Matt Hancock refuses to rule out keeping classrooms closed after Christmas break

Matt Hancock yesterday refused to rule out keeping schools closed after the Christmas holiday in the parts of England under the toughest lockdown.

Schools closed nationwide in the first lockdown, and ministers have since vowed to keep them open, saying children’s learning was suffering.

But asked to guarantee schools in Tier Four areas would remain open, the Health Secretary said: ‘I’ve learned not to rule anything out in this pandemic.’

He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme: ‘The plan is not for normal opening. It’s for a staggered start in order to ensure that there’s testing so that we can isolate the children who are positive and therefore keep people safe.’

Mr Hancock urged head teachers to work through the Christmas break to ensure a testing system for pupils is running by the start of term.

At the weekend union leaders said the return of secondary schools should be delayed for two weeks to give time for infection rates to fall. 

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: ‘Delaying secondary school opening until January 18 would be the right thing to do. The latest figures show that the highest rates of infection are now among secondary schoolchildren.’

But Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield has warned that this could mean sacrificing children’s learning and wellbeing.

Mr Hancock said: ‘Our goal is to bring schools back in January with a big testing regime, and that means we need a staggered start in order to test people with the coronavirus test.’

Responding to claims that the testing plan had been announced too late, he said: ‘There are three weeks between now and the start of term and like so many people in the NHS there is going to have to be some work over the Christmas break.’