Mumbles' youngest pupils to return to primary schools from 22 February

Children aged three to seven in Mumbles, and the rest of Wales, will return to school after the February half-term, the BBC has reported.

It is expected that the Welsh Government will confirm the plan today that the foundation phase of primary schools will return to classrooms from 22 February.

Most pupils have been learning from home since before Christmas, after rising Covid cases meant restrictions were tightened.

Education Minister Kirsty Williams is expected to make the announcement at a press conference at 12:15pm.

She has also said more details will be published separately today on how assessments replacing exams will be graded and moderated

It follows a fall in the number of Coronavirus infections, and negotiations with teaching trade unions, which are calling for teachers to be included in priority groups for Covid vaccines.

The Welsh Government previously said it would give two weeks' notice of any back to school plans.

On 29 January First Minister Mark Drakeford said that the youngest learners, aged up to seven in the Foundation Phase, will start returning to classrooms after February half term in a flexible way, but only if coronavirus rates continued to fall.

Neil Butler, the Welsh representative of the teaching union NASUWT, said they were waiting with "bated breath" to see what the announcement had to say and that they would not support the return to schools without significant assurances about teachers' safety.

"The joint education unions have given a large number of mitigations we want to see before this happens," he told BBC Radio Wales.

"We have yet to hear back from the Welsh Government as to whether any of those mitigations have been accepted."