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Original poster

To think I should have a right to know how many cases at school?

215 replies

Workinghardeveryday · 21/09/2021 12:14

I have 3 kids, 2 at Primary and 1 at High School.

I have asked this morning if I can be informed of any cases in my children’s classes and been told no.

I am CEV and there is a good chance the vaccine didn’t work. I homeschooled up until March, realised I need to let my kids get a proper education, after all I am no teacher!

I would however like to be able to weigh up the pros and cons of sending them if a child has tested positive!!

OP posts:
BananaPB · 22/09/2021 08:17

@Frazzled2207

I think class whatsapp is your friend here. We have agreed between each other to let each other know if there are any covid positive children. One of the children is CEV and school have said they can’t keep them in the loop. Bloody ridiculous. We don’t need names we just want to be kept in the loop.
Schools aren't responsible for contact tracing any more so they probably don't know about a lot of cases.
MythicalBiologicalFennel · 22/09/2021 08:17

@motherrunner

DD has 8 positive cases in her class and at my own school a letter has been sent to parents as PHE have identified ‘in school transmission’. Letters have only my been sent in both cases as the quote for mitigation measures have been met so the letters stated masks to be worn in class of affected years, back to bubbles for those years, advised to get PCR. You won’t hear anything until PHE has decided schools should make parents aware.
Is this the same in other workplaces I wonder? Teachers upthread have said that they don't get told of cases, either. I wonder if this was happening in an office - are employers under any obligation to tell employees about cases in the premises? It seems mind-bloggling if they aren't.
gogohm · 22/09/2021 08:30

@MythicalBiologicalFennel

In all their schooling the only letter I got re a medical matter was headlice. My kids had chicken pox etc at school and the rest of the class were not notified and my other child (who hadn't had it) wasn't required to isolate at home.

Reality is that covid is just another disease, only a few dozen have died having been double vaccinated - better than the flu vaccine I should add. Schools need to get on with teaching basically. Just like with flu, norovirus etc you can assume there are cases at most schools at any time, most kids (as was i) are asymptomatic so have no idea

JassyRadlett · 22/09/2021 08:35

Both schools said they have had confirmed cases but it is government policy now that they cannot disclose how many or which classes.

Then our school is breaking the rules with abandon, they let us know about any cases in the year group.

Notonthestairs · 22/09/2021 08:45

In the past we have had multiple notifications regarding nits, measles, chicken pox and scarlet fever.

We have had one recent notification regarding CV in our DD's class and lots of general letters giving a broad overview of numbers. The sixth form was hammered last year.

Ugzbugz · 22/09/2021 08:46

The problem I can see is that so many children have zero symptoms and many do no testing so you would never have an accurate figure. My friends primary sons had zero symptoms so unless all kids are LFT testing, chances are there are cases circulating all the time.

HalzTangz · 22/09/2021 08:48

You or your kids could pick up covid in any setting not just a school setting. A friend or family member visiting you could pass it to you.

In regards to your question, you don't have the right to know anyone elses medical business

Plumtree391 · 22/09/2021 08:56

No you do not have the right to know if any children test positive.

borntobequiet · 22/09/2021 08:57

You or your kids could pick up covid in any setting not just a school setting. A friend or family member visiting you could pass it to you.

Completely beside the point. The OP’s concern is about Covid cases in the school her child attends.

lunar1 · 22/09/2021 09:00

Our school are still informing us, PHE are still asking school to get us to do PCR tests for whole classes. This is the same for all schools in the local area.

I wonder if it's because our area has been higher than average throughout the pandemic.

Moonopoly · 22/09/2021 09:26

My DD has just tested positive and the text confirming her results says to contact school and tell them so I’m not sure why PP are saying that schools won’t know.
Our school are also liaising with local health hubs, as one of the classes has had to bubble as there are so many cases.

MilduraS · 22/09/2021 09:32

The uni where I work publishes the number of cases per week on their website for anyone to check. I don't see why it would be any more difficult in a school. Granted they can't guarantee that everyone reports it but we still can see when the spikes are happening from the ones that do.

Moonopoly · 22/09/2021 09:33

‘It is not the case, as some reps have been told, that data protection legislation prevents schools from disclosing the name, class and/or year group of a pupil or staff member with Covid-19 or symptoms of the virus.

Although there is an automatic prohibition against the sharing of health data under the GDPR, the legislation also provides for circumstances in which that prohibition may be overridden. One of these is where a school directly or indirectly identifies an individual under the direction of a health authority, such as the local health protection team (if supervised by a medical professional), or the NHS Test and Trace team. Health data may also be shared if the data subject, or in the case of pupils under 13 years of age, the data subject’s legal guardian, has explicitly consented to such sharing. Explicit consent should not be relied on as the basis for sharing information, however, particularly about staff, because the imbalance of power between the data controller and the data subject (for example, employer and employee) will always give rise to the issue of whether consent has been freely given.

Furthermore, data controllers, i.e., head teachers on behalf of school governing bodies, are obliged to weigh the privacy rights of the person whose data is to be disclosed against the interests of the school community in knowing of the potential risk to their health and the health of those with whom they may have been in close contact.’

From the NEU website

Moonopoly · 22/09/2021 09:35

So those posters quoting GDPR as a reason are incorrect.

Moonopoly · 22/09/2021 09:41

And those saying no one has the right to know anyone else’s health issues. The last paragraph of that statement tells you why that isn’t true.

Chillychangchoo · 22/09/2021 09:56

You have no right to know, and covid will spread regardless of you knowing the data.

If you’re uncomfortable with that you need to home school.

Yellow85 · 22/09/2021 10:03

My son is seven and seems to be working it out based on kids not coming in for ten days. He tells me who was missing and if they are back the next day. It’s a small school, so if they told us how many had it, it would be very easy to work out who it is based on absences. Perhaps that’s the issue - that it can be tracked back and children easily identified directly through them sharing the data.

Also if I’ve learned anything, one case or ten cases doesn’t tell you much. It’s about proximity, so unless you know who they are and can guarantee your child go near them, I don’t know how much the data helps.

MilesJuppIsMyBitch · 22/09/2021 10:16

@Chillychangchoo

You have no right to know, and covid will spread regardless of you knowing the data.

If you’re uncomfortable with that you need to home school.

I love that you posted this just after @Moonopoly 's evidenced explanation of why you're wrong Grin
borntobequiet · 22/09/2021 10:17

You have no right to know
She thinks she should have, and I for one agree.

covid will spread regardless of you knowing the data
True but irrelevant.

If you’re uncomfortable with that you need to home school
An extreme, impractical and unkind conclusion to draw.

Remmy123 · 22/09/2021 10:59

Do you expect to be given this information for flu / notovirus, etc?

Why do you need to know it may just make you anxious?

mumsneedwine · 22/09/2021 11:02

As a teacher I don't even get told if I'm teaching the sibling or child of a positive case. Be nice to know !

TheGrumpyGoat · 22/09/2021 11:19

@mumsneedwine

As a teacher I don't even get told if I'm teaching the sibling or child of a positive case. Be nice to know !
Some of you work in shitty schools! Ours informs any teacher/TA who will come into contact with the sibling or child of a positive case so that they can keep an eye on them for signs of illness.
Original poster
Workinghardeveryday · 22/09/2021 11:29

Just spoken to primary again - had call to pick up ds10 as not well.
They said they had loads of kids testing positive on lft then negative on pcr. They will now send a letter out to the class of a pcr positive child. Still happy for siblings to attend school.

OP posts:
Original poster
Workinghardeveryday · 22/09/2021 11:30

Dd15 on school trip. Txt me upset as she is sat on the bus on her own. All her friends off tested positive. Nothing said by high school

OP posts:
Iggly · 22/09/2021 11:34

I want to know. My dcs have had illnesses recently which haven’t ticked the 3 symptoms not have they had positive LFTs. But if I knew cases were in school then I may consider getting a test anyway.