School didn't tell us

[Fuckitfuckit]

So I've been on the belief that if you're a contact of someone who's tested positive, you'll find out, and have to isolate, generally through test and trace,
but if you're in school (I don't know if it's just DDs school that you're not allowed to use test and trace or if its normal procedure) you'll be made aware at school that you've been in contact with someone who's tested positive.

DDs form tutor has been off school for quite some time. She had mentioned a few times, as we hadn't had notification from the school, I said to her it wouldn't be covid. More likely stress because of all the additional stress teachers have to face at the moment.

This week he returned to school, and the kids were told by him that he has been in hospital with Covid.

Isn't it wrong that as parents we were not told that our children had been in contact with someone who was positive? Were in one of the worst affected areas in the country.

Shouldn't the kids have been sent home to self isolate?

We’ve been told that as secondary teachers we don’t count as a contact.

Depends on the timing. If I get symptoms and have to test on a monday before I go in to school my class don't have to isolate because I saw them more than 48 hours before my symptoms started.

Plus now I have to wear my mask and stay 2m away at all times, or limit the time spent close to a child to less than 15 minutes, then its not classified as a close contact - despite breathing the same classroom air for an hour or more!

That is because the virus is very clever and knows you are in school so you can't catch it 🙄.

I guess he might have come down with it on a Sunday night so the exposure to the dc would have been more than 48hrs earlier.

If they hadn't been in contact with him in the 48 hours before symptoms or the test then nobody would need to know.

Only if they were in contact with the teacher within 48 hours of symptoms first presenting. Otherwise you have no right to the teachers medical information

Was she in close contact though? She would need to have been closer than 2m to him in the 48 hours before he got symptoms to be a close contact.

It all depends when he became ill and how close he was to the children.

As a parent though I would have wanted to know if my child's teacher was off sick for a prolonged time and if they had tested positive. Some schools seem very good with their communications, others are not.

I'm assuming any isolation period would have passed now anyway and hopefully all the children were ok.

The guidance is a bit sketchy here. If it’s a secondary school the theory is that the teacher should be 2m away from pupils therefore not a close contact.

Works vice versa too. The teachers don’t have to isolate if there’s a positive case in one of their classes.

Teachers don't have to isolate if a kid in their class tests positive, and kids don't have to isolate if the teacher tests positive, because the teacher isn't supposed to be within 2m of the children for more than 15 minutes or within a metre for more than a minute.

In some schools teachers aren't considered a close contact because they're supposedly 2m away from the class.

The official position is that staff are always 2 meters from children, therefore children will only be contacts of teachers in exceptional circumstances.

The school will have reported it to test and trace and gone through possible contacts with them, then told who needs to be contacted.

Theres two things here. First yes schools have to do their own track and trace.

Second the guidelines mean that a teacher isnt necessarily a close contact and its only close contacts that need to be traced.

As others have said above, they may not have been a close contact due to the distancing rules in schools.

Or symptoms started Sunday evening, that's more than 48hrs from being in class, so not a close contact.

Or tested positive in half term/Easter, more than 48hrs, so not a close contact.

Or was off school for another reason, then tested positive do again, more than 48hrs from being in school, do not a close contact.

If the students were close contacts, you would have been told and students had to isolate.

His symptoms could have started on a Sunday night or Monday morning or during a school holiday etc.

Thank you all,

This makes sense.

Whilst DD was in contact with her teacher, its her form tutor, so she sees them each day, but also had an hour long lesson with them the day before they went off sick.

But the school have been quite good with the social distancing, and they never stopped wearing masks, so the risk is small I'd assume.

We’ve been told that as secondary teachers we don’t count as a contact

That’s what we’ve been told. We should be 2 metres away from the kids. Therefore we don’t count as a contact.

I think this is more about keeping the staff in school though. Otherwise 1 positive pupil could result in 5 staff members being sent home. Very quickly the school would shut die to staffing issues.

shut die to staffing issues

Oops, due to staffing issues

Yup, same as previous posters. We’re supposed to maintain distance at all times so never count as a contact.

God, we get told about every child in every year group, including staff. I'm sick to the back teeth of the same letter over and over again, telling me that someone in a different year group has tested positive. It doesn't affect my child in the slightest.

The first time she had to isolate, we couldn't even work out the connection between her and the other students who were sent home. Most of her class were still in school. It all seems entirely haphazard.

It's because the guidance to 'stay 2m apart where possible' (except where it isn't possible ie in most classrooms) and the measly line of tape on the floor mean no germs can pass between pupils and teacher and vice versa. Special covid barrier that apparently covid germs know not to cross.

You don’t know they were in contact. She could have tested positive over half term, a weekend or have already been isolating due to being a close contact herself when she tested positive. Unless you know the date she tested positive then you have know way of knowing.

PHE didn't deem me to be a close contact to any of the children I teach. I teach across the school, in infants so no SD or masks.

I didn't present with the main symptoms abd it was picked up by a test when I was as tired to hospital with complications. I hadn't been with a class for over two days when the test was done.

The consultant at the hospital believed I'd had it for several days but because it wasn't one if the main 3 notifying symptoms PHE only used the test date as the key one for making decisions about close contacts.

So, instead of the 6 or 7 classes I taught in during the previous week, none had to isolate.

I was off work for over 7 weeks. Few parents or pupils would have known. Staff only knew because I told them.

Unsurprisingly within a six week period of 75% if our staff tested positive, along with several parents and pupils.

As a parent though I would have wanted to know if my child's teacher was off sick for a prolonged time and if they had tested positive

Why a teacher is off school is their personal business. The most you could hope for is a letter to say your child was a close contact of someone who had tested positive but they can’t tell you who.

And did any of them get ill?

As a parent though I would have wanted to know if my child's teacher was off sick for a prolonged time and if they had tested positive

The teacher has a right to privacy regarding their medical and health concerns.

I'm not sure I'd have been keen for all the parents and children to know I was off sick and in hospital particularly.

If PHE had deemed your child to be a close contact you would have been notified by school that they needed to isolate. They wouldn't have told you who the contact was.