{"id":27245,"date":"2021-02-05T17:00:57","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T17:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/cjsnews\/?p=27245"},"modified":"2021-02-07T17:45:13","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T17:45:13","slug":"secondary-school-pupils-return-still-unclear-despite-welsh-government-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/cjsnews\/secondary-school-pupils-return-still-unclear-despite-welsh-government-announcement\/","title":{"rendered":"Secondary school pupils’ return still unclear despite Welsh Government announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Uncertainty around the return to school continues for older pupils in Wales, despite hope and optimism for younger children today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Welsh Education Minister, Kirsty Williams, announced that children aged 3-7 would return to primary schools on February the 22nd<\/sup> as the rates of Covid-19 continue to fall in Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she said that Wales is “not yet in a position” to allow all pupils back to school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rhodri Williams, a sixth form student from Cardiff, is now facing another few weeks of uncertainty after learning from home since the lockdown began in December. He says the demands of online learning are relentless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It\u2019s quite draining,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You\u2019re at the same desk throughout the day and it blurs the line between what is your bedroom at what is your school desk.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“t\u2019s a stressful time because you don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on with exams, you don\u2019t know when you\u2019re going to be back in school.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in January, the Welsh Government announced that all externally-assessed exams and assessments for GCSE and A Level pupils would be scrapped, and it would instead be up to the teachers to decide on their grades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the uncertainty continues and Cardiff pupils like Greta Evans, who is doing her A-levels this year, still doesn’t know how exactly those grades will be reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: “I think one of the main issues for young people is the uncertainty going forward. So, we know we\u2019ll get grades based on what the teachers give us. But we don\u2019t know how that will be assessed, when that will be assessed, does that contribute to our final grade or not?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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