Fife parents get date to confirm plans for full-time return to school

Parents will find out at the end of this month if a plan to return full-time to schools gets the green light.

Fife Council is aiming for a return for primary and secondary pupils from August 12, with everyone back at their desks by the 17th.

But it hinges on the Scottish Government confirming conditions are appropriate to signal the end to home schooling which has been in place since lockdown began in March.

Councillors were told that will be given on July 30.

Fife Council has been working on three plans to get pupils back into education.

It was looking at a blended model which envisaged pupils being in school one day per week, building up to 50 per cent.

A second model saw them back half of the time; two days one week, and three the next.

The picture then changed when the Scottish Government announced its intention to re-open schools for a full return.

Primary schools are due to return on August 12 with secondary schools operating a phased return over the next five days.

Pupils won’t socially distant in class but they will have to stay 2metres apart from any adult.

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But getting them to school, via public transport, remains problematic.

Carrie Lindsay, executive director of education, said families will have to consider alternatives if their children use service buses.

She said: “The relaxation of physical distancing will be same on school buses, but the difficulty is with public buses .

“Where young people take a service bus, we think advice is going to have to be not to use them.

“We cannot guarantee they will get on due to limits on passengers. We are encouraging parents to think how they can walk or cycle to school.”

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