NI Education Minister Peter Weir expected to today announce phased return to school

According to the Belfast Telegraph, it is understood Peter Weir will outline the Executive's plans for a return to the classroom, which is "extremely likely' to begin after the summer holidays in September.

The news comes after the head of the CCEA exams body moved to reassure parents of pupils awaiting results that everything possible is being done to make sure the grades awarded this summer are fair.

CCEA oversees the curriculum, examinations and assessment here and chief executive Justin Edwards said staff had been working tirelessly through an "unsettling and challenging" time.

"'Unprecedented' has become the accepted definition of the period we are living through. It is also a very apt description of the situation regarding GCSE, AS and A-level examinations this summer which, for the first time in living memory, have been cancelled," he said.

"I fully understand how unsettling and challenging it has been for the many thousands of students and their families who are directly affected by this unavoidable decision.

"I want to reassure students that at the centre of our thinking is making sure that the grades awarded are fair. Our goal is to give students the grades that best reflect what they would have achieved had they sat the exams in normal circumstances and completed all of their coursework."