Secondary schools minimising positive results

[gingerbread88]

I wondered whether this had happened in other schools/areas?
Our local senior school has an outbreak that hasn't been clearly communicated.

Sorry posted too soon!
They communicated the first couple of positive results at the start of half term including the head teacher and advised all years from 7-13 to self isolate due to the head being everywhere in the school.
Parents don't seem to realise the gravity of the situation as that's where the school reporting stopped. The students are all out and about being half term and having parties and no evidence of the majority (only the minority isolating)
It has since become apparent that at least 30 students from one year group has had a positive result in the last week and parents have asked the school why they are not communicating the extent of the outbreak only to be met with a generic answer that they 'advised' all years to self isolate and that's the end of it as far as they are concerned and the school will open as normal on Monday.
They have only officially communicated 2 students and 2 teachers (including the head) I know first hand of A LOT more. What good does it do to minimise the outbreak and surely parents would be more inclined to keep their teens indoors if they knew of the gravity of the situation?
Is this usual in a lot of schools to minimise an outbreak so it doesn't become public knowledge and like they have done something wrong with the Covid guidelines?

It's an absolute mess. I don't know what is happening, but I am confident that things are being downplayed somewhat.

There's got to be an agenda here, it's not very community spirited to the school to downplay their outbreak and they clearly don't want it coming out on local FB sites or local papers but what good does this do anyone but the schools reputation?
Parents who have expressed concern just get the scripted, generic reply: we advised all years to isolate for 14 days.
They are completely missing the point that if parents knew the extent of the outbreak they would be more inclined to stop their teens from being all over the community for the past 2 weeks and with each other having sleep overs and parties.
I get the impression they just want school to restart on Monday with mock exams and this to be brushed under the carpet.
I fear a Covid bomb may explode next week if a lot of the students are carrying it symptomatic or otherwise.

Yes. I don’t want to elaborate because it could be outing. But the hiding stuff is what bothers me the most.

Yes maybe they should be more open with the amount of cases but surely the parents should have made sure their DC isolated anyway regardless of whether it was 2 cases or 200 hundred cases.
The amount of children I've seen out and about that I know have been sent home to isolate from school is unbelievable! One even had a 15th birthday gathering and sleepover when their whole year had been sent home from school , another parent decided to get their child tested when sent home and on negative result decided he no longer needed to carry on isolating.
This isn't the schools fault this is the parents fault for going against the advice to isolate their child.

You probably need to point the finger at higher up than the school. They will have been "advised".
Need to know, innit....

My DCs go to different secondary schools. DS school has been very efficient and open in communicating cases and have taken a sensible and correct imo precautionary approach. The whole of year 7 (270 pupils) had to isolate for 2 weeks due to 2 cases in the year.
DD school communicates the number of confirmed cases but seems to have a magic system where they know exactly who has been sitting next to whom (because noone ever moves round or sits next to anyone else at lunch ) and only ever ask a few other students to isolate. DD has made it to half term not having been asked to isolate despite someone in her friendship group testing positive.
I wonder if it's got anything to do with the fact that DS goes to the local comp and DD goes to the superselective.

We had a sixth former return to site to use the gym after his year group were sent home because of a positive case. He was most annoyed when we sent him back again.

I think the message is not getting through.

Not a teacher, nor do I work in schools but I think there's a lot of pressure to make sure that children are getting an education so they don't fall behind their peers. Downplaying it prevents panic and withdrawals from school and keeps the number of bums on seats up.

But I agree that it's a very head-in-sand thing to do, and withholding information is preventing people from making informed choices about how to live their life out of school and potentially puts others unwittingly at risk.

I would feel they should be obligated to relay this information. They all have their own interpretations of following the guidelines.

Doesn’t sound good.

I’ve been surprised this week as school have told us that someone in dds year at secondary has tested positive... but that only a small number of students have been contacted to isolate. I thought the whole year group was a bubble - they are altogether for lunch etc. But now the goal posts seem to have moved and the whole bubble is not being advised to isolate. It is a big school with over 200 in each year, but still

So the children are meant to be self isolating?

How has it “since become apparent”?

How do you know this has been communicated to the school?

What else do you want the school to do?

I work in a school and based on my experience I absolutely believe things are being minimised. The problem is that keeping schools open is the hill that Johnson seems prepared to die on. I think the news coverage of school infections has been suspiciously minimal too.

Of course I agree it's down to the parents to keep the teens in and school can't take responsibility for that or be blamed BUT I think morally the school have downplayed it and communicated the minimum but if the gravity of the situation was known, it Luke make those parents make better choices. Maybe not, but still,
I worry about the community spread from these students who often display no symptoms or only very minor symptoms. Having had two teens in this house test positive for Covid, they don't seem to display the same symptoms as adults.

@SmileEachDay it has become apparent as we know of factually throughout the half term break more and more students testing positive, think dropping like flies but apart from the initial 3 positive cases the school has communicated no further. Parents have requested the school make the parents aware of the extent of the outbreak as it may influence how seriously they take it and their teenagers actions.

• this is only the parents I know personally and they have all said they have reported into the school their children testing positive. It may be the tip of the iceberg and who knows how many more than the 30 I personally know of have tested positive or showing symptoms?

think morally the school have downplayed it and communicated the minimum

How do you know? How do you know that parents have told the school about positive cases?

As long as the school are shutting bubbles as necessary there isn’t anything else they can do.

PHE do not require schools to share information beyond telling parents a bubble needs to close.

I know the parents have informed the school as it's become somewhat of an issue in recent days - I personally know or know of these parents and they have all come forward and said 'my child tested positive and we have informed the school'.
In fact, I am one of those parents where 2 out of my 4 who attend the school have tested positive.
The school council have tried to bring it to the SLT and given all the names of the positive pupils and asked why the high number isn't being made public.
Clearly we have a difference of opinion, I think the school should have and could have done more to make the school community aware of the extent of the outbreak, you think otherwise so best to leave it there.

The school I work in have communicated well with parents. Anyone needing to isolate have been told very quickly and given details about why. They have all left the school site quickly. However, they haven’t announced each case publicly to the whole school community. There was no need to because the cases don’t impact on everyone so there’s no reason to tell them. It would only generate unnecessary panic.

Schools are taking completely different approaches to this. Some are sending whole year groups home (which is what most of us envisaged when bubbles were first introduced). Others are saying that unless there was 15 minutes of sustained face to face contact there is no need to send anyone home - including children who may have sat next to the infected child. Often parents aren't even aware that their are positive cases within their child's school. PHE has more or less thrown their hands up in the air and said these are the guidelines do as you see fit. Only time will tell who has this right. Unfortunately, it will be the death of a teacher or student that finally brings it to the public's attention.

School have told parents their child should isolate im not sure what else needs to be said to make them take it seriously, it should have been taken seriously straight away!

My main issue is that it is half term so has meant the students have been all over the community possibly unwittingly spreading Covid when if they knew of the extent of the outbreak and the high numbers involved they may have taken the advice to isolate more seriously.

Schools are taking completely different approaches to this

No. Schools are being advised - initially it was directly from PHE, now we communicate with the DfE - in every single case.

This mess is not down to schools.

My main issue is that it is half term so has meant the students have been all over the community possibly unwittingly spreading Covid when if they knew of the extent of the outbreak and the high numbers involved they may have taken the advice to isolate more seriously

Nope. Not “unwittingly spreading it”. The school told them to self isolate.

Again I always have to fudge what one says.. However I really think more pressure needs to go to dp to help keep us safe.
Eg a student who was vocal about Windows being open, was shocked when a case was revealed, who had been in similar classroom. He got upset due to vulnerable dp and yet he made opening the windows extremely stressful!!

Schools are caught between feckless parents and worried parents. Between now useless union and ineffective government.