HAMPSHIRE schools will not be providing work for children whose parents decide to keep them home, it has been revealed.

Whilst current government advice remains that children should attend school, some parents have taken it upon themselves to keep their child at home today, January 4.

Hampshire County Council has told parents that they ‘are unable to provide the same level of education’ to those at home whilst teachers continue face to face learning.

It comes as the debate over whether schools should be open yet continues to rage with one Basingstoke parent reporting a teacher crying at the school gates this morning.

They said: "I dropped my son off to school this morning simply because I'm terrified of fines and court action and the teacher cried, telling me she didn't want to be there either."

For parents who decided to keep their youngsters home however, they will not receive help from the school for their studies. 

In an email sent to another Basingstoke parent, it read: “For those children whose parents have decided to keep their children at home, whilst we understand and sympathise with the difficult decision made we are unable to provide the same level of education as those in school as the teachers remain in class teaching.

“The advice from County’s inclusion team and central government is for schools not to provide work for those families that have made the choice to keep their children at home as there is no medical reason not to send the child to school.”

Yesterday 12 schools in Hampshire announced they would remain closed due to staffing issues and advice from unions.

The government is now facing mounting pressure to keep primary schools closed, with teaching unions telling primary school staff it is “unsafe” to work because of rising Covid infections.

READ MORE: PM set to address Nation to announce tougher restrictions

The email continues:” Even though there is no requirement for schools to provide online learning, the school is committed to providing support for families and where we are able to do so, teachers will upload work via the school website or google classroom but would ask you to bear with us as the work may not be updated daily whilst our priority remains for the children who are in school.”

Schools are currently not issuing fines to parents who decided to keep their children off school providing regular contact is maintained with the school.

Parents who have taken the decision to keep their child off of school should use the likes of  Mathletics, ReadingEggs, TT Rockstars/Numbots, Bugclub and Phonics Play as tools for home learning.