Issue - meetings

To receive verbal update by the Corporate Director of Education.

At the invitation of the Chair the Corporate Director of Education gave a brief verbal update position in education and across the school estate in response to COVID-19.

The Corporate Director advised that the overall incidence rates in Blaenau Gwent continued to fall and were currently at 412 per 100,000 population and Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council was ranked 20th in Wales.  This was an improving situation although the Gwent Incident Management Team (IMT) agreed that the regional risk remained high for schools across the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board.  Positive count cases for pupils currently stood at 58, and workforce cases overall were stable with less than 40 staff affected across all Blaenau Gwent schools.  He advised there were two primary schools and one secondary school that had introduced elements of blended learning and this was under constant review to ensure full face to face learning returned to those settings when safe.

Recently there had been a number of Welsh Government announcements associated with the Omicron variant, mostly regarding stronger wording for the use of face coverings.  The Director confirmed that there were no material changes for Blaenau Gwent schools as secondary staff and pupils had already been using face coverings in indoor settings. 

He informed Members that national advice was still awaited regarding consideration of 12 to 15 year olds being offered a second dose of the vaccine, if this was formally taken forward, there would be communication with schools as this would impact upon learners in secondary settings.

He summarised that it was largely an improving situation, but there remained cause for concern, particularly around the new variant Omicron that was emerging.