All secondary school pupils may have to wear masks under new, stricter guidance being considered by Welsh Government.
At the moment wearing masks is recommended but not compulsory in high schools. In the summer the Welsh Government said it was up to local councils and schools to decide and most have told pupils to wear masks in communal areas and on school transport.
This may now be beefed up with one national rule on masks after new scientific evidence showed the virus is more likely to spread among pupils than first thought. Teaching unions have also said they would welcome a national approach.
Headteachers and councils said compliance is already high, although teaching union UCAC said there is a "mixed picture".
One headteacher said rather than strengthening guidance on wearing masks, the powers to enforce that rule should be ramped up.
“The measures do not need any further strengthening. Schools at the moment cannot send pupils home for continuously failing to wear a face covering, maybe the powers that schools have to enforce the wearing of face covering could be strengthened, “ said Neil Foley, head of Prestatyn High.
Most councils said their schools had not reported problems getting pupils to comply with requests to wear masks but there have been some issues.
Merthyr council said: “There has been some communication with parents who are concerned that the wearing of face coverings is a breach of human rights”.
Headteachers also reported that most pupils have worn masks and understand why they need to.
Rebecca Williams, Deputy General Secretary and Policy Officer for teaching union UCAC, said a national ruling on masks in schools would be welcome.
She warned it was also unclear what is happening around Wales on school transport and that national guidance was also needed on ventilation and social distancing in schools.
Julian Kennedy, head of Dyffryn Taf High in Carmarthenshire, said: "Compliance from pupils in my school has been excellent at Dyffryn Taf and all the heads I have spoken with have reported the same.
"I would welcome a national rule based upon clearly understood and shared scientific evidence, but the Carmarthenshire Association of Secondary Heads also provides an excellent forum for making decisions at county level in partnership with the local authority."
David Blackwell, head of St Richard Gwyn Catholic High in Barry, said while his pupils are sticking to the rules on masks national guidance could help enforce the message about how important it is.
“All pupils, apart from those that are exempt, are required to wear them in all corridors and communal indoor areas," he said.
“There are a small number who forget or wear them incorrectly, but we rarely see any problems when they are challenged about this.
“Although we are seeing little challenge enforcing these rules, it is always helpful if there is a standard national approach to matters of this nature, it simply adds weight to the rules that we are enforcing.
“The biggest challenge we find is that we are providing a number of masks each day to pupils who forget, lose or break their masks.”
Across Wales at Prestatyn High all pupils are asked to wear face coverings in communal areas and on school transport but are not asked them to wear them in class, on the yard or in the canteen.
Headteacher Neil Foley said: “Compliance is high, the vast majority of pupils have no problem wearing them. A small number have to be reminded, these are the same pupils that need reminding over their uniform. We regularly supply lots of disposable masks to pupils as they lose or break them. I would say over 80% of our pupils use their own personalised mask or face covering.
“It is not hard to enforce, it just means that we have lots if staff on corridors checking and insisting.
“The measures do not need any further strengthening. Schools at the moment cannot send pupils home for continuously failing to wear a face covering, maybe the powers that schools have to enforce the wearing of face covering could be strengthened?
“I do not believe it would work having all pupils wear masks in classrooms – pupils need to be able to be heard. They need to be comfortable during an hour lesson, I for one would not like to have a mask on for five one hour lessons per day."
Cardiff Council last week handed out a further 45,000 masks to pupils.
It said on its website: “45,000 additional face coverings are being provided to secondary schools this week to help pupils keep themselves and their school communities safe when they return for the remainder of the autumn term.
“This is in addition to the 45,000 face coverings which the council provided to secondary schools at the beginning of September and means that pupils can replace any lost or damaged face coverings with new ones.
“The council strongly recommends that all secondary school pupils wear face coverings when in communal areas or where social distancing cannot be observed.
“The sorting and delivery of the masks was coordinated by the Central Stores Team in Dominions Way.”
Unions respond:
National Education Union Cymru's Wales Secretary, David Evans said: "We would be supportive of young people wearing face coverings in schools. We know we are in a different place with the virus than we were in September, and believe than every measure should be put in place to make schools as safe as possible.
"At this point we believe it would be beneficial if there were a national approach."
Neil Butler, Wales National Secretary for the NASUWT said: "What we want is some consistency with the rest of society. Face coverings are compulsory in shops so why not in classrooms where there can be no social distancing.
"However, this is a diversion from the real issue which is that issue of social distancing which we know is the most important guard against the spread of the virus.
"We need to reduce the number of learners in school settings. We still need the time and space for teachers to develop blended learning approaches so that some learners can access their education through distance learning methods.
"We know that face coverings are not the panacea so whatever the Minister decides the issue of overcrowded classrooms still needs to be addressed.
The National Association of Headteachers Cymru said clear guidance must be given to schools.
Laura Doel, NAHT Cymru Director, said: “A decision on the health benefits on face coverings must be taken by the government and clear guidance must be given to schools as to what they need to do, when such coverings need to be worn and what kind of coverings are required."
