CHILDREN across Liverpool City Region - which includes Wirral - returned to classrooms today in the wake of calls from metro mayor Steve Rotheram for schools to shut to in person learning in the next few weeks.

In one of the major differences to the first national lockdown in March, schools are set to remain open during the lockdown announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday.

Metro mayor Rotheram and Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham said the lockdown, which starts on Thursday, required the closure of schools for a period to ensure it is properly effective.

At a joint press conference, the metro mayors said they wanted to see a period of two weeks' closure towards the second half of November, giving schools some time to prepare online learning.

Mr Burnham said: "That would create the conditions for the biggest drop in cases that we could achieve and it would then create the conditions for some kind of Christmas for more families, because they need it right now."

The National Education Union has also called for schools to close but the Government says it is vital children do not lose more classroom learning time.

There is particular concern about rising cases among secondary school students, which are rising steeply according to ONS data.

Schools were badly affected by rising coronavirus cases throughout the first half of the autumn term.

In Liverpool alone, more than 22,000 staff and pupils were forced to isolate after positive cases.

The local authority’s chief education officers told councillors last month that 21,619 pupils and 1,294 staff had been forced to isolate since schools returned at the beginning of September, with 878 positive cases reported among staff and students at primary and secondary schools across the city.