Primary schools across the Isle of Wight are set to re-open on 1st June – a week tomorrow – for Year R, 1 and 6 pupils, the Government has announced.
In this evening’s Downing Street press conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that things are on track for Phase 2 of the lockdown rollback and, as previously planned, schools will start to re-open from the beginning of June.
It is intended that class sizes will be smaller and students will experience staggered break and lunchtimes. There will also be staggered start and end times for the school day. However, the Prime Minister has noted that full social distancing may not be possible.
Early years settings will be able to re-open too.
It has also been confirmed that secondary schools will provide some element of contact for Year 10 and Year 12 students from 15th June, although only a quarter of the older students will be in school at any one time. Years 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 11 may not return until later in the year.
It has been recognised that not all schools will be able to open on 1st June. Over the coming days it is likely the Island’s schools will each start to declare their intentions – keep an eye on Island Echo for all the latest.
“The education of children is crucial for their welfare, for their long-term future and for social justice.
“In line with the approach being taken in many other countries, we want to start getting our children back into the classroom in a way that is as manageable and as safe as possible”.
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With the Phase 2 plan on schedule, re-opening of non-essential shops and greater social contact is expected to also come into play from the start of June. Mr Johnson is expected to announce further details on Thursday, to come into force on Monday 1st June.
Mr Johnson has lost all credibility now with his support of Dominic Cummings.
Whatever he says in now meaningless.
Totally agree, Loving your name, says it all.
There are far more important issues to worry about than Domonic Cummins, I’ve noticed it’s the winging, anti democratic, anti Brexit, left wing opposition parties that are trying to make a big issue of this, along with the left wing rags.
We have more important stuff to sort out, so shut up moaning.
Your having a laugh
Plenty of Tory MPs want Cummings gone, it’s not just the left wing. But you knew that.
Absolute nonsense, any that do it has nothing to do with this story. There’s certainly not plenty.
I wonder if your opinion would still be the same if he had brought his symptomatic family down from London to the island during lock down…I doubt it
Yeah.
Ok
Tory girl. Enjoy your patronage.
Such a goody two shoes. Your sainthood awaits.
Well said Clare. It’s bad enough with the anti government media and tv news channels stirring things up for the sake of sensationalism, but we have the idiots on here as well who moan and complain about anything the government tries to do. I am glad that we have Boris in charge. I hate to think what state the country would be in now had any of v the other parties won the election.
You are glad to have Boris in charge because you think he is better than Labour??
Well if you step into two pieces of dog poo then one piece may be better than another BUT they are both poo.
This Cummings nonsense has shown everyone just how utterly untrustworthy politicians are.
Where is the IoW MP and his opinion??? Ex-services guy so will no doubt be a good little soldier and support the paymasters and the political line BUT Boris has lost all respect over this fiasco.
No other party could have made as much a mess of all this as the useless tories
Ok let’s worry about someone putting lives at risk.
Or someone else reinterpreting clear and simply guidelines to support that person.
Or perhaps we could worry about the damage done to the credibility of the guidelines we’ve been following.
Or we could just reinterpret the rules to suit our own ends so that everything’s great and nobody is doing anything wrong.
People are making a big fuss about Dominic Cummings because it is a big deal.
His actions have put lives at risk and those who twist the rules to justify them only make matters worse.
He has undermined the credibility of the government, brought the enforceability of the laws that support the lockdown into question and given ammunition to those who would ignore the guidelines,
we are led by fools ….
Anti-democratic? Who elected Dominic Cummings (who is obviously our leader)?
Ok Karen!!
The problem is though, if Cummings goes, who will replace him? The government themselves , the MPs, often appear a bit bumbling and ignorant, they need advisors or they may not be able to govern,
Mr Cummings in the press conference I heard on the radio yesterday, explained himself very well and in a very human way.
It might be better if Boris sacked him now, or he resigned now, let it all die down a bit, give the country a breathing space and wait until such time as the country has something else to talk about, then reinstate him.
The thing is though, we, the county, most likely needs his input, he has been very good at what he has advised so far it seems, and made this one error of judgement, because he was worried about his wife and his young son. It’s not as if he just went out on some sort of joyride, exercising his ‘right’ to be a “free man” and “do exactly as he wants” as some on here have boasted they are proud of doing,.
People who boast about how they ignore the lockdown rules and walk whichever way they want round the shops, and don’t care if they walk into people, and have been extremely vocal on here about how they are going to do exactly as they like regardless of how it might affect anyone else, are probably the first to be complaining about Mr Cummings now, when his actions were born of genuine reasons, not just going to do what he wants regardless just because of bloody mindedness and not for any genuine reasons. The fact is, he did have genuine reasons to do what he did, and as he explained, did not come into contact with anyone else.
He wasn’t out, walking close up to people, bumping into people in shops through walking the wrong way, if he had been, it would be a different matter.
At least we know that it’s okay to follow your instincts rather than the lockdown rules.
ABSOLUTELY. Do exactly what you want and if questioned just say you are following your instincts.
Absolutely classic politicians twofacedness. Classic!!!
Any parents with any common sense will not let there child or children go back yet.Keep your children safe keep them home away from this infectious virus or risk there little lives!
There’s no way my kids are going back until September! And if the authorities don’t like it, I’ll see them in court!
Too right Mary. far better to have a slightly less educated child, than a dead or disabled for life one from this CV.
Children will soon catch up if they want to anyway. Face it, they are all at different levels and when young, most of what they learn, can be researched on the net within minutes IF they wish too.
Seems many think the same, and worryingly those who don’t I can’t help wondering if some are not as caring as they ought to be.
Children put all their love and trust in us to look after them first and foremost. They don’t expect us to be like the Government and put the finance of the UK, before their safety and well being.
HMG have to look at the large picture, as they did in the war, sending young men to their almost certain death when sent ‘over the top’. They did so to save the nation, but IF you had known their plan seeing your child as just regretfully ‘disposable’ and a pawn in the ‘bigger picture’ YOU wouldn’t have sent them at all.
So why do so now, albeit the risk is less, BUT the risk is real.
Wait until the house of commons and the house of Lords is full, then we may ‘guess’ it is safe to put a toe back into the water. NOT BEFORE.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are saying they will not send their children to school onJune 1 How is BoJo going to explain that away
So no mention of the schools in France that reopened and then had to close again due to coronavirus and kawasaki virus!! In my opinion they should only go back when it is safe to do so, if full social distancing can not be adeared to then it is not fully safe. All I’m getting is go out if you want to or stay in if you have to but if anything happens its not anyone’s fault as they told us to stay alert! They are all safe in there 2nd homes that we pay for!
Why do they want to start with the primary school children, they are the worst for spreading germs,their immune systems aren’t as strong as the older children.Surely older children can abide by the “rules “ easier. It’s not fair treating the younger ones as guinea pigs especially now with the news of kawasaki symptoms
Not just the children to think about. Many adults work at schools and then also go home to their own families. No risk is okay! What date are private schools going back, I wonder? Most of them not until at least September! I wonder why!
Agree. Boris Johnson is not fit to be PM any longer having defended his “mate” Dominic Cummings who BLATANTLY went against the lockdown rules. Any respect Boris had, he’s blown it. It’s s case of DO AS I SAY BUT I CAN DO AS I LIKE. Disgusting. Cummings should be sacked. Arrogant man that he is.
DON’T TRUST TORY POLITICIANS, THEY ARE ALL LIARS…. ALL OUT FOR THEMSELVES
Hey now don’t go pinching my lines! What have I been saying for weeks and weeks!? They have down graded the virus, did they tell you that? No! What else would that lie about? All politicians are scum. When you come to terms with take,then you will see what they are really capable of, and there’s more to come.
People are still falling ill with Covid-19, Yet it’s safe to let our youngest members of society go back to School, I have advised my Daughter not to, no way it’s pressure to get people crack to work purely for the Economy
When all the politicians sit together in the commons then it might be ok but not let our kids be guinea pigs before them
It will be 2nd wave COVID-19 virus !?!?!
Hopefully if cases suddenly escalate this can be rescinded until safer