lockdown restrictions in england will
remain in place until at least the 8th
of march
when schools in all parts of england
might be allowed to reopen
if the conditions are right the prime
minister boris johnson said reopening
schools any earlier
could result in another surge in covid
cases
he said data on hospital admissions and
the vaccine rollout
would all need to be carefully studied
before any relaxation
was possible now by the end of february
the government aims to publish
what it calls a road map for the gradual
easing of restrictions in england
schools could then start to reopen from
the 8th of march
and once england schools are back there
would be a gradual unlocking of other
restrictions
as long as the data supported that
northern ireland has already extended
its lockdown
into march and plans in wales and
scotland are set to be reviewed there by
ministers
in the coming days our political editor
laura koonsberg has the latest
the sofa will still be part of the
crowded classroom for alexa's
seven-year-old
six-year-old and four-year-old twins
they didn't make much of the prime
minister
on their curriculum today it will not be
possible
to reopen schools immediately after the
february half term
she'll still be the teacher like
millions of parents
until at least the start of march i'm
i'm tired
um it's been almost a almost a year of
my kids being home a lot and
you're not only being their teacher but
you have to then go be the lunch lady
and you have to clean the toilets and
you have to
you make sure everything's printed off i
don't have a teaching assistant to make
sure the work is done right or to make
sure the toddlers over there are happy
while i
work with the older ones he made it
official
english schools will still be closed to
most and the lockdown will go on
we hope it will therefore be safe to
begin the reopening of schools
from monday the 8th of march and i know
how frustrating that will be
and will be for pupils and teachers who
want nothing
more than to get back to the classroom
the labour leader himself
isolating at home wants teachers at the
front of the queue for vaccines
and is disappointed with more delay the
truth is this was not inevitable
it wasn't just bad luck
it's the results of a huge number of
mistakes by the prime minister
during the course of this pandemic over
the next few weeks the government will
track how the virus is moving among us
and the effect the vaccine has
and only then at the end of february
will the decisions be made
how do you rate the chances of being
able to stick to the 8th of march for
the beginning of the end of this
lockdown
laura the date of the 8th of march is
the earliest
uh that we think it's sensible for the
to to set for
schools to to go back and
obviously we hope that all schools will
go back i'm hopeful
but that's the earliest that uh that we
can do it and it depends on
lots of things going right plans for
northern ireland are being reviewed
tomorrow
wales on friday and next tuesday in
scotland too
but without dramatic falls in cases
don't expect much to change
with cases so high and hospitals so full
in theory it's not really a surprise
that it will still be at least a month
before gates open again to all and
restrictions could even start to be
eased off
but in practice it feels like a big
admission
that we're heading towards 12 months of
coronavirus restrictions in one way or
another
a whole year of families and farms
coping with life in and out of lockdown
a year when coronaviruses dominated so
much
with such heavy costs i was going to
shut the door behind me
because we are now locked down due to
national lockdown
sean built up his gym business in
ilfracombe
even with some financial support from
the government it's proved hard to hang
on
he's desperately hoping this extended
lockdown will be the last
it's been a little bit more of a
struggle still having bills to pay
i've had to put more funds of my own
what the business has accrued over the
years back into the business
so now the banking is financially
unstable
the risk from the disease means the
weight largely indoors
goes on for much of the country a
glimpse of the end
that that tonight is marked in pencil
not in ink
laura koonsberg bbc news westminster
well as we've heard the prime minister
has said that most pupils in england
won't be returning to school
until march the 8th at the earliest
meaning that many more weeks of remote
learning are ahead boris johnson said he
was acutely aware of the pressures on
parents
the government already provided more
than 800
000 laptops to help there was also a
promise of more funding to help children
uh catch up on missed learning and
extended support for children on free
school meals
our education editor brahma jefferies
has been talking to pupils teachers and
parents
in warrington sea creatures
in land only a third of pupils were in
today
leaving year six spread out in class
their classmates not back for at least a
month
we are not really used to having so many
people in because of how
long it's really been like this i'm
looking forward to having everyone back
in school because i miss all my friends
and
at least i've got some of my my friends
here everyone will
definitely be happier because working
from home is a lot harder
than working in school which i do know
because
last week i think i worked since i
worked from home for
two days to help kids catch up a promise
today of more money
but for those running schools some
questions are more
urgent two weeks warning isn't long to
plan for reopening
is it going to be a staggered return is
it going to be similar to
what they expected us to do in september
are we expecting certain year groups to
come in are we opening it
are we starting from day one with
everybody in we need to know those kinds
of things
so when will classrooms fill again well
march the 8th is a tentative date an
ambition
so much depends on the pressures on the
nhs the infection
rates the vaccination program all that
certain for
parents and for children is they're
going to have to manage at home
for a good few more weeks the biggest
education union said the prime minister
couldn't guarantee school return in
early march
at the moment over a million people in
the uk
are infected with kovid and he can't
know what the death rate will be so
i think this is premature and i think it
will give parents
and children some false hope and that's
the last thing that they need
schools will be the first to open says
the government
no one including parents thinks these
decisions are easy
i'm quite lucky because i'm a key worker
um the girls looks cool but i think it's
for the kids mental health it's very
important for them to be as cool
i understand the prime minister is a lot
of pressure um i hate to be in his
position
to make that decision it is difficult
for the for the government
but again like i said there's just no
light at the end of the tunnel and we
should be a lot further down the road
now than than we are i've got some
really close friends that
are at home with three children in three
different ages and
it's not doing very much for their
mental health
to be honest families and schools will
have to go on
coping with the promise of a plan by
late february
brownman jefferies bbc news warrington