I've written a generic email to MPs which could easily be adapted to put in bits about personal experience of kids isolating, exam impact, ECV families etc. I tried to keep it short enough that it might be read so have left out loads about ONS data manipulation etc, that could be another email. It's still pretty long....
Dear X
I am writing to you because I am increasingly alarmed about the worsening situation in secondary schools in England.
Last week's ONS random sampling data showed that the infection rate in secondary school children continues to increase at a worrying rate, after a short dip at half term which confirms that the transmission in this group of children is related to school attendance. They are the most infected subset of the population, with an estimated 1 in 50 students affected.
The latest attendance figures show that nearly 900,000 pupils were absent from school for covid reasons last Thursday. 73% of secondary schools had isolating pupils due to contact with cases within the school. Again, this represents a rapidly worsening picture, with only 64% of secondary schools affected the Thursday before. 1% of schools are completely closed, this was 0.4% the previous week.
It appears that any efforts to control the transmission of covid within secondary schools is not working. The change from sending home full bubbles when there area positive cases to only sending home close contacts is not breaking the chain of transmission and causing further cases, and more pupils to be sent home. Some children have spent many weeks in quarantine since September, unable to access face-to-face teaching and not even allowed to leave the house. This should be a national scandal, and it is inexplicable that it is not headline news as it was when it was university students that were affected.
The DfE response to these worrying figures, rather than recognising the need to improve measures to control the spread, is to suggest that the issue is that schools are sending home too many pupils. Given the increasing infection rates, sending home fewer pupils than currently would seem to be an extremely counter-productive and would contribute to increased spread.
There is nothing to suggest that the situation will improve, and everything to suggest that it will worsen over the next 3 weeks. More schools will have to close due to lack of staffing, and more pupils will be trapped at home quarantining, some for the Christmas period.
That secondary school pupils are becoming increasingly infected with covid should be a national concern given the latest news that Christmas will bring more household mingling. These children will be visiting elderly relatives, indoors, for extended periods, and there will be tragic consequences. The government will be held responsible for this, particularly given that they have overturned some schools' decisions to close early to provide a safety buffer for families before Christmas.
Please could you raise with your colleague Gavin Williamson, and the DfE as a matter of urgency the issue of inadequate mitigation measures in secondary schools which is leading to uncontrolled transmission of covid, and nearly a million students out of school?
The use of masks in classrooms is currently 'to be avoided' in the school guidance, due to potential effects on teaching and learning. This should now be balanced against the huge disruption to teaching and learning due to pupils and teachers being unable to attend school.
Mass testing in schools should be a priority. We know that children are more likely to be asymptomatic or have symptoms which do not currently trigger a test. As a result they are in school spreading covid, which will then affect teachers and be taken back to the community. Instead of isolating only close contacts the entire bubble should be tested when there is a positive case to identify all infected pupils.
Funding should be given to schools to improve ventilation in classrooms, as has been done in other countries.
The position of clinically extremely vulnerable teachers and children, and those who have vulnerable members of their household should be reconsidered. Forcing them to work or study in an environment which is obviously not safe after lockdown is completely unacceptable, and I note that you and your colleagues are not expected to put yourselves and your families at risk in this way.
Please note that I understand that keeping schools open is a priority for the government, but they are currently failing in this. Saying that schools will be kept open is not enough, swift action needs to be taken before the system collapses as is happening in Hull.
I look forward to your response,
Kind regards...
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