All schools in Scotland and Wales set to close on Friday and now England also

Just announced Scotland, so yes I expect Boris to Announce Englands clousure later today

Very worrying. My brother & sister both have very young children, childcare is going to be a very big issue, My brother has already been told if hes off work due to lack of child care then he won't get payed. Many are going to struggle to cope with this.

Glitterandgold I agree totally with you how people are going to pay their bills etc is as big a worry to many as the Virus threat. We are not in a good situation at the moment and the effects of this is likely to be felt well into next year in my opinion .

Mango4 Its far more worrying than the virus for me at this point. Its uncertain times, I'm worried for my partners business & him losing customers, worried for my families jobs. For everyone! I suspect it will be felt even further than next year to be honest.

Secretary of Education is going to address commons at 5pm, likely it will be announced then for England Dani1

Glitterandgold thanks so much for letting me know. I was going to look through the news to see the latest. If schools in Ireland are closed and in Scotland and Wales are closing on Friday. I really think a decision should be made soon x

Dani1 Yes. I'm eager to know what decisions about upcoming exams have been made.

Glitterandgold I am too. I know they are listening to advice but it seems so slow for these decisions to be made.

I'm in Scotland. My husband is a teacher. Our local council can keep the school open for vulnerable pupils if they have the staff to cover it. However it must on the basis that the staff are well and are doing so on a voluntary basis, ie they have said they will come in rather than being told, not as in they won't be paid!

MrsCraig from those I know who work in schools (England), they have no idea what's going on. Apparently Boris had also suggested they keep schools open over the holidays now. Who decides and enforces this though, I don't know. Will headteachers feel forced into staying open? Is it fair on the teachers to play babysitter? If they teach new stuff, the other kids miss out. If they don't, what's the point?

MeestairChrees I don't know about in Englad, but over here the pupils will still receive work via digital learning, which can be accessed in a number of ways, teachers are able to see who has done the work and are able to mark it and comment online. Pupils are also able to contact teachers if they have questions. Schools will remain open for pupils of key workers, as long as they can be staffed. Not sure yet what is happening with exams but the schools have contingency plans in place so pupils will still receive a grade.

My husband has been concerned about going into work, not for himself, but for our son!

MrsCraig Same in Wales, Not sure about the logic of opening schools for key worker children, as surely schools will only open for a certain time which probably won't fit in with shift patterns of Key workers. Exams in Wales are going to be allocated grades based on their previous work and performance in school.

Mango4 I agree that school hours will not fit in with workers shifts so it might suit them for a few hours but wait about the rest of the time?

Our exams have been cancelled, so I imagine that it will be based on previous work, mock exams and predicted grades.

I see it every year, pupils do the mock exams, realise that they haven't studied enough and start to knuckle down! Hopefully this extra work will be taken into account and put towards grades.