Pupils sent home in half of England's secondary schools

[herecomesthsun]

...which are of course supposed to be covid secure. Nice that the BBC is covering it,though.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-54614111

The cases are being handled very differently around the country- our school in a tier 1 area with 1600 students has had 8 pupils test positive (different years, different days) and the numbers sent home have been 0-10 students so no bubbles burst yet
@TicTacTwo this is a ridiculous thing to say. If pupils in the bubble have tested positive, the bubble has burst. Your school has chosen to risk the health of everyone else in that bubble and all teachers who teach it by only sending home a few pupils.
Irresponsible, dangerous, stupid.

At last some coverage 🙏 shame everyone is still ignoring the silent spreaders from primary school. I wish they would look at sewage or consider extending the range of symptoms for tests/isolation periods for younger children.

@carcarbinks

That's the way it works round here.
Ds has 2/3 of his form sent home and around 50% of the rest of the year, but the letter out says 1 positive case and a few close contacts sent home, but the bubble isn't burst.

"@TicTacTwo this is a ridiculous thing to say. If pupils in the bubble have tested positive, the bubble has burst. Your school has chosen to risk the health of everyone else in that bubble and all teachers who teach it by only sending home a few pupils.
Irresponsible, dangerous, stupid"

Guidance and advice from phe changed about 3 or 4 weeks ago and schools were advised to stop sending home bubbles and identify close contacts instead. If this hasn't happened the school I am at would have had only 1 or 2 year groups in school most of this term!

Ultimately this does seem to have lead to more cases in school as let's just contact tracing in my school is even less effective than the national one and the number of cases and staff cases have rocketed since this happened.

Guidance and advice from phe changed about 3 or 4 weeks ago and schools were advised to stop sending home bubbles and identify close contacts instead.

Exactly. Too many children were being sent home and it was starting to hit the papers - so they changed the guidance so fewer children went home. You couldn't make it up....

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/567-greater-manchester-schools-hit-19139861
567 Greater Manchester schools hit with Covid cases since start of term

567 Greater Manchester schools have now had positive Covid cases since the beginning of September.

With half term almost upon us, hundreds more pupils have been told not to attend this week following positive cases among classmates, teachers or both.

Some schools have reported their first cases since reopening after the summer, others have had further cases, with some now sending the same children home for a third time.

@cantkeepawayforever

Guidance and advice from phe changed about 3 or 4 weeks ago and schools were advised to stop sending home bubbles and identify close contacts instead.

Exactly. Too many children were being sent home and it was starting to hit the papers - so they changed the guidance so fewer children went home. You couldn't make it up....

they are making it up...

'Making it up' would imply a random walk, not a very, very clear direction of travel - to cover up what is happening and to avoid truthful data / press coverage at all costs.

If pupils in the bubble have tested positive, the bubble has burst. Your school has chosen to risk the health of everyone else in that bubble and all teachers who teach it by only sending home a few pupils.
Irresponsible, dangerous, stupid"

Definitely happening in the comprehensive I know about. Only those within 2m of tape measure sent home. Rest of class and teachers stay in school.

"Only those within 2m of tape measure sent home"

I'm pretty sure where I am noone measures anything and it is based on seating plans. I.e kids either side of a positive get sent home but the kid after that hasn't even though he is only 1.2m away. Kids on tables 1.5m in front or behind a positive case have not been sent home either.

Wow. It is so different everywhere.

A tape measure was swung in a circle. But it is a bit meaningless when the virus is carried in the air.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/10/eton-parents-accuse-school-spreading-virus-round-country-pupils/

This was last week, I’m not sure if this was shared before. Even Eton is not escaping the rise of cases in schools.

@Waspnest

Someone asked ages ago how you'd know if there were cases in your child's school. According to DD's head (there's been a case confirmed in DD's school in a different year group) PHE require that the school informs all parents if there is a case at the school and parents whose children have been in close contact with the infected child receive another letter saying to keep their child home for 14 days.

I hope schools are doing this, however when I tried to find guidance on this officially, this is what Belfast Public Health Agency said:

Schools have no obligation to inform parents of a positive case in the school. However, in the interests of open communication, schools may wish to inform parents when there is a case.

Gov.uk also gave similar advice. A close contact is:

Usually, full closure will not be necessary, but some individuals may need to self-isolate if they have had close contact with the confirmed case. Close contact means:
direct close contacts - face to face contact with an infected individual for any length of time, within 1 metre, including being coughed on, a face to face conversation, or unprotected physical contact (skin-to-skin)
proximity contacts - extended close contact (within 1 to 2 metres for more than 15 minutes) with an infected individual

They say to
The new dedicated advice service replaces the requirement for schools to contact the local health protection team to seek advice on a positive case. So it will be up to the local teams to advise... which is not clear that if someone in a ‘bubble’ is positive then all then bubble will be informed. Unfortunately.

dfemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/09/04/coronavirus-transmission-in-schools-your-questions-answered/

Unfortunately I do think many schools are interpreting the PHE 2 metre close contact guidelines to the letter, and only informing those ‘close contacts’.

So there could be a positive case in our child’s class and we don’t know about it.

Ice cream I've been astonished by the difference in interpretation within schools over so much covid guidance even from one slt to the next!

It's bonkers!

If it’s not clear to us, trying to find out on the internet. It can’t be clear to schools themselves who have a million things to juggle at present.

Several large secondary schools where I live. An average of 1 child per school testing positive. My school has not had 1 single case of COVID in a student out of 1400 and only 1 staff case out of over 300. I don’t think it has been anywhere near as bad as what some like to protest.
We need to keep schools open.

[quote herecomesthsun]...which are of course supposed to be covid secure. Nice that the BBC is covering it,though.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-54614111[/quote]
Theu:re doing what they should. Pupils can develop symptoms in school time for infection they've picked up elsewhere. Are you suggesting all our children and young people should fester indefinitely just in case? Where will they be I 10 years when they need to.be earning and paying tax?

@IceCreamSummer20

Unfortunately I do think many schools are interpreting the PHE 2 metre close contact guidelines to the letter, and only informing those ‘close contacts’.

So there could be a positive case in our child’s class and we don’t know about it.

There wa the first positive case in ds2's school this week and we got the official "not a contact" letter.

Well my own small sample, dd currently si, another letter from school today another whole year group to si, dd secondary, several cases and where I work bubbles sent home today. That's about 8 days.

@PickAChew at least you got a letter which is good - although I do think I’d want to know if the child was in my son’s classroom!

DH is a secondary teacher in Scotland and was told today a pupil had tested positive. Came to school on Monday, had a test Tuesday morning and her mum SENT HER BACK TO SCHOOL after the test Positive result came on Wednesday. DH says they've measured 2m around all her seats in all her classes, and the pupils beside/in front will be "told to get tests".

It's possible he didn't get the full info, but I cannot understand why these pupils aren't being told to isolate. If they get a test Thu/Fri surely it will be negative, and any infection will start just in time for them all coming in on Monday? It seems utterly reckless and I'm genuinely scared for our family now.

Ok since I can't get back to sleep I've looked up the guidance and "contacts" must isolate for 14 days, so that's a bit of a relief. Bit worrying that DH's deputy head colleague didn't seem to know that though...

I remain utterly unconvinced that the 2m rule has any relevance when you're sitting in the same small room for an hour without masks, though.

@BillywilliamV
Don’t care, as long as they keep them open!
Well aren’t you a charmer
So basically you’re saying you don’t give an absolute shit about the health of staff or other children as long as yours can go to school???
What a selfish and nasty attitude