Changes to Covid measures in Wales from September

The Welsh Education Minister Jeremy Miles has written to all headteachers and principals in Wales to provide more clarity on how schools and colleges can continue to operate safely when they return in September.

The Welsh Government says the success of the vaccine programme gives us cause to be optimistic about the future and as restrictions are eased across wider society, so too should educational settings see a similar pattern.

Three main changes are being proposed to bring some normality back to education ahead of the new autumn term.

Face coverings will no longer be routinely recommended in classrooms, and normal session times will remain.

What's more, contact groups will no longer be required for school pupils or full-time learners in colleges. Instead the TTP system will identify close contacts of learners who have tested positive

The Minister said: "By the end of September all adults in Wales will have been offered both vaccinations, providing greater protection for our education workforce. A growing body of evidence also shows that children and young people are more at harm from missing school than from covid.

"Lots of young people I have spoken to have said that they don’t believe the current system is proportionate. They just want to be treated the same as everyone else – and that sounds fair to me."

The Welsh Government will publish 'The Local Covid-19 Infection Control Decision Framework' at the start of the autumn term so that schools have time to embed new systems during the weeks that follow. The framework will enable schools and colleges to tailor some of the interventions to reflect the level of risk identified locally. They will be supported by public health officials and local authorities to ensure measures are appropriate to their circumstances.