Omicron update: Forth Valley College students forced into remote learning

Colleges Scotland, the collective voice of the country’s college sector, stated a number of colleges in the area – including Forth Valley College (FVC) – were moving to remote learning for the last week of term in a bid to help protect students and staff from the Omicron variant.

Many colleges are also proactively planning to deliver hybrid teaching for the first two weeks of next year.

Dr Ken Thomson OBE, FVC principal, said: “Following formal guidance for the College sector, we took the decision to bring the majority of learning and teaching online for the last week of term – December 20 and December 21 – and also the first few days following the Christmas break – January 5 to January 7.

"We recognise that many staff and students may be feeling anxious about the current situation and we wanted to put measures in place to alleviate this. There are some priority groups that have been identified for on campus activity for essential reasons, however, numbers will be at an absolute minimum.

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"We are also asking that anyone required to come on campus take regular Lateral Flow Tests and that they continue to comply with the wide range of safety measures and arrangements in place for their well being.

“We are also scenario planning for week commencing Monday, January 10, 2022 if further restrictions are still in place, including prioritising specific class groups and access to electronic devices.

"We will issue our plans for w/c Monday 10 January onward on Thursday, January 6, 2022. We continue to meet regularly with Scottish Government and NHS Scotland public health officials to review all measures and arrangements in place.

The safety and wellbeing of our staff, students and visitors is our top priority.”

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