PRIMARY schools should reopen for Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 no later than June 22 with Year 10 expected to return next week, the council has said.

Only one state-funded primary school in the borough, Bury and Whitefield Jewish Primary School, partially reopened this week – although all schools have been open for children of key workers and vulnerable pupils throughout the lockdown.

Fee-paying Bury Catholic Prep and Bury Grammar's early years department welcomed back pupils last week.

This comes as the government scraps plans for all primary school pupils to return before the summer, with many not yet reopened further, and the “R” number, representing coronavirus retransmission, rising above 1 in the region.

Bury Council deputy leader Tamoor Tariq told the cabinet on Wednesday that the local authority has set out an advisory timetable for schools – but it is up to headteachers, governors and trust leadership teams to make a final decision.

He said: “I’m really proud that as a council who has been listening to its parents and to its headteachers, we acted decisively in protecting our young pupils, protecting our teaching staff and our parents and carers and put safety first when we went against the national government advice to return on June 1.

“I think it’s very clear now – the government has acknowledged this themselves – that the plans were not realistic, they were not deliverable, and they were far too ambitious and put our pupils and staff at risk.

“We’ve had extensive talks with secondary school headteachers. They have confirmed that secondary schools have significant capacity and resource to start reopening their secondary schools for the week beginning June 15 for Year 10 pupils in the first instance.

“Our secondary schools are very large buildings and of course if it’s only open to Year 10 in the first instance, that allows more than enough room to most of our schools to ensure social distancing in those classrooms where pupils are present.

“The picture for the primary schools is slightly different. Our primary schools vary in size. It’s not one-size-fits-all.

“Therefore, we are recommending and giving advice to our primary schools that we would expect them to return and start to see some form of reopening around the week beginning June 22.

“We’re confident that this allows both our primary and secondary headteachers and respective trustees and governing bodies to make adequate plans for reopening, taking into consideration the concern that everybody in our community will have around the ‘R’ value.

“I’m hoping that this advice will be welcomed by all school leaders and everyone involved in education.

“We do value our young people having a good education and we understand the last 12 weeks has posed challenges for everybody concerned and we want to see education provision returning in our borough but in a safe and appropriate manner.

“We will continue to engage with our schools to see what the new academic year will look like and we will continue to engage in risk assessments and eventual reopening plans for a wider reopening in September.”

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Bury’s Conservative group leader Nick Jones said: “It’s an absolute priority of the government to get the early years back to school. That’s mainly focused around Years 1, 6 and the early years.”