Primary and secondary schools in Wales will look to use blended learning when older age groups are allowed to return to classrooms, the First Minister has said.

Mark Drakeford said the Welsh Government wanted all pupils back in classrooms as soon as possible but only for “some of the time”, with pupils expected to mix face-to-face teaching with online lessons.

On Friday, it was announced that foundation phase schoolchildren aged between three and seven in Wales will return to classrooms from February 22, along with some older learners on vocational courses.

Following the announcement, Mr Drakeford said getting younger pupils back in schools was the “first step” in resuming face-to-face teaching in the country, with talks due next week on planning a return for older year groups.

He told the PA news agency: “We will want to try and give the profession, the parents especially, as much certainty as we can about what would happen if we were in a position to go further.

“That is not to say that it will mean a return for every child, every day, to the classroom.

“We’re going to have to be probably more flexible than that, and try to combine as much face-to-face teaching as we can manage with continued emphasis on safety and wellbeing.

“It maybe that not every child is in school every day.

“But it shows that every child is in school some of the time.”

Mr Drakeford said unions who had concerns about the welfare of staff returning to classrooms from February 22 had two weeks to work with the Government to address them.

“Where there are issues where there’s further progress we can make to do even more to give people confidence and to make sure things are as safe as they possibly can be, then of course we will go on doing that,” he said.

“We got as far as we could do by today, and in order to give the time that they needed we knew we ha to make an announcement.

“(But) that doesn’t mean the talking is over.”

Earlier, Education Minister Kirsty Williams told the Welsh Government’s press briefing the return was prioritised for the youngest learners because they were the least likely to transmit coronavirus, and had greater difficulty with remote learning.