RAFT OF SCHOOLS ACROSS NORTH WALES RETURN TO HOME LEARNING

HALF of North Wales’ six councils have announced a return to home learning as concerns grow about the spread of the Omicron variant.

Denbighshire and Wrexham are the latest local authorities to send the majority of pupils home early.

So far three counties said they will close schools early to the majority of pupils for Christmas.

Anglesey Council was the first to confirm that they would be bringing back home schooling and ending face-to-face learning for pupils from next week.

Gwynedd said it had “no plans” to do so on Friday and Flintshire and Conwy have yet to confirm their plans.

Denbighshire County Council has said face-to-face learning will end on Friday and pupils will be taught remotely until the last day of term on Tuesday.

The decision was made to “give parents as much notice as possible” and to “protect pupils and staff”, a spokesperson said.

Cllr Huw Hilditch Roberts, the Council’s Lead Member for Education, Children’s Services and Public Engagement said: “With the emergence of the Omicron variant, rising case numbers across the UK and the change in alert level, we are doing everything we can to protect pupils and school staff.”

“Online learning will continue on Monday and Tuesday up to the end of term.

“I would like to once again thank all of our teachers for their continued dedication during this difficult time, pupils for their support for helping control the virus at school sites and parents for taking their children for tests when requested by Test, Trace and Protect.

“Despite the difficulties in continuing education during the pandemic, everyone involved has given their all to ensure our children get the very best education possible.”

Similarly Wrexham will move to online learning for Monday to Wednesday, the last three days of the term.