Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

2m social distancing to be dropped in Scottish secondary schools as they return after Easter holidays

secondary schools
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at today's daily coronavirus briefing

Pupils at Scottish secondary schools will not have to adhere to 2m social distancing when they return after Easter, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed.

The vast majority of school children will now receive full-time face-to-face learning when schools return.

However, shielding pupils will remain working from home until April 26.

Ms Sturgeon made this announcement at a televised briefing today.

She said that the “main priority” when exiting lockdown was getting young people back to school.

Shielding pupils to stay at home till the end of the month

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at today’s daily coronavirus briefing

She added: “I can confirm that having assessed the data with the input of our clinical advisors that when the Easter holidays end, virtually all pupils will return to school full-time at secondary schools and will go back to in-person learning.

“The one exception to this is children who are on the shielding list. We are continuing to recommend that they stay at home until the 26th of April, and that’s in line with advice already received from the chief medical officer.

“All other pupils will return to school once the new term starts. This I know will be a huge relief to many children and young people and of course to many parents and carers, and as I said a moment ago, by the end of April, we want to see children on the shielding list also get back to school in person as well.

“I know though the return to school, particularly for older pupils will cause concern and anxiety to pupils to parents and of course to teachers and others who work in schools.

“So let me give an assurance that we will continue to give paramount consideration to safety.”

Safety in schools

schools
Pupils will be returning to secondary schools full-time

Ms Sturgeon confirmed that they were removing 2m social distancing in schools, with other safety improvements being looked at.

£45m of funding has been handed out to local authorities to help with this, with ventilation one of the main issues being looked at and improving the airflow around school buildings.

Twice weekly lateral flow testing is also available to staff and pupils, with the First Minister urging people to take advantage of this.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Through these improvements, we will do everything possible to make sure the return to school is safe

“In addition, more teachers and parents will also be receiving the vaccine.

Covid testing in action.

Detailed guidance for schools was published a fortnight ago, and I know that staff have been working hard since then to prepare for this return.

“For now, let me thank everyone who is working to make this return to school possible.

“For many teachers and school staff, I know this has been the hardest year of your professional lives, and I am very grateful for the way in which you have adapted to such difficult circumstances and I’m also very grateful to parents and carers and to young people themselves.

“The way everybody has responded to the challenges of homeschooling and remote learning has been exceptional and I want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone.”

Ms Sturgeon also confirmed that the first batch of the Moderna vaccine had landed in Scotland, with more than 1m doses coming to Scotland in total.

Moderna

This means that three vaccines will be utilised in the country, Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Moderna.