The latest a decision can be made on a full return of Scottish schools is 30 July, education secretary John Swinney has said.

That will be 12 days before the start of the school year, which is now 11 August across the whole of Scotland, although in some places pupils may return later that week.

In an interview with Radio Clyde and Radio Forth broadcast today, following his announcement on Tuesday about a full return of schools in August, Mr Swinney was asked when a final decision would be made on whether pupils will return full-time or with the “blended learning” model designed to combine education in the classroom and at home.

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Mr Swinney said the regular three-weekly coronavirus lockdown review, due to take place on 30 July, will be the last chance to make the decision on a full return. He had told the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday that he hopes to have children back in classrooms without the need for social distancing during August, if Covid-19 continues to be suppressed.

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He said in the radio interview: “There are two review points during the month of July, one on 9 July where the first minister will come to Parliament to make a statement on the next steps in relation to moving ahead, and then there will be a further review point on 30 July.

“I think, in all likelihood, and I’ll discuss this with the Education Recovery Group, I don’t think we could resume full-time schooling if we didn’t have a green light by 30 July.”

On 14 June, Mr Swinney told the BBC that sending children to school would be a legal requirement under the blended learning model. In the new Radio Clyde and Radio Forth interview, he was asked if parents should be punished if they did not want their children in school.

He said: “I don’t think they should be (punished). In the circumstances that we’re in, we’ve got to understand and reassure parents and if we can’t quite reassure them and give them the confidence that its safe for their children to return to school, I think we’ve got to work sympathetically with them through those issues.”

The education secretary, who is also deputy first minister, said he would understand why a parent might make the decision not to send their child to school, adding it is not “a moment for us to have friction and conflict with parents”.

Mr Swinney, whose wife is in the shielding category, said he would send his son to his primary school in August, unless clinical advice recommends otherwise.

On the possibility of scrapping next year’s Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) exams, Mr Swinney said: “It’s not something that I’ve looked at.”