EDUCATION Secretary Gavin Williamson gave a “massive thank you” to teachers, parents and children for their efforts while schools have been shut.

“We can now plan for the return of all pupils to schools and colleges, as part of a road map for leaving lockdown,” he told a Downing Street briefing.

“I want to say once again a massive thank you to our incredible teachers, leaders, support staff and childcare workers.

“You have been going above and beyond to keep schools and colleges open for vulnerable children and children of critical workers, and to keep the remainder of young people learning when they’re at home.

“I also want to thank parents, who have been supporting their children while they learn at home.

“And I want to thank children and young people themselves, for their patience and resilience.

“I know it hasn’t been easy. But you have adapted and done so much to make sure that you’ve been able to continue to learn.”

Asked about the possibility of the road map out of lockdown being accelerated if the data is better than expected, Gavin Williamson said: “As the Prime Minister said, there are no plans whatsoever to be moving ahead of the dates that have already been given.

“We want to give the public as well as business the confidence and the assurance as to when these next steps are going to be happening.

“But there is certainly no plans to be moving ahead of that.”

Deputy chief medical officer for England, Dr Jenny Harries, said the timelines had been set “for very good public health reasons”.

Mr Williamson said “everything is strongly in favour” of children returning to classrooms on March 8.

“The scientific advice does support a full return for schools on March 8,” he told a Downing Street briefing.

“As Professor Chris Whitty said on Monday, the risk to children is incredibly low from going to school and from catching Covid.

“So everything is strongly in favour of children going to school.”

Asked if face masks will still be mandated indoors in public places after June 21, Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical officer for England, said: “One of the things we know, of course, is doing things outside is ever so much safer than doing things inside – ventilation, we know, is really important.

“As we get into the autumn, when winter comes in and we spend more time inside, then again we may be looking at it.

“But it’s quite possible over summer months, as we did last year when we see rates drop, that we would not need to be wearing masks all that time.

“Summer period is generally, we think, a much safer period for us with less need for interventions, but I think that doesn’t rule it out as we go into winter periods again.”

Mr Williamson acknowledged that many children will need more support due to “learning gaps”.

“Despite everyone’s best efforts, many children are going to need longer term support if they’re to make the educational progress that they need,” he told a Downing Street briefing.

“This is why the Prime Minister and myself appointed our education recovery commissioner, Sir Kevan Collins, to advise on how our early settings, as well as our schools and colleges, can address these learning gaps as quickly and as comprehensively as possible.

“But because young people just cannot afford to wait, we’re putting in place a range of immediate measures for schools to start now to recover lost learning.”

Mr Williamson announced a “pandemic package” of extra funding, including a one-off £302 million Recovery Premium for state primary and secondary schools.