Bag ban as city pupils return to class
Primary school pupils in Edinburgh are set to return in phases next week, with children told to eat their lunches outdoors, while face-to-face learning, hugging and high fives are all prohibited – and some even banned from bringing their bags to school.
The City of Edinburgh Council released its guidance for the long-awaited reopening of local schools, including advice on PPE, physical distancing and workforce planning.
Primary school pupils will return in phases between Wednesday 12 August and Friday 14 August, with no one- or two-metre social distancing rules in place.
Those with surnames beginning A-L will return on the Wednesday, stay at home on Thursday and then come back to school full time from Friday. Surnames starting M-Z will return full-time from next Thursday, a day later than the first intake.
Secondary pupils will be notified today of their precise starting date next week, with different year groups beginning on different days.
By Monday 17 August , all secondary pupils will be back full-time.
The council estimates that extra coronavirus-related costs for reopening schools will amount to £14.5 million, around £5m less than originally anticipated.
Tory councillor Callum Laidlaw, the party’s education spokesman, said: “It is disappointing that the council left it until the week prior to school returning to let parents know that, contrary to the announcement by Nicola Sturgeon, pupils will not be returning in full on 11 August.”