Commenting as the Prime Minister’s official spokesman warned parents not to keep their children out of school for fear of catching Covid before Christmas, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said:

“We agree that children should be in school and not missing out on education. But if parents feel nervous about sending their children in to classrooms due to the soaring levels of Covid, that is an indication that the government needs to do more to control the spread of the virus.

“The government can’t simply say that parents must send their children to school without taking the necessary action to reassure them that it is safe for them to do so.”