Boris Johnson is expected to initiate the “delay phase” of the coronavirus response, which will involve the closure of thousands of schools throughout the country. The Prime Minister will chair an emergency COBRA meeting this afternoon, where he will likely escalate the UK’s response to the accelerating outbreak of the deadly disease, which has now been closed as a pandemic by the World Heath Organisation. The Government’s “delay phase” would include social distancing measures such as school closures, cancelling public events and urging employees to work from home where possible.

Teachers have also been told to prepare “home-learning packs” for students, amid fears schools could be closed for more than two months.

Schools could close as early as March 20 – just weeks before the Easter break, which is seen as a vital time of the traditional academic year.

Students would have to potentially spend a month out of the classroom, but schools may be forced to keep their doors shut for longer if, as predicted, the coronavirus outbreak peaks next month.

Plans have also been discussed to set up teaching via online education platforms, to ensure pupils can work remotely.

But closures to schools of more than a month will trigger exam chaos for students and educational institutions alike.

Hundreds of thousands of pupils throughout the country will be studying for vital exams over the coming weeks, in the hope of remaining on their course for next year, qualifying for their chosen college or university, or graduating with the qualification needed to enter their dream career.

Neil Roskilly, chief executive of the Independent Schools Association, which has a membership of around 528 schools, said it is better to close schools this side of Easter as opposed to the weeks following.

But he admitted preparations for exams will “worry” secondary schools, while students may have to reply on predicted grades if exams are heavily disrupted.

Mr Roskilly told Express.co.uk: “Schools are already planning with awarding bodies how to make different arrangements for examinations and advise on the impact on university access.

“Predicted grades will be vital and evidence such as trial or mock test papers will be vital for the awarding bodies.

But he added: “There is a fear of that and certainly some exams will be disrupted.

“But as long as security can be guaranteed as much as possible, there are fallbacks to utilise, such as exams taken in centres separate from the school – called open examination centres – or different papers sat in tandem (exam boards have backup questions and papers), or even online examinations on an open book basis taken at home – some subjects have that already.

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“Schools have trial/mock papers already taken and awarding bodies can use these in evidence if exams cannot be sat. School’s predicated grades for their pupils are also really useful.

“So it would be a worrying time for children and schools, but there are systems in place for such eventualities, even if they haven’t been tested to this scale in the past.”

The procedure of predicted grades will worry students who feel they may have not put in maximum effort all year around, and are relying on excellent exam results to bump up their scores.

A predicted grade is a the grade of qualification an applicant’s school or college believes they’re likely to achieve in positive circumstances.

These are then used by by universities and colleges, as part of the admissions process, to help them understand an applicant’s potential.

But for years there have been widespread calls for the predicted grades system to be scrapped as it is seen to be unfair.

During its general election campaign at the end of last year, the Labour Party vowed to overhaul the system.

Research by the Institute of Education at University College London found almost a quarter of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who went on to get high grades at A-level (AAB or better) had been predicted lower grades by their schools.

Last month, the UK’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, warned schools could face closures for more than two months, if coronavirus was declared a pandemic.

Speaking to an audience of health experts at a Nuffield Trust think tank conference, he said: “Everybody knows that the kinds of things you consider – reducing mass gatherings, school closures, which may or may not be appropriate for this particular virus.

“Because one of the things, frankly, with this virus much more so than flu, is whatever we do we’re going to have to do for quite a long period of time, probably more than two months. And the implications of that are non-trivial. So we need to think that through.”

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