All children back in school by September in England pledges government - BBC News

The Government has pledged that all school-age children in England will be back in class in September, with details of the plan to be published in the next two weeks.

The Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said that classes could go up from 15 to 30, but wouldn't say whether the 2 metre distancing rule would change to help this.

In Northern Ireland, social distancing in schools has been halved to 1 metre, with the aim of a full reopening on August 24th. Schools in Wales will reopen at the end of this month, with only a third of pupils in class at any time, while in Scotland, schools are preparing to reopen on August 11th.

A £1 billion fund to help children in England catch up was also launched. By the start of the new academic year, tens of thousands of children will have been off school for nearly six months.

Meanwhile the coronavirus alert level for the UK has been lowered from 4 to 3. That means the virus is considered to be "in general circulation" instead of "high or rising" and there could now be a gradual relaxation of restrictions.

Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Education Editor Branwen Jeffreys, Science Editor David Shukman and Political Correspondent Vicki Young.

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