Welsh secondary schools to go online from Monday as ‘public health situation deteriorates’

Decision comes after English schools told they can take an inset day so staff have ‘proper break’ from identifying potential cases

Almost half of all Welsh schools have registered zero cases of the virus since they opened in September (David Jones/PA)

Welsh secondary schools and colleges will move to online learning next week in a “national effort to reduce transmission of coronavirus,” the country’s education minister has said.

Kirsty Williams said the decision came after advice from the Welsh chief medical officer (CMO) that the country’s public health situation was “deteriorating”.

Although almost half of all Welsh schools have registered zero cases of the virus since they opened in September, Ms Williams said it was now recognised that schools can contribute to wider social mixing outside the education environment.

“Every day, we are seeing more and more people admitted to hospital with coronavirus symptoms,” she said on Thursday.

"The virus is putting our health service under significant and sustained pressure and it is important we all make a contribution to reduce its transmission.

"In his advice to me today, the CMO recommends that a move to online learning should be implemented for secondary school pupils as soon as is practicable."

The decision comes after schools in England were told they can take an inset day on the last Friday of term so staff have a "proper break" from identifying potential Covid-19 cases ahead of Christmas.

Ms Williams said primary schools would be encouraged to stay open as "it is more difficult for primary and special school age children to undertake self-directed learning".

She added: "Having spoken to local education leaders, I am confident that schools and colleges have online learning provision in place.

"This will also be important in ensuring that students are at home during this time, learning and staying safe.

"Critically, and this is very important, children should be at home.

"This is not an early Christmas holiday, please do everything you can to minimise your contact with others."

The latest Test Trace Protect data in Wales shows rates of Covid-19 have exceeded 370 people out of 100,000 of the population, with a test positivity of 17 per cent.

The R value in Wales has increased to 1.27 with a doubling time of just 11.7 days.

Additional reporting by Press Association