Schools go a case of a Back – but not 100% return
NOT all pupils will return to school today for the first day of the summer term in Wales.
All pupils can return full time from today for faceto-face teaching for the first time since before Christmas under lockdown easing announced by the Welsh Government before the end of the Easter term. But not all will be, councils have confirmed.
Some schools are staggering return dates, others are using today as an inset day for staff, and a number of pupils are self-isolating after a small number of new Covid cases were confirmed in the last week of the holidays.
Covid cases related to schools are still tracked and reported through school holidays.
The highest number of confirmed Covid cases among pupils and staff in the six days to April 8 were in Cardiff with 22.
Swansea Council said it “expected” pupils to be back today but was allowing schools to decide.
Twelve cases of Covid have been confirmed among staff and pupils in the city in the six days to April 8, according to PHW figures.
A Swansea Council spokesman said: “Schools and settings best understand the needs of their learners and those of the communities they serve and will know from firsthand experience that some learners may need longer to settle back into school than others.
“To help manage this, some schools and settings may wish to use the first day of term to stagger the return of learners back into the classroom.
“However, we would expect that all learners should return to their schools and settings on the first day of term if at all possible.”
Swansea Council’s director of education, Helen Morgan-rees, said: “The council has been working with schools to prepare for a safe return of all pupils to class next week in line with Welsh
Government guidance.
“Each school will have contacted families directly to let them know the arrangements that apply to them.
“Every school has been risk-assessed to ensure they are as safe as they possibly can be and a range of measures are in place including increased cleaning, ventilation and social distancing.
“All pupils in secondary schools will be required to wear a mask in school if they are unable to keep the required distance from others and masks must be three-layered.
“Pupils have been provided with three good quality masks that can be washed up to 50 times.”
Carmarthenshire Council said just two pupils – one secondary and one primary – and one member of staff have had to self-isolate since April 1.
Newport Council said all its schools would reopen to all pupils as planned today except years three, four and five at St Andrew’s Primary, because of ongoing building maintenance unrelated
to Covid.
Year six pupils have already been moved to Lliswerry High, while years three to five will be using the Newport Live Connect Centre temporarily from April 19, the council said.
Blaenau Gwent Council said all its schools would be reopening as planned today and no pupils were self-isolating as of April 9.
Wrexham Council confirmed some of its pupils would be self-isolating, and won’t be able to return to face-to-face learning for the start of term. Public Health Wales data shows five cases of coronavirus confirmed among pupils and staff in Wrexham in the week to April 8.
Wrexham Council said: “It is reasonable to expect that there will be a small number of staff and pupils who will be self-isolating and will not return to school on Monday.
“However, all schools will reopen in line with national guidance and we encourage all parents, pupils and carers to stick to the guidelines in order
to minimise any further disruption to education during the summer term.”
Pembrokeshire Council said pupils there would return tomorrow, with today being used as an inset day for planning.
“Schools are looking forward to all learners returning. We are confident that schools, through their risk assessments, are taking every precaution to
mitigate the risks related to Covid-19,” a spokesman added.
Fewer than five Covid cases have been confirmed at Ysgol Dyffryn in Conwy and Ysgol Maes Owen Primary in Rhyl as of April 8, but no pupils are self-isolating as a result, Conwy Council said.
Latest Public statistics from Health Wales
released on April 8 show Covid cases among pupils and staff fell during the second week of the holidays, which was expected.
In the six days to April 8, the last week of the twoweek Easter break, a total of 63 coronavirus cases were reported in schools, but it was not confirmed how many were pupils or staff.
Forty of the 63 cases were in primary schools, 20 secondaries and three in “other”, which includes special schools and pupil referral units.
In the week before that, the first week of the holidays, a total 193 cases were confirmed. Of those 132 were in primaries, 58 secondary and three in “other”.
This compares with the last week of term when 253 coronavirus cases were reported – 173 in primaries, 130 in secondaries and 34 in “other”.
The youngest primary pupils aged three to seven returned to classrooms on February 22, while exam years returned on March 15 as well as some other years for catch-up sessions. Cases linked to schools don’t mean Covid transmission took place there.
Releasing the data, Public Health Wales stressed cases reported by schools did not mean infection took place there.
“Location of employment is used to identify school associated cases in this analysis, so there may be instances particularly outside of term time where cases are listed as being employed or enrolled at a school but they may not have attended the school during their infectious period.
“Therefore, recent trends should be interpreted with caution.”
It said the figures were also subject to changes as data quality and methods improved.
“The presence of cases linked to a school or educational institution does not necessarily imply that transmission occurred in that setting. Local intelligence is required to determine whether transmission is likely to have occurred within such institutions.”