Parents warned to expect supermarket-style queues at school gates as pupils return after lockdown on Monday – The Sun

Reception, year one and year six students will head back to classrooms but headteachers have warned they will look very different with strict social distancing measures in place.

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Boris Johnson confirmed schools would be reopening next Monday after the five crucial tests for lifting lockdown had been met.

But the Government has issued strict guidance on how schools can reopen in a way that is safe for both staff and students after an almighty row with hardline unions over teacher safety.

Schools preparing for a return to a "new normal" of learning have brought in measures that could mean long queues at drop-off and pick-up time, as well as one-way systems in corridors to stop mingling between too many pupils.

Class sizes have been limited 15 pupils.

Hartford Manor Primary School in Cheshire is taking a "phased approach" by reopening to 100 pupils over multiple days from June 8.

Headteacher Simon Kidwell said parents will queue to drop off their kids, classroom windows will stay open to ensure good ventilation, extra cleaners have been employed and "hotspots for transmission" such as water fountains have been removed.

He said:"Social distancing for adults is going to be stringent, with a dropping-off system where parents will have to queue a bit like at the supermarket.

"The children will be kept in 'bubbles' of 15 to ensure social distancing between each other by using cones in the playground.

"We have also installed 37 new hand washing stations, which are like troughs with warm water and soap for children to wash their hands before entering the building.

"It's important for children that class looks as normal as possible but no longer will we be able to have 400 children running around and playing together at lunch time."

Bryony Baynes, Headteacher at Kempsey Primary School in Worcester said her school had also brought in strict social distancing and hygiene measures.

Staff will be allowed to wear face masks if they want to and all corridors will have one-way systems.

She said: "Realistically, as I have said to parents, I can't promise you that the little ones will be two metres apart at all times – they are four and five years old."

"If a child falls over, we are still going to pick them up and cuddle them."

Ms Baynes admitted despite every effort to keep the school feeling normal, pupils will still find the new changes "strange".

She said:  "It will initially seem very strange to them, however, children are very resilient and as long as the staff greet them with smiles and they are with some of their friends, I think they will adapt to the new normal."

While some schools have followed Government advice to reopen schools, analysis by The Sun showed 28 local authorities – which oversees 2,269 primary schools – were prepared to defy guidance to reopen.

A music teacher in Merton, south-west London, Jackie Schneider said her school wouldn't be reopening until June 18 because there wasn't enough space to safely social distance.

She said some musical instruments such as wind instruments like recorders would have to be off-limits.

Ms Schneider, who has been a teacher for 30 years, said: "Teachers will have to be imaginative.

"There's an awful lot you can teach through story-telling. We used to use stories much more and I think we will see some return to that."

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