Children face being sent to DIFFERENT schools with staggered start times

Young children face the daunting prospect of being sent to different schools than normal starting next month, as Boris Johnson devises a way to restart education after the coronavirus blockade.

The government wants elementary school students to return at least a month before summer break, but the rules for social distancing mean radical changes, which include a maximum of 15 students per class and amazing start and end times are planned.

Last night, unions called the plans “reckless” and demanded that schools remain closed until a series of health and safety measures have been addressed, but were charged with “stances” and “spoiling a fight.”

Details of how schools will work emerged yesterday when the Prime Minister released his full 50-page ‘road map’ to get Britain out of the shutdown, covering the problems of families gathering and shops reopening to sports and wearing face masks in public.

The schools section of the proposals, which were presented to the Commons a day after Johnson addressed the nation to describe them, suggested that class sizes could be halved from the current average of 30 to allow for social distancing. . That led to teacher concern that school buildings may be too small.

Schools will also be urged to implement one-way systems in all their buildings, leave the doors open, and organize trips to the bathroom in such a way that the students in question avoid children who are out of their ‘bubble’.

Reception class and years 1 and 6 will be the first children to return early next month, with the years in between in July. Years 10 and 11 would also return at the same time to help prepare for the exams, if the coronavirus is spreading at a slow enough rate.

A survey carried out yesterday by the National Union of Education showed that 85% of teachers are opposed to the Prime Minister’s plans.

And the directors warned that they have the power to refuse to reopen if they consider it unsafe, regardless of official instructions.

However, his stance generated widespread criticism. Former Tory party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘Unions owe the British public the responsibility to work to ensure that schools are open to help parents. Political stance is not necessary at this time. The British people need unions to cooperate with the government and not take inflexible positions. ”

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Center for Employment Education and Research at Buckingham University, said: “I understand that teachers are concerned, but simply using difficulties as a bargaining power and obstructing the government is irresponsible.”

“What they should be doing is saying that it is vital to the education of our children, especially the disadvantaged, that we can start schools as soon as possible. What can we do to help make this happen? How can we find a way to avoid obvious problems?

And MP Tory Andrew Percy said: ‘It was the unions themselves who a few weeks ago spoke of June as a possible time frame for the reopening.

‘Unfortunately, for some at the most radical end of the education unions, fighting against the government is more important than the educational well-being of our children or science.

“The government should only open online schools with scientific and medical advice … and ignore the minority in teaching unions seeking a fight.”

‘Once teachers are calm about seeing that year, groups can safely return. I think the various objections raised by the unions will disappear under pressure from the public. ‘

Paul Whiteman, secretary general of the school leaders union of the National Association of Chief Teachers, had demanded more protection for its members.

“It is an insult for dedicated professionals to expect them to do their duty equipped with no more protection than a homemade mask and bar of soap,” he said.

He told members that “they retain power along with their governing body or board of trust to make decisions regarding the safety of students and staff based on their own individual risk assessments,” Week of the Week reported. Schools

And Dr. Mary Bousted, NEU joint secretary general, dismissed the schedule for reopening schools as “reckless.”

‘The inconsistency in this plan has generated genuine fear. For school leaders, the lack of clarity about what is expected before, or on June 1, is simply unacceptable, “he said.

Dr. Patrick Roach, Secretary General of the NASUWT Teachers Union, added: “The UK Government’s message of being responsible and ‘staying alert’ will ring empty with teachers who are still denied access to the appropriate PPE already Those who have not been given clear guidance on how social distancing can be practiced in the school environment.

“No teacher or child should be expected to attend school until it is proven that they are safe to do so.”

An important point between ministers and unions has been about PPE provisions for teachers. The official guide says: ‘Wearing a mask or face mask is not recommended in schools or other educational settings.’

Children will not be required to wear face masks, and the government said it will publish more information on the safe reopening to ensure schools can properly prepare.

Downing Street also confirmed yesterday that parents will not be ‘penalized’ or fined for keeping children out of school after closing.

Wales and Northern Ireland have rejected the June 1 return date, with Stormont hinting that a gradual return may not begin until September.

Scotland warned that schools may remain closed until August and said that students cannot be allowed to return until it is “safe.”

Westminster’s plan said: ‘Schools should prepare to start opening for more children starting June 1.

“The government hopes that children can return to the settings of the early years, and that the Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 will return to school in smaller sizes, from this point on.”

The guide also said that “the ambition is for all elementary children to return to school before summer for a month if possible, although this will be kept under review.”

Before the new measures were published, a union head of the schools accused the government of being “irresponsible” by suggesting that some elementary school children could return to the classroom starting June 1.

Kevin Courtney, joint secretary-general of the National Union of Education, told Sky News that Boris Johnson’s proposal to begin a gradual return to schools starting next month “at the earliest” is “reckless.”

In a speech last night, the Prime Minister said that students in reception, Year 1 and Year 6 would be the first to return to classrooms as part of a phased process.

Nurseries would also be included in the initial phase and all elementary children are expected to return to classrooms for the summer.

He added that there is an “ambition” that high school students who will take exams next year, such as year 10 and year 12, have some time in the classroom before summer break.

“By June 1 at the latest, after the middle of the period, we believe that we may be in a position to begin the gradual reopening of the stores and bring elementary students to schools, in stages,” he said.

Johnson added that these were the “careful first steps” and that the timeline for reopening schools could be delayed if necessary.

Paul Whiteman, secretary general of the NAHT school leaders union, said the government “determination” that all elementary students return to school before summer “is currently not a feasible scenario.”

In a statement issued after Mr. Johnson released his’ road map, ‘he added:’ The availability of school personnel, the large number of students, and the size of classrooms and school corridors, combined with the need for Social distancing measures mean that the government’s calculations just don’t add up.

Based on the current trajectory, it seems very optimistic, to the point of being irresponsible, to suggest that we will be in a position to return all elementary children to school in the next seven weeks. This will give false hope to families and parents that we are more advanced on the road to recovery than we really are. ”

Whiteman added that it is “an insult to dedicated professionals to expect them to do their duty equipped with no more protection than a homemade mask and bar of soap.”

“School leaders don’t want to see the classrooms empty for a day longer than necessary,” he said. “But there is no school leader on earth who wants to risk admitting more students unless it is safe to do so.”

NEU chief Mr. Courtney criticized last year’s proposals for Year 1 and Year 6 to rerun from June this morning, asking how teachers could adhere to measures of social distancing in classes of 30 or more students.

He added that the union has established “five sensible tests” that they believe “must be in place” for schools to reopen, including low case counts and plans for social distancing in schools.

“We want the blockade to end, we want that to happen as soon as it is safe and we are not being irresponsible,” he said.

“We have said that the case count in the country should be low enough that follow-up contacts can take over some of the work of social isolation, but the case count is nowhere near that kind of level.”

“ We have said that our second test is that they need to have a plan for social distancing in schools; nothing occurred to them about it. This suggestion that the reception, year 1 and [Year 6] going back to 700 schools in the country, nursery schools, that’s the vast majority of children in those schools.

“How can you do social distancing when most kids in classes 30 and over are back in school? It doesn’t make sense.”

Courtney added that the tests should be available to both students and teachers, along with plans for what schools should do if a student or faculty member becomes ill with coronavirus.

“We said they need a plan in case there is a case at school, what do you do then?” added. Do you close the whole class? Do you close the entire school?

We have not been given science about it. How can we be planning now when none of those things have been given to us?

NEU secretary general added that the union had surveyed its members after the prime minister’s speech last night, and within an hour 49,000 teachers responded with the ‘vast, vast majority of them saying they think it is not safe’ to return to schools in June.

‘It is reckless, it is irresponsible. Maria [Bousted] And I wrote to the government on May 1 asking them to speak to us before making any announcements, to spread the science where people can see it, peer-reviewed, on whether this would be safe or not, ” he said.

They just ignored that. They have ignored three letters we have sent them about science. We have released a report on those questions recently. They made this announcement last night without consulting the principals or teachers before making the announcement, it has caused great consternation. ‘

Mary Bousted, joint secretary general of the National Union of Education, criticized Johnson’s proposal last night as “nothing short of reckless.”

She said: ‘In China, children stand outside the school gates and spray front and rear with disinfectant, spray their shoes, wash their hands with disinfectant, they must remove the mask and replace it with a new one , and its temperature is taken remotely.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have criticized the advice on opening schools and said they do not intend to follow Westminster’s advice.

Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams responded fiercely and said: ‘The situation of schools in Wales will not change on June 1.

‘We will continue to be guided by the latest scientific advice and will only seek to have more students and staff in schools when it is safe to do so. Of course, we will have to make sure that the requirements for social distancing can be met. ”

• The United Kingdom today announced another 210 victims of the coronavirus, the lowest daily increase since March 26, as the official number of victims exceeded 32,000;
• A new analysis has suggested that people working in social care, including caregivers and domestic caregivers, along with bus drivers and security guards, have ‘significantly’ higher death rates involving Covid-19 than the general active population;
• Despite the publication of the “road map”, the guidelines for health and safety in the workplace will not be published until tomorrow;
• Dr. Michael Ryan, executive director of the Health Emergencies Program of the World Health Organization (WHO), said that some countries are preparing to “drive blind” in relaxing certain measures;
• The audience figures for Johnson’s grand speech were 27.49 million the night before, more than 27.1 million for his original closing announcement and more than 23.3 million for the Queen. It was the eighth most watched show in British history;
• British Airways warned that the 14-day quarantine rule for arrivals in the UK could mean that flights will not start in July as expected;
• Jury trials in England and Wales will resume from next week, Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett has announced;
• The former Secretary of Health, Jeremy Hunt, has asked the Government to “eliminate the secret” that surrounds Sage, with the publication of his recommendations and dissenting opinions;

Elsewhere in the UK government, he said any decision on the opening of the school will be announced “well in advance” of the opening date to allow enough planning time.

Scotland’s prime minister warned that the nation’s schools cannot reopen until August due to the spread of the coronavirus.

She told reporters at a press conference six days ago: “I cannot and should not comment on whether it is appropriate for England (to go back to school on June 1) … but I know, looking at the evidence I have now, No I was able to put my hand over my heart and say that would be a safe thing in Scotland. ”

Northern Ireland Education Secretary Peter Weir also appears to rule out Westminster’s start date within three weeks, warning that there are a number of “practical steps” that need to be addressed.

He said that it is still considering securing the PPE for the staff, establishing social distancing in the school canteens and ensuring that the measures in the school transport are complied with.

And he warned that it is “extremely likely” that schools in the nation will not reopen until September.

She told the Times that similar measures should be introduced in Britain, adding: “They are doing it in South Korea and they have a minuscule number of new cases.”

Mr. Johnson’s plans would see the children at the reception, Year 1 and Year 6 return to schools beginning June 1 as part of a phased process.

He added that there was an “ambition” for high school students to take tests next year to have time with teachers before summer break, but most won’t return until September.

“If we can’t do it on those dates, and if the alert level doesn’t allow it, we will simply wait and continue until we do it right,” Johnson said. “If there are problems, we will not hesitate to stop.”

The plans raised alarm in Britain, with more than 300,000 parents signing a petition to allow them to keep their children at home if schools start to reopen next month.

The petition, launched on Change.org within minutes of Mr. Johnson’s announcement, was created by Lucy Browne, who told other parents that she fears for her daughter’s safety.

“I am asking the UK Government to give parents and guardians the option of not sending their children to school if they reopen in June, as Boris Johnson has suggested could happen in England,” he said.

“As a mother, I don’t want to face serious repercussions for making a decision that I feel affects my daughter’s safety during a global pandemic.”

She added: ‘The UK now has the highest death toll in Europe and the second highest in the world.

‘Many of us have lost confidence in the government’s handling of this crisis and feel that it is too early to return children to schools.

‘It seems that it could pose risks not only for children but also for teachers and those with whom they live: grandparents, parents and those [with] underlying health conditions. ‘

Ms. Browne claimed that ministers had provided little assurance about what steps could be taken to protect people and manage the risks of a return to school.

‘Even delivery and collection could increase the risk of transmission between parents. We need the government to be transparent with us and put things in place before we can consider putting our trust in this decision.

“Parents should have the option of deciding whether or not to put their children in this scenario.”

A petition signer said that “I would rather lose my job and my home than my son.”

Another wrote: ‘Open Parliament first. Our children are not testing tools for anyone!

This is how the government’s three-step plan to ease the blockade is outlined:

STEP ONE

Job

Starting Wednesday, a series of adjustments will be implemented in England, although the rules in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will not necessarily be the same.

The document said that people should work from home “whenever possible” in the “foreseeable future”, to “minimize the number of social contacts across the country.”

In an attempt to remove any stigma for those who continue to do their jobs, the plan said: ‘All those who work are contributing taxes that help pay for the UK-based healthcare provision.

“People who can work at home make it possible for people who have to attend workplaces in person to do so while minimizing the risk of overcrowding in transportation and public places.”

But even if they cannot work from home, most people are being ‘actively encouraged’ to return.

“The only exceptions to this are those workplaces, such as hospitality and nonessential retail, which during this first step require the government to remain closed,” the plan said.

The plan said the ‘COVID-19 Secure’ guidelines will be produced this week, but simply stated that companies should follow them ‘as soon as possible’, leaving a considerable degree of uncertainty about how and when workers can be sure of the security.

Anyone showing symptoms should isolate as previously advised.

Schools

The document admits that the “infection rate is still too high” to allow schools to reopen “for all students.”

But he insisted that there is a “great social benefit” for vulnerable children and the offspring of key workers who attend school. “Local authorities and schools should therefore urge more children who would benefit from attending in person to do so,” he added.

The government is also modifying its guidance to allow babysitters and childcare providers, saying it “will allow more working parents to return.”

Travel

The plan emphasized that “most trips to work involve people traveling by bicycle, car, or on foot.”

But he admitted that public transportation is critical, “particularly in urban centers and at rush hours.”

The plan said that “everyone (including critical workers) should continue to avoid public transportation whenever possible,” rather than riding a bike, walking, or driving.

Movements are being made to widen pavements, create pop-up bicycle lanes, and close some roads in cities to traffic to allow other friendly methods of social distancing.

Facial coatings

The document says that at this stage facial coatings will help people avoid passing the disease on to others if they have it without any symptoms.

He added that homemade fabric liners can help reduce risk, but surgical masks or respirators should still be reserved for healthcare workers.

The ministers added that children under the age of two or those with respiratory conditions should not wear face covers.

También se aconseja a las personas que pueden tener dificultades para manejar las máscaras correctamente, como los niños de edad primaria sin asistencia, que no las usen.

Las autoridades dijeron que la nueva guía se emitía en respuesta a que había “más movimiento fuera del hogar inmediato de las personas” a medida que las personas comienzan a regresar al trabajo.

Espacios públicos

En un relajamiento que será un gran alivio en Inglaterra, se está levantando la restricción de ejercicio una vez al día.

Puede pasar tiempo al aire libre con otra persona fuera de su hogar, siempre que se mantenga a dos metros de distancia. Esto significa que ahora se permite jugar tenis o golf con otra persona.

Sin embargo, los deportes de equipo todavía están fuera de los límites, al igual que los parques infantiles y los gimnasios al aire libre.

Las personas pueden viajar tan lejos como quieran para llegar a espacios al aire libre, y se les permite detenerse y tomar el sol siempre que se mantengan a dos metros de alguien que no esté en su propio hogar.

Eso significa, por ejemplo, que las personas pueden conducir hasta la playa y el parque, antes de tomar el sol.

En reconocimiento de la expansión de las divisiones en todo el Reino Unido, el documento señaló que “es importante que las personas respeten las normas en Escocia, Gales e Irlanda del Norte y no viajen a diferentes partes del Reino Unido donde sería incompatible con las directrices o regulaciones”. .

El plan señaló: ‘Estas medidas pueden tener algún riesgo; Es importante que todos continúen actuando de manera responsable, como lo ha hecho la gran mayoría hasta la fecha. La tasa de infección aumentará si las personas comienzan a romper estas reglas y, por ejemplo, se mezclan en grupos en los parques, lo que provocará la necesidad de más restricciones ”.

Se están introduciendo multas más duras, de hasta £ 3,200 para ayudar a hacer cumplir las reglas cada vez más complejas.

Travel

A medida que el brote disminuya en el Reino Unido, se tomarán medidas para evitar ‘fugas’ desde el extranjero.

Todas las llegadas internacionales deberán proporcionar información de contacto y alojamiento. “También se les recomendará descargar y usar la aplicación de rastreo de contactos del NHS”, dice el documento.

“En segundo lugar, el Gobierno exigirá que todas las llegadas internacionales que no están en una lista corta de exenciones se autoaislen en su alojamiento durante catorce días a su llegada al Reino Unido”.

Sin embargo, no hay una fecha límite para la introducción de estas medidas, ya que el plan simplemente dice “lo antes posible”.

SEGUNDO PASO

Se reabrieron escuelas y tiendas y se permitieron ‘burbujas familiares’

El Paso Dos no se implementará hasta el 1 de junio como mínimo y el Gobierno notificará con al menos 48 horas de anticipación que se realizarán cambios.

La medida más importante para las familias en Gran Bretaña es el posible regreso a la escuela y la guardería de miles de niños.

Se les ha dicho a los maestros que se preparen para reabrir sus puertas el 1 de junio, con la recepción, los alumnos de primer y sexto año, los primeros en regresar, en clases más pequeñas.

La estrategia decía que la ambición es que todos los niños de primaria regresen a la escuela antes de las vacaciones de verano durante un mes ‘si es posible’, pero esto se mantendrá bajo revisión.

Las escuelas secundarias y las universidades de educación superior deben prepararse para comenzar un “contacto cara a cara” con los alumnos de Year 10 y 12 que se sometan a exámenes clave el próximo año.

Sin embargo, los ministros enfrentan un problema potencial en forma de maestros y padres reticentes. Más de 380,000 personas han firmado una petición instando al Gobierno a dar a los padres la opción de enviar a sus hijos de regreso a la escuela si vuelven a abrir el próximo mes.

Y Mary Bousted, secretaria general conjunta de la Unión Nacional de Educación (NEU, por sus siglas en inglés), dijo: “ Los padres están muy preocupados por los riesgos para sus hijos, no solo en la escuela sino en sus viajes diarios hacia y desde la escuela.

‘Esto a su vez amenaza la seguridad de los adultos en la comunidad escolar: padres, familias, maestros, directores y personal de apoyo.

“El distanciamiento social para los niños más pequeños será difícil de lograr y para otros habrá problemas de pasillos estrechos y aulas que simplemente no son lo suficientemente grandes como para permitir el distanciamiento social”.

En respuesta a los padres, el Gobierno anunció que las multas usualmente fijadas por absentismo escolar no se aplicarían si los padres no enviaran a sus hijos a la escuela.

El segundo paso también permitiría la creación de ‘burbujas familiares’. The idea is that two branches of a family could be allowed to socialise together, allowing things like grandparents access to see their grandchildren and visa versa.

Sage has been asked to look at ways of making this possible, with more information nearer the time, with the guidance saying: ‘The intention of this change would be to allow those who are isolated some more social contact, and to reduce the most harmful effects of the current social restrictions, while continuing to limit the risk of chains of transmission.

‘It would also support some families to return to work by, for example, allowing two households to share childcare.’

Further proposals are being looked at for larger groups to gather to allow weddings to go ahead with small congregations.

Stage two would also allow for the return of sporting and cultural events, albeit behind closed doors.

A slew of events including Glastonbury, Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix have already been cancelled and are unlikely to be resurrected this year.

But the plans to allow ‘cultural and sporting events to take place behind closed-doors for broadcast, while avoiding the risk of large-scale social contact’, would allow professional sports like football, rugby and cricket to resume in early summer.

This would also coincide with the reopening of the UK high street. Non-essential retailers, who have been closed since March at huge cost to the taxpayer, are expected to open in phases from June 1.

Rather than one flinging open of doors the Government warned it will be done in phases and that bars, pubs and restaurants, and ‘personal care’ like hairdressers and beauty salons, will remain closed because of the higher risk of infection.

Because of the expected increase in movement during this phase, it will also see more public transport return.

Buses and trains have been operating a limited service since march because demand fell off a cliff.

Step three

Something approaching normal – but some businesses could still be stuck in limbo

Stage three is not expected to come into force until July 4, US Independence Day, at the earliest.

Plans would include the reopening of businesses that were still closed: pubs, restaurants and hotels, hairdressers and beauty salons, churches and lesiure facilities like cinemas,.

But there is still a caveat at this stage that some places will not be able to open.

‘Some venues which are, by design, crowded and where it may prove difficult to enact distancing may still not be able to re-open safely at this point, or may be able to open safely only in part,’ it warns,

‘Nevertheless the Government will wish to open as many businesses and public places as the data and information at the time allows.’

It adds that it will watch places around the world that are already emerging from their lockdown and use them as guide as to how premises could open safely.

But it does raise the possibility that some  businesses will potentially still have their doors closed heading in to the autumn, raising the spectre of job losses over the summer.

Joanna Williams: Children are paying the price for this idiocy

By Joanna Williams for the Daily Mail

After weeks of sniping at the Government’s approach to shutting Britain’s schools, one might have expected the National Education Union to offer up a message of support for its plan to reopen them.

Indeed, if it were going to criticise anything, it would be its glacial pace: while some primary school pupils will go back next month, the vast majority of children will not see the inside of a classroom until September. They will have been out of school for more than five months, leaving a cosmic black hole in their education.

And yet Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the NEU, says such a cautious approach is ‘nothing short of reckless’.

How anyone – let alone the head of the union that represents the majority of teachers in the UK – could draw such a conclusion beggars belief.

But as someone who has spent years studying the education system, I wasn’t surprised by Mrs Bousted’s comments. After all, it was her union which set up a petition last month opposing the reopening of schools ‘until it is safe to do so’.

Of course, the safety of Britain’s children, as well as their teachers, must be at the forefront of every decision. But you don’t have to be an education expert to conclude that the NEU has lost all sense of proportion in this pandemic.

How else can we explain Mrs Bousted’s suggestion this week that Britain should copy China’s dystopian approach to containing the virus and spray children at the school gates with disinfectant? Such an approach is suitable for cattle, not children. It’s also scientifically dubious.

Only last weekend, Sir David Spiegelhalter, one of the UK’s top statisticians, said the risk coronavirus posed to the young was ‘staggeringly low’.

Another recent review, based on 78 studies from around the world, claimed there were no known cases of children having passed on coronavirus to adults. And yet for almost two months, Britain’s schoolchildren have been forced to put their education on hold.

I’m certain that many of them will have watched the Prime Minister’s announcement on Sunday and, just like my daughter, were left in total dismay. They are bored, lonely and, along with many hardworking teachers, are itching to get back to school.

For if the past months have taught us anything, it is that remote learning is no substitute for the classroom. I suspect the NEU knows that failing to open schools could seriously damage our children’s educational, mental and social wellbeing. That’s why, when schools closed in March, it warned: ‘Do not expect teachers to live-stream lessons from their homes… It is not possible to recreate the classroom in this way.’

All of which makes you wonder, if the NEU neither supports remote teaching nor the return to normal education, what does it stand for? School holidays?

One thing we do know is that the reality for thousands of children remains grim. A majority of state school students have not taken part in a single online lesson during lockdown.

A decade has passed since Michael Gove called out ‘the blob’ – the academics, union leaders and bureaucrats who were thwarting his school reforms. But make no mistake, the blob is back. And the damage it is inflicting on our children could be devastating.

• Dr Williams is director of the Cieo think-tank and author of Academic Freedom in an Age of Conformity

Boris faces a bewildered public: PM is peppered with questions including ‘how can I go to work if I can’t find childcare?’ and ‘what if I bump into my friends in the park?’ after revealing his new ‘common sense’ lockdown rules

By James Tapsfield and David Wilcock for MailOnline

Boris Johnson was confronted with public frustration over his lockdown exit strategy tonight as he tried to explain how they will work in detail – and why families still cannot be reunited.

As Britons tried to make sense of the new rules, the PM was challenged at a Downing Street briefing this evening over what people should do if they bumped into friends or relatives at the park.

Meanwhile, Pooja in Solihull demanded to know why new instructions on who could get to work are ‘so vague’. And a teacher asked why they were being told to mix with children but could not see their loved ones.

Mr Johnson did not address what happened if friends encounter each other by chance while out exercising, merely stressing that socialising should still only happen with one person from another household – and even then two-metre social distancing must be observed.

And he conceded that the new arrangements he was laying out were ‘more complicated’ than the old ‘stay at home’ mantra.

‘It’s when you come to take small steps back to normality, as we are now, that clearly the message becomes finer, more complicated,’ he said.

‘We’re saying that if you can’t work from home you should talk to your employer about getting back to work, but explained: ‘We’re insisting that it’s got to be safe at work and safe to get there.’

Amid an increasingly bitter split with Nicola Sturgeon over changing the core message to ‘stay alert’, Mr Johnson said: ‘Stay alert for the vast majority of people still means stay at home as much as possible.’

Speaking at the Downing Street press briefing, Mr Johnson said: ‘What we are saying is that you can go to the park to exercise on your own in an unlimited way, you can go with members of your own household.

The bruising exchanges came as Mr Johnson tried to move on from a shambolic launch to the changes – with No10 and Dominic Raab embarrassingly at odds over when the measures come into force and exactly how they will operate.

The 50-page ‘road map’ stressed that the five tests have not yet been met, and so major loosening of the draconian curbs is not possible.

But the document says “smarter” social distancing measures are being introduced to try to push the country into some kind of normalcy. In the future, the restrictions will focus ‘more precisely’, recognizing that ‘not all risks for all or all groups are equal’. It holds out the prospect of non-essential shop, TV sports and weddings starting to resume from next month – with the prospect of allowing people to socialise outside their own households in small ‘bubbles’.

However, it leaves no doubt that hairdressers, pubs and foreign holidays are much further off.

The overhaul will also only apply to England, as Ms Sturgeon and her counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland have signalled they will stick to the previous hardline ‘stay at home’ message.

As he came under fire at the briefing tonight, Mr Johnson said: ‘If you want to meet somebody from outside your household, it’s got to be you and that other person just as a pair and you should observe social distancing while you’re there. And so each of you basically on a one-on-one thing but with social distancing, keeping two metres apart.’

Natasha from Richmond asked Mr Johnson why she could be returning to work as a primary school teacher but was still not permitted to see family.

The Prime Minister said ‘there is new scope to see one other member of your family somewhere outdoors’ but added: ‘I hope you understand the constraints we’re under.

‘We have to keep this disease at bay, we have to advance very gradually.’

Mr Johnson was pressed by a woman from the Lake District on why he had not imposed a limit on people travelling to take exercise, raising concerns that beauty spots would be swamped.

‘What we’re saying is we want people to be able to use the outdoors to be able to exercise in an unlimited way outdoors but they’ve got to obey social distancing,’ Mr Johnson said.

‘So there can’t be any question of people just going off for holidays for staying in places like the Lake District, if they do go to exercise, it’s got to be done with social distancing.’

Responding to a question from John, from Londonderry, Mr Johnson said there will be no control points on the borders even if the devolved governments take different strategies to easing the lockdown.

He said: ‘There’ll be no checks, nothing is intended between Ireland and Northern Ireland and similarly you wouldn’t expect anything between GB and Northern Ireland.

‘What we really want people to do in this country is to look at our social distancing measures that we’re proposing.

‘All four nations totally understand what those social distancing measures are and apply them with common sense.’

He added: ‘I think it’s the common sense of the British people that has been so crucial and the whole of the UK in getting the R down.

‘Everybody understood roughly what to do in the first phase and it’s by applying common sense that I think we will be successful in this second phase as well.’

Mr Johnson also faced a challenge from John from Midlothian, who demanded to know ‘who I should listen to’ given the PM and Ms Sturgeon are striking such different tones. The premier responded that he thought all parts of the UK were committed to working together.

The new guidelines say those who can should continue to work from home ‘for the foreseeable future’, and pointed to full health and safety guidelines due to be published tomorrow.

In a stark warning, Mr Johnson also told the briefing that although a vaccine was a way out of the crisis it was ‘by no means guaranteed’ to happen. ‘Even after 18 years we still don’t have a vaccine for SARS,’ he said.