Will schools with high cases close?

[LindaBlinda]

DS tested positive over the weekend.

As did at least 5 others I know of in his class. And his teacher was off on Friday.

I also know of at least 3 other cases across the very small school who tested positive over the weekend.

Waiting to hear from school this morning. Wondering what the head is thinking as he gets in to so many nhs emails!

Also thinking how irresponsible they'll be letting the Christmas Fair go ahead this weekend as currently planned.

DH's school has had over 100 cases at times and not closed. He reports the figures but the advice is 'Carry on'. It closed for a 'deep clean' for two days and that's all. Staffing is hard but they are getting on with it.

dds year 10 alone had 50+ cases out of 135 and didnt close - they didnt even bring in masks!

In my experience, no. They'll stay open if with small numbers of children attending. We had some classes down to a handful of pupils, 1/3 of our teaching staff were off and being covered by supply, and were still told we couldn't close

Nope we have had pcr test and continuous attendance at school along with daily lateral flow tests for ten days plus another pcr test at the end of the ten days (secondary) the primary school just put temporary teachers in place and ask everyone to pcr if they are close contact but continue to attend school

The last time we had a school closure it was down to lack of staff and student safety

Thanks for the replies. Ours is a high achieving primary with less than 200 pupils so I already knew they wouldn't close unless it was unavoidable.

I mean I get it in that the kids who have already had it may as well be in.

But really feel for the staff and anyone with CEV family.

For us it's an inconvenience. But we'll manage. For school staff it must be so stressful. X

DD's primary school eventually closed a single class after 10 positives, dd's actual class has 3 positives as of this morning and I'm curious as to what will happen as this is all year 5. That's 13 in a year group of 90.

They will only close if there are not enough staff to safely manage the school

Really good question. DS is in a small class of 16. 9 had covid and did not close. Yet another year level did close. Apparently they are closing classes if 75% and above test positive. That's what i heard, but might be hearsay.

Agree with Piece
Schools are being kept open at all costs.

My child's secondary school was kept open while numerous cases swept through the school, with only two emails about it sent by the school in a month while it was happening. 28 out of 30 of my child's class caught covid and this was replicated across the 1200 pupils: school remained open. No masks and no other attempt to lower numbers.

Ours didn’t close but we were told when they reach a certain % of cases (not sure exactly how this is measured across the school) they are told to implement additional measures. So for a few weeks they reverted back to year group bubbles and stopped all external visits to the school. I’m not sure if this came from Public Health England or the local authority but the message was this is what they had been told to do and they were following all instructions given.

When they have a high number of new cases in a short period, the the school needs to seek Public Health advice on what measures to adopt.

The range of measures which can be considered is here:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-local-restrictions-in-education-and-childcare-settings/contingency-framework-education-and-childcare-settings

Test & trace don’t notify school of cases btw. You need to do that as a parent.

My friend’s DC has her year 5 class closed. To many cases/no staff to teach them, apparently.

Just heard from DD's school and not closing her class, but just implementing social distancing again essentially.
Caveated with them reserving the right to close the class if cases come tinge to rise.
So phew. Was worrying as I can't WFH and would mean unpaid time off!

Ours didn’t. We had a massive outbreak before half term. 18 kids in DD’s class were off with it over a staggered 3 week period. The school had 5 out of 10 teaching staff out plus several TA’s. And about 1/3 of the kids overall. We are a small, one form entry primary.

School stayed opened. Each class had a supply teacher. From what I heard, it was pretty stressful for them but they got through it. All the staff were back after half term & while it’s still floating about, it’s low level at the moment.

Nope. 1/3 of my class tested positive last week. Another 2 this morning. Both my TAs as well. My class is still open