Earlier this week Boris Johnson announced schools in England could open on 8 March at the earliest.

He admitted that it could take a year for children to catch up from the impact of Covid school closures, claiming online learning is having a 'huge impact' on the education of millions of pupils.

Parents are now calling for pupils to repeat a whole school year or have summer holidays cancelled so that children can catch up.

75 per cent of British teachers feel their students are lagging behind previous year groups and have fallen behind due to remote learning in lockdown, according to a survey by education publication TES.

Alun Ebenezer, head of Fulham Boys School, admitted that keeping every year group back for a year would be “strewn with problems” but said: “Instead of patching things up, we could use the year to consolidate what’s been covered, plug gaps that have grown (maybe over years), have more time to learn content that needs to be taught and send pupils to the next stage (secondary school, GCSE, A-level, university, world of work) with solid foundations in place.”

Fellow heads have also called for clarity about what will replace GCSE and A-level exams as they warned that rumours are causing students’ stress levels to rocket. 

Ofqual is to publish its proposals for how teenagers will be assessed this week. According to reports, the consultation will include plans for pupils to sit tests or “mini exams”.

Chesterfield High School headteacher Kevin Sexton said his students are 'significantly behind' as remote learning is 'not the same as face-to-face teaching'.

Concerned parents feel the uncertainty about schools returning - coupled with the need to play catch up - could create a 'lost generation' of students.

They are calling on the Prime Minister to scrap the plan to reopen schools on March 8, and instead pull children out of this academic year all together.

Others said summer holidays should be cancelled to make up for lost learning.

 Parents took to social media citing their views:

“Repeat the school or university year or accept a widening gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged.”

“Academic year 2020/2021 can be written off.”

“Increase capacity in reception years, support university students, private school fees with an extra year's funding?”

“Please listen, let the children re-sit this academic year. For all children's, teachers' and parents' mental health and wellbeing.”

Others called on the Government to cancel summer holidays in a bid to claw back lost face-to-face teaching time.

One furious Briton said: “Why don't we cancel the school six-weeks holiday now.”

Not everyone was in support of children repeating the academic year. Kerry Dixon wrote: "Definitely not for everyone's mental health."“Most of our kids have worked hard this year, they don't deserve to be punished by being forced to repeat the year.” 

“You would also be telling a full year group of four-year-olds that they now can't start school.” “My son has done four years at university he has had enough. I get your drift but it's not a one size fits all.”

The Social Mobility Commission has called for pupils to be allowed to retake a year of school, saying the amount of education kids have missed requires more than "sticking plaster solutions".

Ministers must "consider options such as allowing some children to retake a year, funded with extra resources", they said.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are determined to ensure that children continue to receive a high-quality education during this pandemic, and our £1 billion Covid-19 catch up package is helping tackle the impact of lost teaching time.

“We have provided extensive support to help teachers and pupils access quality remote learning, and made £4.84 million available for Oak National Academy to provide video lessons in a broad range of subjects. The Government is also delivering 1.3 million laptops and tablets for disadvantaged young people, with 800,000 delivered to date.”