Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Covid

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Outbreak in primary what happens?

72 replies

Sarah62 · 06/12/2021 23:54

Reasonably large outbreak in our local primary, approx 10 kids currently testing positive in one class.

What action will/can school take?

Will the class closed and children sent home? Or does the school wait for it to spread to other siblings/classes and then close?

If we make it through the next two weeks it’s going to be a miracle

OP posts:
HelloDulling · 07/12/2021 06:55

@Saladd0dger

We have just had most of our school and teachers hit by covid. Nothing happened. Its been left to spread and going up the year groups. School couldn’t of cared less
What a ridiculous thing to say. I’m quite sure the school staff were worried sick about catching it and passing it on, but they can’t make the decision to close ( and if they did, the children who didn’t catch it would likely catch it in the next wave anyway).
Remmy123 · 07/12/2021 06:56

Our school bubbled off the year group abd asked everyone take a pcr test - the whole thing took 2 weeks and then back to normal With zero cases now - they never closed the classes despite no teachers but obv kids had to stay home and awaiting pcr tests.

Around 30% of year group got it.

Whinge · 07/12/2021 06:58

they never closed the classes despite no teachers but obv kids had to stay home and awaiting pcr tests

We were told our children were allowed in while waiting for results. Unless they had symptoms.

noscoobydoodle · 07/12/2021 06:58

PHE and local authority advice here was for the affected class to all be told to take PCR tests (teacher and several children in one year group tested positive). That class is being bubbled again-separate playground, lunch in class, no assembly in the hall. However all asymptomatic children should continue to attend, as should asymptomatic siblings of those who have tested positive (which in this case affects almost every other class in the school!).

Angel2702 · 07/12/2021 07:00

Over half the class and the teacher had it, only knew about cases, which are still rising via the class WhatsApp group. We eventually got a letter after ten days saying 17 cases in school but not saying these were all mostly year six. By the time we had the letter more had tested positive. I don’t think there are more than a handful in head so. That haven’t had it, one has it again having had it in September.

Heckythump1 · 07/12/2021 07:01

Not a lot from my experience! Had over half of DD's class test positive recently. after the first few they all had to take daily LFT which when most of the cases showed up, then they all had to take PCR test to weed out any who got negative LFT but were positive, then whole school had to take LFT for 10 days .... seems to be all over now though a few weeks later :)

noscoobydoodle · 07/12/2021 07:04

The teachers are worried (my DDs teacher has a vulnerable family member and she must be worried sick) but are being amazingly cheerful and breezy with the kids and continuing to help zip up costs, put on gloves etc as usual (with masks and gel) as if there's nothing wrong. They can't go against PHE guidance and close the class unless there's a staffing issue.

crosbystillsandmash · 07/12/2021 07:06

@Invasionofthegutsnatchers

And it's very stressful for the staff to stay open in these circumstances so perhaps that should be appreciated.
Thank you for this comment!

Covid is currently ripping through my school, we're very short staffed and no supply staff are available.
I've just been for yet another pcr test and nearly 2 years on, I'm struggling some days to stay positive!

OhPeeQueue · 07/12/2021 07:07

We had 60 children across the school with it and about 8 teachers off.

School stayed open. They’ve gone back to bubbles.

Don’t count on anything drastic happening. In 2020, even one covid case in a school got you a front page spread in the local paper, times have changed. 🤣

whitehorsesdonotlie · 07/12/2021 07:08

@Saladd0dger

We have just had most of our school and teachers hit by covid. Nothing happened. Its been left to spread and going up the year groups. School couldn’t of cared less
Jesus. Schools do care. They are just following DfE guidance. 🙄🙄
FreeBritnee · 07/12/2021 07:09

We have to find a way of living with this as we’ve got another five years of it and I’m quite keen for my kids to get an education while they are young.

Our primary is very badly affected at the moment. Parents are trying to put pressure on the head to switch to remote learning. They are unable to as it’s a county council decision.

Iamnotthe1 · 07/12/2021 07:09

@Saladd0dger

We have just had most of our school and teachers hit by covid. Nothing happened. Its been left to spread and going up the year groups. School couldn’t of cared less
Just to be clear here: schools aren't allowed to do anything. They've completely had their hands tied by the DfE and Government. All the measures previously used to manage infection rates (bubbling, contact tracing, isolation, etc) have been scrapped. There is literally nothing they are allowed to do other than open a window and send a non-identifying letter out saying there is a covid case in school.

PHE can take over in the event of an outbreak and impliment new rules. However, the threshold for this keeps changing. Initially it was a few cases or 10% of a class, then it became 5 in a class, then 25% and now there are some schools who have had classes get beyond 25% and have had no PHE intervention. One of the schools near us hit almost 50% of their Y6 classes before PHE got involved and all they recommended was for everyone in the classes to do a test once.

Madmog · 07/12/2021 07:29

We had 17 out in our primary all positive, four isolating leaving nine in one class. Students were distanced in class, kept away from others outside their year (so treated as a year bubble not class). We had quite a few cases in school anyway, so every window/door open. The children in the worst class all chose to wear masks and it was then brought in any child could wear one anywhere in the school. Children in all classes were on a 5 min rota for a walk around playground to air classes.

Platax · 07/12/2021 07:29

@Saladd0dger

We have just had most of our school and teachers hit by covid. Nothing happened. Its been left to spread and going up the year groups. School couldn’t of cared less
It's not a question of whether they could have cared or not, they are doing what the DfE is telling them to do.
Frazzled2207 · 07/12/2021 07:57

Happening now in ds2’s class (y2). The class has now been “bubbled” meaning they don’t get contact with any other kids and they have lunch in their room. But siblings of affected kids (including mine) still go so this seems a bit pointless.

The TA has it, the teacher does not- if she does then fairly sure they will have to close as there is no supply available around here.

Inquisitivearchitect · 07/12/2021 08:08

We had 12 off in one class, 7 in another and 16 in another. Very small school. And staff off too….

Nothing happened Confused

Frazzled2207 · 07/12/2021 08:10

@ladygracie

We have lots of cases at my school. Once the class hits 10% positive they have to be ring fenced so have lunch and break separately and their own toilets. We had 4 classes ring fenced last week but down to just one this week. We also send a letter out asking the other children in the class to get PCRs. One class did close last week but that was due to lack of staff not covid cases.
Interesting about the pcr request. Our school has not done this yet.
Covidwoes · 07/12/2021 08:13

Over 10% of children in my school caught Covid recently, mostly in Year 5 and 6. School weren't allowed to close. Y5 and 6 were kept separate from the school as much as possible. Cases are dwindling a bit now thankfully. The HT updated parents by letter with how many cases were in school, and in which year groups. Children in Y5 and 6 were advised to get a PCR, and LFT each night before coming into school. You can't force anyone to do LFTs on their kids though, so it can only be advised.

Inquisitivearchitect · 07/12/2021 08:17

We also had the PCR test request (full school) but most parents did lateral flows instead 🤦🏻‍♀️

And Public Health England asked the school to open the windows and that was about it.

They should have closed the school for a few days for a deep clean but didn’t bother.

All very blasé

bobsholi · 07/12/2021 08:19

It completely ripped through our school a few weeks ago. There were so many staff off it bordered on unsafe at times, but we still carried on. Most parents seemed more terrified of remote learning than their child getting covid.

pooiepooie25 · 07/12/2021 08:22

@Saladd0dger

We have just had most of our school and teachers hit by covid. Nothing happened. Its been left to spread and going up the year groups. School couldn’t of cared less
It's very obviously not up to the school to make the rules. They are only following orders. Think how ghastly it is for the school staff having to deal with this before you blame the school.
ChristmasCatBells · 07/12/2021 08:27

Where I am in Wales, bubbles return if 10% of class have cases, class close for 10 days if 25% do.

Inquisitivearchitect · 07/12/2021 08:27

The HT of the other local school said parents can take their children out of school to prevent covid over Christmas if they want to (they had an outbreak too but PHE told them to stay open)

Xmas Smile

Nice to see some flexibility…

ChristmasCatBells · 07/12/2021 08:27

We've also had a number of closures due to no staff.

Whinge · 07/12/2021 08:30

@ChristmasCatBells

We've also had a number of closures due to no staff.
Thinking about this, I actually don't know of any class / school closures due to Covid cases. I wonder if anyone else has experience of any. All the ones I know about have been because there haven't been enough staff.