NI schools could stay closed until Easter: Options for NI Executive revealed

This comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson refused to guarantee schools in England would return before the Easter break in April.

Stormont Education Minister Peter Weir is set to bring a paper to a meeting of the Executive, expected to take place on Thursday, setting out a range of options on when to reopen schools.

The News Letter understands that keeping schools closed until Easter will be discussed at the meeting.

But this is only one of several options expected to be put forward in Mr Weir’s paper to his Executive colleagues, which was still being drafted yesterday afternoon.

Currently, schools are set to remain closed until after the mid-term break in the middle of February. But with the rest of Northern Ireland now under strict lockdown until at least March 5, the minister confirmed last week that it is his intention to update the Executive on whether pupils could return to schools.

A Stormont source has said the most likely – but far from certain – outcome of the Executive meeting will be for schools to remain shut to face-to-face teaching until at least March 5, in line with the wider lockdown.

But Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill confirmed last week, when the lockdown extension was first announced, that the wider restrictions could be in place until Easter – depending on the public health situation.

Alongside the possibility of school closures stretching until that time, the Executive is expected to consider the possibility of a “blended approach” to reopening, with different year groups returning at different times.

Also on the table will be the option of continuing with the current status quo – which would see children return to face-to-face learning in mid-February – although this is understood to be the least likely outcome of Thursday’s meeting.

The News Letter also understands there will be no proposal from Mr Weir’s department to close special schools, which have been asked to remain open for face-to-face learning throughout the current period of lockdown.

In England, Mr Johnson would not guarantee schools would reopen before the Easter break in April.

He said England’s schools would reopen “as fast as possible” as he faced Tory pressure to set out a timetable for pupils to return.

“There’s nothing I want to do more than reopen schools, I’ve fought to keep schools open for as long as I possibly could,” the prime minister said.

“We want to do that in a way that is consistent with fighting the epidemic and keeping the infection rate down.”

On Sunday, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggested any relaxation of lockdown was a “long way off”.