Scotland and Wales to close schools by Friday due to coronavirus

Schools in Wales and Scotland will close by the end of this week, as Boris Johnson hinted that a similar decision on closing schools in England was “imminent”.

The Welsh education minister, Kirsty Williams, said schools were to close by Friday at the latest, and would then be repurposed to provide childcare and supervision for children affected by the coronavirus outbreak, including the children of key workers.

“From next week, schools will have a new purpose. They will help support those most in need, including people involved in the immediate response to the coronavirus outbreak,” Williams said.

“The key areas we are looking at are supporting and safeguarding the vulnerable and ensuring continuity of learning. We are looking in detail at how we can support and safeguard all those who benefit from free school meals and children with additional learning needs.”
The Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said “lives are being disrupted like never before” before announcing schools and nurseries would be closing at the end of the week.

Sturgeon said her government would be focusing on three things as schools closed: supporting vulnerable students, particularly those who rely on free school meals, addressing the issues with exams, and arrangements that provided some kind of support and care for key workers’ children. The Scottish government will set out the details on Thursday.

“In some areas, private daycares and nurseries can play a massive role in helping key workers keep going,” Sturgeon told a press briefing in Edinburgh. “In other areas, councils will use school buildings to reach vulnerable children. We will support any and every plan that helps people make this work.”

The first minister said people should not assume that schools and nurseries would reopen after the Easter break or summer holiday. “We will of course only keep them closed for as long as we absolutely have to. But at this stage, I cannot promise that they will reopen before the summer holidays.”

Sturgeon described closing schools and nurseries as one of the hardest decisions the government had had to make so far during the pandemic.
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Schools policy is devolved to individual national administrations, allowing them to make their own decisions over closures before those in Westminster.

The moves in Scotland and Wales came as headteachers were increasingly being forced to turn away pupils, cancel events and secure essential supplies while preparing for closure.

Hundreds of state schools in England have either closed or partially closed because of severe staff shortages sparked by the government’s new policies on long-term self-isolation, affecting pregnant women and those with conditions that make them vulnerable such as asthma.

Independent schools, including some of the most famous names in English education, have also announced immediate closures. Winchester college announced that all pupils would return home from Wednesday afternoon because of staff shortages.

“The requirement for more stringent self-isolation on both academic and support staff means that we are nearing the point where we will be unable to offer boys the necessary levels of care,” parents were told.

Meanwhile, local authorities and schools were pre-empting the government by drawing up plans to keep skeleton staff in schools to look after the children of key workers such as those in the NHS or frontline services. Some schools are preparing to go further and offer supervision for children whose parents are still required to work, such as those in catering or delivery networks.

Schools in local authorities including Hackney and Rotherham have been contacting parents to ask whether they are employed in key sectors.

Answering questions in the Commons, Johnson told MPs that they “should expect further decisions to be taken imminently on schools”. He has previously promised to resolve issues including looking after the children of key workers and providing food for pupils currently eligible for free school meals.

School leaders have expressed frustration with the lack of advice on staffing and staying open they have received so far from the Department for Education, with heads waiting on hold for more than an hour for their calls to the DfE’s coronavirus hotline to be answered.
Meanwhile, British universities also moved to empty their their campuses of all but essential staff and researchers. Oxford University’s famous Bodleian library shut its doors on Wednesday, while Imperial College and University College London told students that services and facilities would be unavailable, and that they should prepare to move out of accommodation.a

The University of Cambridge said its libraries would close from Wednesday evening and other buildings would shut on Friday, with staff to work from home unless needed for “business-critical” activities.

“We are asking students – both undergraduate and postgraduate – to return home now, if possible. It is especially urgent for international students needing to make travel arrangements to do so as quickly as possible, as many countries are already imposing travel restrictions,” Cambridge’s vice-chancellor, Stephen Toope, said.

Toope said for students unable to leave Cambridge, “college accommodation will be available if needed”.

Previously, universities had cancelled lectures and in-person teaching while otherwise remaining open, but are now taking more aggressive action.