The government has unveiled its strategy to ease lockdown restrictions across the UK, which includes re-opening primary schools for certain year groups.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced schools will welcome students from Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 from June 1^st at the earliest.

Following the closure of educational settings from March 23^rd, schools have only been open to children of keyworkers for the last couple of months in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus among youngsters.

However, the government is confident that letting children back into schools is safe, saying: “It is the best place for them to learn, and because we know it is good for children’s mental wellbeing to have social interactions with other children, carers and teachers.”

The reasoning behind re-opening schools is because children have less severe symptoms than adults, with those in younger age groups even less likely to become unwell.

By limiting the classes initially, schools can reduce the rate of transmission and adopt effective social distancing policies.

If the first phase of reintroducing pupils to schools is successful, education settings can consider letting other year groups in before the summer holidays.

The process is constantly under review, and the government has reassured parents it will only go ahead with re-opening primary schools if five key tests justify the changes. This includes making sure the rate of infection continues to decrease and the enabling programmes for recovery are successful.

While it remains positive that students will be able to return within the next few weeks, some teachers’ unions have criticised the government’s decision.

General secretary of the NASUWT teachers’ union was reported by the BBC as saying: “[The] consideration is the health and safety of teachers and pupils… We want schools to be able to reopen when they can demonstrate that it is safe to do so.”

As there is still uncertainty about if and when pupils will return to their normal classes, it is a good idea to consider kids coding courses to ensure your child does not fall behind on their computer education.