Scottish schools will not close early for Christmas, first minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed this afternoon (Tuesday 14 December).
Instead, for the last few days of the term, current Covid measures will be relied upon to deal with the Omicron variant in schools, although new safety advice for schools in the new year will be released at the end of this week, Henry Hepburn reports.
“A key aim is to ensure that schools stay open if at all possible, to minimise further disruption to education,” Ms Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament in a Covid announcement this afternoon.
The first minister also said that “we are not recommending that entire school classes are required to isolate when a pupil tests positive” and that advice on school isolation would “continue to be risk-based”.
She said it was “vital that schools are safe for pupils and staff”, adding: “To help achieve this, we continue to ask secondary school pupils and all staff to take lateral flow tests regularly including during holidays and before returning after the break and to wear face coverings.”
Ms Sturgeon added that the government’s advisory subgroup on education is meeting today to consider “how
schools can operate safely in the new year” and how that will lead to new advice being sent to schools by the end of the week. She later indicated that this was likely to include “further advice on ventilation”.
In the debate that followed her statement today, the first minister was asked what advice she would give to parents who are considering keeping their children off school in the run-up to Christmas.
Ms Sturgeon replied: “I would encourage parents to continue to send their children to school.”
She said she understood “the anxiety parents will have at this time” and said it was “important that Test and Protect, with local health-protection teams, work on a risk-based and targeted way to ensure that, where there are cases identified, the right approach has been taken to advise for self-isolation”.
The first minister also pointed to “other mitigations in place in schools, particularly in secondary schools, around face coverings and the requirements to take lateral flow tests regularly”.
She added: “I know these mitigations have been controversial in the past, but they are really important.”
