JOHN Swinney has said pupils should prepare to return to school on a full-time basis in August.
In the route map out of lockdown published by the Scottish Government, plans were drawn up for a “blended model” of learning – with pupils attending classes for some of the week and learning from home the rest of the time.
But in a statement to Holyrood yesterday, the Education Secretary and deputy first minister told MSPs schools will be able to re-open to all pupils from August 11 so long as the spread of the disease “is sufficiently low to provide assurance that we can continue to control the virus”.
Blended learning will be the Scottish Government’s “contingency” if it is deemed unsafe for schools to reopen without social distancing.
Swinney said: “Since May, because of the efforts of our fellow citizens to stay at home, we have seen Scotland make significant progress.
“There are now only around 2000 infectious people in Scotland – a reduction of around 90% since May.
“There has been a sustained downward trend in Covid-19 deaths. Intensive care cases now stand at a fraction of what they were.
“If we stay on this trajectory – which cannot be taken for granted – by August the position will be even better.” He added: “If we stay on track, if we all continue to do what is right and if we can further suppress this terrible virus, the Government believes that we should prepare for children to be able to return to school full-time in August.
“I must stress, this is the aim that the Government is now working towards.
“However, because it has to be achieved safely, it inevitably remains conditional and dependent upon ongoing scientific and health advice.”
Swinney added that in May he “frankly could not have imagined that we would be where we are now”.
While the plan is now to bring forward full-time schooling, he said that planning for blended learning should continue in case it is necessary if the virus sees a resurgence.
Three criteria will need to be met for the return of full-time schooling, the Education Secretary said.
Infection rates must be “sufficiently low” to ensure the virus can be controlled, full use of local health infrastructure must be available and protections and risk assessments to protect those with underlying health conditions must be put in place.
Swinney said £100 million will be invested over the next two years to tackle the effects of coronavirus on schooling.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said planning for full-time schooling could happen thanks to “success in suppressing” Covid-19. She tweeted: “When it looked like the virus would make it impossible for kids to return to school full-time in August, we developed a contingency. The contingency is still there should we need it. But our success in suppressing virus makes it possible now to plan for full time return.”
She added: “Achieving that aim depends on getting and keeping virus at very low levels – and that depends on all of us abiding by public health rules and taking a careful path out of lockdown.”
Councils umbrella group Cosla gave Swinney’s announcement a cautious welcome.
Stephen McCabe, its education spokesman, said: “The news that the levels of the virus continue to move in the right direction is of course extremely positive.
“The deputy first minister’s statement that the planning assumption will now be for a full return in August if it is safe to do so is of course a significant change in direction. We will work with the Scottish Government, our Local Government partners, trade unions, parent organisations and children and young people representatives to consider the implications and practicalities of a full-time return for pupils in August.”
Toni Giugliano, senior policy manager at Mental Health Foundation Scotland said: “We’re pleased the Scottish Government has acknowledged that children are concerned about their mental health and we’re delighted John Swinney has listened to the concerns of parents, teachers and pupils across Scotland.
“Keeping children apart through social distancing in schools after many months of limited contact could have exacerbated mental health problems in children and young people, and the proposal for children to return to school full-time with no social distancing measures has been welcomed.
He added: “However ... we need a commitment to expand the range of mental health support workers in schools to cope with the likely increase in demand for support when term resumes.”
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