Just hours after Powys County Council stunned parents by saying schools would reopen next Monday instead of this Wednesday, the Welsh Minister for Education has announced an even later date.
Education Minister Kirsty Williams said the decision to now reopen on January 18 instead had been taken jointly with the Welsh Local Government Association and Colegau Cymru.
But it will embarrass Powys County Council education chiefs who had earlier announced their own different decision, showing that there is clearly no communication between local and national government.
Ms Williams announced this evening: “As a government we will use the next two weeks to continue to work with local authorities, schools and colleges to best plan for the rest of term.
“This is the best way to ensure that parents, staff and learners can be confident in the return to face to face learning, based on the latest evidence and information.”
She said that schools and colleges would remain open for children of critical workers and vulnerable learners, as well as for learners who needed to complete essential exams or assessments. All childcare settings can remain open.
The announcement comes as the UK's Joint Biosecurity Centre increased the Covid threat level to five - its highest level.
Level five warns of a “material risk of healthcare services being overwhelmed”, according to the UK government's website.
Wales has been under "stay-at-home" lockdown restrictions since December 20 after a rise in Covid-19 cases, with more than 31,000 cases in the two weeks over the Christmas period.
The Welshpool area still enjoys relatively low numbers of positive cases, but other areas have shown this can change overnight.