WELLAND, Ont. - Elementary school teachers at Catholic schools in the Niagara region will be back to work Monday after they were locked out by the board for nearly a week.

The Niagara Catholic District School Board says it reached a tentative deal with the teachers' union early Sunday morning.

All central education unions - including the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association - have reached agreements with the provincial government to extend their current contracts until August 2019, past the next election.

The most recent round of bargaining was the first in a new system in which central deals are negotiated with the government then local deals are negotiated with the individual school boards.

Until this weekend, the Niagara Catholic elementary teachers was one of only three local agreements that was still outstanding out of a total of 471.

The board isn't releasing details of the agreement until the board and the union hold ratification votes.