The whole letter from the Minister to headteachers
Dear Headteacher,
Public health advice for schools and settings:
I hope you, your staff and learners have had a relaxing break over Easter and are enjoying the return to school for the Summer Term. I am writing to draw your attention to some impending changes in relation to the coronavirus public health advice provided for schools and settings.
You will I hope be aware of Together for a Safer Future, which sets out the long-term transition from pandemic to endemic in Wales. The plan explains how we will move away from an emergency phase to a more sustainable set of arrangements that can serve us over the longer term.
However, as recognised within the plan, Covid-19 has not gone away and will remain with us globally. For this reason, it remains important for schools and settings to consider what they can do to reduce the spread of the virus, and protect their learners and staff, including any additional protections for those who are more vulnerable, including the immunosuppressed or those who live with someone who is vulnerable.
By continuing to implement public health control measures, local authorities, schools and settings will help keep the spread of the virus low, improve public and staff confidence and minimise the potential of further disruption.
With increasing numbers of people vaccinated and everyone’s continued efforts, coronavirus specific legal requirements no longer apply. The risks from coronavirus should now be considered in the same context as other communicable diseases risks (for example flu and norovirus).
With this in mind, we have been consulting with key stakeholders and delivery partners on revised public health advice for schools and settings in line with the context of Wales being at Alert Level 0 and the advice provided for organisations in Wales through the Public Health Guidance For Employers, Businesses And Organisations: Coronavirus.
This ‘Public Health Advice For Schools And Settings’ will supplement the ‘Public Health Guidance For Employers, Businesses And Organisations: Coronavirus’, which advises how organisations can mitigate public health risks through various familiar public health control measures. I hope to be in a position to publish and share this guidance with you by the end of this week with a view to it replacing the local Covid-19 infection control decision framework for schools from 9 May 2022 onwards.
The key principle, however, will continue to be on a robust assessment of risks and commiserate mitigation measures in tune with local circumstances and needs, whilst considering the balance of harms of any measures. Special Schools should continue to refer to and use the Advice For Schools And Settings To Support Children And Young People With Higher Clinical Risk And Clinically Extremely Vulnerable Adults. Attendance: While Fixed Penalty Notices have been available to local authorities during the pandemic, we have generally recommended against their use. We are now at stage where we can revert back to the previous policy, where they can be used as a last resort.
We remain clear that fines are to be used in only the most extreme cases, as part of a range of options and when all efforts of family engagement have failed and it is evident that there are no underlying reasons that are impacting upon attendance at school.
Effective immediately, we are advising local authorities to revert to guidance on the use of FPNS, contained within the 2013 Guidance On Penalty Notices For Regular Non-attendance At School.
Thank you
Finally, as we move forward through this new term, I would like to once again thank you and your teams for your continued efforts to maximise learning and minimise disruption during these difficult, but hopefully improving, times.