Schools partial reopening - update
Posted on Friday 19th June 2020
On June 3, 2020, the Minister for Education announced that schools in Wales would partially reopen on a ‘check in, catch up and prepare’ basis. The original announcement stipulated that this would be for a period of four weeks from 29 June.
Much work has been done with head teachers and governing bodies to put plans in place to meet the needs of the students, while ensuring the ongoing health and wellbeing of both students and staff.
Local authorities are responsible for setting terms dates and we do not propose to ask teaching and other school staff to ‘volunteer’ during this week. Therefore Newport schools will close to pupils, for the summer holidays on 17th July.
There is no contractual obligation on staff to work the extra week and this effectively puts the onus on head teachers and individual staff members which would, in our opinion, be unfair and potentially divisive at a time when schools face more than enough challenges.
There is no guarantee that all schools will be in a position to adequately staff provision in the fourth week on a voluntary basis. Clarity is required for schools, parents and young people in order to approach the next weeks with confidence and for parents to have the opportunity to make alternative childcare arrangements as required in the fourth week. This is not something that can be left to the last minute.