Parents will learn today whether schools will reopen fully at the start of next month.
Ministers are to decide at a cabinet meeting whether pupils can return on February 1, ahead of an announcement on lockdown restrictions in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon.
However, the First Minister has already said she does not want to raise parents’ expectations that their children would be back in class after next week.
Most children are learning at home until at least the end of January, with only key workers’ children and vulnerable children currently permitted to attend school.
‘Not going to raise expectations’
Nicola Sturgeon has indicated her Covid-19 update today will concern the duration of restrictions rather than the imposition of any new ones.
At her daily briefing yesterday, she said: “We are seeing some positive signs from the numbers that lockdown is starting to stabilise things and hopefully starting to tip them into decline but transmission is still higher than we would want it to be.
“I’m not going to raise expectations about schools being back on February 1 but nor am I going to stand here and make assumptions about a decision we’re not going to take until tomorrow.”
Education secretary John Swinney has already stated it will be a “tall order” for pupils to return to school on February 1.
