Covid restrictions in schools in Wales are being lifted. Schools will no longer have to follow the Welsh Government Covid framework, which required them to ratchet restrictions such as contact bubbles and masks up or down depending on local infection rates.
The Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles, said Covid measures for schools in Wales will be brought into line with guidance for businesses and other organisations. A new "checklist" for schools to follow will be published shortly, a Welsh Government spokesperson said.
The Welsh Government wrote to schools in Wales this morning to tell them of the changes. Some schools are still asking pupils to wear masks in communal areas and some said at the start of this term that they will continue with contact bubbles for some years until the end of this term.
Read more: Parents to be fined again if children don't go to school in Wales
In practice many schools have ditched most restrictions already and asymptomatic testing for staff and high school children stopped at the end of last term. But absence is still a problem with Covid causing disruption with so many staff and pupils still off for illnesses including Covid.
Since September last year, schools have applied measures to stop the spread of Coronavirus according to local circumstances, based on the Local Covid-19 infection control decision framework for schools. From May 9 schools will no longer be advised to use the framework. Instead headteachers will use the new “checklist” .
The Education Minister said the change is in line with the Welsh Government’s long-term Covid-19 transition from pandemic to endemic. The risk from coronavirus is now considered in the same context as other communicable diseases, such as flu.
First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced that the remaining coronavirus restrictions will be removed from May 9, if the public health situation remained stable. The changes to the guidance for schools will also come into effect from May 9.
Schools and other education settings will continue to be advised to work with local authorities and public health advisors to ensure that measures remain appropriate and proportionate and reflect local risks and circumstances, Mr Miles said.
The new checklist will support schools and other education settings in considering which control measures remain proportionate, the Minister said. Special schools will continue to follow the advice for children and young people with higher clinical risk and clinically extremely vulnerable adults.
Speaking at the Welsh Government’s weekly press briefing, Jeremy Miles said: “In line with the wider public health guidance published at the last three-week review, we have today written to headteachers to signpost the impending changes to our advice for schools, which reflect the move from pandemic to endemic. This will ensure school guidance is more closely aligned with the rest of society.
“We all know that Covid-19 has not gone way. It remains vitally important we reduce the spread of the virus where we can – this includes, for example, following self-isolation guidance, and for education settings to continue to undertake robust risk assessments.”
The whole letter from the Minister to headteachers
Dear Headteacher
Public health advice for schools and settings
I hope you, your staff and learners have had a relaxing break over Easter and are enjoying the return to school for the Summer Term. I am writing to draw your attention to some impending changes in relation to the coronavirus public health advice provided for schools and settings.
You will I hope be aware of Together for a Safer Future, which sets out the long-term transition from pandemic to endemic in Wales. The plan explains how we will move away from an emergency phase to a more sustainable set of arrangements that can serve us over the longer term.
However, as recognised within the plan, COVID-19 has not gone away and will remain with us globally. For this reason, it remains important for schools and settings to consider what they can do to reduce the spread of the virus, and protect their learners and staff, including any additional protections for those who are more vulnerable, including the immunosuppressed or those who live with someone who is vulnerable.
By continuing to implement public health control measures, Local Authorities, schools and settings will help keep the spread of the virus low, improve public and staff confidence and minimise the potential of further disruption.
With increasing numbers of people vaccinated and everyone’s continued efforts, coronavirus specific legal requirements no longer apply. The risks from coronavirus should now be considered in the same context as other communicable diseasesrisks (for example flu and norovirus).
With this in mind, we have been consulting with key stakeholders and delivery partners on revised public health advice for schools and settings in line with the context of Wales being at Alert Level 0 and the advice provided for organisations in Wales through the Public health guidance for employers, businesses and organisations: coronavirus.
This ‘Public health advice for schools and settings’ will supplement the ‘Public health guidance for employers, businesses and organisations: coronavirus’, which advises how organisations can mitigate public health risks through various familiar public health control measures. I hope to be in a position to publish and share this guidance with you by the end of this week with a view to it replacing the local Covid-19 infection control decision framework for schools from 09 May 2022 onwards.
The key principle however, will continue to be on a robust assessment of risks and commiserate mitigation measures in tune with local circumstances and needs, whilst considering the balance of harms of any measures. Special Schools should continue to refer to and use the Advice for schools and settings to support children and young people with higher clinical risk and clinically extremely vulnerable adults.
Attendance
While Fixed Penalty Notices have been available to Local Authorities during the pandemic, we have generally recommended against their use. We are now at stage where we can revert back to the previous policy, where they can be used as a last resort.
We remain clear that fines are to be used in only the most extreme cases, as part of a range of options and when all efforts of family engagement have failed and it is evident that there are no underlying reasons that are impacting upon attendance at school.
Effective immediately, we are advising Local Authorities to revert to guidance on the use of FPNs, contained within the 2013 guidance on penalty notices for regular non-attendance at school.
Thank you
Finally, as we move forward through this new term, I would like to once again thank you and your teams for your continued efforts to maximise learning and minimise disruption during these difficult, but hopefully improving, times.
Headteachers respond
Eithne Hughes, Director of the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru, said schools have been given too little notice of the changes.
She said: "While the Welsh government’s intended direction of travel on relaxing Covid protection measures has been clear for a few weeks now, school leaders will be dismayed to have received a letter today outlining the changes that will be brought into effect in less than a week's time. There has been no prior warning that these changes would take effect so quickly.
“We hope that the Welsh government will not just take already published guidance for workplace settings and rewrite it for educational settings, as there are very clearly major differences between these environments.
“The Education Minister has meanwhile made a statement, before the new guidance is even ready to be published, which sets an expectation that school leaders will prepare to implement a range of measures. Schools need their own dedicated guidance that also recognises there is a shared responsibility with local authorities, which have a key role to play moving forward. This is glaringly omitted from the letter sent to schools today."
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