Update tomorrow on schools return

An update on the next stage of the phased return of schools is expected to be given by the first minister in parliament tomorrow.

Pupils in Primary 1-3 returned last Monday, as well as children in nursery and secondary school pupils who need to attend for practical coursework.

However the next phase of the reopening is expected to begin from March 15, with the rest of the primary school years, 4-7 returning.

This phase is also expected to involve allowing more senior phase secondary pupils back in the classroom for at least part of their learning.

All going to plan, the final phase of the reopening of schools will take place on April 5, with all secondary pupils returning.

All of these easing will depend on an “assessment that it is safe to proceed”, Sturgeon said last week.

It is expected that the first minister will outline more details on the phases in her update to the Scottish Parliament today.

National clinical director Jason Leitch told BBC Radio Scotland yesterday he was confident the next phase of the reopening would go ahead as planned. He said: “I can’t give you a percentage.

“Some back on the 15th is very, very probable.

“So we’ve already said that the next group back will probably be the rest of primary and some S4 to S6 in addition to the ones that are already back.”

Despite his confidence in getting pupils back into classrooms as planned in the road map, Mr Leitch admitted the full return of secondary schools might be “trickier” given the challenges with social distancing in these settings.

He added: “S1-3 is trickier because that would fill the secondary schools and filling the secondary schools with no distancing is another layer of risk.

“Now we did that before and that will be one of the assessments we make in the modelling and the data we do this week and next.”

The Scottish Conservatives, however, have called for all pupils to return on March 15 – arguing it is “simply not good enough” that pupils have missed nearly four months of classroom learning.

Shadow education secretary Jamie Greene said: “I really don’t see any justification for keeping young people in Scotland out of the classroom a month longer than other parts of the UK where I do think there are sensible plans in place.

“All we are talking about here is a matter of a couple of weeks.

“That doesn’t sound much but that is two weeks of face-to-face teaching and that will make all the difference, especially as we come into the exam period.”

Despite the phased reopening of schools aiming to get all pupils back from April 5, it will not be until the middle of the month until all Tayside and Fife pupils return.

The Easter holidays mean youngsters in Dundee, Angus and Perthshire will return to secondary schools on April 19 and to Fife high schools on April 12.