SCHOOLS must not reopen until the “test, trace and isolate” system is fully rolled out and driving down Covid-19 cases, workers told the government today.

Unions warned that school staff and parents have little confidence that a return to school in the coming months would be safe.

There has been speculation that children in England could go back to school on June 1, prompted by Downing Street sources. 

But the letter, sent by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) today, stressed that there should not be more pupils in schools until mass testing and tracing has led to cases falling consistently.

“A wider reopening before such a regime is in place would be completely unviable and would risk increased transmission levels, and ultimately deaths,” the letter warns. 

The policy involves large-scale daily testing, the use of an NHS app to identify infected people and a mass of contact-tracers to call people who may have been exposed to the virus. 

The letter, sent to Education Secretary Gavin Williams, calls on the government to meet a series of tests before sending kids back to school.

This includes the establishment of a Covid-19 education taskforce made up of the government, unions and others to decide when it is safe for children to return to school. 

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “The government must work closely with unions to agree a plan that meets the tests we have set out. 

“Those discussions must include unions representing all school workers, not just teachers.”

Ms O’Grady said that the government must also provide extra funding to pay for PPE and enhanced cleaning, as well as safeguarding for vulnerable students.  

The letter, also signed by unions NEU, NAHT, NASUWT, GMB, Unison and Unite, stresses that there must be clear scientific evidence to show that reopening schools will not increase the transmission of Covid-19. 

Speculation regarding the early reopening of schools has been branded “dangerous” and “unhelpful” by the NEU.

Its petition demanding that schools should only open once it is safe to do so had gained 380,000 signatures. 

Fears among parents and teachers over the prospect of schools reopening are extremely high, according to recent surveys.

In a poll of 250,000 parents by charity Parentkind, just one in 10 said they were happy for their children to return to school as soon as the lockdown ends. 

And a poll of 3,500 members of headteachers’ union NAHT found that just 10 per cent were confident that reopening schools in the coming weeks would be safe.

NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said: “Our poll results show very clearly that confidence in relaxing the lockdown measures is very low.

“We are sending a very clear message to the government ahead of Sunday’s widely anticipated announcement about the lockdown: safety first.”

Labour backed the unions’ demands for reassurances before children return to school.

Shadow education secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said today: “The government must take heed of the tests set out today by trade unions within the sector and commit to not opening schools unless they have been met.”

A Department for Education statement said: “Gavin Williamson has been clear that schools will not reopen until the scientific advice indicates that it is safe to do so and the five tests set out by government to beat this virus have been met.”