SCHOOLS for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) will face insurmountable problems if they follow the government’s drive to open schools more widely, education staff warned today.

The National Education Union (NEU) said that in a survey this week, 96 per cent of special-needs teachers reported that it was already impossible to maintain social distancing in their schools.

And 86 per cent said they feared a high risk of airborne transmission from pupils spitting, dribbling, biting, coughing and sneezing, while almost half said that they feared for their personal safety.