Nicola Sturgeon insisted she's "very keen" for the phased return of schools to kick in next week.
The First Minister said covid data is “encouraging” and signalled she would also consider whether it is possible to lay out a timetable for other pupils coming back to the classroom.
Schools were closed last year for the majority of pupils as a way of containing the spread of a new covid variant.
The Scottish Government recently backed a phased return on February 22, including pupils in P1-3 and older children facing assessments.
However, national clinical director Jason Leitch sounded cautious last week after saying progress on reducing the spread of the virus had stalled.
A final decision will be made on Tuesday morning, with the outcome announced later at Holyrood.
At her media briefing, Sturgeon said of the February 22 plan: "I am very, very, very keen to go ahead with that if at all possible. I know the whole Cabinet is of that view."
She also said she would consider whether it is possible to consider an "indicative" timetable for the next groups of pupils: "But that's not going to be immediate."
Sturgeon added: "All of the data right now is encouraging ... all of the data, and you can hear it when I set it out every day, is going in the right direction."
It was reported that Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants all school pupils to return on March 8 as part of his lockdown-easing plan.
He said: "We’ve got to be very prudent and what we wanted to see is progress that is cautious but irreversible and I think that’s what the public and people up and down the country will want to see."
