Ad Hoc Committee on the COVID-19 Response OFFICIAL REPORT (Hansard) Ministerial Statement: Education 18 March 2021 NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY Ad Hoc Committee on the COVID-19 Response Ministerial Statement: Education 18 March 2021 Members present for all or part of the proceedings: Mr Alex Maskey (Chairperson) Mr Maurice Bradley Ms Paula Bradley Ms Nicola Brogan Mr Jonathan Buckley Mr Robbie Butler Mr Gerry Carroll Mr Pat Catney Mr Stewart Dickson Ms Jemma Dolan Mr Paul Frew Mr Harry Harvey Mr Chris Lyttle Mr Daniel McCrossan Mr Justin McNulty Mr Andrew Muir Mr Robin Newton Mr John O'Dowd Mr Matthew O'Toole Mr Pat Sheehan Mr Christopher Stalford Mr Weir Minister of Education The Chairperson (Mr Maskey): I welcome members to the meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee on the COVID-19 Response. I welcome the Minister of Education to the meeting. I invite him to make his statement, which should be heard by members without interruption. Following the statement, there will be an opportunity for members to ask questions. Mr Weir (The Minister of Education): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I start by commending our school leaders, teachers, school staff and parents for their ongoing commitment to the education of our children and young people in these challenging circumstances. While schools, parents and carers have worked together to support remote learning, most will agree that our pupils are best served through face-to-face school-based learning. That is not only about their education but about the 1 mental health, social development and well-being of children throughout Northern Ireland. That is why the decision of the Executive on Tuesday is so significant. We have collectively stated that reopening schools for all pupils is an Executive priority as we strive to protect the education, health and well- being of our young people. Our decisions to date have seen preschool and primary 1 to primary 3 pupils return to school on 8 March, and years 12 to 14 are due to return to classrooms from 22 March. Last week, we agreed that the preschool and P1 to P3 classes will not revert to remote learning when years 12 to 14 return and that they will stay in school until Easter. We have now taken another important step with the Executive’s decision to accelerate safely the pace of face-to-face learning and that all remaining pupils in P4 to P7 will return to school from Monday 22 March. That means that those pupils will have the welcome opportunity to reconnect in person with their schools, teachers and peers before the Easter break. Furthermore, subject to a final review of the prevailing public health conditions at the end of this month, the Executive have agreed that the remaining group of pupils in years 8 to 11 will return to school following the Easter break. Those decisions mean that, after Easter, all pupils should be back in school for full-time face-to-face teaching, taking us to phase 3 for schools in the Executive’s pathway out of restrictions. That is a significant milestone in the return to a normalised educational environment. I am confident that, with the public’s support, we are now moving beyond the last widespread interruption to classroom learning and that, with additional mitigations, schools will remain fully open until the summer term and in future academic years, bringing all the benefits of school-based learning, social interaction and shared experience. I recognise that there may be bumps in the road and the need for some localised responses to outbreaks, but our measured approach has created the best conditions for a sustainable return to the classroom for all pupils. This is not an immediate return to business as usual or even to a pre- pandemic school environment. Although school meals will be offered to all children in attendance at school, whether they are in receipt of free school meals or are paying pupils, some areas of provision will remain paused in the short term until advised otherwise, including, for example, school-managed breakfast clubs, education visits, inter-school sports and after-school activities. My Department will liaise with the Department of Health to clarify the position before schools return after Easter. Furthermore, Youth Service provision and targeted early years programmes such as Sure Start have not yet been permitted to reopen. I wish to pay tribute to both sectors for the innovative ways in which they have provided targeted support for vulnerable children and young people throughout the pandemic, but I appreciate the limitations and frustrations of continuing to operate in that way. The Executive’s pathway out of restrictions document states that, by the end of phase 2, there will be a partial reopening of generic youth services and a resumption of Sure Start. I will continue to make the case for that to happen as soon as possible. I have continued to work closely with Minister Swann throughout the pandemic to ensure that my Department provides the most up-to-date guidance and support to schools, taking account of all available public health advice. Schools are safe places, and there will be additional measures to help schools to stay safe. The latest version of my Department’s guidance, which was issued on 5 March, includes additional requirements for face coverings in post-primary schools and on school transport. Schools have been supplied with additional signage to reinforce the key public health messages for parents and visitors, and the Education Authority (EA) will arrange a programme of compliance checks on school buses to ensure that the guidance is being followed. A further mitigation available as part of the schools return is the regular testing of people who do not have COVID symptoms. The purpose is to find individuals who are unaware that they are infected so that they can be advised to isolate, thereby reducing the risk of their unwittingly spreading infection in school and elsewhere. This approach makes use of a type of self-test lateral flow device (LFD), which provides a result within 30 minutes. On Monday, Minister Swann and I made a joint announcement setting out our plans, and I have written to schools to provide more detail. Following a successful pilot, regular asymptomatic testing of staff and pupils in special schools using an alternative method also commenced this week. The roll-out of asymptomatic testing in schools has three phases. In phase 1, from 22 March, all staff in post-primary schools and all pupils in years 12 to 14 will be invited to commence familiarisation to enable twice-weekly self-testing using LFDs. That will cover the period up to the Easter break, and it will allow staff and students who participate to self-test before attending school after Easter, providing further reassurance to staff and students who are returning after the holiday. Identifying infectious individuals early could ultimately reduce the risk of large groups of exam year classes having to isolate 2 during that important period. We have chosen to begin with that group as years 12 to 14 are those with the highest prevalence of infection, and that is where testing will bring most benefit. A range of information and resources for schools, students and parents will be provided to show staff and pupils how to correctly conduct a self-test. Engagement has also taken place this week with a representative group of school leaders, teachers and support staff trade union representatives. In phases 2 and 3, commencing after the Easter break, the programme will expand to include all staff in primary schools and then nursery, preschool and, at least initially, preschool education providers who are participating in the preschool education programme. Precise details of that later phasing are being established and will be clarified further prior to launch. No test is completely accurate, but studies indicate that LFDs have a very high degree of effectiveness in detecting those who are infectious. If a pupil or member of staff has a positive result from the LFD test, they and their household must isolate immediately. In-school contacts are not required to isolate at that stage. The individual must then take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, which is available in local testing centres. If the PCR test is negative, the individual and their household can stop isolating, and the individual can return to school. If it is positive, the COVID infection is confirmed. The person will continue to isolate, and community contact tracing, including in the school, will be carried out, as with any confirmed positive PCR test. The confirmatory PCR test is an important part of the pathway and reduces the risk of people isolating unnecessarily because of false positive results. It will ensure that we do not unnecessarily ask year 12 to 14 pupils to isolate during the key phase in their return to school and their preparation for assessments. I understand that post-primary schools, when they return next week for their years 12 to 14, will be busy welcoming back their pupils and preparing for the assessment process. However, I encourage them to participate in the asymptomatic testing programme, as it is another tool to help to keep our schools safe and to minimise any disruption in the coming period. I recognise that the decision on Tuesday has provided less time for schools to prepare for the return of P4 to P7 pupils than I would have preferred. I had previously said that I would like to give at least 10 days' notice for further changes. While that will apply for the return of post-primary pupils in years 8 to 11 after Easter, it has not been possible to do so for P4 to P7 pupils.