be.

I know what a great job many schools did of maintaining contact with children & families during lockdown, but these next few weeks are going to be very, very hard for children & young people, schools & parents