Gavin Williamson needs to stand up to the teaching unions

So, the Government has abandoned plans to bring all primary school pupils back before the summer holidays, in addition to the two cohorts who have already returned. The opposition of teaching unions and some regional authorities and mayors have seen to that. As for secondary schools, only two of their year groups are returning; no plans for the rest.

You do realise what that means, don’t you? It’ll be nearly six months off school by the time the remaining pupils get back at the beginning of September.

It’s a long time, isn’t it? And as I’ve mentioned previously, it’s an especially long time if you haven’t had any actual lessons. As everyone keeps pointing out, it’ll consolidate the existing problems of disadvantaged groups. But even for children who’ve got books in the home, it’s retrograde. My children are 13 and 16; the 16-year-old has had two physics lessons since March; my daughter has now had, I think, half a dozen maths lessons since lockdown – with an actual teacher making contact with a class online.