HELP PLEASE!! Who has to isolate due to covid case?!

[girasol]

Shouty caps for attention.
Sorry if it's been posted before but struggling to get answers and hoping people have some real life experience to share.
In a nutshell:

1. My infant school kids are in class bubbles at school (30 kids) but at playtime they play in year group bubbles (90 kids). If someone from another class tests positive, does the whole year group get sent home due to theoretical playground mixing? Our school says they've been advised by PHE that they would not have to send home whole year group in this scenario but I've been told of other schools in local area where this is exactly what has happened! And a friend who is a TA at another local school who says they don't let kids mix outside their class bubbles for more than 15 mins, as otherwise they risk having to isolate everyone.
2. What about other outdoor kids activities, eg sports/Brownies etc - who gets asked to isolate if one kid tests positive and all 'contact' has been outdoors?
3. Final Q - what if a bar/restaurant etc gets told that someone visited them and soon after tested positive - how to test and trace and the bar between them work out who needs to isolate, bearing in mind the records are unlikely to be accurate enough to know exactly who was sitting where and exactly at what time? We're not using the NHS tracking app, so it's not a question of being 'pinged' due to close contact being detected.

Reason I'm asking is because we are due in a few weeks to go to Spain to visit inlaws who we've not seen for 18 months. We need to do everything we can to avoid not just getting covid but to avoid situations which may lead to us being told to isolate due to someone else testing positive (the bar/restaurant example is because hubby is due to have an important business meeting in a restaurant and we're trying to gauge the risks).

Also interested to know if you get called by Test and Trace whether there is any scope for persuading them that you don't need to isolate - if, eg, they say you have to isolate due to being in a particular bar, but you know you have never been to that bar or anywhere near it? Seems a bit odd that there is no means for challenging an order by T&T to isolate given that it's a criminal offence not to comply.

As I say, I'd be really grateful if anyone can share any experiences (especially teachers re the schools example and anyone in hospitality re the final question). Hubby and I have spent hours working out how we think it might all work so we really don't need any more speculation about it. Thank you!

Can’t comment on school but regards bars and restaurants just give false details that’s what everyone I know does

Don’t use nhs app

School and nurseries are always dodgy but you could challenge that they were outside

To be fair school and nursery act on behalf of T&T - track and trace wouldn’t acfually know if you went away anyway as they don’t contact kids who are isolating this way

Mine have isolated few times and they are never contacted so I know a few who are even today on holiday during isolation

All isolations at kid groups etc like brownies are notified and managed by the leaders and not T&T so they’d be no record of it

Have you thought about taking your children out early. Not saying you should, but if trip is essential, which it sounds, I would be tempted to keep them off school beforehand.

WIth the rise of lft tests many contacts are not being traced

Lots of people I know recently who tested positive on lft just isolated and follow with pcr and as such didn’t pass on contact s

Didn’t follow up with pcr

Thanks for the responses so far.
Ignoring any order to isolate is obviously an option but not one I'm keen on (it's pretty unlikely we'd get caught, I know, but if we did my job is such that I would probably face disciplinary action for doing so given that it would mean breaking the law, and I may even be sacked. So not really worth the risk). Hence being keen to reduce the chances of us ever getting that call....

We are already planning on taking kids out of school early (something I thought I'd never do!) @Mindymomo, but there is still 2 weeks of school left before we're due to pull them out. If we got told to isolate in that 2 weeks then we'd just have to push the trip back to when we were originally going to go (ie just after school broke up).

"We are already planning on taking kids out of school early (something I thought I'd never do!) @Mindymomo, but there is still 2 weeks of school left before we're due to pull them out. If we got told to isolate in that 2 weeks then we'd just have to push the trip back to when we were originally going to go (ie just after school broke up)."

I don't get this bit. If you're taking the kids out early then they won't need to isolate because they weren't there?!

We are hoping to fly to Spain in a fortnight @walkoflifewoohoo, so for the 10 days before that we need to be as careful as we can not to put ourselves in a situation where we might get told to isolate.
If it's the case that the whole year group might have to isolate due to a single case in another class, then I want to do what I can to get the school to stop the whole year group playing together at playtime.
We're not planning on doing 10 days of isolation at home and then going to Spain, instead the kids would finish school on the Friday and we go to Spain that weekend (we hope!).

Ah. I think pp meant have you considered taking them out to isolate not to go on the trip in school time.

I really don't think the school will adapt their routines so you can go on holiday though 😂

OP, we go camping with three other couples every year. Sadly this is why we've set a date of 2 August so two of us can allow for ten days isolation. Really hope you don't have to worry about it, as many families with DC at the school will have made their own early arrangements.

What happens about lunchtimes in your school? Are the whole year eating in the same hall, but spaced. If so, and you've been in the hall, you'll know it's a nightmare keeping them distanced lining up for register, DC sitting and waiting while MDS trying to concentrate on putting tables/chairs away so they can leave on time.

@ifonly4 the trip is rearranged from last summer, I think we cancelled it in about May 2020 which was at a time when schools were still shut and we had no experience of class bubbles and isolation - my point is that it never occurred to me that 15 months later we might be in this situation! If it had done, I would definitely have factored in the first 10 days of school hol at home.
We could just isolate at home for 10 days but if the bubbles don't burst we'd be much better going to Spain for an extra 10 days (not least as the grandparents can look after the kids while we both have to work).
Not suggesting the school should change its routines to suit my holidays @walkoflifewoohoo - but it's hard to see that they would really want to send home 90 kids when in all likelihood well over half of them will have had literally zero contact with the infected child! The school says it has been advised that in this scenario they wouldn't need to send the whole year group home, but I've heard of 2 other primaries in our area which have had to isolate entire year groups, apparently due to playground mixing. So I wonder if schools are being given inconsistent advice.

Kids are in class bubbles the rest of the time, including for lunch - they eat in their classrooms. They don't mix with children outside their class other than in the playground.