EVERY child at Lee Chapel Primary School has gone back to class for a month’s worth of education, thanks to strict new rules.

The school, in The Knares, Basildon, has worked out a way to teach all its pupils on site for four weeks before the summer holidays by staggering their return.

All 759 children have now received at least a month of education thanks to headteacher Sue Jackson and her staff, who had half of their students in school on June 1, before swapping them with the other half on June 29.

Year six pupils made way for year three and year five children earlier this week.

The school has rallied together with every available space being used to teach classes of 15 - and even admin staff have changed their roles to help teach.

Mrs Jackson told the Echo parents are right behind the school in their innovative move, after she sent them several videos outlining the measures.

These include the banning of parents from the playground and the building, a timetable for break and lunchtimes, and the constant cleaning of tables and equipment.

She said: “Every student now has had the minimum of a month’s education, and we’re really proud of it.

“Our staff and cleaning teams are heroes. They’ve worked so hard to get us to this point.

“The control measures which are in place will stop the virus spreading. It’s worked seamlessly so far. It’s been brilliant to see.

“Parents want their children to be socialising and learning at the same time.”

Due to the school’s close proximity to Basildon Hospital, around 150 pupils have been attending the school during lockdown.

“We were fully prepared for the Government’s re-opening of school. We’ve been supporting our key workers throughout and we want to support our community even more”, she added.

“We’re using our music hall and large offices. Our Year six are now having virtual learning to allow other years to come in.

The school say 411 pupils were in school from June 1, with 666 in attendance from June 29, and 759 from June 30.

The remaining students from the school’s 992 capacity, are year six students learning virtually.