Schools contingency framework released

[noblegiraffe]

The contingency framework guidelines for childcare settings, schools, colleges and universities has been released.

Not much to see except that schools should seek public health advice if:

For most education and childcare settings, whichever of these thresholds is reached first:
• 5 children, pupils, students or staff, who are likely to have mixed closely, test positive for COVID-19 within a 10-day period; or
• 10% of children, pupils, students or staff who are likely to have mixed closely test positive for COVID-19 within a 10-day period

Additional measures might be onsite testing or reintroducing masks but is much more likely to be simply:

At the point of reaching a threshold, education and childcare settings should review and reinforce the testing, hygiene and ventilation measures they already have in place. Settings should also consider:
• whether any activities could take place outdoors, including exercise, assemblies, or classes
• ways to improve ventilation indoors, where this would not significantly impact thermal comfort
• one-off enhanced cleaning focussing on touch points and any shared equipment

Interestingly, 'mixing closely' includes students who have shared a classroom, not just those who sat within 2m of a positive case.

No reassurance for CEV pupils.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1011704/20210817_Contingency_Framework_FINAL.pdf

No idea. I think it changed a while back anyway. Covid positive kids have even I on our registers for a few weeks, with only the isolating classmates as X. But they're X until their test comes back, of course

Have "been"

I kept pondering why so many on MN don't PCR after a positive lateral flow. I have concluded it is to avoid T and T and officialdom. Ergo, they can go out and about when they feel recovered. This worries me for transmission!

@Neolara

I imagine it's going to sweep though schools in the Autumn. I really can't see any other realistic outcome. In DS's school, at the end of the summer term, 14 dcs tested positive in one year group and that was after sending home over half the year in two different stages days apart. If they hadn't been sent home, I think many more DC's would have got it. I'd be interested to hear what teachers think will happen.

It's already swept through schools in some areas. I wished they would get on with vaccination for vulnerable children or teens that want it.

Apart from the Unison letter, have any of the teaching unions said anything yet?

How do you think your schools are going to approach kids who have family/ household members with covid? Will they be telling them the have to come in? Or encouraging them to stay at home?

We won’t know if they have Covid unless they tell us.

They will just attend school as normal.

We can’t ask pupils to stay home, that would be going against policy.

My school will be strictly following the government guidelines and allowing them in because not to do so invites legal threats from lobbyists.

Theres nothing that says families have to disclose theres a postive case within their household.
Also what does strongly advise is it bo longer mandatory get pcr test.
My understanding is if they close contact understanding 18 kids or double vaccinated parents then none of the family legally have to test.
Head teachers cant legall assess if schools are safe from infection anymore.

Sorry legally and accurately risk assess the school environment.
If 10 parents in 1 class all postive and all kids sent in whats the chances are more postive cases within that class.
Combined with symptoms are wrong in order to get pcr tested.
That primary generally don't lft test.
Doesn't look like seniors regularly have to lft test and lft they may charge for from October.
My 2 senior children will be on public bus with other older adults that may not have kids and be vulnerable.
A rise in 10 to 19 age group and 5-10 will lead to rise in infection in older age groups some of those will land up in hospital.

Well yes will parents who are positive send in kids who are say 2d post d&v/ have runny noses and headaches etc or a sore throat.
Removal of isolation for youngest kids is probably the most stupid as they get fewer symptoms. It's also not possible for them to be more careful as in not hugging/sneezing on people.
Also.... So many times has a parent said dc threw up at school as they get a stomach ache but it's not clear they are that unwell. Mine once came out of soft play said about stomach ache and then was voilently ill for several hours so we couldnt even leave the bathroom let alone the building.
So say then 1 parent home with covid other out at work and dc needs to be sent home due to 'd&v'.

Latest ONS infection rates. Finally seeing a reasonable drop in secondary (how can they argue that it doesn't spread in schools when this happens every holiday?) but not much comfort for primary who are of course going back with no testing.

Given the climb in infection rates before the summer holiday when kids were still isolating the government must be expecting covid to run riot through schools. So why are they pretending that they care by making secondary do LFTs before going back? It's an incoherent policy.

I maintain they bought a lot of LFTs which are about to go out of date...

‘We care and are sensible, look, we made your reluctant schools do lfts. Oh, you then went on to get Covid? That will be the school’s fault, for Doing It Wrong.’

I assume this plan is only for England and that the devolved nations can do their own thing.
Why can't we trust our local councils public health teams to make safe decisions for schools .

Doesn't anyone think unions will have go down unsafe working environment again if they can't strike.
Also I remember some councils before xmas Essex really standing up for Essex schools.

10% whole senior school is a very large threshold.

Saw this on twitter don't know if its true but seems plausible.

Scotland are keeping masks in classrooms so I expect they also have other mitigation measures/different contingency planning.

Technically 10% of the whole senior school could come down with covid and nothing would happen if they hadn’t all mixed closely.

I’ll just leave this here and step back slowly….

That is scary.

Probably the best thing for our government to do in schools is to scrap masks, shut the windows, increase numbers of whole school assemblies, stop isolating close contacts, remove regular LFD testing and force parents to send children to school even if family members have covid.

Not.

Well the thing is that the US is actually trying to prevent kids from getting covid so a large number of cases is a failure and newsworthy.

England actually wants kids to catch covid so a large number of cases won't be cause for concern, or newsworthy and in order to avoid parental concern, it will just be hidden or covered up. There's been a media blackout on school infection rates throughout.

Had a child test positive in my DD's room at nursery. None of the children have to isolate now. Feels like a chicken pox party to send DD next week, but with guidance having changed, will I ever feel like it's safe to send her back?

I don’t have a sense of how big Tampa Bay is in terms of population and how it might compare to an average town here in the UK. It is worrying, on the face of it, however.

Assemblies have the potential to cause all sorts of hassle.

As a parent I am worried about this on so many levels. The worry that our kids will catch COVID and be poorly or they will give it to ECV immunosupressed DH and he will be one if the unlucky vaccine failures. Knowing our dds could be sat next to a person who shares a room with a positive case if bizarre.
Also very worried about Teacher shortages for my year 11 and year 13 dds. Especially year 13s.
Year 13s have not sat external exams before and are now facing exams which will determine whether they get into their university choice.
Year 12 was a mess with self isolation and teacher shortages. As soon as a teacher went off they pulled a 6th form Teacher.
They started year 12 late to give younger kids an induction.

All state schools to receive C02 monitors, 1 per two classrooms, this Autumn.

schoolsweek.co.uk/all-state-schools-to-receive-carbon-dioxide-monitors-to-help-ventilation/

And what will they do when the alarms go off?? Because monitors don't actually do anything except tell you there's a problem.

This is going to be interesting.