NDOOR Christmas concerts at schools throughout Ceredigion are being cancelled or moved behind closed doors with no parents allowed just days before they were set to be staged due to the increasing Covid risk, leaving parents, pupils and staff “disappointed.”

Youngsters have been practicing for their festive shows for the past month, with the belief that the festive tradition was set to return after the pandemic claimed last year’s shows.

The new Omicron variant, however, has put paid to those plans.

The indoor shows, and allowing parents to see their children perform, were scrapped, Ceredigion council said, because the Covid “risk has been escalated to the ‘high’ category for the time being”, with “requirements not to hold large indoor gatherings.”

Powys council has also advised that parents should not be allowed to attend Christmas concerts, with performances recorded or taking place virtually.

While some schools in Ceredigion had already planned to keep numbers low by only allowing one parent to attend the Christmas concerts, many are now having to decide whether to hold an outdoor show instead, or hold concerts for the children with no parents physically present.

The alert level was raised across the Hywel Dda Health Board region in response to the new variant, despite - at the moment - new cases in Ceredigion remaining low.

St Padarn’s headteacher Enid Brophy wrote to parents on Sunday to inform them that the indoor concerts set to take place this week were cancelled.

“On Friday, we were informed that the local health board has moved the level of alert to high on the infection control framework,” Mrs Brophy said.

“In light of this high alert level status, the local authority has not approved an updated risk assessment submitted yesterday for the Christmas concerts to proceed.

“Therefore, unfortunately the Christmas concerts, inside the hall, this week will have to be cancelled.

“The governors and I are so disappointed and I know all the children, parents and guardians will be too but these are uncertain and very fluid times and we will just have to have a rethink and plan again.”

The school plans to try and hold an outdoor concert next week if it can be arranged, Mrs Brophy added.

Plascrug school in Aberystwyth informed parents on Monday that the Christmas concerts would go ahead but without parents being allowed.

Headteacher Berian Lewis said he was “informed that no Christmas performances can go ahead with parents present in the county” and called the news a “disappointment”.

“We were very hopeful that the children could have performed in front of an audience but this has not proved possible,” he said.

A Ceredigion County Council spokesperson told the Cambrian News: “Due to the new variant, risk has been escalated to the ‘high’ category for the time being.

“Risk has been escalated across all local authorities within the Hywel Dda University Health Board. This includes the wearing of face coverings in the class for secondary learners and also a requirement not to hold large indoor gatherings.

“Some schools are holding outdoor events which are permissible.”