today at six... back to school for millions of children in england and wales, but it's not to classes as we know them. first things first, cleaning before learning. the new normal after months at home due to the coronavirus. it feels like i am not old enough because we missed loads of year six, so because we missed loads of year six, so it is pretty weird. maybe in the next couple of years there will be baseline stuff we don't really know because we missed it in year six. and the exams regulator sheds new light on this summer's exam confusion. he blames ministers for making a "fundamental mista ke". also tonight... caught on camera. has the chancellorjust given away the government's plans on tax rises?

confusion after covid restrictions in trafford and bolton are lifted and then re—imposed within hours. a £2 billion scheme to kickstart careers. help for young people on universal credit. the bbc now says rule britannia will be sung at the proms after all. it follows a chorus of criticism over plans to ditch the words. and coming up in sportsday later in the hour on bbc news we'll have the latest from new york as the second round of the us open gets under way. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. has there ever been a return to school quite like it?

after months of being forced to stay at home, millions of pupils in england and wales were back in their classrooms today. for the children and their teachers alike it's uncharted territory. how to combine learning with staying covid safe. it follows a turbulent few weeks in the education system, not least the u—turn over how exams were graded. today the exam regulator for england said ministers had been warned about the possible problems. here's our education editor bra nwen jeffreys. first day at secondary school in a pandemic, teachers keen to reassure them. i spoke to a few of you and is completely normal for you to feel really nervous, to have a funny feeling in yourtummy perhaps, feeling a little bit tense... each day they will be in their year group bobble. some of the year sevens told me they've missed a lot. it feels like i'm not old enough because we missed loads of year six, so it's pretty weird but it's all right at the same time.

it feels like i forgot a lot of things since i haven't been to school in a long time. maybe in the next couple of years there is going to be some baseline stuff that we don't really know because we missed it in year six. before they sit down to learn, a bit of cleaning, a lot for schools to manage. the head teacher is worrying about the year ahead. she is still angry about this year's grades crisis, not impressed with an apology from the regulator. quual should have been very mindful that we have got to make sure that this cohort of children are not prevented from moving on and that should have been paramount. the fact that they are saying they didn't give that enough consideration i think is really quite disgusting. and he was a witch hunter, of all the jobs he could be, he was a witch hunter... they will work for five years towards gcse exams. to each child their future grade is important. this year an algorithm

put the system first, an admission today to mps it was a mistake. to say this was fair just fails to recognise what happened to students. just the level of accuracy that was fundamentally possible with the information that was available was too low to be acceptable to individuals. there were warnings it could put schools like this at a disadvantage. today the prime minister would not be drawn on what he knew, but said they acted quickly when the problems became clear. but ministers were told that socially—distanced exams were the best option. our second option was to delay exams, but the third option if neither of these were acceptable would be to have to try and get some form of calculated grade. the end of a first day for them, the beginning of a long autumn term ahead for ministers. bra nwen jeffreys, bbc

news, market drayton. coping with the pandemic has been challenging enough but how do we, the taxpayers, foot the bill? well, the chancellor rishi sunak may have given us a hint of government thinking. his notes for a meeting with new tory mps have been caught on camera and they point to some "difficult choices". our political corresponent alex forsyth is in westminster for us. we are expecting a budget in the autumn and although it is some way off, there has been talk about what it might involve, not least how to cover the costs of the pandemic. budgets are always choices between borrowing, taxing, spending and saving. we do not know yet what will be in it, the treasury has dismissed everything as speculation, but today we got a glimpse into the chancellor's thinking. he is not the first and he will not be the last, a private document made

public and his words say we will need to do some difficult things, but we will be able to overcome the short—term challenges. this does not meana short—term challenges. this does not mean a horror show of tax rises with no end in sight. that was his message to tory mps, worried how he plans to pay the bill racked up by coronavirus support schemes. out launching another today to help young, unemployed people he tried to reassure. is right that over time we have public finances. everyone understands we cannot carry on doing exactly what we did this year forever. it is responsible and right thing to do, but in the short term we are focused on protecting and supporting jobs. there have been nerves here. today the chancellor and prime minister met backbench tories, some who had been sounding warning bells. we have got to make sure we remained the party that cuts the cost of living for normal folk up the cost of living for normal folk up and down the country and we do not balance the pandemic on the

backs of working people. the treasury might be trying to calm, but for a government that has ruled out a return to austerity there are still big economic questions brewing. i am sure the chancellor is not going to be raising taxes substantially in the coming budget because he needs to support the economy in the next year or two, not deal with the deficit. in the longer term, a few years down the road, he will need to raise taxes probably substantially in order to deal with what will be a record deficit. sooner or later the government will have to foot the bill for this pandemic and that could mean unpalatable choices. today was about reassurance, not least for those backbench tory mps already concerned about government strategy and a recent series of policy u—turns. ministers say plans and positions have had to shift with this changing pandemic, but labour is reluctant to let it go. they have lurched from crisis to crisis, you turn to u—turn, to correct one error, even

two might make sense, but when the government has notched up 12 u—turns and rising the only conclusion is serial incompetence. we have succeeded in turning the tide of this pandemic and in spite of the negativity and the constant sniping from the opposition we are seeing a country that is not only getting back to school but going back to work. in private today the prime minister told mps choppy waters were still to come, but pledged to deal with it, promising an economic rebuild. now the government has to deliver. now the government has to deliver. the health secretary says he took "swift and decisive action" when he changed his mind about lifting local lockdown restrictions in bolton and trafford. restrictions were due to be lifted there today until the late government u—turn this morning, citing a siginificant change in the level of infection. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports from altrincham. at the common ground cafe in altrincham, customers are trying

to process the off—again, on—again lockdown regulations. for these students, it's a bit of a mess. when i left the house to come and meet these two, it was one thing, and i literally sat down and i got an alert on my phone to say that there's been a change around, and we're going back to being under lockdown in the north, which was a bit of a surprise, but i'm not actually sure, really, what we are supposed to be doing. people will probably be very complacent. i don't think people will follow the rules as strictly, because they are so up and down and is so hot and cold. local councillors had argued that restrictions on household socialising should be maintained. conservative mps and ministers said it was safe to lift them. 12 hours after the restrictions were eased, they were reimposed. back in the cafe, adam has been left bemused. it's a no—win situation for whoever is in charge, but having such a short change between the restrictions, 12 hours, is going to encourage people to go

and do what they want. and that is what is going to cause more problems. infection rates in trafford and bolton have been rising sharply. the government says that's the basis for the u—turn on relaxing restrictions. cafe ownerjulie just wants consistency. making a governmental decision from london without discussing it with the council leaders does seem a little bit rash and unfair. if people are expected to follow the rules, they need to know what they are and where they apply. local politicians are saying today's u—turn is hardly going to help. the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, has described the events of the past few days as com plete events of the past few days as complete chaos. the health secretary matt hancock has said given rising infection rates in bolton and here in trafford that reimposing the lockdown measures was the right thing to do. lockdown measures was the right thing to do. the latest government figures for coronavirus show there were 1,508 new confirmed cases across the uk in the

latest 24—hour period. that means the average number of new cases per day in the last week has been 1,404. the deaths of ten people were also reported, that's those who have died within 28 days of a positive covid—i9 test. on average in the past week seven deaths have been announced each day. that means the total number, across the uk, is now 41,514. the number of people under 25 who are on universal credit has doubled since march. now the government has launched a £2 billion scheme aimed at helping them. under the kickstart programme, businesses will be able to offer placements with the government helping to cover the costs. our business editor simon jack has more. a generation of young workers whose prospects have been hit hardest by the biggest economic shock in nearly a century. their futures are now looking less bright. lois, pictured here, was due

to start a job on a holiday camp. that role no longer exists. she hopes the kickstarter scheme can help. loads of people are being made redundant, and, particularly as a college leaver, jobs are really hard to come by at the moment. as a young person who has just finished college, it's an amazing opportunity for me to get out there, build up skills on my cv and hopefully maybe get a job out of it, and so to have, you know, keep in the working way and still earn some money from it. the scheme is available to under 25s who are claiming universal credit. the government will pay national minimum wage for up to 25 hours a week for six months plus employers' national insurance contributions. there are also grants of £1500 available to employers to cover their set—up costs. the £2 billion the treasury has earmarked for the scheme, on paper, could provide 300,000 six—month placements. that's three times the size of a similar scheme launched after the financial crisis, but those numbers are dwarfed by the tens of billions

the government has spent supporting furloughed workers, and it is unrealistic to expect this scheme to offset the flood ofjob losses, as that scheme is withdrawn at the end of october. there are fears older workers will be let go to be replaced by essentially free youngsters, but the government says the scheme is designed to prevent that kind of abuse. john runs an engineering firm in warwickshire. he is keen that firms who can take fewer than 30 people will have to join forces with others, which means it will take time to get people into work. the details have been sketchy. we knew the scheme was there, we wanted to use the scheme, we were keen to use the scheme. we now have the details today, which is great, but we now find we have to use an intermediary, because we only want a few people, we don't want 30, so there's a lot more to go yet before we can actually start employing these people. so i believe you.ve got to wait

till about november. meanwhile, the industries hit hardest, leisure, retail, hospitality, are one is laying off the highest proportion of young workers. the government hopes the scheme will help prevent youth unemployment from turning into lifelong disadvantage. simon jack, bbc news. the german authorities say they have no doubt that the russian opposition leader alexei navalny was poisoned with the nerve agent novichok. mr navalny was airlifted to berlin for treatment after falling ill during a flight in russia's siberia region last month. he is still in a coma. the german government has condemned the poisoning and called on russia to provide an explanation. let's get more from our security correspondent gordon corera. asi as i say, the germans pointing the finger at the russian government, but how clear is the evidence? this isa but how clear is the evidence? this is a very serious accusation from germany, russian doctors said there had been no sign of foul play, but after these test in germany, the doctors there, the scientists and expert seem confident that this was a nerve agent from the novichok family. now, there was a nerve agent

from the novichok family. now, those nerve agents will be familiar to people in the uk because it is the salisbury to poison sergei skripal in 2018, and the fact that it was such a rare nerve agent, developed by the military in moscow, was one reason why people here were so confident that the russian state was involved — something moscow would sell denied. a local woman, dawn stu rg ess, sell denied. a local woman, dawn sturgess, died later after picking up sturgess, died later after picking upa perfume sturgess, died later after picking up a perfume popple used to transport it, a sign ofjust how dangerous this substance is. after salisbury, there were diplomatic expulsions and sanctions. the question is, what will happen this time after it has happened again? the german chancellor has said the question is only the russian state can answer, and tonight the prime minister here has said he wants an explanation from russia and that he will be working with international partners to ensure justice is done. all right, thank for that. our top story this evening: it's back to school for millions of children in england and wales — uncharted territory as pupils

and teachers try to stay covid—safe. and coming up: in a survey, four out of ten police officers said they'd been assaulted in the last year. would more taser guns make them safer? coming up on sportsday in the next 15 minutes on bbc news, we'll have the latest from barcelona as lionel messi's father arrives in the city to try and sort out his son's future at the club. they are perhaps the greatest mystery of the universe. black holes, where matter is so densely packed it creates a gravitational pull strong enough that not even light can escape. today scientists announced they had discovered one of the largest ever, and it's 17 billion light years away, as our science correspondent pallab ghosh reports. it was the most powerful explosion ever detected, the collision of two massive black holes.

it happened halfway across the universe, and its blast was felt on earth. this is where it was detected, in louisiana.