OIC responds to schools closures announcement

March 19, 2020 at 6:50 pm

OIC executive direction of education, leisure and housing, James Wylie.

Orkney Islands Council’s executive director of education, leisure and housing, James Wylie, has responded to yesterday’s announcement by the Scottish Government that all schools and nurseries will close as of tomorrow afternoon.

Mr Wylie has confirmed that they will, of course, apply to schools and nurseries across Orkney and has outlined the actions to be taken by the local authority.

He said: “We received guidance this afternoon from the Deputy First Minister on the Scottish Government’s decision to close schools and nurseries in response to the escalating Covid-19 outbreak.

“In Orkney, all schools, local authority early learning and childcare settings and the Papdale Halls of Residence will close to children and young people from 5pm on Friday.

“Work is underway to put to put provision in place for:

The children of key workers, allowing parents and carers to play their part in the national response to COVID-19.
S4 to S6 pupils, to ensure they can complete course work for national qualifications.
Vulnerable children.

“The Scottish Government has asked us to do this by the end of next week. We will provide an update on progress as soon as we can.

”We are putting measures in place to support vulnerable children, including continued provision of free school meals.

“We are working with partner organisations to determine the key workers who will require childcare provision for children and young people under the age of 16.

An application form for key workers has been made available by the local authority on the Council website, here.

My Wylie said: “The form provides detailed information about key worker categories. We would encourage parents who are key workers to complete this as a matter of urgency so we can establish provision as soon as possible.

“We realise school and nursery closures will cause enormous disruption for local families, carers, public services and businesses. The Deputy First Minister has described the steps he has asked us to take as exceptional and a measure of the extraordinary challenges we all face.”