Primary schools will be able to accept children from all year groups if they are able to maintain a 15-pupil cap on class sizes, ministers are preparing to announce, following a major backlash over the re-opening of classrooms.
The Government is expected to state that primary schools can allow pupils of all ages to return before the summer, if they have the necessary space and number of teachers needed to keep children in groups of less than 16.
The disclosure comes as a senior forecaster said school closures may already have cost the economy about £22 billion, as it also emerged that the Chancellor warned colleagues that the shutdown would also impede social mobility.
Separately, Boris Johnson has said a planned “catch-up” programme for those who have missed out on education would have “massive importance … not just for economic purposes, but for social justice.”
The Prime Minister is said to be concerned that many pupils will have been missing out on support at home, and access to remote learning.
Secondary schools can open from Monday for Year 10 and Year 12, but only a quarter of pupils are allowed to be in the building at any one time.
Read more via The Telegraph
