Councils tell secondary schools to decide for themselves on Boris Johnson's June 15 restart date

Councils told secondary schools on Monday that they do not have to reopen to students on June 15, going against Boris Johnson's wishes.

On Sunday, Mr Johnson announced that Year 10 and 12 students would receive some contact time with teachers before the summer holidays in order to help them prepare for GCSE and A-level exams in the next academic year.

But councils have repeated their opposition to Whitehall imposing start dates on schools in their areas, warning that students could be put at risk if they are brought back to the classroom too soon.

Six councils told The Telegraph on Monday that they intended to allow local authority schools to decide for themselves whether to respect the June 15 timeline or stay closed for longer.

More than 50 councils have already opposed the June 1 start date for reception, Year One and Year Six primary school pupils, either allowing headteachers to make their own arrangements or advising them not to open.

Leaving schools closed for longer has raised fears that disadvantaged students will fall further behind in attainment, while exam performance in the 2021 academic year could be affected by less teaching time.

Marvin Rees, the Mayor of Bristol said: "The people best placed to lead and decide on the timing of young people returning to school are the teachers  themselves, working with their governors, communities and ourselves.

"We will back them and work with them to deal with the consequences of their decisions. Secondary schools should be treated no differently."

Solihull and Staffordshire councils both suggested their advice was unlikely to change for secondary schools on June 15, and teachers would be allowed to decide for themselves whether to adhere to Mr Johnson's request.

But Philip White, a Staffordshire Council cabinet member for learning and employability, acknowledged that it was important to prioritise "pupils whose exam preparation has already been affected".

Analysis by The Telegraph has found that 60 per cent of councils opposing the Government's back to school timetable are Labour controlled, with 20 per cent held by the Tories. The remaining 20 per cent are held by the Liberal Democrats or have no overall control.

On Sunday, Mr Johnson said students getting back to the classroom was "crucial". "We want to start getting our children back into the classroom in a way that is as manageable and as safe as possible," he said.

"We said we would begin with early years settings, reception, Year One and Year Six in primary schools. We then intend, from June 15, for secondary schools to provide some contact for Year 10 and Year 12 students to help them to prepare for exams next year, with up to a quarter of these students in at any point."

The move to getting pupils back to school is part of the Government's Phase Two of easing the UK lockdown.

Guidance released by the Department for Education said schools should offer "face-to-face support to supplement the remote education of Year 10 and Year 12 pupils, which should remain the predominant mode of education".

All classrooms would be fully open by September, Mr Johnson said.

Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College leaders, said it was inappropriate for headteachers to have to weigh up public health evidence on their own.

"Ultimately, there is a kind of inevitability that even if schools start to open, some schools at some point will start to close if there is a spike in infection rates and they need to move into the equivalent of lockdown," he said.

"That's why all of this probably needed a bit more nuance from the outset, because the risk of infection in London doesn't look like the risk in Barrow-in-Furness. That kind of public health decision-making must become more local."