Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that children of key workers in all school year groups can still attend school as schools partially return with the proscribed year groups during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Department has provided guidance setting out that the children of critical workers will continue to be prioritised for education provision regardless of the year group they are in: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision.

It makes clear that, now that we have made progress in reducing the transmission of COVID-19, we are encouraging all eligible children, including children of critical workers, to attend nurseries and schools (where there are no shielding concerns for the child or their household), even if parents are able to keep their children at home.

The Department has also published guidance for schools to prepare for wider opening: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-educational-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020/actions-for-education-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020.

This explains that if primary schools cannot reach an arrangement that enables all eligible children to attend consistently, schools should focus first on continuing to provide places for priority groups of all year groups (children of critical workers and vulnerable children).

The advice to secondary schools on preparing for wider opening from the 15 June states that children of critical workers and vulnerable children in all year groups should be encouraged to attend school full-time.