‘Safety first’ call from unions

helped us get to this stage.”

Teaching unions say that safety must be at the forefront of school reopening following the announcement of plans to return full-time next month.

EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said it would mean “appropriate mitigations to protect staff and pupils – such as mandatory face coverings, perspex shields, testing of teachers and appropriate physical distancing”.

“Everyone wishes to see schools operate as normal, but this should be demonstrably safe.”

Unison Scottish secretary Mike Kirby said: “This is a significant about- turn which seems to be driven more by politics than by safety.

“The safety of staff and pupils must be paramount and any return to school must be led by the scientific evidence at that time.

Dr Patrick Roach of the NASUWT said: “As more detail emerges, [we] will evaluate and advise members on the steps which should be in place to make schools Covid-19 secure.

“No teacher or pupil should be expected to return to school until it can be demonstrated that it is safe to do so.” advice.

“As this was only announced on Tuesday, we will make further information available on how this impacts on North Lanarkshire schools as soon as we can.”

The council statement said: “We are preparing for pupils to return full-time to school on August 12.

“Clearly, we will be working closely with our schools and partners, including our early years and childcare provision, to establish our plans, which we will communicate as soon as we are in a position to.”

Parents were told: “Our priority is the safety of our pupils and staff.

“We understand that you will have questions; we will make further information available on how this impacts on our schools and facilities in the coming days.”

Deputy first minister Mr Swinney told fellow MSPs that “significant progress” in reducing

Scotland’s coronavirus infection rates, including a “sustained downward trend” in deaths and a large reduction in the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care, has allowed acceleration of the plan to return pupils to fulltime classes.

He told Holyrood that the blended learning plan of parttime schooling was developed in May amid “bleak” projections on the course of the pandemic and with the scientific view that social distancing would be required to re-open classrooms, and said: “It was a contingency plan that was and is necessary.”

Mr Swinney said: “Now, thankfully, the picture looks more positive – if we stay on this trajectory, which cannot be taken for granted, by August the position will be even better.

“If we stay on track, continue to do what is right, and can further suppress this terrible virus, the government believes that we should prepare for children to be able to return to school fulltime in August.

“When we prepared our plans back in May, I frankly could not have imagined that we would be where we are now. It is this more positive outlook that allows the Scottish Government to make this change of planning assumption for schools.

“While it has been critical to suppress the virus, we have been clear that these closures cannot go on for a minute longer than necessary – we want Scotland’s children back in school full-time as soon as possible and as soon as it is safe to do so.”

Mr Swinney stressed that the full- time schooling plan for August “inevitably remains conditional and dependent upon scientific and health advice” and that blended learning arrangements could still be needed in the event of increased infection rates or outbreaks requiring control measures.

He added: “Given the change in our central planning assumption to work towards full- time return to schools in August, the education recovery group will continue to work together over the summer.

“Local authorities will then communicate arrangements for the return to school with families in due course.”