Schools and nurseries to reopen next week

Educational establishments closed in late January, after a number of Covid cases were linked with schools.

But yesterday a phased return was announced.

Younger students can return to schools on Monday, including Years 7 to 9. Year 10 and upwards will return a day after that.

Nurseries, pre-schools and the College of Further Education will also be able to reopen next week, and childminders will be able to resume working with the families that they usually support.

This is all contingent on maintaining low case numbers and implementing safety measures, such as testing for education staff and some pupils.

The decision was taken following discussions by the Civil Contingencies Authority, Education, Sport & Culture and Public Health Services.

It is hoped the re-opening of schools might be able align with the island moving to stage two of the exit from lockdown,

however no decision has been made yet.

The CCA is meeting today to discuss stage two.

To allow children to return safely to school, there will be classroom bubbles for those in Year 9 and under. Older students will have year-group bubbles.

Older students and staff should wear face coverings and there should be one-metre social distancing, where possible.

There will be staggered start and finish times and establishments will be regularly cleaned.

There will be limited school transport to minimise contact between students.

Education president Andrea Dudley-Owen said she understood that this had been a challenging period for parents.

‘The safety of children and staff remains paramount, but Education is confident that the suite of measures in place will enable sites to open to all students,’ she

said.

‘Director of Public Health Dr Nicola Brink said that while nothing is ever entirely risk-free, Public Health believes that with the right mitigations in place, education settings can open safely.’

CCA chairman Peter Ferbrache said they were keen for students to attend, but he doubted authorities would come down on parents ‘with an iron fist’ if parents wanted to keep their children at home for now.

Continued surveillance testing of the workforce will be carried out, along with a programme of ongoing screening for groups of students in older year groups once schools re-open.

Optional learning activities will be provided for children by their schools for Thursday and Friday, as staff focus on preparing for a return to classroom teaching next week.

Vulnerable children and children of essential workers will be supervised in school on Thursday and Friday.