DORSET children will be returning to learning this week - with different rules in place depending on the age groups.

Primary schools and special needs schools in Dorset are set to reopen as intended from this coming week - whilst secondary schools will have a staggered return.

Schools across the country will be opening with socially-distancing measures in place from Monday, January 4.

Special educational needs (SEN) schools, primary schools will remain open from the week commencing January 4 - along with other schools remaining open for vulnerable children and pupils whose parents are considered to be key workers.

Schools with pupils of 'secondary age', including secondary and middle schools, will be welcoming year groups back in a staggered way. Most students will start term with remote learning. Those set to take exams this summer (years 11 and 13) will start face-to-face learning from January 11 and other years from the January 18.GP or clinician not to attend an education setting.

It comes as the National Education Union (NEU), which represents the majority of teachers, said it would be informing its members of their legal right not to work in unsafe conditions as it called for all primary schools to move online.

The union’s joint general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: “Whilst we are calling on the Government to take the right steps, as a responsible union we cannot simply agree that the Government’s wrong steps should be implemented.

“That is why we are doing our job as a union by informing our members that they have a legal right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions which are a danger to their health and to the health of their school communities and more generally.

“We are informing our members of their legal right to protection to be guided by the science.”

Dr Bousted said this means teachers can be available to work from home and work with vulnerable children and those of key workers, but not to take full, in-person classes from Monday.

She continued: “We will be informing our members that they have the right to work in safe conditions which do not endanger their health.

“We realise that this late notice is a huge inconvenience for parents and for head teachers.

“The fault, however, is of the Government’s own making and is a result of their inability to understand data, their indecisiveness, and their reckless approach to their central duty – to safeguard public health.”