Dundee families are being remined that city nurseries and schools will have the same safety measures in place from June as the new term starts on Tuesday August 17.
A senior councillor is urging everyone to keep up the efforts to prevent the spread of coronavirus as classrooms open again.
Following national guidance, safety measures which were in place at the end of term in June will be retained for the first six weeks of the new school year.
This means that secondary pupils and all staff and adults will continue to wear face coverings at all times in schools (exemptions apply) and that secondary pupils and all staff and adults will maintain at least 1 metre distancing where possible.
The requirement to maintain groups or ‘bubbles’ in schools has been removed, and there are changes to arrangements for self-isolation and contact tracing.
All secondary pupils are being encouraged to take twice-weekly LFD tests as part of a range of measures to help keep schools safe. They are being asked to restart twice-weekly at-home LFD testing in the week before the start of the new term.
Staff at all schools and nurseries are also being encouraged to take LFD tests before they start back.
Dundee City Council has updated its website to cover arrangements for the new term and details can be found here
Children and families convener Councillor Stewart Hunter said: “With nurseries and schools returning, it is more important than ever that we keep up our guard against coronavirus.
“While the country has moved beyond level 0, measures are being kept in place in nurseries and schools for the protection of everyone.”
Councillor Hunter added: “I would ask all members of our school communities to keep playing their part, and that includes families at drop-off and pick-up times.
“All our nursery and school communities have been through a very challenging period. Hopefully we can now move on, but we have to continue to take care and be as safe as we can.”
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
