An academy chief is urging the government not to rush into reopening schools - as the Prime Minister faces mounting pressure from Tory MPs to get children back in classrooms.

David Whitehead warns failing to heed the advice of leading scientists could land schools "back at square one".

David Whitehead is urging the government not to rush children back to class

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is widely expected to confirm this week that there will be no return to the classroom after the February half-term break as ministers had initially hoped.

Over the weekend, Health Secretary Matt Hancock refused to guarantee that schools would be back before Easter, saying that infection rates would need to come down further.

But Boris Johnson is under growing pressure from Tory MPs to reopen schools in England amid warnings that children have become the “forgotten victims” of the coronavirus pandemic.

David Whitehead is CEO of the Potential in Everyone Academy Trust, which runs four primaries in Swale; and interim CEO of the Village Academy Trust, covering six schools in Swale, Canterbury and south Kent.

He says he hopes when deciding when to reopen schools, the government will listen to advice from scientists.

"Staff have been working tirelessly through this whole pandemic and they have felt very very anxious," he said.

"I think we need to prioritise their wellbeing going forward, in terms of having a route map which recognises and listens to the scientists from SAGE (the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies), and not just some Tory back-benchers who want to very quickly open the schools again.

"Let's face it, if we do that, we'll be back to square one immediately."

He paid tribute to the hard work that is being done by teaching staff, to educate pupils in such difficult circumstances.

"They have been coming in day in day out to our schools, not only providing care and support and education for the children that are still in schools but also providing a very high level of remote education to the children that are at home," he said.

"I think going forward they will be reassured when they have the vaccinations as school staff, and transmission rates really come own.

"You walk up and down any high street now and there are shops that are well and truly closed. There are restaurants that are closed, there are pubs that are closed.

"Drive past any school at the moment, and their car parks are almost full and there are huge amounts of children in schools.

"The schools are not closed, and it's this rhetoric coming from the government and beyond that schools need to 'reopen' - well, we never closed."

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