Is it just our school?

[Lua]

Secondary school. Has been back for 4 days. Each day only 2 year groups went in so they could test everyone. Two year groups already sent home to isolate?!?!

Rather than closing bubbles the children whom sat near positive student gets tested daily and can go school

Our school tested everyone last week. Kids came in, didn’t mix and went straight home. No positives.
All in on Monday and at their desks for lesson 1.

Have done their 2nd and 3rd tests this week (last batch tomorrow) and no positives so far.

I cannot believe that they were allowed to mix before a first negative result. The whole point was that they shouldn’t do that. They needed to come in, be tested and go home at some point.

Ours now have a home testing kit to use at the weekend and mid-week. They will log their results on the NHS site and with the school too.

It has been hugely impressive, but required a vast army of people manning the testing centre and especially last week before the kids were back at school, to ensure they were tested and left immediately.

@Lua

Secondary school. Has been back for 4 days. Each day only 2 year groups went in so they could test everyone. Two year groups already sent home to isolate?!?!

Why is a whole year group being isolated? Whatever happened to it being close contacts?

@Christmasfairy2020

Rather than closing bubbles the children whom sat near positive student gets tested daily and can go school

My ds school have said the same i assume they'll only close full years if there's multiple cases

@Wellbythebloodyhell again same test daily or isolate. The child's choice. But nil closures. Primary school diff and they do close bubbles xx

@xyzandabc

Not at our school. All 3 tests were done before classes started so no mixing occured until all 3 tests were done. 6000 tests in 6 days. Around 10 positives who are all currently isolating. Rest of school back as normal.

Numbers were crunched looking at classes of those 10 positives, who they would have mixed with. Had they been back in class and tested positive, we would have had in the region of 1000 kids isolating.

6000 tests in 6 days was no mean feat but seems worth it to prevent 1000 isolations.

That's excellent.

Love the way they thought critically as well about doing it to avoid mass isolation.

Hope it continues to go well for your school

My concern is once these initial tests in school start to show how many positives are about asymptomatically parents will stop being willing to test at home in case they are positive.

Or not tell school they are positive.

But the numbers showing positive already (national numbers are equal to week 3 of September which was 3 times as high as week 1) I think show how much spread does occur in schools and how risky trust of home tests and honesty could prove to be)

It maybe the counter action to this will be the continuation of masks after Easter?

@Christmasfairy2020

Rather than closing bubbles the children whom sat near positive student gets tested daily and can go school

This was the original plan but I'm sure it changed to they isolate and get PCR test and close contacts also isolate.

Statistically at current national infection rates the statistics bodies think more LFT positives will be false positives than are true positives. I find that terrifying; potentially a whole year group at home for 10 days for a false positive!
Once testing moves to being at home at least a negative PCR overrides a false positive LFT, but in the meantime it’s a huge problem. The bbc have done quite a few articles about it
www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56349116

My dc’s school have tested over 600 pupils this week and all came back negative which I was very surprised at. Fingers crossed it continues.

I was wrong, they didn't send the whole year home. But half of it, because there were positive kids in 3 different waiting rooms....

@Christmasfairy2020

Rather than closing bubbles the children whom sat near positive student gets tested daily and can go school

No. That [daft] idea has been scrapped BUT a whole load of schools sent out the wrong information about start of term testing with the out-of-date guidance on.

Current rules are that a positive case and their contacts elf-isolate, exactly as has been the case since September. Hopefully, if any school really HASN'T caught up with the proper guidance, PHE or the Covid hotline will give out the right information when the school reports as case.

[quote Christmasfairy2020]@Wellbythebloodyhell again same test daily or isolate. The child's choice. But nil closures. Primary school diff and they do close bubbles xx[/quote]
No closures yet. based on an outbreak of Kent variant we had at home (not U.K.) I’d put money on the fact that this will get the whole school shut at some point. Possibly including KW and vulnerable children.

Ds had first Friday before going to school mon and each year group come in day by day so mon another year group came in tested then went home and attended the next day .
He had another test weds not sure if they had any positives
Ds1 college had test last weds but result never came through and he has another test tomorrow , although spoke to college about missing test she said they have had 3 positives since jan ( college has been open for some )
Masks compulsory at both and hand gel before going in classrooms

@RosieBdy

First case in my children's secondary school today. My DS's year and three of his best friends are close contacts so now have to self isolate... I feel so sorry for them and the school.

I've just re-read my post and realised that it came across in a different way than I meant... I meant that the positive case was in my DS's year group, not that the whole year group have to isolate. Those that were tested all tested negative on the first test, but this was the second test so they had been mixing for 2 days- meaning 80 children are now isolating.