First Minister Announcement - Friday 29th January 2021
The Welsh First Minister has announced in a press conference today, that schools may re-open for some pupils following the half term break.
The briefing stated that,
1. Schools will continue to be open to vulnerable children and the children of critical workers up until the half-term. All other learners will continue to access remote learning during this period.
2. The youngest pupils in Wales could possibly begin returning to school after the February half-term if rates of coronavirus continue to fall.
3. If the transmission of Covid continues to decline, pupils will start returning to school in a phased way from 22nd February, beginning with our youngest learners.
4. Ministers and Welsh Government officials will continue to engage with Local Authorities, Trade Unions and representative groups to plan for the return of learners to school.
5. Welsh Government is committed to ensuring that schools, parents and carers have plenty of time to plan for change and it is hoped that Councils and schools across Wales will receive timely notifications so that we are able to strategically plan for key changes.
We are obviously all keen to see pupils return to full time, face to face teaching at the earliest opportunity and will be eagerly waiting for confirmation for when this will take place. When further information is provided, we will share with you as soon as possible. In the meantime, home learning for those not in the hub will continue.
On that note, there does seem to have been a drop off in the numbers of pupils uploading home learning tasks. Being a parent and having to support home learning myself, I appreciate how difficult it can be juggling all of the demands of work, home learning and other daily chores, but would ask that where possible, the high levels of support previously given, be maintained for the next two weeks. We are nearly at the half term break and it would be a shame if things tailed away.
However, as I said, I fully appreciate the stresses and strains that home learning puts on you and your children. If you or your children are having a bad day and in need of respite, take the pressure off with a well-being break and return to home learning the next day.
Hopefully we won’t have to operate in this way for much longer, stay safe everyone.