Covid in Wales: Youngest to return to primary schools from 22 February

Children aged three to seven will return to school after the February half-term, the Welsh Government is expected to confirm on Friday.

Most pupils have been learning from home after a surge in Covid cases led to a Welsh lockdown.

The decision would mean the foundation phase of primary schools returning from 22 February.

But the head of one teaching union said they would not support the move without assurances about teacher safety.

Education Minister Kirsty Williams is expected to make the announcement at a lunchtime press conference on Friday.

It follows a fall in the number of infections, and negotiations with teaching trade unions, who have called for teachers to be in the priority list for vaccinations.

The Welsh Government had been under pressure to set out plans for a return to face-to-face teaching after weeks of lockdown.

It comes as other parts of the UK consider when children can return to face-to-face teaching.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said 8 March was the earliest date schools in England could reopen and that "depends on lots of things going right".

In Northern Ireland pupils will not return to school until 8 March at the earliest while Scotland's youngest pupils are likely to return to the classroom full time from 22 February as schools start a phased reopening.

The Covid case rate in Wales is currently the lowest of the UK nations.

It now stands at 126 per 100,000 people over seven days - a fall from about 700 before Christmas.

Earlier, teachers' union NASUWT said a joint group of unions had given the Welsh Government a list of "mitigations" they wanted to see put in place.

They include strict social distancing, medical grade masks for teachers in the foundation phase and a "further consideration of a flexible and phased return".

Neil Butler, its national officer in Wales, said on Friday the union would not support the return to school unless a number of those mitigations were taken on board.

He told BBC Radio Wales: "We've got no indication of what's going to be changed in the operational guidance which fits into those mitigations that we want to see.

"If the operational guidance has taken nothing on board in terms of the joint union mitigation list then we're not going to be able to support this return on the 22nd."

Ucac general secretary Dilwyn Roberts-Young said there needed to be "local flexibility to stagger the return of foundation phase children".

"We'll also need clear guidelines about social distancing, the use of face-coverings, sufficient ventilation, and which staff are exempt from return and can continue to work from home.

"Above all, school staff need to hear that they figure in the government's priority list for vaccination, particularly those in the foundation phase where it is almost impossible to ensure social distancing."

All schools and colleges in Wales were told to move to online learning before the start of this term in an effort to "suppress the virus", Ms Williams said at the start of January.

Some schools had been due to open in the new year but unions called for the return to be delayed amid concerns about a variant of coronavirus blamed for a rise in cases before Christmas.

Schools and colleges have remained open for children of critical workers and vulnerable pupils, as well as for children who needed to complete essential exams or assessments.

Victoria Rosser, a mother of four from Cwmbran, is on the shielding list and is yet to receive her first dose of the Covid vaccine.

She said she wants to be able to make the decision over whether it is safe for her children to return to the classroom.

"I have mixed emotions towards the decision being announced today," she said.

"I do not feel it's safe for parents and guardians, who've been placed on the shielding list like me, to send their children until phase one of the priority list are post-three weeks of receiving their vaccine.

"Parents are being crippled with having to balance their children's education, work and running a home. This is not home schooling, it's trying to accommodate three jobs at the same time, which is impossible in the long-term."

Meanwhile, Chris Lawrence, who lives in Cardiff and has three children, said it was "really important" children get back to school as soon as possible.

He said: "From my perspective what we've been doing in terms of shutting schools, we were always told it would be the last resort, but at the moment it's been adopted as the thing that we do. If your kids are at home then pretty much all parents have to be at home as well."

Samantha Pearce from Blaenau Gwent, who's daughter Hazel is 10, said she didn't want to see year groups rushed back.

But she added: "The prolonged closure of the schools is having a huge detrimental effect. Schools for us here in Blaenau Gwent have been already been closed for two months now - and children are bored an unengaged with the work."

Rachel Antoniazzi, who is deputy head at Thornhill Primary School in Cardiff, said getting children back into school would be a "relief" for parents and teachers, but there were also some concerns for staff.

She said: "I do really honestly believe that the type of learning that foundation phase children are expected to do doesn't work very well from home. It puts a lot of pressure on parents, it's not conducive to the way foundation phase learners are expected to learn."

Ms Antoniazzi's school has been operating as a hub for children of key workers during the lockdown, and will continue to do so for the children in the upper years of the school, alongside reopening for the youngest pupils.

"In an ideal world we would love to welcome the whole school back but we have to be really careful," she said.

"I think the biggest fear, and the government have to be really clear on this, is that it's a necessity to reopen schools, but it doesn't mean we're back to normal.

"It's better than being at home but I do want parents to get the message that doesn't mean you can go to playdates."

Plaid Cymru's education spokeswoman Siân Gwenllian called for school staff and other key workers to be moved to the top of the list in each vaccination priority group.

"Parents, learners and staff need reassurance that the school environment is safe, and there are certainly things that can be done to give them confidence, such as more extensive use of ventilation, school workers moved to the top of their vaccine priority group, and schools must be given all options to enable adequate social distancing in classrooms.

"With a year of hindsight, it pains me to think how much more face-to-face education our children and young people could have had, if Welsh Government had used all the tools in their gift earlier."

Education spokeswoman for the Welsh Conservatives Suzy Davies welcomed the return but questioned the staggered approach.

She added: "It's been a tough period for children, parents and teachers, and it makes sense for primaries to go back to catch up with each other; these youngest pupils have lost most in terms of learning and vital early-years socialisation.

"We need a can-do, will-do approach from ministers as teachers on the front line want to return to the classroom so long as it's safe to do so.

"They must now put plans in place for those critical secondary years, and to get in the maximum amount of learning to prepare our older learners for college and university with an even more dynamic, innovative, flexible and ultimately safe approach to secondary schools."

The first minister said the youngest pupils would be back in school if virus rates carried on falling.

A week later, the indicators are going in the right direction, suggesting three to seven-year-olds will be back in classes on or soon after 22 February.

But this process feels different to the return after the summer or after the first lockdown.

The virus variants have added another layer of anxiety, and the approach is even more cautious.

Older primary pupils may have to learn from home for a while longer, and a return for secondary and college pupils, apart from those doing practical qualifications, still seems to be some way off.

The first easing of the strictest lockdown rules was last Saturday, when people were able to meet one other person from another household to exercise outside.

But people in Wales have been warned they are unlikely to see a "radical and significant" easing of the restrictions this month.

The health minister said there would need to "continued" reductions before the rules can be eased.

Vaughan Gething added any "available headroom" would be used to help children go back to school.

The next Welsh lockdown review is scheduled for 19 February.