Scotland’s education secretary has said that it is “inconceivable” that the entire pupil population will return to school “in one go”.

John Swinney, who is also the deputy first minister to Nicola Sturgeon, has set out four potential options that the Scottish government is looking at for getting pupils back into school when the lockdown ends.

However, Mr Swinney stressed he was not leaning towards one particular scenario and that a return to school would only take place when it was safe, “and currently that position doesn’t exist”.

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The options Mr Swinney said were on the table included:

• All pupils could return to school but attendance would be “on a staggered basis over the whole school week”.
• Young people going through a transition could be prioritised, such as those going from nursery into primary, or from primary into secondary.
• Students due to sit national qualifications next year could be prioritised.
• The summer holidays could start sooner and end earlier.

Mr Swinney made his comments last night on BBC Scotland’s The Nine news programme.

He said: “I’m not leaning towards any option but I will give you a range of different options. You could bring back all pupils on a staggered basis over the whole school week so every single young person would have some connection to formal education on the resumption of this arrangement. That’s one option.

“Another option would be to perhaps prioritise young people that are going through a transition in their education: from early years into primary education, from primary education into secondary education, young people preparing for national qualifications to sit in the spring of 2021 - there’s another option that could be considered. So there are a range of different permutations that could be undertaken.

“But what I want to make sure is that we have an open dialogue with our partners, and also with parents; the parental communities involved in that dialogue and drawn together to resolve this difficult issue, to make sure that we have the broadest possible consideration of what the options are before we apply those to the public health advice that we have at our disposal.”

This week, the Scottish government intends to reveal more details about possible ways out of the current lockdown.

Asked last night whether schools might go back before the end of the currently scheduled summer holidays - schools in Scotland return in mid to late August each year - Mr Swinney said “they might do”, adding: “There has been a significant disruption to education. Schools would be scheduled to go back in the middle of August, that could perhaps be undertaken earlier.”

Mr Swinney was also questioned about why Scottish state schools - unlike their private counterparts and schools in other countries - were not delivering more live lessons.

He said that teachers were maintaining daily contact with pupils to make sure their learning was being supported, and he praised teachers for the commitment they had shown in difficult circumstances.

Earlier this month Tes Scotland revealed that there were plans afoot for a national timetable of interactive lessons for primary and secondary pupils.