Education Minister says “Wales is ready to go back to school” and “together we will keep Wales learning”

Wrexham.com for people living in or visiting the Wrexham area

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Sep 1st, 2020

Today the Education Minister Kirsty Williams was asked a range of questions, some with answers available on a huge Q&A list on the Welsh Government website as she looked ahead to the reopening of schools.

The Minister opened by paying tribute to the work taking place, saying: “This week is a very big week for children, young people, parents and carers and teaching staff right the way across Wales.

“Staff are busy right now working on the final touches to ensure that schools and colleges are safe, secure, welcoming and ready for the return of learners this week.

“Since going into lockdown in March, the education family in Wales has demonstrated its ability to adapt safely and has shown its resilience.

“I’m incredibly proud of how everyone has acted in response to this pandemic, and what has been achieved and I’d like to take this opportunity once again to say a massive thank you.

“From this week, children and young people all over Wales will be able to see more of their friends, have that crucial time with their teachers and progress in their education.

“Wales is ready, ready to go back to school, ready to go back to college and together, we will keep Wales learning.”

The minister said that ‘discussions are ongoing’ about future exam timetables, with no outcome or decisions as of yet.

Matching the advice on the Welsh Government website, the Ms Williams spoke about school uniform policy, adding: “Our expectations are is that where at all possible as much normality should be resumed.

“We would expect children to return to school, in school uniforms. It would be helpful if the majority of those items can be washed on a regular basis rather than the necessity for instance of having them dry cleaned, and also to ensure that people are remain comfortable.

“It’s important to recognise also that despite financial pressures Welsh Government still has assistance available to certain year groups for the cost associated not only with school uniform but other items of school kit as well.

“If parents are interested there is more information available via the Welsh Government website about assistance with the cost of uniform at this time.”

The minister was also asked about behaviour policy, with other parts of the UK policies put to her where they ‘have suggested that students could be suspended for coughing maliciously or making inappropriate jokes’.

She said: “Clearly, as we return to school, behaviour policies will be in place in schools as they are in normal circumstances.

“Schools may have taken the decision to update those behaviour policies but as always in Wales, exclusion from school, whether that be temporary or permanent should always be a last resort.

“We would expect schools as they return for the staggered period for teachers be able to have those conversations with their pupils about their expectations and communicate that to parents again about the conversations we can have at home with our children to ensure that children are doing the right thing when they get back to school, but exclusion should always be a last resort in Welsh education.”

Today we asked about testing policy, and notification periods if there are school based issues.

We pointed to Welsh Government guidance that says pupils and staff should only request a test if they are symptomatic, not if they suspect contact with a potentially positive case. We asked the education why they had that policy when coronavirus appears to be asymptomatic in many cases?

The minister replied: “At this time with community transmission rates as low as they are because of the massive efforts of the Welsh people, it is appropriate that people seek a test when they are showing symptoms, however mild those symptoms may be, testing asymptomatic people isn’t without its challenges in producing false positive and false negative results.

“So that is an issue and when community levels are low, but clearly we keep our testing policy under review, and we’ll amend it if necessary, but even if your symptoms are mild, then please don’t just shrug it off and think maybe you’ll be better tomorrow, any symptoms however mild, please get yourself tested.”

Locally we have seen an issue at the town centre Wetherspoons that saw a Public Health Wales statement advising vigilance from 12 days before the warning itself was issued. We pointed to the Welsh Government guidance that says it is not appropriate for schools to share information on potential Covid-19 cases in a school to wider staff, pupils or parents due to GDPR.

We asked if there are clusters and outbreaks associated with schools how will Welsh Government ensure prompt communication of the issue to the public.

The minister replied: “It is absolutely correct that we respect people’s privacy but where information needs to be shared to ensure public health measures can be taken, then that appropriate information will be shared.

“We will be keeping a very close eye on on the return to school. We have seen unfortunately cases in Scotland and Northern Ireland, although it does seem that those cases have been brought into the school by perhaps community contact.

“I think what’s really important for me to say is, quite understandably, there’s a great deal of focus on children transmitting the disease to adults, but it is really important in the school context that adults maintain that social distancing from one another.

“I can assure you that all necessary information and TTP arrangements will be in place should we see an outbreak at school, or whether we have an outbreak in a community that potentially could have an impact on schools.”

You can view the quite short briefing and Q&A session on the below video:

Join us live at 12:30pm with @wgmin_education on the return to school 🎥 pic.twitter.com/o6VFdqdlLf

— Welsh Government (@WelshGovernment) September 1, 2020