Two national surveys have revealed large support from parents and the general public for the full reopening of schools in September.

The surveys, by parenting website Mumsnet and market research firm YouGov, each show that well over half of respondents support plans for schools to reopen fully in September, which the prime minister described last week as “a national priority”.

The YouGov survey asked the following question: “As things currently stand, do you think schools should or should not fully reopen after the summer holidays?”

There were 2,447 responses, of which 57 per cent replied they should, and a further 18 per cent said they didn’t know, with 25 per cent saying they should not.

The Mumsnet survey, meanwhile, found 74 per cent of all respondents were “confident that their child’s school is on top of things when it comes to the safety and educational challenges presented by Covid”.

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It found that only 3 per cent of parents whose children had returned to school before the summer were worried that schools’ arrangements “aren’t safe enough”.

Mumsnet CEO Justine Roberts said: “The final third of this academic year has been astonishingly stressful for students, teachers and parents alike. It’s great to see that parents are largely confident in schools’ plans for coping with these strange new circumstances.”

Last month, the DfE issued guidance for schools on how to reopen safely in September. However, one union described it as “undoable”, highlighting difficulties with social distancing and criticising the fact that clinically vulnerable teachers are required to return to work.

Another union described the logistical problems of keeping apart many different bubbles of children as “mind-boggling.”

School Standards minister Nick Gibb said of the Mumsnet survey: “We know the last few months have not been easy for parents, so it’s encouraging to see from this survey that they are becoming increasingly confident about their children returning to school and about the protective measures schools are putting in place.”

 “It is our priority to get all children back in the classroom in September, as it is the best place for children to be, not only for their education but to be with their fellow pupils and teachers.”

The Mumsnet survey, in partnership with the national helpline for parents on home learning issues known as StarLine, was responded to by 1,086 parents in England with at least one child at school.

It also found that 54 per cent of parents whose children had not yet returned to school said schools provided “high-quality home learning materials”, while 51 per cent said that the school provided “good personal support such as phone calls home and individual emails”.

Of parents whose children had returned to school before the summer holidays, 77 per cent said their child was happy to be back, including 94 per cent of parents of children in Reception.

Only 7 per cent were worried that COVID measures at school were upsetting for children.