‘I have never hated someone so much.’ ‘I hope you commit suicide.’ These are just two of the messages I received back in 2020, when I argued that schools should remain open despite the pandemic.

Now that the interminable national Covid-19 inquiry is finally getting round to considering the experiences of children, school closures are in the spotlight. Education was massively disrupted as schools shut their doors to all but the children of key workers and those considered most vulnerable. Between January 2020 and July 2021, children were kept out of the classroom for extended periods, missing almost half of the time they should have been in school. Even when schools reopened, the practice of putting children into ‘bubbles’ of whole classes or entire year groups, and sending all home when o

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