Phased return to school for Northumberland children
31 Dec 2020 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news
Northumberland County Council has published information about return to school in the county from next week, following announcements made by government yesterday.
Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson, announced changes to the planned return to school after the Christmas holiday, following rapidly rising numbers of cases of COVID-19, particularly from the new strain of the virus.
In Northumberland all first and primary schools will return to school next week and for secondary and high school children in exam years (11 and 13) remote learning will be offered.
Children of key workers and vulnerable children in all school years will also be able to return to school from week beginning 4 January.
The current situation for Northumberland schools can be summarised as follows:
Monday 4 January:
- First / primary school children will go back to school (unless already advised teacher training day).
- *Middle school years 5 & 6 will go back to school (unless already advised teacher training day).
- Secondary / high school / post 16 settings: years 11 & 13 only (exam years) – remote learning will be offered.
- Children with an EHCP or any child classed as vulnerable in any year should attend school from 4 January.
- Children of key workers in any year can also attend from this date.
Monday 11 January:
- Secondary / high school / post 16 settings: years 11 & 13 (exam years) will return to school.
- Remote education being provided for all other years 7,8,9,10,12
Monday 18 January:
- *Middle / secondary / high school / post 16 settings: years 7, 8, 9, 10 & 12 will return to school.
- Colleges, including all post 16 settings return.
Parents and carers should also refer to information that you receive directly from their child’s school, and the council is also seeking final clarification from government about middle schools*.
Cath McEvoy-Carr, Executive Director for Adult and Children's Services at Northumberland County Council said: “We will continue to provide strong support to our schools as they put arrangements in place for this phased return to school.
“The health, wellbeing and safety of Northumberland’s students, teaching and support staff remains our priority, and we continue to be guided by government on the best courses of action during each period.”
In areas of the country with very high rates of incidence or transmission of the virus the government has triggered its ‘education contingency framework’, which will see some primary schools not returning in the first week of term, however this is not the case for Northumberland.
You can read more of the Government’s announcement
here.