Schools out for summer?

A senior Powys County Councillor has said that schools may not reopen before September, and even then they may not be at full capacity due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.

Councillor Pete Roberts is Chairman of the Learning and Skills Scrutiny Committee said that he doubts we will see any change “for at least the next six weeks if not the entirety of this term”.

Schools closed two months ago across the UK, but there have been signs that they may reopen early June. Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford told Montgomeryshire journalists that there could be the possibility of early June if deemed safe to do so, with Year 1 and 6 starting first, and this week Prime Minister Boris Johnson also revealed the same timeline in his first steps out of lockdown.

But there have been conflicting cross-border messages since, and Cllr Roberts gave a clearer indication of what local education chiefs could be thinking at this week’s e-meeting of his committee.

Currently Powys County Council is running 14 emergency childcare hubs, including Maesydre.

To prepare for an extended period of online learning, PCC has already adapted the Welsh Government continuity of learning plan and produced its own document for schools, ‘Powys Distance Learning Plan’ which provides schools with guidance.

Adding to Cllr Roberts’ comments, interim chief education officer, Lynette Lovell said: “The continuity of learning plan is going to be on our radar for some time. Even in September I don’t think everyone will be back in schools.”

She added that this was the department’s “key focus” at the moment and added: “It is likely and we have to think about the hubs continuing throughout the summer holiday period.

“We have a group of officers and headteacher meeting to look at the plan towards recovery.”

She added that it was expected to see numbers of children using the emergency childcare hubs rise and explained this is partly due to the work being done to make sure vulnerable children are accessing the hubs, and as more people go back to work, they will need to access childcare. She also told the members that she was not expecting parents to “be teachers”.

Ms Lovell, said: “Some parents feel that the work provided by school has been too much and others that it’s too little. Our main priority at this time is about people being safe and well.”

Education portfolio holder, Cllr Phyl Davies, added: “In an unprecedented time, we should be proud of the work we’ve done and we are ahead of some counties by a big margin on this.”

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter, and MyWelshpool reporter