Moray Council's SNP group hails 'fantastic' news on schools

MORAY Council's SNP administration has paid tribute to education staff after the Scottish Government announcement yesterday of plans to resume full-time education in schools.

Depute First Minister John Swinney announced yesterday that the suppression of the Covid-19 virus was now sufficient to plan for a 100% return to full-time education on August 11.

Blended learning will now be a contingency to be used in the case of an upsurge in infections.

Chair of children and young people’s services Councillor Sonya Warren (SNP, Buckie), said: "The depute first minister’s announcement is fantastic news for children in Moray and their families.

"With the success over the last few weeks in suppressing the Covid-19 virus, the country is in a much better place and is much safer as a result of the efforts of government, health professionals, key workers and the general public.

"By continuing to stick with the rules and advice, the impact has been huge and enabled this very positive decision on how education can be delivered, with a plan for all children to return to full-time education on August 11.

"I pay tribute to the enormous amount of work that has been done by our education teams in all our schools and in council headquarters to work up a plan for blended learning. We can now very much hope that this will not be needed but the work is still vital to ensure that we have a Plan B in the event of an upsurge in infections.

"The return to full-time education will, of course, be contingent upon successfully keeping the virus suppressed and to achieve that and keep moving forwards it is vital that we all do our part by following the rules and advice on hygiene, distancing, mask wearing and if people have symptoms of Covid-19 that they immediately seek medical advice and self-isolate.

"By doing this, we can all help to prevent local outbreaks of the virus and avoid any setbacks."

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