Are we just days away from mass shutdown of Scotland’s schools?

SCOTTISH schools could shut down within days after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned of ‘blanket’ closures.

Miss Sturgeon yesterday admitted that she could be forced to close classrooms across the country.

She and Education Secretary John Swinney were due to meet last night to discuss the issue, which would see thousands of youngsters forced to stay at home for months.

It was a major U-turn by the First Minister, who only hours earlier had told MSPs she was ‘not proposing a blanket closure of schools’.

Speaking to BBC Reporting Scotland, Miss Sturgeon said: ‘I think it is highly possible that we will see a more blanket approach to school closures in the coming days.’

She said the ‘judgment’ to date was that the ‘downside’ of school closures – including the impact on NHS staff – would ‘outweigh the potential benefits’.

She added: ‘That has been the judgment so far but… that is not fixed.’

It came as alarmed parents across the UK demanded that all schools be closed to help prevent the spread of the virus at a time when members of the public have already been told to keep away from pubs, cinemas and restaurants.

Italy, France and Germany have all shut their schools.

In Scotland, pupils who fall ill with symptoms of Covid-19 have been told to stay at home.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Catherine Calderwood said this week that if all schools were to shut it would need to be for a minimum of three months in order to ‘really suppress the spread of the virus in these types of institutions’.

Such a move would cause childcare problems for frontline NHS staff involved in tackling the pandemic.

Mr Swinney admitted pupils could face months of uncertainty amid fears that their exams could be postponed or cancelled.

He said he has three options for the upcoming National 5 and Higher diet – two of which would see youngsters unable to sit their exams.

Under present plans, officials are set to go ahead with the exam period which begins on April 27.

However, the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) has started to look at contingency plans if cancellations are necessary.

During a lengthy question and answer session at the Scottish parliament, Mr Swinney said he had spoken to the SQA and tasked officials with providing options should schools be compelled to close.

He said they hoped to ‘proceed’ as planned, but Mr Swinney warned exams could be delayed or cancelled.

Outlining his three options, he said the exam diet could proceed or be delayed until later this year.

In the third case, the SQA could ‘undertake some form of accreditation of learning’, to include course work, prelim results and estimations based on teacher judgment.

Some individual schools have already closed because pupils or staff have tested positive for Covid-19.

Universities have already ceased face-to-face teaching.

Meanwhile, Highland Council has had to apologise after a headteacher told parents the school would only open to pupils whose parents worked in frontline services.

Gordon Stewart, head of Charleston Academy in Inverness, issued the notice on the school’s website yesterday. But Highland Council said it ‘did not follow guidance issued to all head teachers’. The school is closing to all S1 to S3 pupils because staffmembers are having to self-isolate.

‘Three options for exams’