Prime Minister writes open letter to parents
He also held a virtual talk with a year six class
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has penned an open letter to parents across the UK.
It comes just days after he held a Downing Street press conference to announce pupils will not go back after half term.
When schools were closed to most pupils earlier this month, the prime minister said it would initially be until after the February half-term.
However he confirmed to MPs at PMQs earlier in the week that March 8 would be the earliest date for a return.
Children of key workers and vulnerable children remain in school. Meanwhile, a large population of kids are being home-schooled or taught in virtual classrooms by their teachers.
Boris Johnson's open letter reads:
"While the past 12 months have been tough for all of us, the demands of this pandemic have also brought out the very best in a great many people.
"And I’m particularly in awe of the way the parents, carers and guardians of children have risen to the unique challenges with which you have been faced.
"Whether you’ve been welcoming a baby into the world without all the usual support networks, finding new ways to entertain a restive five-year-old when the soft play centre is shut and playdates are but a distant memory, or steering a teenager through the emotional stresses and strains of these unprecedented times, you have been dealt the trickiest of hands yet played it magnificently.
"It’s especially true of the way millions of you have coped with the pressures of home schooling while also doing your day jobs - and of course meeting all the other demands that small people generate from breakfast until bedtime. Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining a virtual classroom session with a year 6 class and while their teacher was doing a fantastic job it was also obvious just how much effort the mums and dads at home were putting in too.
"We’re doing everything we can to support you. 876,000 laptops have been sent to schools to make sure all kids can access online teaching. We’ve already committed to getting free school meals out to everyone who needs them for as long as children are at home. And when all this is over we’re going to be putting hundreds of millions of pounds into nationwide catch-up programmes so that nobody gets left behind.
"In the meantime, I want you to know that you are doing a great job. You’re doing great for your own kids, and you’re doing great for the whole country too. Because by staying at home you are playing a vital role in getting this awful virus back under control. You are buying time for our army of vaccinators to protect the vulnerable. You are paving the way back to normality and you are, quite literally, saving lives. And for that I cannot thank you enough."
