However I saw another tweet the other day that suggested if you closed the schools in Bolton that wouldn't necessarily help because the children will probably end up mixing even more than they did at school. At least at school they are mostly mixing with the same lot every day.
Having got dc of secondary school age I'd dispute this... it does sound a little like our government throwing their hands up again and saying "what can we do except keep schools open."
When the dc's schools have been closed, either through bubbles popping or through government order, my dc have not socialised with any except one time when one met up with one other schoolfriend and went for a walk.
I wouldn't say they're unusual. At work we have the police radio for the town. You can normally tell when a school has a half day by the number of calls about groups of youngsters (normally refusing to move out of the car park or something). Lockdowns or bubble popping, very little, and having been into town, you aren't getting them hanging around in the way they did precovid during the week, or even at weekends. As soon as schools go back, yes, but not while they're off.