Commenting as the Labour party’s analysis of Oxford University’s Covid-19 response tracker suggested that the UK’s schools and universities suffered with longer school closures in the UK than almost all other European nations during the coronavirus pandemic, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said:

“This analysis of the amount of time schools and universities have remained closed lays bare the challenges education has faced over the past 18 months. Unfortunately, the disruption looks likely to continue next term.

"The best way to minimise disruption to children’s education and keep them in the classroom is to keep Covid cases low. Parents and school leaders will therefore be looking to government to do everything in its power to ensure this.

"The government has chosen to remove many of the mitigations that were in place in schools last year, and it has done very little to look to replace these with alternative safety measures. Its reason for removing bubbles and isolation requirements was to stop children missing school. But if an increase in cases means more children getting ill, lost learning could actually increase for many.

“A strategy of ‘hoping for the best’ is not good enough, at the very least they must ensure that we have a properly functioning test and trace system that parents can have confidence in, a quick and effective public health response should additional mitigations be required in some schools, and support for schools to improve ventilation wherever needed.

“If numbers do start to rise, a quick and effective public health response will be essential to keep pupils and staff safe.”