Rules on school outbreaks

[Sparkledot]

Sorry if this has already been asked.

We have had outbreaks in several schools in our area, we are also on the government watch list. One of the schools have asked a whole year group to isolate for 2 weeks, while some of them have asked only the infected child or teacher to isolate, another has asked any 'close contacts' of the infected child to isolate.

They all say that advice was taken from PHE but I don't understand why there all so different. Does anyone know if there are actual rules related to this or is it just assessed case by case?

Think it is case-by-case. School should send home close contacts - within 2m for 15mins, face-to-face conversation, physical contact, travelling in car. PHE decides if a wider group need to isolate, such as the whole class, bubble or school.

My child’s school has turned itself into a prison. Fencing everywhere to keep the parents out, I assumed that’s what all schools have done. Then I find out lots of schools have continued to allow parents into the playground and continued allowed communication. So it’s very much down to the management interpreting the rules.

Schools have very varied classrooms, I suspect children who are more spaced out will need a less severe isolation plan if there is a positive case.

Good question, I presume it's due to different measures being used in different schools, due to size of classrooms etc etc.

My nephew (yr 1) has had a confirmed case in his class bubble, the whole bubble have to isolate but the rest of the family don't.

@trevthecat

My nephew (yr 1) has had a confirmed case in his class bubble, the whole bubble have to isolate but the rest of the family don't.

This is what is happening at our school confirmed case but siblings are still in its shocking

@kmx123 yes the sibling of my nephew is still attending the same school

[quote trevthecat]@kmx123 yes the sibling of my nephew is still attending the same school[/quote]
i have withdrawn my son for now surely its common sense if you test positive to isolate as a family as the boy is 5 so i cant imagine him being isolated from the household until hes ok without anyone else getting it if brothers and sisters are in school and a parent at work i just dont see the common sense in it at all what was lockdown even for

It's about likely risk: anyone in the positive child's bubble is at higher risk - but still (probably) not huge risk. Siblings of the "higher risk but still (probably) not huge risk" child are another level of risk down.

Thanks for all the replies, I am still so confused and don't know what to expect if it happens in my DDs secondary school. I would have thought there was a rule for them to follow so they were all doing the same. My DD and her friends say no social distancing at all either on buses or in school (3 schools, 2 of which were in my OP)

I think siblings of affected children going into school is a recipe for disaster really so don't blame you @kmx123 for withdrawing your son.

None of the secondary schools I visited had bigger or smaller classrooms than each other which makes it more difficult to understand as they have done the opposite to each other, 1 sent whole year home 1 sent one child home.

It's going to be extremely frustrating. But as we keep banging on about the "new normal" this is it. So everyone needs to get used to it.

God knows how we will all keep jobs and get our children educated.