Schools in Wales will remain closed after the end of the Easter holidays, a Welsh Government Minister has announced.
Education Minister Kirsty Williams said at the Welsh Government's daily coronavirus briefing that she would only begin to reopen schools when experts advised it was safe to do so.
She added that a change to the policy was "not imminent".
The Education Minister also announced a further £1.25m in funding for school counselling services to deal with an anticipated increase in demand.
Ms Williams said: "I will only reopen schools when I have the advice from the chief medical officer and the chief scientific officer that it is safe to do so."
She added: "It is quite clear to me that when schools reopen it won't be business as usual. The scientific advice is very clear in terms of the continuation of social distancing practices.
"We may be in a situation where we can have part of the school cohort going back. We look at some of the countries it's just their youngest children."
She was asked whether schools would be opening in a matter of weeks or if it was more likely schools would reopen in September.
The Education Minister reiterated her message that we should prepare for a significant period of disruption to our education system.
She said: “I really don’t think it’s helpful to speculate but we are doing the work that’s required for schools to re-open when they are ready to do so.”
She said when schools re-open it would unlikely be business as usual “because of the social distancing guidelines, it might be the case that part of the cohort returns”.
Ms Williams said the impact of prolonged lockdown would have an impact on children.
She said the Welsh Government would be providing an extra £1.25m in funding for school counselling services to deal with the anticipated rise in demand as a result of coronavirus.
“This includes delivering sessions remotely during the lockdown period and we are also developing new guidance and online resources for mental health to help deal with the additional issues that have been created as a result of this pandemic,” she said.
