COMMENT: Exam boards need to find a workable solution

Although the children of key workers have been going in, the vast majority are still at home having to rely on online learning, with only minimal and virtual contact with teachers.

Of particular concern are those pupils in Year 10, who are due to sit their GCSEs next year.

They face potentially even more upheaval than their equivalent this year, who at least got to finish the majority of their coursework before exams were cancelled with grades to be decided by teacher predictions.

The current Year 10 will be back at school for some lessons and face-to-face time with teachers from Monday, but it will only be on certain days and on a rota basis.

The reality is that the whole cohort won't return until September at the earliest – and maybe not even then.

Even if they did go back after the summer holidays, they would have missed at least five months of full-time schooling.

No wonder headteachers in the Portsmouth area are concerned about the impact this will have on eventual exam results.

Meanwhile there is the problem of inequality in learning, with some pupils not engaged, others with no access to technology and varying levels of parental support.

So how do we ensure that our Year 10s don't lose out? There have been suggestions of cutting option subjects from four to two to create more time, but some say that's too simplistic.

Ultimately the responsibility rests with the exam boards to come up with a workable solution. In the meantime parents are right to expect that schools do all they can to deliver more teacher-led lessons online until everyone returns to the classroom full-time.