Schools ‘will open in January, vows Boris Johnson’ amid soaring Covid cases

Schools will open their doors to students in January despite spiralling Covid cases, according to reports.

It was reported Boris Johnson told Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi that he is “absolutely determined” to keep schools open after children have been off for the Christmas holidays.

January is a vital part of the school calendar.

Teenagers are due to take mock GCSE and A-level exams in January which will be essential for providing teachers with evidence on performance and given an indication of what grades to give students if national exams are scraped in the summer.

Mr Johnson and Mr Zahawi are believed to discuss the topic of whether schools should go back in January on a daily basis because education remains the Government’s first priority.

A source close to Mr Zahawi told The Sunday Times: “There is a shared commitment across government to make sure they stay open.”

Last January, children were sent home when schools closed again after spending months attending online lessons from March until September amid the Covid pandemic.

There have been fears building over the potential school closures and exam chaos in January having an impact on children.

In December, top school leaders said they had already making plans for mocks and even summer exams to be cancelled.

Previously, Executive principal of Harris Academy Tottenham and St John’s Wood Nick Soar said: “All schools have had to think and plan for the unthinkable.”

He added: “It is a crying shame we are having to devise or even think about a Plan B or even C, but we are and have been since September sadly.

“Having a Plan B is what we do as teachers, but it’s so frustrating not to be able to have trust and certainty that there will be public examinations in June.”