Fife schools aim to open full time to all pupils in August

Fife pupils could make a “full time” return to schools in August with no physical distancing.

Education Secretary John Swinney announced this afternoon that the Scottish Government is now working towards all pupils being back in all schools full time following the summer break.

The decision to move away from a “blended learning” approach comes after Scotland has made “significant progress” in driving down cases of Covid-19, however he stressed that the full time return depends on the continued progress in bringing down new cases.

And Fife Council’s education bosses have said they will continue working to get the best possible learning experiences for the Kingdom’s children and young people.

Carrie Lindsay, executive director of education and children’s services, said: “Following John Swinney's announcement this afternoon we will be continuing to work hard to get the best possible learning experiences up and running for all of our children and young people within the advice and guidance available.

“We will be looking at the implications for our staff, pupils and parents as we work towards all children and young people returning to school in August.

"The safety and wellbeing of our children, young people and staff will continue to drive our planning.

“We'll share information on revised plans as soon as we have further guidance and are able to outline how it will work in Fife."

Along with other local authorities, Fife Council had come up with a plan for pupils with a mix of learning in classrooms and at home for when they return after the summer break.

In the local model, primary school pupils would have been in class two days a week – either Monday and Tuesday, or Thursday and Friday – with the schools being cleaned thoroughly on a Wednesday, and two metre physical distancing would have to be maintained.

While secondary pupils would return in a phased approach up to a point where just 50 per cent of students would be in the school at any one time.

The council had been waiting on final guidance for nursery and early years settings from the Scottish Government.

However, work will now take place in Fife's schools and those across Scotland with a view to all pupils returning on August 11.

Making the announcement Mr Swinney said the aim is to have all pupils back as normal, however blended learning would be there as a contingency plan.

He said: “We have seen Scotland make significant progress.

"There are now only 2000 infectious people in Scotland - a reduction of around 90 per cent since May. There has been a sustained downward trend in Covid-19 deaths. Intensive care cases now stand at a fraction of what they were.

"If we stay on this trajectory, which cannot be taken for granted, by August the position will be even better. That is the good news. That means we are now able to update our planning assumptions.

"If we stay on track, if we all continue to do what is right and if we can further suppress this terrible virus, the Government believes that we should prepare children to be able to return to school full-time in August.

"I must stress that this is the aim that the Government is now working towards."

But he insisted this remains "conditional" on ongoing scientific and health advice.