A two-shift system starting at 8am is a possibility for West Somerset students when they eventually return to school, an education boss said this week.

“Classrooms will only be able to take 16 children at a time if they are two metres apart,” said Paul Rushforth, CEO of the West Somerset Academies Trust. It would, he said, be “a major challenge”.

But the number of children attending West Somerset schools has – despite the lockdown – doubled, according to the latest figures.

Most of the larger schools remain open in West Somerset and numbers are said to have increased because key workers are now back at work – and their children need supervision. In school, children are mainly focusing on the core subjects like PE, art and music.

However, 95 per cent of West Somerset children remain at home with their parents and have contact with their teachers by email, phone and increasingly by webcam.

They are set daily maths, English, reading and science tasks and are being given projects that require online research in history, RE and geography.

“There are many online resources for PE and music – and also French. Trying to work out how many children are actually doing any schoolwork is challenging but possible – especially when it is completed and submitted online,” said Kelly Evans, assistant headteacher, and lead for online learning, at Minehead Middle School.

She added: “The online learning works well if you only have two children and there is plenty of computer time available. It becomes much more difficult for larger families who are working from one computer, or in some cases from a smart phone.

“This is the reason why we are increasingly publishing booklets for children.”

For children having free school meals, some schools are delivering food boxes and the West Somerset Academies Trust, which runs the large majority of schools in West Somerset, is using a pre-loaded credit card so that parents can buy the food of their choice from Co-op stores. Each child gets £15 per week.

“Most head teachers in the area don’t think we will return to normal until September, but it would be great to have the children back to school after the half term break on June 1,” Mr

Rushforth said.

“We think we would have to operate a shift system. A bit like evacuees in World War Two, the children would have to start at 8am and work through to 1pm.

“The next group would start at 1.30pm and work through to 5.30pm. The major challenge will be having the staff available.”