Covid in Scotland: Youngest pupils to return to classrooms

The youngest pupils are to return to Scotland's classrooms for face-to-face teaching from next week.

The move will see all children in P1 to P3 and those at pre-school returning from Monday 22 February.

Other age groups will continue to learn from home, apart from some secondary pupils who need to complete coursework.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was unlikely that any other pupils would return to school before 15 March at the earliest.

All other existing lockdown measures will all remain in place until at least the end of this month, with Ms Sturgeon warning that the country remains in a precarious position.

The Scottish government will draw up a "revised strategic framework" - to be published next week - to set out how Scotland can exit lockdown and what conditions will need to be met before restrictions can be eased.

Ms Sturgeon said it was unlikely that hotels and holiday accommodation would be open again in time for people to book any sort of Easter break, but "staycations" may be possible by summer.

In an update at Holyrood, Ms Sturgeon said she had "more reason to be hopeful now than we did a few weeks ago" that the race against the virus could be won, with the vaccination programme picking up pace while lockdown contains the spread of new cases.

She said she was "very hopeful that vaccination will start to have a significant impact in reducing the number of people who die from Covid", saying there was already evidence of this in care homes.

However, the first minister warned that "our situation is still very fragile", saying: "Even a slight easing of restrictions could cause cases to start rising rapidly again".

While she said it would continue to be "extremely cautious", the government is focused on a "gradual, phased return to as much normality as possible".

This is to begin with schools, with the youngest pupils to return to classrooms as soon as next week.

But Ms Sturgeon said there would be trade-offs, adding: "We are choosing to use the very limited headroom we have right now to get at least some children back to school - because children's education and wellbeing is such a priority.

"But being able to get children back to education may mean the rest of us living with some other restrictions for longer."

The first pupils to return to schools will be those in preschools, those in P1, P2 and P3, and "a limited number of senior phase students who need access to school for essential practical work".

Ministers hope to set out second phase of schools reopening in two weeks time, but Ms Sturgeon said there was "unlikely to be any further return to school before 15 March" so that the impact of the initial changes can be assessed.

She said at-home testing sets would be provided to senior phase pupils, teachers and school staff once they do return, and that secondary pupils would have to maintain a 2m distance in school buildings.

Plans for the "gradual" easing of the strict stay at home lockdown are set to include a return to a regional levels system.

Ms Sturgeon said that "caution will be necessary", and that she would be clear about what will not be possible in the immediate future - including holidays.

She said: "We are likely to advise against booking Easter holidays, either overseas or within Scotland, as it is highly unlikely that we will have been able to fully open hotels of self-catering accommodation by then.

"However, for the summer, while it is still highly unlikely that overseas holidays will be possible or advisable, staycations might be - but this will depend on the data nearer the time."