Are school children legally required to self isolate

[prowlingbrooms]

If a school tells children to self isolate LEGALLY do they have to do so?
Since September it has been illegal to not self isolate if you have a positive test or if you are told to isolate by track and trace. But being sent home as a year group does not fall into either of these categories. Or does it?
I’m not talking about whether they should self isolate (yes). I just want to know the law.

Curious to know if there are exceptions for disabled children. Eg while one can make every effort to keep them in, sometimes it is more difficult than others. (As in getting thumped or kicked trying to keep them in or swapping them to other parent to give carer a break from the abuse)

The problem is schools aren't (generally) contact tracing, they are just telling whole bubbles to self isolate which I have a bit of a problem with.

Schools don't decide and never have.
For each abd every case they have to contact Public Health, give them all the relevant information as dates and they are then told who should isolate as a result.

In the last three weeks we have had 9 positive cases in my infant school. These have resulted in a variety of situations.

My positive resulted in no school staff or children having to isolate. Other staff positives ranged from 1 or 2 staff, to full classes to a whole year group bubble. It depends on the layout of school, how classes can be kept separate, and a whole load of other factors.

It simply isn't true that schools just get to close the whole bubble in every case.

I got a letter from my dd's school yesterday saying she needs to self isolate for two weeks but in her case she hasn't actually been in school for more than two weeks due to an ongoing illness.

The school sent the same email to the whole year group saying they must self isolate but my dd hasn't even been there to be a contact.

What would people do in this case? I'm worried about ignoring a letter but at the same time, she isn't a contact. The letter was a generic "dear parent" but does say she has to self isolate.

LolaMilly contact the school and tell them that they have sent you a letter in error and explain the circumstances. If she has had no contact with the positive case she should go back to school as soon as she is well enough.

Sedona123 Adam Wagner is setting out what he believes the law is, he is a barrister. If you watch the video you will see that he always says that you should follow government guidance where possible but there are many exceptions allowed in law and people want to know, understandably, if they are likely to be fined or charged with an He has done a massive amount to explain the regulations in an accessible way and I have found his advice very clear and useful, unlike the law!

Schools are essentially acting as a proxy for Test & Trace, so in theory the instruction to isolate is just as binding as if it had come directly from T&T. Fines issued under this haven’t been challenged in the courts (so far) so it may well be that the delegated responsibility doesn’t ultimately hold up, but the intention and spirit of the process is that instructions from school hold the same weight.

This article very much looks as though there is the possibility of schools handling things differently:

www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/18767130.schools-use-track-trace-positive-coronavirus-tests/

@FatGirlShrinking

Schools are required to notify the public health team who determine who needs to be classed as a 'close contact'. The school is then provided template comms to issue to all people identified as close contacts advising that they need to self isolate for 14 days. This is classed as official notification, it's not done by the test and trace contact tracers as that would be duplication.

The legislation does not specify who makes the contact just that once identified as a close contact and told to self isolate you are legally required to do so

www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/1045/made

I've just read that.

Doesn't it actually say that self isolation is a period of TEN days from notification where the contact is not part of the household and FOURTEEN after notification only where they are?

[quote TheTeenageYears]This article very much looks as though there is the possibility of schools handling things differently:

www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/18767130.schools-use-track-trace-positive-coronavirus-tests/[/quote]
That article's relatively old now, in most cases PH seem to be handling things more like the way the Head did (apparently without any reference to his local PH which seems rather odd to say the least!) Maybe this was when they changed....

Bumping this in the hope of getting more contributions, hopefully knowledgable, as I think it's a very important subject!